Kia EV4 Review & Prices

The EV4 is Kia’s entrant to the electric hatchback market. It’s comfortable to drive, spacious inside and the range is impressive compared to its alternatives, but some of the interior plastics aren’t very pleasant and there isn’t a great deal of storage space.

Like a smart watch, it’s designed to be a useful, high-tech and convenient part of daily life. Also like a smart watch, however, there are plenty to choose from, all offering similar pros and cons.

Cars such as the Volkswagen ID3 and Cupra Raval are a bit more upmarket inside and toned down outside. The Peugeot E-308 and Vauxhall Astra Electric are near-identical to their petrol counterparts, while small SUVs such as the Skoda Elroq or in-house Kia EV3 are a touch more practical, but also a bit larger than the EV4.

Though, only the EV3 is quite as outlandishly-styled as the EV4. The hatchback’s tall headlights, sharp creases, black exterior accents and geometric taillight bar are certainly attention grabbing, if not very pretty at the same time. You can also choose to have your EV4 in saloon flavour, but at least the EV4 hatch does without the EV4 Fastback’s awkward rump.

Kia EV4: electric range, battery and charging data

Range: 273 - 388 miles
Efficiency: 4.7 - 4.8mi/kWh
Battery size: 58.3kWh, 81.4kWh
Max charge speed: 127kW
Charge time AC: 5hrs20mins - 7hrs15mins, 10-80%, 11kWh
Charge time DC: 29 - 31mins, 10-80%, 350kWh
Charge port location: Right side front
Power outputs: 201hp

The interior isn’t quite so ‘Battleship Galactica.’ Plonk down into the funky seats and you’re greeted with a fairly plain dashboard which curves away from you, the lower part of which is trimmed in fabric while the upper half is fairly squidgy plastic. A triple-screen display contains the car’s infotainment and driver instrument screens, sandwiching an awkwardly-placed climate control panel.

Touch-sensitive shortcut controls are placed above the air vents to help circumvent the slightly busy menu system, with programmable favourite buttons featured in the mix and on the steering wheel. Set one of them to the driving assistance settings and you can more easily turn off the EV4 infuriating beeps and bongs.

It’s spacious inside with miles of room to get comfortable, though three tall adults might find there’s not quite enough shoulder room across the rear bench. It’s a shame the door bins are so small, but at least the centre console storage makes up for it to a degree. The boot is a generous 460 litres, ahead of a Volkswagen ID3 but slightly down on a Kia EV3.

Entry-level EV4 Air cars can travel up to 273 miles on a charge, while those of you who take frequent road trips can opt for a larger battery with an impressive 388 miles of claimed range. GT-Line and GT-Line S cars split the difference; their extra kit denting efficiency a touch.

Our test of a GT-Line model on mixed roads returned 3.9mi/kWh, meaning 315 real-world miles, while a motorway-heavy week in a big-battery Air saw a 3.6mi/kWh, or 317 miles.

The highlight of the EV4’s driving experience is its comfort, because it’s positively serene over rough, bumpy roads both in town and at high speeds on the motorway. The Kia also keeps wind and road noise at bay, but it’s far from fun on a country lane. It carries speed with little fuss, but don’t expect hot hatch thrills, even in the GT-Line S with its sporty appearance.

Verdict

The Kia EV4 is a great car for fuss-free EV ownership. It’s comfortable and practical enough for most families, while offering enough range for peace-of-mind when fitted with the larger battery. It’s not as fun to drive as a Cupra Raval, nor is it as sleek as a Renault Megane E-Tech, but it’s a solid all-rounder nonetheless.

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The Kia EV4 starts just below £35,000 with the small battery, or under £38,000 for the larger battery in entry-level Air trim, which also gives you the longest range possible. You can step up to the GT-Line model for less than £2,000 extra, which is tempting, while top-spec GT-Line S versions start at just under £44,000.

That puts the Kia EV4 in line with most alternatives – the Cupra Born, Renault Scenic and Peugeot E-308 all fall into this 35k-to-45k sweet spot. If you do want to save a bit of money, though, the Kia EV3 is a bit more affordable, as is the Skoda Elroq.

There’s loads of kit as standard, so even the entry-level Air trim doesn’t feel short-changed. You get LED lights all round, heated front seats and steering wheel, and semi-autonomous cruise control. GT-Line models get sportier styling and bigger alloy wheels, while top-spec GT-Line S models get a sunroof, heated rear seats and a 360-degree parking cameras.

What is disappointing is that even top-spec GT-Line S models don’t come with a heat pump as standard. These help stop your range plummeting when it’s cold, but you have to pay nearly £900 extra to get one on the EV4, and it’s not even an option on GT-Line or Air cars. The Renault Scenic, for example, gets one as standard.

Comfortable, quiet and refined – the Kia EV4 is lovely to drive but it’s far from exciting

In town

The Kia EV4 is a great city car, because the suspension deals with bumps brilliantly. We’ve only tested it in Spain, where the roads are generally smoother, but we hunted out potholes and hit a few hefty speed bumps and can confidently say it’ll be great on broken British Tarmac.

It feels quite big on the road, which can make tight city streets a little less easy than in, say, the Peugeot E-308, and rear visibility isn’t very good either. At least you get some standard-fit assistance kit to help you avoid low-speed collisions, while the reversing camera and parking sensors help with that limited view out of the back.

On the motorway

The Kia EV4 excels on the motorway. It’s smooth and feels quiet and refined like a bigger car. There’s very little in the way of wind and road noise.

All versions get an adaptive cruise control system that can maintain your speed and distance to the car in front, as well as steering assistance to keep you in your lane without too much input. Blind spot collision avoidance is standard, but you need the top-spec GT-Line S model to get Kia’s neat blind spot video feed in the instrument dials when you indicate.

