Kia EV3 review: A sensible choice for its price and spec

Percentage-wise, of the top five selling marques in this country, Kia has topped the table in gained sales thus far in 2025, putting up a figure of 2,497 units sold as against the 2,371 they sold early in 2024 – a 5.31% increase.

In that top five, only Volkswagen is also in the black, while Toyota, Hyundai and Skoda are all down; broadening out the stats into the top ten, Peugeot (up 2.76%) and Dacia (up a staggering 14.61%) are the only others posting positive figures, while such as Nissan, Ford and Audi are all in the red.

Dacia aside – and we can give ourselves a brief ‘told-you-so’ pat on the back when it comes to the Romanian marque – Kia are the stand-out performers and some industry experts are predicting that across Europe and the rest of the globe it could well surpass fellow Korean car manufacturing giant Hyundai in the coming years.

This is a very complicated scenario because Kia is nominally owned by Hyundai but, under a very obfuscated take-over deal which actually saved the lesser partner from going bust several years ago, Kia retained the sole rights to any technological breakthroughs it made (and particularly so in the EV field).

Given the company’s innovations with electric motors and so forth, this puts it in an incredibly strong position and it is from this locus of potency, as it were, that Kia intends to use its muscle.

Now, while the sister companies share platforms and other technologies, Kia does have exclusive rights to certain tech it has developed in-house and it is this factor which is expected to propel it to great sales heights.

It is not that the company is not doing well anyway, but expect to see in the short term, the Kia name becoming more and more prominent. Sure, it has made bundles with generations of the Sportage, Sorrento and others, but in the new era we’re in the company is looking to electrics to spur growth.

While we have been very impressed by both the excellent and the imposing EV9 – although perhaps less so by the Kona EV – this week we put the crosshairs on the new EV3, which arrived in Ireland late last year and already clocked up 300-unit sales in January alone.

That’s a pretty striking tally straight out of the blocks but, to be honest, not completely unexpected because this car is going to be a formidable force in the EV market in the coming months and years simply on the basis of being a particularly good car.

Cool-looking in a strange sort of post-modernist way and more redolent of the squarish EV9 than the svelte EV6, the EV3 is truly a striking piece of kit and particularly so because of the pastel-coloured overcoats it has been decorated with.

It is the first car to be built on Kia’s e-GMP platform (there will be many others) and while its dimensions are roughly similar to the Kona EV, it has as much interior space as you’d see in the Sportage and that will appeal especially to family buyers.

Quirky design elements abound, from the front and rear light clusters – all LED, natch – to the heavy (and shiny) wheel arch cladding, it has a pretty unique appearance that definitely stands it out and undoubtedly this will be another feather in its cap when it comes to sales.

And despite its blocky look, it is actually quite the slippery thing as Kia has done a lot of work on the aerodynamics; a 3D underbody jacket covers 80% of the car’s underside and a modified version of the Active Air Flap seen on the EV6 adjusts shutters in the nose to help with higher speed drag. These innovations not only help the car slip smoothly through the air, but aid range.

Range, of course, is key when attracting buyers to the EV segment and with the bigger of two battery sizes on offer (one is 58.3 kWh and the other, which we tested, 81.4 kWh) and Kia claims the former will give you just over 434 km, while the latter will give you a fraction over 600 km.

As we know, car companies always like their consumption figures to be on the positive side – was that not always the way, even with ICE cars – so, even as a normal driver, you will struggle to hit the 600 km mark with the bigger battery size and a more realistic target is somewhere around 525 km.

Still, by any standard of EV that’s not bad and is a workable range even for people who cover plenty of distance for whatever reason. That you will charge it from 10 to 80% in just thirty minutes is another positive, as is its vehicle-to-grid abilities.

Out on the road, the EV3 is not a standard-bearer in any regard, but is as good as anything else out there in the ride and handling areas. It is an easy-going drive with good grip levels and little lean and the suspension will handle most surfaces without making things in the cockpit in any way uncomfortable.

There were 19” alloys on the GT-Line model we tested and even with wheels that size, which can make the ride a touch brittle, the car seemed well damped and controlled. The steering too is sharp and nicely weighted and although there is a touch of understeer as it is a front-driver, it is not unpalatable.

Many EVs have braking systems which can seem dull and unresponsive, but not here and even with an active regeneration system in operation, the response is immediate and very effective. Performance too is significant, with a system total of 201 bhp, a 0-100 km/h time of 7.7 seconds and a top speed of 170 km/h.

The interior is a cool as the exterior and laid out nicely; tech and physical buttons are mixed well and the twin screen infotainment/instrument cluster layout are crisp and clear and easy to use and assimilate.

In the GT-Line model, soft-touch plastics abound and the feeling given off is one of tactility and sophistication. It might not be so good further down the EV3 food chain, but it’s certainly classy here.

There’s a tiny ‘frunk’ under the hood, but boot space is well up to class norms and the specification of this top-of-the-range model is very generous to say the least. Stuff like the pop-out door handles add to the car’s modernist leanings.

All told this is one of the best EVs we have come across of late and is priced and specified to a point where it makes purchasing sense and not just because it salves your environmental conscience. It is a clever car and one which signposts clearly that Kia is at the top of its game here.