Kia EV3 review

From £32,995

Exciting newcomer aims to establish itself as the 'VW Golf of EVs'

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The Kia EV3, a £32,995 new electric crossover that’s Volkswagen Golf-sized in its footprint, is exactly the kind of car that buyers could default to in the electric car era as they have done to the Golf in the combustion one. 

The EV3 gets to near price and spec parity with a 2.0 TDI Golf without skimping on battery capacity: your £32,995 gets you a 58kWh battery with 267 miles of range in base (but Golf-levels of kit still) Air trim. An extra £3000 gets you an 81kWh battery with 372 miles of range, also in Air trim. At £35,995, this already looks like a sweet spot in the EV3 range. 

The EV3, then, can go almost like-for-like in a comparison against a similarly-equipped Golf, regardless of their differing powertrains; you’d buy the Volkswagen because you like it and it happens to be a diesel, and you’d buy the Kia because you like and it just happens to be electric. Both come from top, established brands in the UK with sizeable dealer networks. 

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DESIGN & STYLING

Kia EV3 review 2024 02 rear tracking

The EV3 is boldly styled on the outside and looks like a shrunken Kia EV9, entirely a compliment as that is one of the most recognisable and visually interesting cars on sale today.

It’s officially based on a scaled down version of Hyundai Motor Group’s E-GMP architecture used on the likes of the Kia EV6 and Hyundai Ioniq 5 with MacPherson strut front suspension and a multi-link set-up at the rear, but being 400V rather than 800V it has just as much in common with the Kia Niro EV. 

The EV3 has a slippery body for a 0.26Cd drag coefficient but there are all sorts of other hidden eco features in the car, including a shrunken HVAC system.
Mark Tisshaw
Editor

Whatever the architecture, it’s these economies of scale from an ever-growing range of electric models of all different shapes and sizes, coupled with a near-decade of EV building behind them with developments in battery design that’s allowed what feels like a ‘moment’ to be reached in such a package being offered for the price. 

The EV3 is 4300mm long, 1850mm wide and 1560mm tall, with a wheelbase of 2680mm - on the tape measure, this makes it marginally larger than a Golf and also electric rivals such as the Volvo EX30.

It’s also very close to the aforementioned Niro EV in size, a car starting from just over £37,000, so inevitably the fresher, newer and cheaper EV3 will steal sales from that model. Yet that’s progress, and the Niro’s focus will instead be on hybrid versions and fleet sales.

INTERIOR

Kia EV3 review 2024 03 driving

In the interior, the predominant feeling is one of spaciousness mixed with clever design and lots of visual interest. There’s ample legroom in the back, and the low centre tunnel makes things feel roomy in the front cabin, too.

There are several storage areas and plenty of other cubby holds, as well as a big 460-litre boot (almost 80 litres more than a Golf) and a 25-litre ‘frunk’ at the front that will take the charging cable.

Many of the interior materials are recycled, and a QR code on the dashboard can be scanned to show off more of the EV3’s eco-credentials, including what parts have been made of recycled materials. 
Mark Tisshaw
Editor

The material choice feels modern, with interesting fabrics and a nice touch of colour from the ambient lighting. A party piece of that is to flash red if you are speeding… So I’m told, anyway.

The interior display consists of two 12.3in units - one for the driver, one a touchscreen for the infotainment - with a 5.3in climate control panel sandwiched in between them. While the graphics are crisp, the information displayed on the climate panel in particular isn’t that clear and is partly obscured by the gear shifter on the steering column. Shortcut buttons below the touchscreen require too firm a prod to register inputs, too. 

Whether good or bad in operation or design, there is no evidence of cost-cutting in the EV3 in order to get to that price, certainly not in its material choice inside.

ENGINES & PERFORMANCE

Kia EV3 review 2024 22 performance

A single motor powers the front wheels and has 201bhp and 209lb ft of torque. This is the sole motor option offered at launch but dual motor versions will come with all-wheel drive, including a range-topping GT model with a 194bhp motor at the front and a 101bhp one at the rear. These won’t launch until around 2026 in the UK.

Beyond the impressive spec sheet and the headline price, the EV3 is thankfully backed up by being a very nice car to drive. A real moment for electric cars, indeed, when one can just become a car, and the powertrain pricing has true parity with legitimate combustion rivals without any artificial inflation or deflation.

