Kia K4 review

Our opinion on the Kia K4

With the launch of the Kia K4, the Korean company has a new compact hatchback that takes the place of the Ceed in the company’s line-up. It’s larger than its predecessor, so it has more space within its five-door hatchback body. It’s not going to revolutionise the sector, but it offers a competent all-round drive and will be attractive to buyers in a shrinking class thanks to its long kit list and warranty, plus the use of traditional petrol engines under the bonnet.

About the Kia K4

Demand for SUVs from buyers and electric cars from legislators mean that the compact hatchback sector has seen better days, but the Kia K4 is looking to make waves in the market. It’s a bigger model than many of its rivals, so it offers plenty of space for family life, while the in-car tech is carried over from models such as the Sportage and EV3, so it’s user-friendly on the whole.

Under the bonnet, there’s no electrification to speak of, apart from a mild-hybrid set-up on the 113bhp 1.0 T-GDi three-cylinder petrol engine. This is available with a six-speed manual or seven-speed DCT automatic, and both versions feature the mild-hybrid system. The other engine option is a 1.6 T-GDi four-cylinder turbo petrol that comes exclusively with the seven-speed auto and is offered in two power outputs. The 147bhp version comes in GT-Line trim, while the 177bhp option is exclusive to GT-Line S spec. In contrast, the 1.0 T-GDi is available in Pure, GT-Line and GT-Line S variants. All cars are front-wheel drive.

At launch the Kia K4 is offered in the UK as a five-door hatchback, but a more practical Sportswagon is also offered here.

Kia K4 prices and latest deals

You’re looking at a starting point of around £26,000 for the Kia K4 for a 1.0 T-GDi manual in Pure trim. Adding an auto bumps up the price by £1,500, while GT-Line is £2,500 more than that and only comes with the auto. Moving from the 1.0-litre engine to the 1.6 T-GDi sees prices rise to around £31,500, while the GT-Line S with the more powerful 1.6 is around £36,500. Since the Kia K4 is quite new, there aren’t many discounts to be found, but keep an eye on the Auto Express Buy a Car service to find great deals on a new car.

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Overall, the Kia K4 offers a competent drive rather than an engaging one. There’s enough power from the 1.6 petrol and the chassis has a fairly compliant ride and decent grip, but there isn’t much fun to be had.

Performance, 0-60mph acceleration and top speed

First things first, the 1.0 T-GDi isn’t going to win any drag races. With 113bhp to haul around a hatchback with a kerbweight of around 1.5 tonnes, it’s slow by anyone’s reference. It’s even slower with the DCT twin-clutch gearbox attached, with a 0-62mph time of 12.3 seconds being a tenth of a second slower than the manual version’s. However, once the car is up to speed, it’s easy enough to maintain momentum, and there’s enough torque on offer so that you won’t instantly feel the need to change down a gear or two if you need a greater burst of acceleration.

The 1.6-litre engines are better, but not by a huge amount. The 147bhp version dips below 10 seconds at least, but if you want real performance, look elsewhere – even the most powerful K4 isn’t really a performance machine, especially when you consider the VW Golf with a 148bhp engine matches its 8.4-second 0-62mph time.

The main hindrance to the K4’s performance is its DCT twin-clutch transmission. It behaves more like a CVT auto than VW’s DSG system, allowing the clutches to slip so as to not overload the transmission, resulting in more of a steady build-up of speed than any kind of instant punch.

Town driving, visibility and parking

With a low driving position, wide body and low nose the Kia K4 isn’t the easiest car to position at lower speeds. At least the light steering helps with manoeuvring, and there are plenty of safety systems on board to help you on your way. Lane assist is always on when you start the car, but we found the system to have quite a strong tendency to remain in lane, which could be a little disconcerting at times. A long press of a button on the steering wheel deactivates it.

Rear parking sensors and a reversing camera are standard on all models, while GT-Line adds a 360-degree system, but there are no front sensors available. One thing we’d like to see is the camera system activating if you’re crawling forward at very low speeds into a parking space, it would make it a lot easier to judge your position without having to fumble for reverse first.

The ride at lower speeds can get a little fidgety on bumpy roads at 30mph, especially in GT-Line cars with larger alloy wheels, but it’s not enough for it to be harsh, and overall the K4 is reasonable. Throttle response is fine, but you’re not going to be sprinting off the line in any version of the K4 really.

Country road driving and handling

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On faster roads, the suspension offers a reasonable amount of comfort, but not much in the way of driving fun. Overall, the suspension does a fair job of soaking up larger bumps, but uneven surfaces can cause the suspension to deliver an unsettled edge, taking the sheen off the car’s ability to deliver a relaxing drive.

