Good styling is a prerequisite for any car. Ever since Harley Earl of General Motors started to create colours and trim outside of the basic bog-standard black or red, back in the 1930s, the styling of cars has become one of the most important ways to influence buying decisions.
One wonders what the sales trajectory of Chinese SUVs will become once people work out that they all basically look identical.
There are some cars more characterful in their looks than others, and it might seem odd to say that the Kia PV5 is one of them. Odd, because the PV5 is at its core Kia’s new van, the first panel van that the company has ever put on sale in Europe.
Panel vans are, for the most part, supposed to be devoid of style; just big rectangles with wheels designed to lug loads, not please eyes.
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The likes of the Volkswagen ID Buzz gave lie to that assumption, and now here comes the Kia, looking like Postman Pat and Captain Kirk got together and decided to design a car. Instead of the Volkswagen’s self-conscious retro-futurism, the PV5 is absolutely future-gazing, with an almost robot-like visage, and careful shaping and detailing that means its slab sides and vertical tail are rather more distinct than they might otherwise be. You could even call it cute.
Underneath, though, it’s dead serious. The PV5 is based on Kia’s new “Platform Beyond Vehicle” set-up, which borrows a lot of bits and pieces from the successful EV+number passenger car models, including batteries, motors and charging set-ups.
In this five-seat form (there is a seven-seat model on the way shortly), the PV5 packs a 71.2kWh battery slung down beneath the cabin and the load space, giving it a potential range of 416km.
It doesn’t get the ultra-fast 800-volt charging of the EV6 and EV9 cars, but it’s still not too dawdling at fast chargers. Better still, that range claim is pretty realistic – even with lots of motorway driving, the PV5 returned a real-world range of 300km-350km in our hands.
It’s also quite possibly the most practical car we will drive all year. True, there are others – such as that ID Buzz – which seats more and carries more, but the PV5 has a truly remarkable combination of practicality versus size.
At 4.6m long, it’s not over-burdened with bulk, and its width – 1,895mm – is positively trim by current standards. It’s also incredibly tight turning. I swear the front 16-inch wheels (unfashionably small, but that’s a good thing) can turn to almost 90 degrees, judging by the way this PV5 swishes and turns through urban streets. You won’t believe the parallel parking spaces you can squeeze into.
All of which is done with masses of interior space. There is so much storage in the cabin – multilevel door bins, storage areas in the centre console and the dashboard, even a pull-out storage drawer – that I ran out of junk to place into spaces, and I don’t travel light.
The front seats are elevated and very comfortable, and the PV5’s height means you can basically step straight into the cabin from the kerb.
The digital instruments and touchscreen infotainment are simple and easy to use (although it’s a shame that the PV5 doesn’t follow the passenger cars in having more physical cabin buttons), and while there is lots of cheap plastic, none of it irks.
Space in the back is marvellous. At 185cm tall, I have genuine stretch-out space, and even a handy plinth below the raised-up front seats on to which to plonk my outstretched feet.
There’s space for three adults to sit side by side, and Isofix anchors for child car seats (only two, though, which seems a little stingy).
In this single specification, both front seats and the outer two rear seats are heated, and there’s a standard heat pump heating system to warm up the rest of the cabin, which works commendably fast.
There’s even a three-pin domestic-style socket, although you’ll have to cough up extra for rear cupholders, as these are clip-on accessories.
The huge sliding side doors make boarding and alighting incredibly easy (although you only get tiny opening sections in the rear windows for ventilation).
The boot is enormous: 1,300 litres up to the luggage cover, with lots of covered underfloor storage for charging cables and cherished items.
The back seats fold, of course, but they do so at quite a lofty altitude from the low-set rear floor, so you’ll have to work around that, but there’s an extra 1,000 litres of luggage space if you do. The boot also gets sliding rails in the side panels, allowing other clip-on accessories to be used, and the vast tailgate is electrically powered (make sure you leave generous room behind when parking so that you can open it).
Of course, vans are usually rubbish to drive. Yet the PV5 isn’t. Sure, the suspension rumbles and clanks audibly over bumps (it’s actually quite smooth in its physical, if not its audible, reactions) and the large space in the rear acts as a boombox for road noise, plus there’s lots of wind rush around the large door mirrors.
But it’s all quite tolerable, and the surprisingly good stereo system drowns most of it out. With light steering and that tight turning circle, the PV5 feels agile, almost nippy, and certainly downright enjoyable. I had more fun driving this electric van than the supposedly sporty Skoda Elroq RS I sampled in the same week. The PV5, by contrast, is almost like a supersized Issigonis Mini – massively space efficient, and fun almost by accident.
And it’s not even expensive. At €42,200 including incentives, it’s about the same price as most rivals’ electric five-seat SUVs, and actually quite a chunk cheaper than Kia’s own EV5.
That also makes it a full €25,000 less than the cheapest VW ID Buzz. The Buzz, in fairness, is more powerful, longer-ranged, and seats seven – but that €25,000 buys the Kia a lot of leeway.
Charming, stylish, practical, affordable, and even a modicum of fun to drive. Honestly, if anyone wants me, I’ll be living in a van, down by the river.
Lowdown: Kia PV5 Passenger
Power: 120kW e-motor developing 163hp and 250Nm of torque, powering the front wheels via a single-speed automatic transmission.
CO2 emissions (annual motor tax): 0g/km (€120).
Electric consumption: 17.1 kWh/100km (WLTP).
Electric range: 416km (WLTP) 350km (Observed).
0-100km/h: 12.4sec.
Price: €42,550 as tested (PV5 Passenger starts from €42,550).
Our rating: 4/5.
Verdict: Accomplished, useful, and bursting with character. We love it.
