There once was a time when this land was dominated by hatchbacks. A time when anything resembling an off-roader belonged in a farmyard and Ford’s Focus did battle with the VW Golf for top spot on the new car sales table.
It may seem like an age ago, given that even the average supermini must come dressed up like a Halloween take on a Hummer to garner some sales. Yet it was just a decade ago.
Can the hatchback make a comeback in the EV age? The signs are not great. VW hyped the arrival of its ID.3, but it has achieved limited sales success compared its larger crossover peer, the ID.4.
Can the Koreans revive this format’s fortunes? The new EV4 gives us renewed hope.
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Kia has delivered a solid and composed performer. Whereas the EV3 was bland behind the wheel, the EV4 is properly engaging. Though it shares the same underpinnings, the tuning has clearly been tweaked to give a more dynamic and assured feel to the new model.
True, the various driving modes offer little difference in terms of feel, but this steering set-up delivers a balance between comfort and dynamics that is missing from the slightly smaller EV3.
The most obvious difference to those two siblings is where you sit: in the EV4 it’s closer to the ground. The lower driving position instils a greater sense that you are driving this metal rather than riding along inside it. It’s still not quite on a par with the hot hatch era cars of fossil fuel days, but it’s getting there.
Of course, there are other EV hatchbacks on offer: the Opel Astra Electric and Peugeot e-308 come to mind. None have sparked much buyer interest, probably because they feel more like conversions rather than fully-fledged EVs. They lack the dynamics of their fossil-fuel equivalents because of the extra battery weight, but also lack the pace of other EVs due to efforts to extend their range. They fall between two stools.
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In contrast, cars like the ID.3 and Cupra Born – arguably the best of the EV hatchbacks to drive – fell more contemporary and tap into the traits of EV driving. Like the Born, the EV4 never feels like a petrol car with a battery stuffed in its floor pan.
While people turn to crossovers for family space, the EV4 is surprisingly roomy, up front and in the back. We sat a 6ft 3’ colleague in the rear and he had more legroom and headroom back there than in most rival cars.
The sloping roofline does mean that an adult’s eye line will be level with the roof lining and looking down through the side windows, while the low seat position means your knees are slightly up in the air – you sit into this Kia’s rear seat rather than on to it. But it all means that four adults can travel in this car without complaints.
There’s also ample storage, with the usual array of cubbyholes, bottle holders and shelves, though they all seem to be made of hard plastics, which means that loose items will rattle and clatter.
Of the rest of the inside, there is little to spot that’s different from the rest of Kia’s EV range. It boasts the same big driving display and touchscreen set-up, accompanied by the same user-friendly toggle buttons for either air-con or entertainment.
The EV4’s various levels of regenerative braking range from one-pedal driving to nearly freewheel cruising, but the bite of the brakes could be better and more reassuring over the first few inches of pedal travel.
It comes equipped with the usual array of safety attire, but it’s worth lauding its ESP stability control, which manages to keep the car balanced without interfering with the steering. Even during a test on an airstrip, where the car had to zigzag around various bollards at speeds up to 70km/h to mimic an emergency manoeuvre, the Kia underlined its initial impressions as a solid, reassuring performer. Chinese brands take note: this is how you deliver safety tech without overly interfering in driving dynamics.
Our colleagues from Sweden also got the chance to test the rear alert system using a little crash test dummy. The system means the EV4 can apply full automatic brakes when reversing if it detects the sudden arrival of an obstacle, such as a small child or animal. Surprisingly not all modern cars feature this technology, but on the Kia we are happy to report the car performed full and smooth automatic braking without hitting the little crash-test dummy or the toy tractor it was riding on.
Power comes from a 400V front motor putting out 204hp (152kW), with a choice of either a 58.3kW or 81.4kW battery pack.
Along a test route that mixed smooth motorways, rougher local roads and even farm lanes, the EV4 hatchback remained comfortable, nippy and impressively agile. The motor’s power is ample for pacy driving on regular and country roads, plus overtaking on motorways.
As for range, Kia claims 430km for the smaller battery pack and 625km for the larger one. That may be a little ambitious to judge by our test in the 81.4kW version but you should be looking at over 400km, which is competitive with what you’ll get on its handful of hatchback rivals.
While our test car was a GT-Line trim, the Koreans are also working on a proper full-blooded dual-motor GT performance version of this car. That’s where we expect the extra punch and more engaging dynamics to come to the fore.
While we spent most time in the hatchback, we also had time in the similarly equipped fastback version. It’s quite a different car in stature and driving characteristics. Built in Korea, while the hatch is put together in Slovakia, the shape will take some getting used to, but Irish buyers who retain a grá for saloon-styled cars will appreciate the option. Given the choice, we’d opt for the hatch.
Pricing has yet to be announced, and Kia is unlikely to be able to match VW’s current ID.3 starting point of €31,780 for its smallest battery pack, but it is likely that pricing will compete with the ID.3 fitted with the 59kW battery at €36,000 upwards. Similarly with the prices of the Opel e-Astra, which starts at €35,849, or Peugeot e308 at just below €34,000. And yes, we realise how mad those figures sound when you are discussing a family hatchback.
The EV4 is not without flaws and tends towards comfort and smoothness rather than hot hatch performance – at least until the full-blooded GT version lands here. Those traits will be appreciated by traditional hatch buyers, but so will the more engaging steering feel and the greater sense of assurance and involvement you get from sitting that little bit lower and being fed that little bit more from the steering and suspension.
Can it revive the fortunes of hatchbacks? Probably not. But if the EV4 can tempt some buyers back from their crossovers, the hatchback might just get some revenge.
