Test Car Specifications
Model: 2025 Kia EV3 GT-Line Long Range
Price: £38,715 as tested
Engine: 150kW electric motor
Battery: 81kWh lithium-ion
Transmission: single-speed automatic, front-wheel drive
Power: 204hp
Torque: 283Nm
Emissions: 0g/km
Range: 367 miles
0-62mph: 7.9 seconds
Top speed: 105mph
Boot space: 460-1,230 litres (plus 25-litre 'frunk')
Styling
The EV3 is really a hatchback — at 4.3-metres long, it’s bob-on the same length as a Kia Ceed — but plays at being a 4x4 thanks to chunky styling, a slightly raised roof, and design elements such as LED light bars that run across the bonnet and boot, and ultra-slim main headlight units that bear more than a small resemblance to those used by the big Kia EV9. Well, if you’ve got a big SUV in your lineup that’s good enough to take on a Range Rover without wincing, there’s no harm in making your smallest EV look much the same. So the EV3 gets the EV9’s big, unadorned panel style, and generally looks as if someone cast a shrinking spell on the bigger car. It’s arguably not pretty, but in the pale green of our test car, it looks reasonably nice and certainly very tech-y. The 19-inch alloy wheels of our GT-Line test car doubtless help (the standard Air model’s 17-inch rims look a little lost in those chunky arches).
Interior
If the EV3’s external design looks a lot like that of the EV9, then so too does the interior. As is currently Hyundai’s wont, the main 12.3-inch instrument and infotainment screens live side by side in a common housing that sweeps across half of the dashboard. These are good screens, with smart graphics and easy-to-follow menu systems, and they’re backed up by physical short-cut touch-sensitive buttons for major menu items, as well as proper, real switches — quite chunky ones — for the basic air conditioning functions. The rest of the climate control setup is taken care of by a small 5.3-inch screen that sits between the two bigger screens, but this is slightly hard to see properly as it’s tucked behind the steering wheel. You can expand it out to the bigger infotainment screen, though.
The slightly squared-off steering wheel (which gets three spokes in this GT-Line model, and two spokes in the Air version) has some handy switches and buttons, which also help when working your way around the two big screens, but things such as the volume control are annoyingly fiddly — you have you use your thumbnail to move it precisely.
Lots of the materials used in the cabin are made from recycled plastic, even plastic recovered from the world’s oceans, and there’s a handy QR code printed on the dash on the passenger’s side, which allows you to call up a web-page detailing all of the materials and plastic recovery efforts.
Practicality
Because Kia has pinched the easy-to-use steering-column-mounted gear selector from Hyundai, there's an acreage of space opened up on the centre console for storage. Large, adjustable cup holders (set a little too far away for tall drivers) are joined by an open space big enough to swallow a large handbag or small backpack. There's no closed storage area though.
Instead, depending on the model of EV3, you get a slide-out table, made from recycled plastics, onto which you can pop your snack or a cup of coffee when charging. It's a slightly odd idea, but one which works quite well with the reclining 'Comfort' seats and the fact that, shortly, you'll be able to download Netflix and Disney Plus apps onto the big infotainment screen to watch while juicing up. The door bins are well-sized, but the only place you can actually stash things out of sight is in the glovebox, which is not only on the small side, but which flops open with a cheap, un-damped action when you open it.
There's lots of space up front and a good, adjustable driving position, but things are a little less rosy in the back. Legroom is fine, and you get handy USB-C sockets mounted up high on the sides of the front seats. Headroom, though, is a touch tight, certainly if you're tall, and the relatively shallow side glass means those taller passengers will have to duck to see out properly. Kids will fit fine though, and the flat floor is nice, even if the middle rear seat is too narrow for much in the way of comfort for a third rear passenger.
The boot holds a healthy 460 litres of luggage, and it's aided by a 25 litre 'frunk' in the nose which holds a Type 2 charging cable, meaning you don't have to sacrifice shopping for charging.
Performance
All Kia EV3s, whether they’re the big battery or small battery models, get the same 204hp electric motor driving the front wheels. There will be four-wheel drive options, and eventually a sporty GT version, but neither is on sale just yet.
