The Funky Kia K4 EX Is A Whole Lot Of Car For $25,165: Sensible Car Review

According to industry analysts Cox Automotive, the average new vehicle transaction price in November stood at a whopping $49,740. Yikes. While that sort of money gets you a nicer car than ever before, many of us simply don’t have that sort of cash to splash. Even among those of us who might, lots of us don’t want to wear a four-figure car payment around our necks, but you know how they say a rising tide lifts all ships? If you set a price cap of roughly half the average new car price, you can still find new cars that seem to offer rather compelling value. Take the Kia K4 EX, with its price tag of $25,165, for example.

This replacement for the Forte compact sedan isn’t a base model, it’s actually two steps up from the LX, which doesn’t even get a split-folding rear seat. That’s right, you can still buy a mid-range compact car for around $25,000, and thanks to industry-wide advancements in tech, toys, materials, and refinement, it’s a lot nicer than you’d expect. But can it handle more than a foot of snow? Let’s find out.

[Full disclosure: Kia Canada let me borrow this K4 for a week so long as I kept the shiny side up, returned it with a full tank, and reviewed it.]

The Basics

Engine: Two-liter naturally aspirated twin-cam inline-four, multiport fuel injection.

Transmission: Continuously variable transmission, open differential.

Drive: Front-wheel-drive.

Output: 147 horsepower at 6,200 rpm, 132 lb.-ft. of torque at 4,500 rpm.

Fuel economy: 29 mpg city, 39 mpg highway, 33 mpg combined (8.0 L/100km city, 6.4 L/100km highway, 7.3 L/100km combined)

Body style: Compact four-door sedan.

Base price: $23,165 including freight ($25,845 Canadian)

Price as tested: $25,165 including freight ($28,595 Canadian)

How’s It Look?

From the plastic cladding to the hidden rear door handles to the unusual C-pillar treatment, the look of the Kia K4 is unique and certainly not everyone’s cup of tea. When I showed my parents a picture of what I was driving for the week, they proceeded to roast the styling non-stop for 15 minutes. Considering they used to own a Toyota Echo, that’s a little bit crushing, but that’s just one perspective.

Allow me to posit another: Kia is the new Pontiac. Aggressive styling, plastic cladding, a focus on technology. The K4 simply looks edgier than a Civic or Corolla, like it listens primarily to nu-metal and wants to have gauged ears. I kinda dig it, but I’ll also probably wear skinny jeans until the day I die, so your mileage may vary.

What’s The Interior Like?

Slide behind the wheel of the Kia K4 and you’ll be met with a cabin that punches way beyond its weight class while remaining almost entirely free of irritants plaguing cars that cost three or four times as much. The dashboard and tops of the door cards are covered in soft-touch vinyl, rich cloth door card inserts add a bit of punch, and instead of shiny black plastic, Kia’s largely gone with a satin grey that hides fingerprints better. Wise decision.

So how about comfort? Well, the K4 EX’s lovely soft cloth upholstery feels as luxurious as having Viennetta for dessert, but the front seats themselves are quite flat and hard. A bit more wedge to the bottom cushion for additional thigh support or a bit more rake to the steering wheel would be appreciated, especially with the Mazda 3 showing that better comfort is possible at this price point. The flipside is an enormous rear seat with 38 inches of rear legroom and plenty of headroom for reasonably sized adults. If you order a rideshare, you’ll probably wish for a K4 to pick you up.

As for other ergonomics, pretty much everything’s located where you want it to be. The button to cycle through drive modes is on the steering wheel, the button to bring up the backup camera feed while driving forward is conveniently located by the shifter, you have hard keys for important infotainment system functions, and the swiveling guides that let you convert the cup holder area into additional recessed storage are brilliant. Even the volume control on the steering wheel is a scroll wheel, because actually cranking the volume is far more satisfying than mashing buttons.

However, just because things are located well doesn’t mean they always make sense. The unusual vertical scroll knob for stereo volume mounted right in the center of the dashboard also doubles as an on-off switch. As such, it’s tricky to get the pressure right to raise the volume without muting the sound completely.

How Does It Drive?

Prod the starter button with a foot on the brake pedal, and Kia’s two-liter naturally aspirated four-cylinder engine sparks to life with the aggressive normalcy of a gas stove. With 147 horsepower and 138 lb.-ft. of torque on tap, it doesn’t exactly provide swift progress, but the butt dyno says that the zero-to-60 mph time should be on the quick side of nine seconds, and the CVT does a pretty good job of keeping the revs low in most conditions. With regular port injection, it’s exactly the sort of engine a compact car needs, something that’ll get the job done without being too high-tech for its own good. However, there is definitely a delay between pressing the throttle pedal and accelerating from a stop, which makes it hard to take off from a light eagerly yet smoothly. If locals near you tend to drive like maniacs, you’re going to notice this initial flinch.