At higher speeds the 1.6-litre engine is a decent performer, although the hesitant gearbox does limit its flexibility. Ask for more power and it takes a moment for the gearbox to react and kick down, so if you do need a burst of speed you need to plan ahead to use it.

As in town, the light steering is easy to manage, but there’s no real weight to the wheel and little in the way of feedback, which further limits the K4’s ability to deliver fun. At least there’s good grip on offer, although body roll is obvious when you’re pushing on.

Motorway driving and long-distance comfort

The K4 remains compromised at higher speeds, with the secondary ride delivering a fidget that spoils an otherwise comfortable experience. A long wheelbase helps the car to feel stable at speed, although road noise at the national limit, especially on concrete surfaces spoils cabin comfort.  

There are elements of the Kia K4 that feel quite American. The chunky T-shaped drive selector is one particular piece of engineering that seems out of place when many other companies are making their drive selectors as small as possible. Meanwhile, the K4’s long wheelbase and wallowy ride feel as if they’ve been designed for the US market in particular. - Dean Gibson, senior test editor

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The concept of a petrol hatchback is at odds with the range of cutting-edge electric vehicles that Kia has launched recently, and the Kia K4 certainly feels like a step back to another era. The lack of hybrid tech is an obvious omission, and the 1.0 T-GDi is the only version that offers fuel-saving mild-hybrid technology, too.

In comparison with most rivals, the Kia K4 offers poorer official figures, and the 1.6 T-GDi that we tested proved to be less efficient than a VW Golf 1.5 TSI with a nearly identical power output. While Kia quotes fuel economy of 43.5mpg for the 147bhp version of the 1.6, we just about managed 39.7mpg on a route that included a mix of motorway, country and urban roads. The Golf on the other hand has an official figure of 51.4mpg, and we saw 47.4mpg from the car. 

Combine the VW’s figure with a 50-litre fuel tank, and you’ll easily achieve a 500-mile range, but the Kia has a slightly smaller tank at 47 litres, so only manages around 400 miles on a tankful of unleaded.

Insurance groups

Ratings for the Kia K4 start in Group 16 for the 1.0 T-GDi in Pure form, whether you pick the manual or automatic version, and bump up to 17 for the GT-Line-spec car. Adding the 1.6 T-GDi moves the K4 up to Group 24, while the more powerful GT-Line S is in Group 27.

Tax

High emissions mean company car tax bills will be steep even when compared with similar petrol-powered hatchbacks. Even the base model sits in the 31 per cent bracket, so you won’t be paying any less than £1,500 a year in contributions at the 20 per cent rate, while a VW Golf will be lower to the tune of around £200 a year courtesy of lower tax bandings.

Depreciation

Figures in the 43-48 per cent range are fine at the moment, but the K4 is still a new arrival to the market, so we can expect those figures to fall once it’s established. For reference, the outgoing Ceed was in the 44-46 per cent range, while the standard petrol VW Golf hovers around the 44 per cent mark.

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From the outside the Kia K4 has familiar Kia design cues yet still looks distinctive, with its slender lights and full-width grille helping it to look low and wide, although the wheels do look a little small in proportion to the rest of the car.

Interior and dashboard design

If you’ve sat in any recent Kia, then the K4 will be a home from home. The huge T-shaped drive selector seems a little out of place, but the rest of the cabin shares much with the rest of the Kia model range. There are flashes of light grey trim on the centre console, doors and steering wheel to break up the monotony of the dark grey and black interior, while the mottled fabric on GT-Line cars looks distinctive.

The twin-screen set-up is the same as you’ll find in cars such as the EV3 and EV9, but as with those cars, the square climate control panel that splits the two displays is obscured by the steering wheel rim, so you have to peer around it to find functions such as the heated screens or temperature settings. Thankfully the latter can be controlled via toggles below the central air vents, where you’ll also find air speed and direction toggles, which are linked to displays that pop up on the main screen. We wish all of the climate settings were grouped together, though, and not spread around separate parts of the dashboard.

Materials and build quality

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While the colours in the cabin are restrained, at least the quality of the materials is up to a good standard. The fabric upholstery feels good, as does the artificial leather, while Kia has moved away from gloss-black plastic on the centre console and dashtop, favouring a matt finish instead that should be more resilient to knocks and scratches.

Infotainment, sat-nav and stereo

As already mentioned, the K4 comes with a familiar touchscreen set-up, but Kia has fitted the shortcut keys from the EV3 here instead of the twin-function panel that’s seen in the Sportage. We’d prefer that to the secondary climate panel that sits between the infotainment screen and driver’s display. Another issue with that display is that not only is it difficult for the driver to see, if a passenger wants to use it, it’s a bit of a long reach away.

The main touchscreen is easy enough to use, and the graphics are fair, although the white on black format does look a little basic when compared with some rivals. 