On a twisty road

Find a winding country road and the Kia EV4 is perfectly capable, with enough grip and little in the way of body roll, but it’s anything but fun. That’s fine, because you probably don’t need your electric family car to do a hot hatch impression on the school run, but if you do want something with a bit more of a skip in its step, the Cupra Born is your best bet.

Some of the storage in the cabin could be better but space in the back is massive

The Kia EV4 is roomy up front, but the driving position is a bit awkward, particularly for taller drivers. The pedals are a fraction too close to the driver’s seat and the steering wheel doesn’t have enough travel towards you so you have to compromise on how you sit.

Overall storage is pretty good thanks to the large area under the centre console that can fit a small handbag, though the under-armrest cubby hole could be deeper and the door bins are tiny. There’s a wireless phone charging pad beneath the central vents with two USB-C slots set into the dashboard.

Space in the back seats

There’s so much legroom in the back of the Kia EV4 you might mistake it for a business class seat on a long haul flight. It’s not perfect for long distances because the floor is a bit too close to the cushion, so you don’t get quite as much under-thigh support as you might want, but overall the EV4 is much roomier than alternatives. This also makes it ideal if you need to fit a bulky child seat.

Again, storage is mixed, with even smaller door bins in the back, though you do get seatback pockets and a fairly large cubby in the centre console. Two USB-C slots mean there’s no debating who gets to charge their phone.

Boot space

Compared with other electric hatchbacks, the Kia EV4’s 435-litre boot is quite exceptional. You get 385 litres in the Cupra Born and Volkswagen ID3, and 361 litres in the Peugeot E-308. However, if you need maximum space, the Renault Scenic and Skoda Elroq SUVs offer more capacity at 545 litres and 470 litres respectively. You could also consider the Kia EV3, which is a bit roomier than the EV4 at 460 litres.

The access to the boot is a touch narrow, so really bulky items could be a pain, but otherwise this is an impressively spacious cargo area. You get a couple of hooks for holding items in place and loads of under-floor storage, which is useful for keeping your charging cables out of the way.

Cool lounge-like design appeals, but the triple screen layout is awkward

You get a lovely cabin in the Kia EV4, which isn’t quite as aggressively futuristic as the exterior. Particularly on the entry level trim with its fabric upholstery, you get a calming lounge-like design, and the relaxing atmosphere is helped by the comfy seats.

Much like a modern lounge the view is dominated by screens. Three, in fact. You get the usual digital instruments and central infotainment display, but there’s also a third between them for the climate controls. As in other Kia EV products it’s blocked by your hand and the steering wheel, but fortunately there are physical climate controls which are nice and easy to use while driving.

At least the infotainment itself is pretty slick - it has sharp graphics and it’s quick to respond to your inputs. It can be tricky to get your head around at first, but there are shortcut buttons on the dashboard that make it easier to quickly navigate between menus. You also get wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as standard if you want to bypass Kia’s system.

Most of the things you touch feel like good quality, particularly on the higher trims, though there are cheaper materials to be found on the door bins and lower dashboard. That said, we tested the car in Spain using European-specific trims that aren’t perfectly aligned to what we get in the UK, so we’ll update this once the EV4 is on UK roads and we’ve poked and prodded around.

There are two battery options, both of which come with the same single motor powering the front wheels with 201hp. The smaller battery is only available on the entry-level Air trim, and gives you a range of 273 miles.

The bigger battery is 81.4kWh and is available on all three trims, getting maximum range ability as an Air model at up to 391 miles.

That compares well with alternatives, with the basic model going a bit further than equivalent versions of the Cupra Born, Peugeot E-308 and Volkswagen ID3. The long range model goes further than equivalent versions of alternatives, too.

DC fast charging speeds of up to 127kW is good but not outstanding. You’ll do a 10-80% top-up in about half an hour, whichever battery you go for, which is about par for the course among alternatives, though the Cupra Born and Skoda Elroq can both charge faster. You can also charge at 11kW on an AC charger if you have access to one, which is a nice bonus.

All versions come in under the threshold for the luxury EV road tax supplement in years two-to-six, as they all cost under £50,000. Company car drivers will be happy to hear that the EV4 sits in the lowest band for Benefit-in-Kind payments, too.

Kia EV4 Euro NCAP (2022): 4/ 5 (5/5 with extra driver assists)

Adult occupant: 84%
Child occupant: 85%
Vulnerable road users: 77%
Safety assist: 67% (78% with extra driver assists)

The Kia EV4 you choose will have one of two scores, after testing by safety experts at Euro NCAP, with either four-or-five stars. None of the categories were particularly outstanding but 83% and 84% for adult and child occupant protection respectively are decent. It’s the ‘Safety assist’ category which changes depending on whether or not your car features the additional driver assistance features.

Standard safety kit includes the typical city collision avoidance systems and lane-keeping on the motorway, but all EV4s get Highway Driving Assist 2.0, which is a kind of semi-autonomous advanced cruise control. GT-Line S models also add parking collision avoidance tech, a 360-degree camera and a blind spot view monitor.

As a new model it’s not clear how reliable the EV4 will be, but we’ve not heard of any issues with Kia’s other electric cars, which is reassuring. Kia’s 18th place out of 31 manufacturers in the 2025 Driver Power owner satisfaction survey shows there’s nothing major to worry about, though the likes of Peugeot and Renault performed much better, with top 10 finishes.

Kia offers a very generous standard warranty of seven years or 100,000 miles, which is significantly longer than the three years of coverage provided with vehicles such as the Volkswagen ID3 and Cupra Born.