Should you buy one?

The Kia EV3 is a deeply impressive piece of kit, it really is. It nails it’s all-electric family transport remit with impressive focus. Dynamic and distinctive design, a spacious and intelligently-configured cabin, brisk performance and an absorbent ride quality, plenty of equipment, competitive driving range and all at a price that’s closer to affordable than most of its rivals.

This is Kia effectively showing Volkswagen how to do a family car – it’s the ID.3 that VW should have delivered from the get go. We like the EV3 a great deal, and with good reason.

How it compares with its strongest rivals remains to be seen, a question we can definitely answer once the EV3 arrives in the UK and we can drive it back to back with the best of the rest. It can’t hope to compare with the MG4 EV‘s value for money, but against similarly-priced rivals such as the Volvo EX30, Cupra Born and Jeep Avenger, it’s looking very promising indeed.

What we like

It’s well equipped, comes in at good value for money in its entry-level forms and gives you a decent driving range for the money. Performance is strong, and although styling is subjective, if you like a car that stands out from the crowd, this one plays very well indeed.

What we don’t like

Chinks in the armour? Some may not find its looks appealing, and taste being personal, that’s fair enough. Its charging rate is nothing exciting. Rear visibility could be better. We wish that a heat pump was standard. And when you climb up the specification and battery ladders, the top-spec GT-Line S with Long-Range battery is a chunky £42,995. But these are chinks in what is a very sophisticated, smart and versatile family car.