It might seem odd that a Korean brand is only now arriving with an all-electric mid-sized family crossover. After all, it was largely the Asian brands that ushered in this cursed mock-SUV era two decades ago.
Perhaps Kia didn’t want to electrocute its cash cow.
Compact and mid-sized crossovers dominate Irish sales, and Kia’s own Sportage remains one of the market’s safest bets. Its sister car, Hyundai’s Tucson, topped the sales charts last year, while in the EV world, Volkswagen’s ID.4 continues to lead the way.
The EV5, then, is Kia’s attempt to ease the journey to electric for Sportage owners ready to plug in – perhaps after dabbling with hybrid versions so far. With the diesel Sportage still selling so strong, there’s room for both cars to coexist.
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So what do you get for making the electric leap? Well, if you a current Kia owner, there will be little to surprise.
The styling is textbook crossover, with plenty of chunky lines creating the aura of a substantial vehicle. Slightly bigger than the Sportage, it has nice lines, accentuated by a smart colour palette. There are plenty of sharp creases – that is the way with Kia these days – and it has similarities to the firm’s flagship electric SUV, the EV9. It’s a good-looking car that will catch the eye on any driveway.
A standout from the crowd? No. Kia’s EV range looked radical when the EV6 landed five years ago. Since then it has fallen foul of the cookie-cutter approach, which means once-dynamic styling looks a bit run of the mill by now.
The EV5 sits on the same 400V e-GMP platform as the EV3 and EV4, and sharing much of the rest of its bits and bobs with the rest of Kia’s EV line-up.
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Performance comes from a single electric motor powering the front wheels and putting out 214bhp and 200Nm of torque. That delivers a 0-100km/h time of 8.4 seconds.
Power comes from a new 81.4kWh battery pack, which Kia says will deliver up to 530km in the entry level Earth 2 grade. That’s a sizeable battery, larger than some rivals, but its range is merely on a par with them.
Of course, the range depends on your EV economy. In the GT Line version, promising 505km range, we managed to get our consumption down to 18.7kWh/100km during one short trip, but in general we got 21kW/h/100km. That would suggest an everyday range for us of between 388km and 435km. Not bad but not headline-grabbing either.
Plugged into a fast Ionity station, we saw charging speeds touch nearly 90kW as we filled up the battery from 30 per cent to 85 per cent, though Kia claims it can take up to 130kW. Again, this is equal to most rivals, though others top out at 150kW or spend a longer time at a higher rate of charge rather than striving for a short peak.
If uniformity across the model ranges is the order of the day at Kia, then the same can be said of its driving style. If you are getting out of a Sportage, then you will find life behind the wheel of the EV5 completely familiar.
Driving is relaxed, if a little dull. The EV5’s light steering means it feels more like a supermini than a sizeable crossover. Which is fine around town, and relaxing on the motorway, but hardly engaging or entertaining. Sport mode adds a modicum extra punch, but it’s very nuanced. This is point and click motoring.
That said, it has a tendency towards oversteer, and in one unfamiliar bend, where we arrived in the 2.6-tonne EV5 a little too quick for the angle of the turn, it raised a few expletives from the passenger seat. On a positive note, the brakes are impressively gripping and positive, unlike some EVs where energy regen seems to take priority in the initial braking bite.
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The ride quality is in keeping with the driving style: smooth, comfortable and quiet. Even the usual tyre noise has been largely dampened from the cabin. This is all very effortless, but as such lacking engagement.
Which is fine for many family buyers, but disappointing when you compare it to its sibling, the far more engaging EV4. Instead, this has the driving traits of the duller EV3.
There’s the usual array of annoying beeps and dings from the driver assistance systems, but it doesn’t intrude too much on the driving dynamics.
The front cabin is a replica of other Kia EVs, with its touchscreen set-up, dark plastics and comfortable seats. A little more colour is badly needed across Kia’s interiors, but the build quality is as good as you get from rivals.
Rear seat space is ample for adults, and the backrests adjust as well to allow for the lankiest of teens to fit comfortably. Wide-opening doors make it friendly for parents with toddlers as well, though it can only take two Isofix child seats in the back row.
The boot is as you’d expect – ample, with 566 litres of luggage space with the rear seats up. It’s slightly better than you get on the VW ID.4 and its ilk, though the Tesla Model Y does seem to deliver more load lugging ability in this class. There’s also a decent 44 litre “frunk” under the bonnet, ideal for storing the charging cables.
Pricing starts at €47,625, which is higher than many rivals, but it’s well equipped and dressed in the entry Earth 2 guise. For another €2,175 you get an upgrade from 18-inch to 19-inch alloys, LED headlights and more comfort features on the front seats. Step up to €54,000 and you get features such as a panoramic sunroof and a heads-up display.
By now you will have spotted the thread in this review: this is a very competent car, but it struggles to stand out from the ever-growing crowd.
Kia seems to be caught in a bind. While this is rightly viewed as a smaller version of the big EV9, it needs a little bit of its own personality as well. No doubt the cost accountants in Korea are screaming at the design and engineering teams “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it”, and customer surveys are showing positive satisfaction ratings across Kia’s EV range. But in this madly overcrowded crossover market, the EV5 struggles to stand out.
Consider the massive fleet of rivals it’s up against, ranging from the VW ID.4 and its sister-brand siblings, to the new entry-grade Tesla Model Y Standard, the Renault Scenic and even the new Toyota C-HR +.
The Tesla is landing here at €42,990 – or under €40,000 if you can avail of their trade-in discount – while Toyota is offering its two crossovers, the BZ4X and C-HR+ at €42,160. Then there is the impressive Citroen C5 Aircross, one of the big surprises in this class and starting at under €40,000.
And that’s before we consider the Chinese entries, like the BYD Seal U and the sharply styled Xpeng G6. And we could go on for a another five paragraphs at least.
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From better pricing to longer range, or smarter styling to more space, many of these rivals have some sort of edge on the Kia.
The EV5 is a thoroughly capable family crossover. It’s comfortable, easy to drive, well built and sensibly specified. It’s familiar turf for anyone with experience of Kia.
Yet familiarity cuts both ways and in a market overflowing with strong alternatives, this Kia struggles to assert itself. It’s range, driving dynamics and design are all perfectly adequate, but it fails to rise above the class average. The higher price of the GT-Line only sharpens the problem.
Kia’s played this one too safe, so the EV5 fails to stand out from the crowd.
Lowdown: Kia EV5 GT-Line
Power: 217ps (214bhp) and 200Nm electric motor driving the front wheels and powered by an 81.4kWh NMC battery pack.
sCO2 emissions (annual motor tax) 0g/km (€120).
Electric consumption (official): 17.1kWh/100km.
Claimed WLTP range: 505-530km
Battery capacity: 81.4kWh (net)
0-100km/h: 8.4 seconds
Price: €54,000 as tested (starts at €47,625)
