Kia EV3 review

The EV3 is a sturdy, sure-footed, easy drive. You climb in, prod the on/off button on the column stalk and twist forwards for Drive or backwards to Reverse. Then get on with singing along to the radio for entertainment.

Not the most exciting drive then?

Of course not, but that wasn’t in the EV3’s remit. It was supposed to be comfy everywhere, easy to place in town and have that sense of rufty crossover tuftiness that makes people pick, say, a Juke over a Micra.

You’ll note the reassuringly consistent-weighted steering, the sensibly calibrated pedals that don’t waste e-torque as wheelspin or create an on-board moshpit when braking… and never think about any of the controls again.

Kia has gamely attempted to liven things up with a Drive Mode button on the steering wheel, but the main effect it has on your experience is to redecorate the instrument screen and ambient strip lighting. Although, the frictionless coasting function apparent in Eco mode is useful for eking out maximum efficiency. So, keep it in green.

Speaking of efficiency…

We recorded 3.5 mi/kWh in the 58kWh Air and 2.9 in the heavier GT-line S. Strong numbers for a sit-up-and-beg box with the heating dialled up against a frigid December day.

Albeit, said cold day was spent largely on A- and B-roads with only one brief national speed limit jaunt, where the EV3 strolled along with a ruffle of wind disturbance from the mirrors. Not too bad considering it looks to have the aerodynamic properties of a Lego Death Star.

We’d reckon on a real-world range of 210-230 miles for the standard range battery, and 285+ for the long-ranger.

Something we really like is Kia’s inclusion of a ‘max’ and ‘min’ range calculation in the instrument readout, either side of the main range figure. Minimum is your worst case scenario if you’re in a hurry and forget to pre-condition. Max is the furthest reaches of the battery’s endurance, if you’re prepared to coast down hills, drive in a zen-like state and avoid motorways. A simple idea, but a really helpful one. Mercedes did something similar in the EQS, but it went unnoticed. Because no-one bought one.

And what about speed? Excitement? Thrills and spills?

This isn’t a fast car: the fastest you’ll do 0-62 is 7.7 seconds (base-spec Air) and a toy-laden GT-line S with the long-range battery knocks on the door of 8s. But so does a boggo Golf or Qashqai, and they’re nowhere near as fuss free on the way. Top speed is 105mph.

There’s a flicker of torque-steer, but nothing that’ll make EV3-shaped holes in your neighbour’s fence. We found that at very low, traffic-creep speeds, the throttle was ever-so-slightly binary – a touch on/off in other words. But the three regen braking settings accessed via clicking the paddleshifters are nicely judged – beware the ‘Auto’ setting which isn’t as clued up on gradients or braking-distance management as BMW’s superb version.

Will the ride get on my family’s nerves?

Doubt it. When we first drove the EV3 it was on Korean spec ‘waterbed’ suspension which gave it the primary ride characteristics of an underfilled bouncy castle. Tightening things up for European tastes hasn’t resulted in teeth-shattering road manners, though the GT-line cars on 19-inch wheels rumble more over potholes and drains.

Nothing annoying about the drive then?

You might find some of the driver assistance alerts and active safety systems a touch irritating. We did. The EV3 is not alone in this.

Kias bong to alert you to the speed limit changing, and then like all cars now there’s another bong if said limit is exceeded by 2mph.  Switching this compulsory feature off used to require a trip to a touchscreen sub-menu, but it’s now shortcutted to by holding the volume knob in for a few seconds.

We also found the lane keep assist to be over-eager to centre the car in its lane particularly on grimy back roads where white lines weren’t visible. This gets a dedicated ‘off’ button on the steering wheel.

Meanwhile, the driver attention monitoring system is simply OTT: we got the scary red eye icon of doom twice in the first 20 minutes of our test, warning us to pay attention to the road ahead or consider taking a break.

Does Kia think the EV3 is so snore-inducingly dull that it has to wake you up almost from the moment you set off? It also pinged when adjusting the near-side mirror for parking, and when momentarily glancing at the touchscreen.

Tech like this is now mandated. But it needs to be calibrated with better accuracy and manners if owners are going to be content to leave it on to do its job.