The Kia EV5 even comes with its own personalised numberplate. Photo: James Coleman.
Electric vehicles have arrived at the perfect time in history.
Think about it: just when everyone has forsaken lower-slung sedans and wagons in ubiquitous favour of the SUV, along comes a type of car that needs room underneath to stow away a big slab of batteries.
In this case, you’re needing the extra ride height so the occupants aren’t sitting inside like the Pope, their heads poking out the sunroof.
It’s why even though Tesla Model 3s and electric MINIs and various BMW sedans all try their best, the driving position always seems oddly perched. And why if you look across the current EV landscape, it’s almost entirely filled with SUVs (or at least mutant forms thereof).
After this week – and at risk of sounding lazy – I’m tempted to tell you not to bother with any of them and just get this one. The Kia EV5 is that good.
I drove the larger EV9 a couple of years ago which, even as most expensive model the brand has ever sold in Australia, may be worth it. If not for those eye-rollingly comfy headrests alone.
As the name suggests, the EV5 is basically just a smaller version of that, and – with prices starting at $56,770 for my Air model – it’s a direct rival to the Tesla Model Y (EV5 Earth and EV5 GT-Line come with bigger batteries and price tags of $64,770 and $71,770).
Yes, one of my colleagues ridiculed the exterior design for looking overly boxy, like the designers simply wheeled a fridge into a wind tunnel and called it a day. Reinventing the wheels as squares won’t be for everyone either. And the front end does slightly resemble Dame Edna if she were a Transformer. But I like it.
As with every modern Kia and Hyundai, the safety tech is also annoyingly overbearing – chiding you with chimes every time the speed limit changes, you exceed it by 2 km/h, or so much as pass a fleeting glance at a bird out the window.
And the ‘middle seat’ up front? That – as far as I can make out – is just an elaborate padded pocket for your phone. Because that’s what you’ve always wanted.
But that’s honestly it for niggles.
What’s this `third seat’ about? Photo: James Coleman.
The EV5 is not an overly massive car, but the space inside makes you wonder. You can almost lounge in the back seats.
There’s probably less plastic in a plastic factory, but none of it feels tacky either. And it’s designed by the sort of person who can somehow make a piece of crumpled cardboard look good when it’s mounted as the passenger side of your dashboard.
When the EV5 first arrived in Australia, apparently Kia Australia’s engineers were less than satisfied with the way it handled our roads. So, in the words of managing director Damien Meredith, “we fixed it”.
It’s true. The suspension is on the firm side, but you’d expect that from an EV – springing over two tonnes on a normal petrol SUV’s suspension would be like trying to hold up a book with spiral potatoes. The steering is nicely weighted. And while it has a solid heft to it, you don’t feel like you’re captaining HMAS Obese.
Put your foot down in Sport mode and you get a swift wallop to the back, but otherwise it’s calm and smooth and cloudlike. That same perfectly liveable combination its EV9 sibling pulls off.
Unlike a Tesla, where you’re at the mercy of whatever was in the latest software update, the regenerative braking is also adjustable through the paddles on the steering wheel – all the way from very off to very on (when you’re basically driving with just the accelerator).
I was tempted to say the result is simply the best electric SUV out there, above even the go-to options from Tesla and BYD.
But obviously the Tesla has things the EV5 doesn’t, like a light show, ‘Fart Mode’, and the ability to legitimately play Beach Buggy 2 on the touchscreen in the rear seats. And the BYD Atto 3 is cheaper and comes with a ‘Karaoke Function’ and a rotating screen for reasons that remain unclear.
But, if you’re happy to live without the gimmicks, and just want a pleasant (if boxy) SUV that happens to also be an EV – there’s this.
Yah or nah for the styling? Photo: James Coleman.
2025 Kia EV5 Air Standard Range
- $56,770 (plus drive-away costs)
- Electric motor, 64.2 kWh battery, 160 kW / 310 Nm
- Front-wheel drive
- 400 km estimated range
- 1910 kg
- 5-star ANCAP safety rating
Thanks to Kia Australia for providing this car for testing. Region has no commercial arrangement with Kia Australia.
