Kia EV2 review

From the front seat you could think this was a bigger car. There's masses of headroom – we were left wondering why they didn't drop the roof, save frontal area and reduce overall drag. Also lots of width, both actual and perceptual thanks to the wide screen and straight-line dash architecture.

In the back, less so. For a short car it's actually pretty space-efficient because the upright seats, front and back, let the people behind tuck their feet under the ones in front. But knee room is a bit tight.

The general scheme in the base car (not GT-Line) is shades of grey, with little lime-green pips scattered about. Strips of rather threadbare grey fabric run over parts of the dash and door cards, but otherwise it's hard mouldings. Seats are shapely, which matters more. Original touches include the integration of speaker grilles as door handles.

And the extravagance of screenery and buttonage certainly lifts the place from visual and operational points of view. It's the standard modern Kia system, and in many ways a very good one.

Screens first. The driver's display has odd graphics (what was wrong with round dials?) but loads of info. Next to it a climate screen so you can change air distribution and fan speed in a trice. Then the central screen across which you can smear multiple tiles or bigger windows. It's quick to use, but because you can put so much on its homescreen, you actually don't need to touch it as often as many one-window systems.

Now the buttons. Roughly 30 buttons are distributed round the driver's post, plus the ones on the steering wheel and stalks. That instant eyes-off access to things you want in a hurry – parking camera, lane assist, mirror aiming, cabin temperature, wiper speed – is something we're increasingly denied.

The further back you go, the more you see this is a small car. The boot is short front to back, but is deep, with plenty of volume below the false floor. Total there is 362 litres. There's a froot/frunk too, but barely big enough for a charge cable. Think of it as a front glovebox. Cabin storage is typically EV-generous.

You get a charge pad for your phone, and several USBs, the back ones sitting conveniently in the backs of the front seats –­ easy to find and less likely to be kicked.