Kia EV2 Review by Thomas Dobie

Kia invited us down to the UK launch for a first look at their smallest electric car yet. Think a shrunken EV5 or EV9. Angular, boxy, and a bit more grown up than you’d expect in the B-segment.

UK cars are supplied only with a 61 kWh NMC battery.  We don’t get the smaller battery. There was a First Edition with a 42 kWh pack, but that’s gone if you’re ordering now.

The EV2 comes in three trims: Air, GT-Line and range topping GT-Line S.

After the Electric Car Grant / Kia reservation saving you’re looking at about £24,245 for Air, just under £29k for GT-Line, and around £32,595 for GT-Line S. The one we had on test was a GT-Line in this Magma Red, which is an extra on top.

The Air gets 16-inch wheels and the longest official range. GT-Line is the black gloss, the red and cream cabin, electric seats with lumbar. GT-Line S adds memory and ventilated seats. Heat pump? Only on GT-Line S, and it’s a £700 option. Kia keep doing this. Heat pumps locked to the expensive one.

Kia EV2 in ‘Air’ trim

What’s under the bonnet

Nice to see gas struts holding the bonnet up, a bit of sound deadening. Not bad at this money.

GT-Line and S get a 15 L Front Froot. Great for charging cables to live there. Screen wash is on the left, marked in blue. That’s probably the only other reason you’re lifting the lid.

The car weighs just over 1,600 kg. About 4 metres long, 1.8 wide, 1.8 tall, but compact, which is the point of cars in this class of course.

Charging and range

Peak DC is 118 kW. Kia say 10-80% in around 30 minutes. AC is 11 kW, call it five and a half hours.

Official range is up to 275 miles on the Air. A bit less once you put the bigger wheels on GT-Line and S.

On the roads at the launch event, it was showing 227 miles at 95% and I got to drive it on a mix of roads which began with a lumpy farm-track, gravelly loop and didn’t get the chance to work out real world efficiency. We expect it to be similar/better than the bigger brother EV3- so above the 4 miles/kWh figure would be a good guess.

As mentioned, this is very much a’ little EV9’ in looks. The back end squared off, with the wiper (yes, it gets a rear wiper!) tucked under the spoiler, EV2 on the left, GT-Line on the right. Manual release with a capacitive button, not a letterbox handle and no electric-opening/closing option on the EV2.

The boot is about 360 litres. Overnight suitcase, no problem. Floor lifts out if you want height for plants or a dog, but it doesn’t drop into a lower position. You take it out. 60/40 rear seats fold reasonably flat to about 1,200 litres. A couple of hooks, a bit of light and a hard parcel shelf. Seatbelts clip into the C-pillar so they’re out the way when you fold the bench. That’s a good one!

Rear seats

I’m 5’11 with size 11 feet. Foot room isn’t terrible. Head room and knee room are fine for the class. A flat floor helps.

GT-Line has rear vents, USB-C in the seat backs, armrest cup holders, ISOFIX on the outers, privacy glass. Cream insert that joyfully say: “have a nice day,”. Dark headliner.

Fine for kids, young adults, or three across I’m the rear if you have to. It’s a small SUV; don’t expect a people carrier.

Up front, if you’ve sat in a modern electric Kia, you’ll know this cabin. You get fabric across the dash and doors on GT-Line, three-spoke wheel in grey and cream, same colour on the seats and console. Air gets a different cloth trim for,the seats.

Two 12.3-inch screens on every car. Little EV button to start it. Stalk right for Drive, towards you for Reverse. Reverse camera and sensors as standard.

Actual toggles for temperature is nice. Thank you! Shortcuts for map and home, two favourite buttons you can set to the EV page. Hold the right-hand volume button and it mutes the speed warnings etc. very useful if you want the chimes off in a hurry.

Stalks for lights and wipers, plus regen paddles and the Drive selector are all here behind the steering wheel, plus the ‘EV On’ button.

Adaptive cruise on the left steering-wheel spoke, voice and phone on the right. Drive mode down below. Heated seats and heated wheel on the door card. Wireless phone charging pad, cup holders, a rubberised bin under the armrest you can actually see into.

Reach and rake on the wheel. GT-Line and S get electric seats with lumbar. Memory and ventilated seats are GTS-Line only.Base model Air trim is manual seat adjustment, so check that before you fall in love with the price. Hazards are in the middle of the dash, where they should be, and below those lovely manual HVAC buttons.

Screen is quick enough, full of widgets, CarPlay and Android Auto and six speakers as standard. Climb the trims if you want the nicer stereo.

On the road

Launch drive, including a bit of loose gravel that is about as off-road as most EV2s will ever get. It coped quite well.

Steering has some weight. Handling is fine. I left it in Normal Mode. I found Eco just dulls it. Sport makes it a bit keener. There’s a Snow mode if you ever need it.

Regen paddles are quick. I sat on level two. On other Kia-group cars I often use three. Two felt like the happy place here (as in all the Kia range, there’s also an ‘Auto-regen’ setting. Pop it into that and it’ll take care of varying the regen for you. This setting does knock off the full One Pedal Driving/come to a complete stop function though. Although you can use the left flappy paddle to bring to a complete stop)

Acceleration is adequate, not exciting. About 9.5 seconds to 62. Front-wheel drive, 100 mph top speed.

Ride is comfortable enough. Quiet enough. Not the most refined EV going. At this price, in this class, you live with a bit of wind and road noise. Especially if you choose the Air base model (which would be our choice here. Does a little car like this need all the big spec and big price? I feel perhaps it’s not).

All the safety kit is awake and ‘on it’.  As an encounter -with someone oncoming ahead who couldn’t quite manage a bridge layout- proved.

So is it any good?

It does what it says on the tin. Warranty is the usual Kia confidence: 7 years / 100,000 miles on the car, 8 years / 100,000 on the battery. Spacious enough. Decent tech. Three trims, not 14.

I’d be tempted by the Air personally as mentioned. Smaller wheels, more range, less money. Plenty of people will want the GT-Line look or the S kit. Fair enough.

The niggle is the heat pump sitting on the expensive trim only -which isn’t reserved only on the EV2 but is the same across the Kia EV range. Same story for V2L (vehicle to load) - only available on the top trim.

This isn’t a driver’s car. It’s a small electric car that works, is practical, well built and is on sale now.

Thanks to Kia UK for having us at the launch.

Watch my EV2 walk-around and first drive on our YouTube channel here