Initial lag aside, there’s lots to love here once you’re up to cruising speeds. The cabin of the K4 is reasonably quiet although not quite as hushed as a Honda Civic, the suspension is soft enough to soak up minor road imperfections but buttoned-down enough not to result in TV cop chase levels of body roll when you fly down an on-ramp far closer to the speed limit than the ramp advisory speed, and the pleasantly weighted steering is extremely predictable, if light on feedback. What’s more, you sit proper low, although the steering column could use a bit more reach adjustment.

Can It Conquer Snowmageddon?

I’d really love to tell you more about the normal driving characteristics of the Kia K4, but normal conditions were interrupted by a series of weather events that ought to be called the fuckening. Between Feb. 12 and 13, Toronto got nearly a foot of snow. Over the following weekend, it got nearly that amount again. With Tony Montana levels of powder on the ground, reports of lunatics skiing down Bloor Street soon surfaced, some crossover utility vehicle drivers learned the hard way that all-wheel-drive doesn’t necessarily equal all-wheel stop, and drivers across the city played a game of “Dude, where’s my lane?” Heavy snowfall doesn’t sound like the obvious environment for a compact sedan, but Kia wisely equipped this K4 press unit with a set of Continental VikingContact 7 studless winter tires. So how did this combo play out?

Fairly well, believe it or not. Kia’s fitted the K4 with three-stage stability control, and the intermediate stage proved crucial for forward progress at times. The VikingContact 7s tend to appreciate a little bit of slip, and with a fingertip touch on the wheel and knowledge of when to feather the throttle and when to let it eat, this compact sedan never got stuck. I wish it were possible to set off in a higher gear ratio, but CVTs are frequently like that. Sure, there were times when the main limitation was clearance, but inertia can be a great thing.

Inertia can also be a heartless bitch, which is why a sub-3,000-pound curb weight is a lovely thing to have. It gives you the ability to scrub speed in slippery conditions quicker than something heavier, it’s light enough to prevent the K4 from getting properly bogged down in deep snow, and it certainly helps when changing direction. Sure, the steering’s a bit numb, but all that friction modifier atop the asphalt is like bullet time for oversteer and understeer, and it helped highlight the adjustability of the K4’s chassis. Understeer is easily neutralized with a quick lift or a light brush of the brakes,

The yards of plastic cladding might look a bit unusual, but they’re padding for the sport of busting through snow drifts, and they’re sturdily attached enough that nothing will come loose should you need to get somewhere before the plows have really gone to work. Even through a foot of snow, the K4 is proof that winter tires beat all-wheel-drive and all-seasons when the going gets wintry.

Does It Have The Electronic Crap I Want?

Considering the K4 EX only costs around $25,000, you certainly get a fair amount of kit. I’m talking Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a 12.3-inch touchscreen infotainment system with excellent black levels, LED lighting, a pretty good backup camera, a wireless phone charger, four USB-C ports, and a litany of advanced driver assistance systems. Even the six-speaker stereo is pretty good, serving up more than adequate power, punch, and clarity for the price point. It’s not on the level of the standard system in a Mazda 3, but for the segment, it’s one of the most engaging non-branded setups.

Now, there is a little bit of a difference depending on which side of the Canada-U.S. border you sit on. I drove the EX trim, but not the EX trim America gets. See, the Canadian model trades a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster and automatic climate control for heated seats and a heated steering wheel, but that’s really the extent of the changes. In practice, the button-only manual climate control setup is a bit fiddly at first, but once your muscles acclimate to the layout, it offers fairly easy eyes-off operation.

Three Things To Know About The 2025 Kia K4

1. The seat fabric on the EX trim is incredibly soft.
2. Having a scroll wheel as a steering wheel-mounted volume control is genius.
3. The rear legroom’s capacious enough to make you wonder if you really need a bigger car.

Does It Fulfil Its Purpose?

Considering how making cars is hard and making inexpensive cars is doubly so, the Kia K4 has what it takes to be right in the mix of its competitive set. It’s not quite as refined as a Volkswagen Jetta or Honda Civic, but it’s substantially roomier than a Mazda 3 or Toyota Corolla, comes with seamless tech, serves up great fuel economy, and comes in at a fantastically low price tag.

What’s The Punctum Of The 2025 Kia K4?

The Kia K4 is yet more evidence that you don’t need to spend a lot of money to get a nice car.

All photos and top graphic image by Thomas Hundal

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