Kia EV4 takes the pressure off

Kia has come up with a cure for all EVs ills and it’s a revelation.

In the EV4 all the bugbears have gone – high price and rubbish residuals, poor range, hassle of charging – leaving a car that is just a pleasure to drive and should be a delight to own.

The price tag of under £37,000 – less than £35,500 if you include the £1,500 Government Electric Car Grant – makes it eminently affordable.

And if it is cheap to start with then you have less to lose in two or three years’ time when you come to trade.

By the way, the warranties – seven-year/100,000-mile mechanical warranty, eight-year/100,000-mile high-voltage battery warranty, 12-year/unlimited mileage anti-perforation warranty and five-year/100,000-mile paint warranty – will also keep the second-hand value up.

Range? It’s an anxiety dispelling 350-plus, almost 500 if you are just pootling around town.

That is a usable amount of miles by any standard and it also means you don’t have to charge as often.

When you do, it seems to fill up in about an hour, another blessing. It really does take the pressure off.

EV4 also just nibbles at the battery content; I managed five miles per kilowatt hour. That equates to 200 miles per gallon – yowzah!

No longer do your feet get cold or does the range plummet when you use the climate control, rear demist or the excellent heated seats and steering wheel.

It is easy-peasey to switch off the keep lane assist (just one button on the steering wheel), plumbing in your phone to the Bluetooth and using the infotainment are a cinch as well. I think I love this car.

Beauty, of course, is in the eye of the beholder and judging by the number of Kias you see on today’s roads very few people have an issue with the corporate look. I certainly don’t.

EV4 follows that continued Korean move away from the traditional face of headlamps and grille giving the EV4 a more insect aesthetic.

I like it and I love the proportions of what is an uber-modern and right for this century vehicle.

It is long, low and wide giving it a squat, roadholding, purposeful look. That will do me. The magma red colour is cool too.

Inside, I’m torn because it all works so beautifully well. There are acres of space in the cabin, which is also supremely comfortable, light and airy.

The infotainment is incredible easy to use despite being dependent on touchscreen; it’s all so obvious somehow and in no way distracting like some can be. The wide dash offers all the info you will ever need. It’s a great interior.

If there is a tiny fly in the ointment it’s the look and feel of the materials. It’s as if Kia has scooped up all the discarded plastic water bottles from the oceans and made them into trim and cloth. Worthy and serviceable, yes, but plush, not so much. That said, this is easily forgiven.

As a driver’s car, the EV is pretty much faultless. With more than 200BHP available and the typical light switch-quick throttle response, the Kia flies from rest and has massive mid-range for safe, rapid overtakes.

The power is so instant you can actually use it to steer and pull you out of bends and the regenerative braking means you only use the one pedal – the throttle.

With all that poke, there is 283Nm of torque available too, sharp steering and great ride the EV4 is just so enjoyable to drive.

The ride is incredibly good at masking our horrendous moon crater-like roads and grip and body control are immense. The whole package is fabulous fun.

EV4, even in the mid-trim of Air, wants for very little. The only thing I would have liked is an electric tailgate and glass sunroof but they have to leave something in the list for more expensive variants.

As for value for money, well that’s not in dispute with EV4 offering everything you could possibly want in a vehicle for around £35,000, including the Government Electric Car Grant.

EV4 is so impressive. It’s a modern, attractive, stupendously capable EV that is well made and incredibly easy to live with.

If you are teetering on the edge when it comes to the matter of switching to electric this Kia will definitely tip you the EV way.