Performance from that single motor is absolutely fine. A 0-62mph time of 7.9 seconds isn’t fantastically fast, but it’s good for a family car, and the EV3 pulls off overtakes with decisive briskness. In spite of 200hp being, in our heads, still GTI territory, the EV3’s chonky 1,900kg (that’s with the big battery) kerb weight puts paid to any thoughts along those lines.
Performance is delivered in a pleasantly linear and progressive fashion — this isn’t one of those electric cars that dumps all its torque on the ground in the first second and then goes to sleep.
The brakes are also reasonably well judged, if occasionally a little snatchy in their transition from regenerative braking (adjustable via the steering wheel paddles, or it can be left in an automatic mode) to physical braking.
And range? Oh yes… Even a basic, 58kWh battery EV3 can put a claimed 270 miles between charges, while the big 81kWh battery in our GT-Line test car can run for up to 367 miles (or 375 miles if you get the big battery in concert with the Air-spec’s smaller wheels). That range doesn’t seem unrealistic either, with more than 310 miles of range showing on the dash of our not-quite-fully-charged test car.
Charging is also rapid, although the EV3 lacks the super-fast 800-volt charging setup of the larger EV6 and EV9 models. Even so, the EV3 can cope with up to 128kW of DC charging power, good enough says Kia for you to be able to add as much as 285 miles of extra range in 30 minutes of fast charging. That’s thanks to careful thermal control of the battery, as much as it is outright charging power. You can already use the EV3’s battery as a power source for other electric devices — scooters and e-bikes, for instance — and coming soon, national grid allowing, will be the ability to send power to the grid, or to power your own home directly.
Ride & Handling
Yes, the Kia EV3 handles, and indeed it does ride. That’s about it, though.
Maybe we’re being unfair in expecting this mid-size crossover-hatchback to be a sparkling, driver-entertaining drive, but the sad fact is that the EV3’s over-light steering and gentle suspension settings basically mean it leaves any sense of excitement or entertainment back on the driveway at home. Sure, most people probably won’t actively think about how the EV3 drives, but when we’re about to lose one of the best-driving family cars of all time — the Ford Focus — from production, it’s kinda sad that Kia’s new family car star just can’t be bothered to provide any fun.
On the upside, the light steering and the 10.4-metre turning circle mean that the EV3 is an utter doddle to drive around town, aside from the fact that it’s a little wider than you think at first, which makes narrow gaps a bit heart-in-mouth.
The soft suspension means that bumps and lumps are dealt with in a very impressive manner, with good body control and yet an ability to soak up seemingly the worst that the road can throw at you. The only issue is that on faster, bumpier country roads — much like a British B-road — the combo of a stiff body structure and the weight of the battery being concentrated between the axles makes the EV3 pitch forward and back at little as it copes with the surface, which is a slightly uncomfortable sensation. Refinement is excellent though, with little road nor wind noise even at motorway speeds.
Value
While it's not as eye-wideningly affordable as some other recent electric arrivals, the EV3 is well priced. The entry-level Air model, priced from £33,262, comes with 17 inch alloy wheels, LED headlights with auto high beam, heated front seats, an artificial leather steering wheel, automatic air conditioning, the two big screens, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, as well as four USB-C sockets, front and rear parking sensors, and a full suite of safety systems including advanced forward anti-collision with pedestrian and cyclist detection.
Our GT-Line test car came with 19-inch alloy wheels, a GT-Line styling pack, automatic flush door handles, privacy glass, artificial leather upholstery, electric lumbar support adjustment, the sliding centre console table, ambient lighting, wireless phone charger, and the ability to use your smartphone as a digital key, plus the big 81kWh battery, for £38,715.
Verdict
It is a bit of a shame that the EV3 feels so ordinary to drive — especially when you remember how good the bigger EV6 and EV9 are — but for family buyers this is a really good all-round option. The EV3 has the kind of space and practicality that families need, and in this big-battery form the sort of non-stop range that makes electric life much easier. It’s also well priced, well equipped, and has the usual reassuring Kia combo of good quality and that lengthy warranty.
