Kia EV4 2026 Review

The latest Kia EV4 range starts from just shy of $50,000 plus on-road costs for the Air Standard Range, rising to $64,690 for the GT-Line Long Range we’ve spent a week with here.

For the extra money, the GT-Line scores you 19-inch alloy wheels, LED projector headlights, a powered tailgate, sunroof, heated steering wheel, ventilated and heated front seats, premium relaxation seats, driver’s seat memory, ambient mood lighting and a two-tone GT-Line interior.

It also adopts the larger 81.4kWh battery, which gives it up to 612km of WLTP range. That’s 156km more than the two cheaper variants on offer.

The cabin is built around Kia’s 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, 5.0-inch climate display and 12.3-inch infotainment touchscreen, with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, satnav, Kia Connect and an eight-speaker Harman Kardon sound system. The GT-Line also gets tech modernities like a head-up display and wireless phone charging.

Power comes from a front-mounted electric motor producing 150kW and 283Nm, driving the front wheels through an automatic transmission. The GT-Line’s NCM battery can charge from 10 to 80 per cent in around 31 minutes on a 350kW DC fast charger. Three-phase AC charging at 11kW takes just over seven hours.

Safety equipment is the usual Kia kit, with autonomous emergency braking, lane keeping and lane following assistance, adaptive cruise control, blind spot collision avoidance, rear cross traffic collision avoidance, driver attention monitoring and front and rear parking sensors all standard.

The GT-Line adds a surround-view camera, a much-needed blind-spot view monitor (which I’ll talk about later on), safe-exit assist, reverse parking collision avoidance and remote smart park assist. There are seven airbags to keep occupants safe, including a front-centre airbag.

The EV4’s biggest party trick might be how much space Kia has managed to squeeze into a sedan… or maybe I’d just forgotten how spacious sedans actually are. The back seat is surprisingly roomy making this a convincing alternative to the SUV if you don’t actually need an SUV, which, I would argue, many people don’t. There’s loads of legroom, while the cabin feels modern and futuristic without sacrificing usability.

The materials are another highlight, with some lovely touches throughout the cabin. The head restraints in particular are ridiculously plush and comfortable – almost like memory foam pillows – while the seats themselves have a relaxed, lounge-like feel. Their heating functionality is also top-notch. They warm up quickly, and once you understand Kia’s slightly unusual air-conditioning controls, they’re simple to use.

The 612km claimed range of this longer-range model is also reassuringly usable. You’re not constantly calculating whether you’ll make it to your destination, and I like that Kia gives you a minimum and maximum range estimate rather than pretending it can predict your driving perfectly. Our consumption averaged out at 15.4kWh/100km, which is also impressively efficient.

Then there’s the way it looks. The EV4 is properly distinctive, and the headlights look particularly cool at night. It might not be to everyone’s taste, and even I can admit that from certain angles it looks kind of odd, which could probably land it in the “what’s not so good” section of this review for others. But I’m loving a bit of character these days. In this bright blue, I can absolutely see it becoming one of those cars that ends up as a Hot Wheels model one day.

And most importantly, it’s also a lovely thing to drive. Kia’s Australian chassis tuning gives the EV4 a comfortable, composed ride with light but accurate steering, making it feel more polished and peppier than its modest power output and heavy weight might suggest.

Vision is the biggest issue for me in this spaceship-looking thing. The car feels surprisingly wide from behind the wheel, and the rear blind spot is awful. You have to rely heavily on the blind-spot camera, but it doesn’t always feel quick enough, and there’s something uncomfortable about looking straight ahead and trusting a screen to tell you whether it’s safe to move over to another lane. The GT-Line’s blind-spot camera is a clever workaround for the EV4’s poor rearward vision, but the fact you need it so often is the real problem.

And while the back seats are spacious, there’s a catch: they’re set at quite a reclined angle. That’s lovely if you’re a passenger wanting to relax, but I wonder how practical it’ll be for kids, particularly when it comes to getting them in and out. My dad also struggled with the rear seating position – there’s plenty of length, but not quite as much headroom around the door opening as you might expect.

Although storage is plentiful, much of it sits quite low. The open centre console looks great and gives you plenty of space for all your bits and pieces, but shorter-armed passengers may struggle to reach the cup holders. I also found having so much of my stuff sitting exposed in the open console a little stressful from a theft perspective.

The other point that will set it apart on a shopping list is that while the EV4 is perfectly brisk, the 150kW/283Nm powertrain isn’t exactly jaw-dropping for a top-spec EV. At this price, you can find rivals that deliver considerably more pull.

Like all other Kia models I’ve reviewed, the driver-assistance tech gets a mixed report card. There’s a huge amount of it, which is great. And the core systems work well. But some of the alerts and interventions are still far too annoying. The worst offender is the chime that goes off when you’re slightly over the speed limit, and even more so when it chimes because it’s picked up the wrong speed limit.

I like the Kia EV4! Compared with alternatives like the Tesla Model 3, BYD Seal and even the Mazda 6e, there’s a level of robustness here that I really admire. It feels and acts like a Kia with an EV powertrain, rather than an EV that happens to have a Kia badge on it.

It also makes a pretty convincing case for choosing a sedan over an SUV. There’s loads of space inside, the ride is comfortable, the range is excellent and it’s easy to live with day-to-day. Range anxiety is low, four adults can travel comfortably and there’s plenty of storage, even if some of it isn’t as accessible as I’d like.

The biggest question mark for me is vision. You really need to be comfortable relying on the GT-Line’s blind-spot camera, and the annoying driver-assistance alerts are still classic Kia. But if those things don’t bother you, the priciest version of the EV4 is a decent electric alternative to the SUV-heavy market.

2026 Kia EV4 GT-Line at a glance:
Price: $64,690 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Powertrain: Single permanent magnet synchronous motor
Output: 150kW/283Nm
Transmission: Single-speed reduction gear
Battery: 81.4kWh lithium-ion
Range: 612km WLTP
Energy consumption: 14.5kWh/100km
Safety rating: Five stars (2025)

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