2025 Kia EV3 Review: Boring But Brilliant

The Kia EV3 isn’t necessarily the sort of electric car we get overly excited about at Car Throttle. It’s very much at the sensible, clean transportation end of the EV spectrum rather than the face-melting YouTube drag race bait end.

But we do like ordinary cars too, especially if they’re well-engineered, thoughtfully designed, and generally suitable to recommend to friends and family who care more about running costs and charging rates than 0-62mph times and peak lateral G.

The EV3 gets off to a good start. It sits on Hyundai and Kia’s EV-specific E-GMP platform, and there hasn’t really been a duffer on those underpinnings yet. In fact, it’s the same basic box of bits as our very favourite EV, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N.

Obviously, the EV3’s a very different car from that. A dual-motor version is on the way (to mainland Europe at least – UK sales aren’t confirmed yet), but for now, you’ve just got the one powertrain choice: a single motor powering the front wheels, and producing 201bhp and 209lb ft of torque.

There are two battery sizes, although the smaller 58.3kWh one only comes on the entry-level Air version. Optional on that, and standard on all trims above, is an 81.4kWh unit, good for a maximum quoted range of 375 miles, depending on how chunky your wheels are. Real-world, a number in the high 200s is easily achievable with decent weather and a sensible approach to accelerator use.

We’ve been driving the top-of-the-range GT-Line S, complete with a heat pump. It starts at a punchy £43,905 in this guise, although the EV3 as a whole kicks off at a much more reasonable £33,005. The bigger 19-inch wheels on this trim see quoted range drop to 362 miles, but you do get standard kit like a posh Harman Kardon sound system and vehicle-to-load capability that allows you to use your EV3 as a small mobile power station.

So far, so sensible, and the driving experience is much the same. With this beefier battery on board, 0-62mph is quoted at 7.9 seconds and top speed at 105mph. As those modest figures suggest, the EV3 doesn’t leap off the line like some EVs. Rather, it whisks you off from a standstill with utmost smoothness, getting you usefully up to the speed limit without ever threatening to raise your pulse.

In fact, if the concept of mindfulness were a car, there’s a good chance it would be the EV3. It does a superb job of acting as a cocoon, a little capsule of serenity for its occupants.

Whether around town or out in the countryside, the ride is unapologetically soft, although not in a floppy, 1970s American land yacht style. It’s only clipping along a fast A- or B-road that you get the slightest vague floatiness from beneath you – otherwise, it manages to do a superb job of soaking up bumps while staying controlled.

It’s not the sort of car worth patronising with several paragraphs about steering feel, on-throttle adjustability and on-the-limit grip, though. You turn the wheel, and the EV3 goes where you want it to in a safe and predictable manner. If you’re asking for more than that from a car like this, you probably need to get your priorities straight.

It’s very happy around town, although a nudge more brake regen would be welcome – even on the highest setting, there’s not much scope for true one-pedal driving. It’s just as competent at higher speeds, too, where intrusive noise is kept to a minimum and the interior remains a chamber of tranquillity.

That interior is where the EV3 really shines. Especially on this upper-spec car, it’s a wonderfully bright, airy and calming space to sit, and full of neat touches too. Mid GT-Line and top GT-Line S specs get a huge central armrest in the front that cantilevers out towards the dash, and can slide back and forth, doubling as a picnic table or temporary desk.

Options for you and your family to store your many things and charge your enormous range of devices are wide, with even a proper three-pin plug socket in the back. There are some non-trad, sustainability-forward materials in use here too, like the speckled recycled plastic surface for that big table. They won’t be for everyone, but they lend themselves to the funky aesthetic.

The seats are cushiony and supportive all around, and sitting on a dedicated EV skateboard platform means rear legroom is decent for a relatively small crossover. The boot space isn’t bad either, although the titchy frunk under the bonnet is a bit of a token inclusion. You could keep some socks in there during a weekend away, I suppose.

On the move, it’s all largely good inside, too. The enormous dual 12.3-inch screens look a bit intimidating at first, and it’s quite annoying to find that the dedicated section for fiddling with the climate control is mostly hidden behind the steering wheel. Once you’ve hooked up your phone to the infotainment display and got the instruments set up to your liking, though, you’ll barely have cause to use the screens.

That’s especially because the Big Two annoyingly intrusive driver assists – the lane keep assist and speed limit bongs – can both be silenced with long presses of steering wheel buttons.

As a sensible daily EV, then, it’s tricky to find things the EV3 doesn’t do well. It’s a serene, comfortable and stress-busting place to spend time, it gets a commendable range and charges quickly, and is perfectly decent – if not exactly thrilling – to drive. In a market stuffed full of compact electric crossovers, it’s easily one of the best, nailing all the small but important details – and at a competitive price, too.

The concept-ish looks and funky interior choices might polarise, but they undoubtedly help set it apart from some of the blander offerings in this segment (cough, VW ID4, cough). And while none of this might matter much to you, it’ll make a heck of a difference to a lot of people looking for a sensible family EV or a good company car.

If you are one of those people, and you’ve found this article through the magic of SEO rather than directly going to a website named after the part of a car that makes it go ‘vroom’, then the EV3 is unquestionably worth a moment of your time.