Drive through an average speed check and the driver display will give you your average speed as you go through that section of road. 
Mark Tisshaw
Editor

The power delivery is nicely judged, not throwing you back into your seat when hitting the accelerator like in many an electric car, yet always offering more than enough power for overtaking or exploiting gaps in the traffic.

Its more compact dimensions make it good around town and feel nippy there, and while visibility is partly obscured by large pillars fore and aft the reversing camera works well and the blindspot monitoring system is a good one for lane changes. Large wing mirrors, too.

A development in the EV3 is a new i-Pedal, which allows for different levels of regenerative braking; before, it was quite aggressive with a binary ‘on/off’ feel to it, yet now the car will come to a stop across four different levels of regen and feels far more sophisticated and better resolved. 

RIDE & HANDLING

Kia EV3 review 2024 23 performance

The EV3 is a comfortable and relaxing car to drive. 

Our test route was largely city roads and drab sub-urban motorways, so not the kind of place where you can test its handling limits. Still, in these everyday conditions the EV3 performed nicely with composed handling and nicely-weighted controls. 

The wheel designs feature square patterns that make the wheels themselves look like they’re rolling square when they’re moving at low speeds. Makes you look twice
Mark Tisshaw
Editor

The steering feel was well judged and the ride on the soft side, almost Citroen like in bouncing above bumps, yet a firmer suspension tune will be given to European-spec cars. Our test car was a Korean-spec model.

While we tested the GT-Line model version, the only dynamic difference to the Air is that it has larger 19in wheels instead of the smaller 17ins of the Air, so it’s the Air with the long-range battery that is where our recommendation would fall. 

MPG & RUNNING COSTS

Kia EV3 review 2024 01 front tracking

Three trim levels are offered: Air, GT-Line and GT-Line S. The smaller 58kWh battery option is only available on Air trim, and the leap from the larger 81kWh battery version of the Air (£35,995) to that battery in GT-Line trim is £3500, as tested here.

GT-Line S trim is another £3500 on top again, and a version of that with a heat pump (the only EV3 offered with one) is a further £900, by which point you’re at the top of the range for a £43,895 outlay. 

The EV3 has superb efficiency. On an admittedly very hot day, we were returning a displayed 4.7 miles per kWh. That’s up there with Tesla and Lucid for efficiency.
Mark Tisshaw
Editor

Yet Air trim is likely all you’ll need as it gets you all the interior display screens, heated front seats and steering wheel, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a reversing camera, automatic climate control, wipers and lights, and all the active safety kit, which is less intrusive and annoying than in other recent Kias we’ve tested. 

The range is displayed as a minimum and maximum figure, along with a best-guess estimate, handy for knowing if you can eke out more with recuperation-friendly city miles to come versus extended motorway cruises that will hurt the range.

On a warm day, our car indicated 350 miles from its charge would be possible. Impressive, and it will charge faster than a Niro EV, too, although the peak 128kW charging speed is well down on the EV3's fastest-charging electric car rivals. 

You can order an EV3 now and the first cars will be with customers by the end of this year. 

VERDICT

Kia EV3 review 2024 24 front static

On this early evidence, Kia looks to have produced one of the best electric cars yet and has done so without a price penalty over similarly-sized and equipped internal combustion engined models.

It looks great, and drives nicely too,  plus its range and efficiency could prove to be class leading. Generous standard equipment levels are another tick.

So what’s the catch with the EV3? It doesn’t really seem to have one. It’s just a good car, for a good price, that happens to be electric. 

Mark Tisshaw

mark-tisshaw-autocar
Title: Editor

Mark is a journalist with more than a decade of top-level experience in the automotive industry. He first joined Autocar in 2009, having previously worked in local newspapers. He has held several roles at Autocar, including news editor, deputy editor, digital editor and his current position of editor, one he has held since 2017.

From this position he oversees all of Autocar’s content across the print magazine, autocar.co.uk website, social media, video, and podcast channels, as well as our recent launch, Autocar Business. Mark regularly interviews the very top global executives in the automotive industry, telling their stories and holding them to account, meeting them at shows and events around the world.

Mark is a Car of the Year juror, a prestigious annual award that Autocar is one of the main sponsors of. He has made media appearances on the likes of the BBC, and contributed to titles including What Car?, Move Electric and Pistonheads, and has written a column for The Sun.