Kia needed an electric Sportage on the market. The Kia EV5 is an (almost) perfect bet for the European family

Kia has been building one of the most interesting ranges of electric cars on the market for years. The EV family has managed to establish itself as one of the most attractive and risky options. From the Kia EV6 and its particular design to the more rational EV3 and the monstrous EV9.

Now, the company has placed the EV5 on the market, one of the most rational proposals and necessary for your current offer. South Koreans needed a car that would perform the functions of the Kia Sportage, one of their best-selling models, with completely electric technology.

And his proposal is as solvent as it is rational and attractive.

Kia EV5 technical sheet

Balance is the word

We could say explain the Kia EV5 with a football simile. The Kia EV5 is like a sober doorman.

If you don’t like football, a goalkeeper sober He is the one who flees from eccentricities, the one who turns spectacular saves into simple saves. And a stop is just the final result of a very in-depth previous exercise, of strenuous training to be strong in the legs and extensive knowledge to position oneself in the right place at the right time. Whether the stop is complicated because it is attached to the lower corner of one of the posts or to give security to the team by taking the ball in a lateral center.

Can an eccentric goalkeeper be good? Yes. And very good indeed. There are goalkeepers who earn their fame for stops that seem impossible, for having reflexes typical of the animal world. But it is no less true that many of these saves are only the result of having made a bad previous decision, of reaching the ball in a hurry for the simple fact of being worse positioned under the goal.

Something like this happens with the Kia EV5. It is not a spectacular car in any sense. But almost everything is done grating at a very high level. It’s not eccentric, it’s not surprising. But it is a good electric car. A very interesting option if you are looking for a good family car as the only vehicle at home.

And the Kia EV5 does not have the imprint and footprint of the EV9. Nor is it committed to that monolithic aspect of the EV3 that makes it so particular and that polarizes opinions about its design so much. This intermediate option seems like a kind of softened version of both cars without losing that muscular appearance, playing with straight and very pronounced edges.

Its appearance, in fact, makes it appear larger. Its 4.61 meters seem to be more when you have it in front of you for the first time. We are, however, at figures very much to the taste of the European customer, who in this type of car largely opts for vehicles slightly larger than four and a half meters. With a wheelbase of 2.75 meters, the space for the rear seats is very good and maintains a trunk that, adding a front space in which little more than the charging cables can fit, reaches 566 liters.

In the front area, it maintains the aesthetics and layout that has been accompanying the brand’s latest launches.

The instrument panel and the central screen are embraced by the same frame, with a third digital space that unites both surfaces. All of this is supported on a kind of very clean horizontal desktop with touch buttons on the surface. On the steering wheel and the central area we have a multitude of physical buttons with some details that we liked.

The instrument panel is displayed on a widely configurable 12.3-inch screen in its central area. In it we can find graphics of all kinds, from consumption to navigation or what the infotainment system is playing. Above the view we have a clear Head-Up Display with precise information for driving.

The central screen, compatible with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, is also 12.3 inches. Here, the possibilities are very wide and it has interesting solutions, such as a vertically sliding widget that supports the information displayed by the browser. However, I have two problems.

The first is that it has so many shortcuts and so many functions to customize that it forces you to overcome a certain learning curve to be clear where each function is. I, who hadn’t gotten into a Kia for a while, had to spend some time finding, for example, the consumption data.

My second problem is in the representation of the icons and shortcuts. The black background is useful to avoid confusing the driver but I think there is a lack of contrast in the icons. I, at least, have had some difficulty reading them clearly. I would have to test the car further to see if this can be fixed by, for example, increasing the screen brightness.

Between both screens there is a third space in which the air conditioning is controlled. It seems like a good one to me. We have the basic controls (temperature or fan strength) on a physical button but the buttons to defog the window are on the screen and for me, at least from my position behind the steering wheel and the seats, the steering wheel partially covers the screen and I cannot press the buttons quickly in this space. It’s a good idea, but it would need to be further to the right or, ideally, include the front and rear window buttons in a physical access.

Otherwise, the Kia EV5 is a good car in terms of ergonomics. All the functions that we handle on the go have physical buttons. On the steering wheel we have them to control the instrument panel screen and activate the ADAS driving assistance systems, as well as to control the infotainment. The lights, the windshield wipers, the heated steering wheel and the seats… everything has physical controls.

And, as a curiosity, the Kia EV5 has a fingerprint reader between the two seats to automatically activate the registered driver profile. A very useful option to have the ADAS aids or the seating position preconfigured for each member of the family.

As for its ride, the Kia EV5 is a solvent car. We have a 217 HP engine that is enough to move safely. It is not a car with strong electric acceleration with a lot of power, the kind that shakes you against the seats, but it does start firmly and is more than enough for most situations. To get the most out of it, it is necessary to activate Sport mode, which is noticeable compared to Normal mode.

Dynamically, the car is very comfortable. It almost feels good to have a little more weight to contain suspensions that in the combustion options may have a travel that is too long for my taste. In this case, the car feels comfortable and moves with some agility on a twisty secondary road. Again, it is not a car that we are going to enjoy in this environment but it does not feel heavy nor does it suffer from very long transfers of weight from one side to another.

Regarding its consumption, the Kia electric SUV approves 16.9 kWh/100 kilometers and 530 kilometers of autonomy with a battery of 81.4 kWh capacity. In our case, we would have to carry out more tests because the almost 200 kilometers we did were on secondary roads in the Madrid mountains and highways with a steep slope. In any case, and with a very cold environment (-4ºC when reaching the Puerto de Navacerrada) consumption was around 20 kWh/100 km driving at legal speeds.

It is to be expected, therefore, that the consumption of this car could be slightly lower in more favorable conditions. All in all, if those 20 kWh/100 kilometers are maintained, we are talking about 400 real kilometers on the road.

And here comes its negative point. Its platform is 400 V and, therefore, its recharges are, at most, 150 kW, a power that seems a bit fair to us, accustomed to cars that charge at much higher powers. Actually, going from 10 to 80% should take us 30 minutes, which is not a long time if we have traveled about 360 kilometers and with them we obtain a run for another 320 kilometers. But it leaves us with a certain bitter aftertaste.

And the Kia car is a very good option for those looking for that electric car “for everything” at home. Its starting price is 46,070 euros before aid but it puts the following possibilities on the table depending on the equipment selected.

Photo | WorldOfSoftware

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