5 September 2025

Only a mother might love its face – but can the new Kia Tasman lure others?

7 September 2025 | By James Coleman

The “shot” of the 2025 Kia Tasman X-Pro. Photo: James Coleman.

“That’s the shot!”

I’ve driven as close as I dare to the light rail construction site in Civic to take photos of Kia’s first ute and – at the same time – see if it wins the approval of its target market. And it seems I have both.

A builder in a passing truck slows to pass his kind comment out the window. If that’s what that was. I’ll admit it’s not sweeping endorsement, but given the new Tasman’s face is arguably the biggest obstacle to liking it, we’re off to a good start.

Believe me, after a week with it, I can confirm it’s the first thing you’ll hear about this ute – how freakishly hideous it is. I was even told by a family member to only put it front-first into car parks so “we don’t have to look at that face”.

And it’s true – each headlight appears to be in a different time zone from the other, like Sid’s eyes from Ice Age, and the wheel arches look like they were stuck on as afterthoughts.

But it’s also a genius move because everyone is talking about it.

“You will not miss it,” in the words of Kia chief of future vehicle exterior design John Buckingham addressing carsales.com.au.

“The [ute] competition is well established and there is an aesthetic from that establishment. We knew we had to do something creative and different.”

Kia has then backed this up. And I’m not talking about the recent ad featuring Ash Barty, Erin Phillips, Dane Swan, Jason Gillespie and Rafael Nadal among (many, many) other sporting stars. Or even the fact they’ve named it ‘Tasman’, as proposed by Kia Australia and inspired by arguably our country’s prettiest part (oh, the irony …)

The Tasman has already hurled itself into the inner circle of Australia’s most lauded utes – by scaling Australia’s toughest off-road challenge with extra knobbly tyres as the only modification.

For those who haven’t heard of it, Beer O’Clock Hill in the 4×4 Adventure Park in Queensland is a steep, slippery and unforgiving 100-metre incline – and a slayer of many 4WDs in its time, most recently BYD’s Shark.

The Tasman delivers on all the other important ute things too, like the fact you can load up to one tonne of stuff in the back and tow up to 3.5 tonnes (braked).

A 2.5-litre petrol-electric hybrid is apparently in the not-too-distant offing, but despite the otherworldly appearance, the running gear is decidedly old-fashioned – 2.2-litre-turbo-diesel-with-eight-speed-automatic.

Kia has responded to criticisms it’s too weak for the job. But personally, I found it peppier than the 3-litre engine in the Isuzu and Mazda utes, and with the Kia’s 154 kW of power and 440 Nm of torque, there’s hardly anything between them.

Photos: James Coleman.

It is constantly fidgeting between gears under exertion, which grows annoying. But the biggest issue was the whining noise it makes, which sounds like a blizzard trying to get in around your front door.

It makes up for it in handling, though. So much so a colleague described the Tasman as more car-like to drive than even the ute king of the car-like drive, the Volkswagen Amarok.

It’s bouncy, like any ute, but not overly boaty and the steering has a confident weight to it. It’s also surprisingly quiet at highway speeds, given you’re effectively ramming something through the air that possesses all the aerodynamics of a bread bin.

But the interior – perhaps because you can’t see the exterior from there – is the highlight.

It’s full of delightfully thoughtful features, including the handy graphic between the seats you can easily refer to for the car’s dimensions before getting it stuck in an underground car park. Or the centre console box lid that folds flat to create a small work table. Or the two power outlets, one in the back seats and another in the tray.

Photos: James Coleman.

When combined with the aesthetics – such as the meshy AC vents, knurled door handles, and the most comfortable headrests my head has ever had the pleasure to rest on – it gives the vibe Kia spent a lot of time on it. Something echoed by the rest of the package.

Prices are about on par with rivals too, ranging from $38,010 for the base cab-chassis up to $74,990 for my X-Pro dual-cab – even if they’re not as cheap as some would have wanted from a first-timer and a Kia.

I was going to say, in the end, there’s just that face to contend with. But if Canberra’s light rail workers didn’t immediately drop their tools to vomit, maybe you shouldn’t either.