You can sweep the screen left and right to select different functions but there are too many sub-menus to negotiate, especially for the driver assistance tech. Rather than keep everything on one screen, you must scroll down for some functions, which can be distracting on the road.

Smartphone connectivity is simple, though, and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto can both connect wirelessly.

At launch in the UK there’s just a five-door hatchback body to choose from. However, a K4 Sportswagon, which is similar in concept to the Kia Proceed shooting brake, is scheduled to arrive here later in the year. What we won’t be getting is the K4 sedan, which is available in Australia and the Americas. This version is nearly a foot longer than the hatchback and has a sloping sportback-style rear end, although it still only has an opening tailgate - the glass is fixed. Non-EU models come with the 1.6-litre turbo motor or a 2.0-litre naturally aspirated unit. - Dean Gibson, senior test editor

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Kia markets the K4 as a ‘C/D sector’ model, which means that it sees the car as somewhere between a Ford Focus and a Ford Mondeo in size. As a result, this five-door hatchback is relatively large when compared with cars such as the VW Golf, and this means there’s a decent amount of space inside.

Dimensions and size

While the Kia K4 is longer and wider than a Golf or Vauxhall Astra, it’s actually lower, giving it a bit of a sportier look than other hatchbacks. 

Seats & passenger space

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The part-artificial leather seats are comfortable on the whole, and have a good range of adjustment to get comfortable. Visibility is fair, although the bonnet does drop down ahead of you, making it tricky to know where the front of the car is. For that reason alone we’d like to see front parking sensors fitted.

Towards the rear, visibility is fairly good, although the rear wiper is tucked under the rear spoiler and sweeps down to clear the back window. When the screen is dirty, that means there are large parts of the screen that aren’t cleared by the blade, which limits rear visibility a little.

Storage space is good in the front, with a wide and deep centre console tray that has a pair of pop-out cup holders in it, and there’s a tray ahead of the drive selector which is where the wireless phone charging pad is located. Above this are two USB sockets.

Legroom and headroom in the back are generous, and kneeroom is good, too, which is handy because the front seats have hard backs. A single cargo net is mounted to the back of the front passenger seat, while both front seats have Kia’s familiar humped backs that can be used to hang a jacket over. There’s a small transmission tunnel that encroaches on foot space for the middle seat, but otherwise room is fine. Twin air vents and a pair of USB sockets are included here, but the door bins are only big enough for a drinks bottle.

Boot space

There’s a generous 438 litres of space on offer in the back of the Kia K4, which is only really bettered by the Skoda Octavia in the hatchback class. The boot release takes some finding to start off with, because it’s offset by the reversing camera that’s located between the rear lights. It’s mounted to the right of the camera, while a high load lip will hamper lifting heavy items in and out of the K4.

There are no false floors or other tricks here, just a simple, rectangular floor with high sides and a back seat that has a small ski hatch and an offset split folding system that leaves a bit of a step in the floor.

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While the Kia K4 hasn’t been tested by Euro NCAP, it uses the same underpinnings as the Kia Niro, and that car earned a five-star safety rating when fitted with Kia’s Drive Wise safety pack. This pack is fitted as standard to the UK-bound K4, so you can rest assured that the car will offer the highest level of safety, whichever version of the K4 you choose.

There is Lane Keep and Lane Follow assist, although these can be deactivated via a button on the steering wheel if you find them a little too aggressive, while intelligent speed assist beeps to warn you of changes in speed limit and if you’re exceeding the posted limit. Again you can deactivate this via a long press of the steering wheel mute button on the volume control. We did find that the system was quick to pick up on speed limit signs, although it did have a tendency to come up with false limits on occasion. Blindspot collision avoidance and auto hold are also fitted.

Kia’s seven-year warranty has long been the benchmark by which all other aftersales cover is judged. However, some rivals now match this level of cover, so it’s no longer the unique selling point it once was.

Service intervals for the Kia K4 are every 12 months or 10,000 miles, whichever comes first. Kia has yet to confirm service costs, but a three-year plan for the Kia XCeed that uses the same engines is quoted in the region of £470.

• Best buy: Kia K4 1.0 T-GDi GT-Line

It’s not the fastest model around, but then no K4 is particularly rapid, but GT-Line does at least give you a generous amount of kit.

Kia K4 alternatives

Being a slightly larger than average hatchback means that the Kia K4 falls between conventional rivals such as the Volkswagen Golf and Hyundai i30, but doesn’t quite measure up to larger models, such as the Skoda Octavia. All three are worth considering, while other options that we are fans of include the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla, while the Vauxhall Astra and Peugeot 308 duo are also available, as are the Mazda 3 and Cupra Leon/SEAT Leon.