Kia has hit the bull’s-eye yet again, this time with a cool electric family car that your kids won’t mind being seen in.
Nor will you, for that matter. Called the EV3, Kia has taken the distinctive angular look of the jumbo seven-seat EV9 and shrink-washed it into a trendy compact SUV package that looks futuristic and desirable.
Its striking origami creases set the EV3 apart from its mostly dull and dreary competitors but it is the excellence of Kia’s electric drivetrain and the spaciousness of its interior that will seal the deal. And that’s even before its strong value for money is taken into account - EV3 prices start at £32,995 and run to £43,895, with Kia also throwing in its reassuring seven-year/100,000-mile warranty.
Read more: Kia EV9 - The most-wanted new car of 2024 is a brilliant seven-seat electric SUV
The longest-legged EV3 can do up to 375 miles on a full charge, according to the official tests, with all versions fitted with the 81.4kWh battery capable of more than 360 miles. That should be sufficient to ease the anxieties of anyone with a case of range - or should that be public charger? - anxiety. Even the model fitted with the smaller 58.3kWh battery can go a respectable 270 miles.
It all helps to make the EV3 look like a compelling alternative to a traditional petrol or diesel family hatchback or small SUV.
For context, the EV3 is about 20cm shorter than a Kia Sportage and around the size of a Volkswagen Golf. The Golf, currently celebrating its 50th birthday, has been the definitive do-it-all family hatchback for most of its life. But compared to this new Kia, the Golf and its ilk simply look old hat.
The EV3 also highlights how insipid and uninspiring Volkswagen’s sort-of-electric-Golf, the ID3, is. It’s more expensive than the Kia, doesn’t go as far and is impossibly dull. No wonder VW is in doldrums and wants to close factories as well as dealerships.
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Kia, on the other hand, has a burgeoning range of class-leading EVs - the aforementioned EV9, as well as the EV6 and the Niro - with plans to have 11 electric cars on sale by 2026 and 15 by 2027. It also has a knack for building cars that families really seem to love; the Sportage SUV was the UK’s best selling car in October, for example. There’s no reason to think the EV3 won’t join the Sportage at the top of the sales charts once the first customer deliveries start to filter on to the roads within weeks.
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Inside you’ll find a cabin which Kia says offers the feeling of a living room. That’s a bit of a stretch, as marketing speak so often is - there isn’t a three-piece suite in there - but Kia has worked hard to give the cabin a bright, airy and uncluttered feel. There’s an abundance of storage spaces and Kia has fitted what it describes as the world’s first ‘thin’ heating, ventilation and air conditioning system; apart from being highly efficient, it liberates 6cm more foot space for front passengers compared to a conventional arrangement.
The Kia EV3 looks like a compelling alternative to a traditional petrol or diesel family hatchback like a Volkswagen Golf or the swarm of small SUVs after your family’s money
The pleasant and spacious interior doesn’t come at the expense of luggage space. The boot is a healthy 460 litres, with a small ‘frunk’ under the bonnet. Drop the back seats - which split 60/40 - and you get 1,250 litres.
There’s a bunch of large digital displays but, as with the EV9, Kia has sensibly remembered that some things in a car work better when you have to push a button instead of attempting to negotiate the vagaries of touchscreen menus to turn the heating up.
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Other tech includes vehicle-to-load charging, over-the-air updates, a digital key which enables the car to be unlocked and started using a phone or smartwatch, and an AI assistant powered by ChatGPT.
Kia has long had among the best implemented regenerative braking set-ups, and the EV3 gets the latest version. You can leave the car to its own devices and drive it mostly as a ‘one-pedal’ car, with the computers working out how much braking assistance is needed in a given situation, or you can tweak the regeneration levels by using the steering wheel paddles - an entirely intuitive process.
Read more: First Drive: Kia’s EV3 is a polished addition to the electric car segment
The first wave of EV3s heading this way are front-wheel-drive with a 201bhp motor -zippy twin-motor all-wheel-drive versions come later - but this isn’t meant to be a sports car. Instead, it’s practical family transport, and Kia has judged the comfort, ride, handling and performance accordingly.
Kia really is on a roll at the moment, and the EV3 may even be the most important new car launched this year. It’s a sensibly priced, great looking family car that also happens to be an EV capable of not only going proper distances but also persuading more drivers to go electric. Kia continues to run rings around the competition, and the EV3 is its latest class-leading cracker.
