The EV4 Fastback might just be the most attractive Kia we've seen to date. Jonathan Crouch drives it.

Background

'Fastback' is quite an evocative body style name that over the years has designated products as diverse as the Mazda3 saloon and the Ford Mustang sports car. We've not though, seen it applied to anything quite as avant-garde looking as this, the Kia EV4 Fastback. The EV4 is an electric mid-size contender that sells primarily in five-door hatch form. But late in the project to develop that model, Kia decided it would also take the opportunity to offer EV4 customers something a little different. The EV4 Fastback is certainly different for Kia, the brand's very first four-door electric car. And a four-door saloon of the sort you'll not have seen before; it should really get company car park talking. Let's take a closer look.

Driving Experience

Obviously there's little or no difference between the drive experience of this EV4 Fastback and the equivalent EV4 Hatch, apart perhaps from fractionally improved refinement thanks to this four-door model's sleeker shape. Like all mainstream EV4s, this one comes with a 201bhp front-mounted motor putting out 283Nm of torque, but with this Fastback, you can only have it energised by the larger of the two batteries reserved for this model line. This is 81.4kWh in size and with this saloon takes you a little further than it does in the Hatch, rated at 380 miles. The acceleration won't pin you back in your seat but is more than adequate, 0-62mph taking 7.9s en route to 105mph. That's if you engage the most dynamic of the provided driving modes - Sport, which is accompanied by red-themed lighting in the cabin. Kia says that this mode has been engineered to make the car feel genuinely sportier, rather than just heavier of steering - and there's some truth in that. If you're interested in sportiness, then you'll be interested to know that of minority interest at the top of the line-up is the 288bhp GT version, which offers a dual-motor AWD system developing a potent 468Nm of torque, powering the car to 62mph in just 5.6s. The EV4 GT uses the same 81.4kWh battery as the standard model and offers a WLTP driving range of up to 333 miles, 19 miles more than the hatchback. As you'd expect, all EV4 Fastbacks have a regenerative braking system, operated by steering wheel paddles and including a 'one pedal' 'i-PEDAL' driving setting, which notably slows the car off-throttle. Not all EVs in this segment are quite as refined as you might hope but as we suggested earlier, this one is thanks to its super-slippery 0.23Cd drag coefficient. This of course makes the car a very pleasant highway travelling companion (helped by standard adaptive cruise control) and ride quality becomes fine at higher speeds. Beyond the city limits, mainstream versions of this EV4 Fastback aren't huge fun to drive, but body roll is well controlled and the steering's accurate, even if it isn't very feelsome.

Design and Build

This Fastback model sits 5mm lower than the EV4 hatch - on big machined 19-inch wheels. And at 4,730mm in length, the Fastback is 300mm longer than the EV4 in hatchback form, with the difference in length coming from the 300mm rear overhang needed for the swooping roofline and long-tail side profile. Overall, it's marginally longer than the rival Tesla Model 3. Aerodynamic efficiency is everything with this four-door EV4. Active Air Flaps in the front bumper open automatically to optimise cooling efficiency and maximise aerodynamic performance. Plus 82.5% of the car's underside is covered by a near full body undercover, further boosting its slippery shape. These measures, combined with swooping, smooth exterior design and the so-called 'boat tail', mean an extremely low drag coefficient of just 0.23Cd. The front end features the company's 'EV Tiger Face', framed by vertically-orientated LED headlamps and the brand's eye-catching 'Star Map' lighting signature. Inside up-front, as with the EV4 hatch, most of the dashboard architecture has been lifted from the smaller EV3. That means the usual pair of 12.3-inch screens, creating a combined display size of 30-inches, plus a further 5.3-inch unit for the climate functions. It all looks of decent quality and unlike in many rival Chinese models, a number of physical switches and buttons have been retained. The nearly-flat floor makes it feel airy and spacious in the back. And at 590-litres, boot space is pretty generous - 55-litres more than you get in the hatchback.

