Kia EV3 review

Once you’ve located the starter button (on the drive selector stalk, found on the steering column), it’s all pretty conventional. Simply press your foot on the brake, twist the gear selector into drive mode, and you’re off. Easy peasy.

And there aren’t too many surprises to the way it goes down the road either, with its nicely weighted steering, linear acceleration and general easygoing nature. That said, we found the ride slightly knobbly around town and it never truly settled at higher speeds either, likely in part due to our top spec car’s 19-inch alloys.

Steering wheel paddles allow you to adjust the level of regen, or there’s an auto mode which uses sensors and the nav to scan the road ahead. We found it a little unpredictable: stick to good old manual mode instead.

A ‘Drive Mode’ selector button on the steering wheel allows you to switch between Eco, Normal, Sport, Individual and Snow modes. Do you really need five drive modes? No, you don’t. In reality, you’ll try them once and then leave it in its standard default driving mode everywhere you go.

Is it fast?

Well, it doesn’t offer the neck-jerking acceleration of some other EVs. All versions get the same 201bhp/209lb ft electric motor, which sends its power to the front wheels in its entirety.

The result is 0-62mph in 7.5 seconds in the Standard Range, and 7.7 seconds in the heavier Long Range. At least, in base-spec Air trim with its 17-inch alloys. The latter loses another two tenths on the GT-Line and GT-Line S's 19s. You won't notice the difference, though.

So progress is more leisurely than in, say, a Volvo EX30, which in entry single motor guise manages the same sprint in 5.7 seconds. But do that everywhere and you’ll rapidly deplete the range. Which defeats the object, doesn't it?

OK, what’s the range like?

Kia claims up to 372 miles of range from the 81.4kWh battery, though this drops to 347 miles in mid- and top-spec trims, with the bigger wheels again to blame (again). You’re looking at 267 miles max from the 58.3kWh battery.

That said, we saw 4.6mi/kWh on our first test drive, which matches Kia’s on paper figure. Though we’ll add in the caveat here that it was baking hot, and we rarely got above 50mph. So take that with a pinch of salt.

In normal day to day use reckon on about two-thirds of that in summer, slightly less in winter (particularly as a heat pump is a £900 option). When was the last time you really drove further than that all in one go? Yeah, we thought as much.