What's TG's best family car of the year? A big, friendly, cheap(ish) van

The Kia PV5 is an electric van with a Lego-like modular construction, meaning endless possibilities. Refrigerator unit? Pickup bed? Ice cream van? Anything is possible. For now, let’s focus on the passenger version with five, six or seven seats. Think of it as an ultra roomy estate car, or the VW ID.Buzz’s worst nightmare.

Why? It arguably matches the VW for design (albeit future fresh, not retro cool), edges it for efficiency and smashes it on price. That last one can’t be overstated – the five seat PV5 Passenger is over £20,000 cheaper than its German opposite number.

You get a choice of two battery sizes, offering 183 or 256 miles of range, all use a single motor FWD setup which makes 160bhp in the 71kWh version or 120bhp when married to the 51.5kWh lump.

It’s joyous to drive. The driving position is commanding – more like being at the helm of a ship than the wheel of a car – ride and refinement are plush, and crucially it’s got the feelgood factor we fawned over in the Buzz.

In the front, it’s fantastic. The giant glasshouse and squashy captain’s chairs make the first row a very special place to be. Material choices are pragmatic: hard wearing and easy to wipe? Yes. Posh? No. Given the PV5 also has to work as a serious van for serious work, that’s fair enough.

Any problems? It doesn’t charge fast enough. The PV5’s platform is relegated to 400V, not the 800V seen on other electric Kias, presumably to help facilitate its low price. As a result, rapid charging is limited to 150kW which is distinctly average in this day and age.

But that pales into insignificance when you learn that the PV5 starts at a scarcely believable £32,995, or £35,995 for the long range. Fully loaded it’s £38,295 – you could buy one of these and something silly for the weekend for price of a Buzz.

The VW may look a bit more cheerful inside but that doesn’t come close to justifying that chasm in price – especially since, in all other ways, the Kia either matches it or beats it. We didn’t expect to ever say this about our 2022 EV of the Year, but you would now officially have to be a bit mad to purchase one.

Read TopGear.com's review of the Kia PV5 here