Market and Model

Pricing's quite a bit higher than the equivalent EV4 hatch, partly because Kia restricts sales of this Fastback body style to the larger 81.4kWh long range battery pack and sporty 'GT-Line' and 'GT-Line S' trim (which means that unlike with base versions of the hatch, there's no government Electric Car Grant available). From launch and at the time of our test, prices started at just under £41,000 for the 'GT-Line' or just over £45,000 for the 'GT-Line S'. Think in terms of the price premium of around £1,500 over an equivalent hatch version of this model. At least you'll get plenty of kit. As with all EV4s, there's a 30-inch Ultra-wide Panoramic Display panel that combines a 12.3-inch instrument cluster, a 5.3-inch climate panel and a 12.3-inch infotainment screen. Also both models also get LED headlights, heated front seats, wireless 'Apple CarPlay' and 'Android Auto', Smart Cruise Control, power-folding mirrors, automatic air conditioning and rain-sensitive wipers. 'GT-Line' trim includes 19-inch alloy wheels, 'GT-Line' exterior styling, auto flush door handles, aluminium pedals, a digital key, customisable ambient lighting, a wireless 'phone charger, two-tone faux leather upholstery and powered driver's seat adjustment. Top 'GT-Line S' spec gives you the real niceties; a wide front sunroof, bespoke 'small cube design' headlights, a smart power tailgate, heat for the front a rear seats, front premium Relaxtion seats with ventilation, a 360-degree surround view monitor, an 8-speaker Harmon Kardon premium sound system, a Head-up display, Remote Smart Parking Assist and a V2L Vehicle-to-Load socket so you can plug external devices into the car's drive battery. Unfortunately, you have to stretch to 'GT-Line S' trim to be able to pay Kia extra for a heat pump. Across the line-up, there's plenty of safety kit; Forward Collision-Avoidance, Lane Keep Assist, Lane Follow Assist and Blind-Spot Collision-Avoidance Assist with Rear-Cross Traffic Collision Avoidance. Plus Highway Driving Assist, Safe Exit Warning, Driver Attention Warning and a Multi-Collision Braking System.

Cost of Ownership

This EV4 model's EV6 stablemate was the first Kia EV to offer the ultra-fast-charging 800V infrastructure that larger Hyundai Motor Group E-GMP-based models helped to pioneer. Disappointingly, that set-up's not fitted to the EV4, but thanks to a new generation battery management system, both Fastback models claim a 10-80% DC charge time of 31 minutes - despite a rather modest charging speed. A 10-100% AC charge at 11kW takes 7 hours 15 minutes. The 81.4kWh battery is warmed by a clever thermally-efficient sheath heater with multiple maps for low and high temperature charges. Kia says that because this enables the battery to self-heat at temperatures down to minus-35-degrees C, charge times are significantly lowered and efficiency-killing precipitation of the battery's lithium-ion cathodes is avoided. There's also a Battery Conditioning Mode that can optimise battery temperature when heading to a fast-charging station. This can be manually activated or can work automatically linked to GPS data. We gave you the EV range figure in our 'Driving' section - up to 380 miles for this 81.4kWh Long Range model. Kia has developed an advanced heat pump to maintain these mileage figures during winter, a clever fourth generation multi-valve system that not only draws in ambient heat from outside air to aid the climate system but also combines this with recovered waste heat from the electric motor. The brand claims this is a world first. As with other recent Kia EVs, there's vehicle-to-load functionality (allowing you to power devices from the car's battery). And vehicle-to-home and vehicle-to-grid capability (allowing you to return un-needed charge energy for use in your home or back to the National Grid).

Summary

Usually, where family cars are offered with a choice of four or five-door body shapes, it's the saloon that's more sensible looking and rather dull. Not here. The EV4 Fastback is one of the most interesting pieces of design Kia has yet bought us. And certainly the sleekest. Saloons don't tend to sell well in our market unless they have a premium badge, but this car might have bucked that trend if Kia had been able to price it more competitively. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened, but if you're already attracted by the EV4 hatch, then this Fastback model delivers almost everything you get there with a dash more pavement presence. This kind of 'want one' factor used to be foreign to Kia; not any more. And if you doubt that, you need to check out one of these.