KIA EV3
Standard Range Air
THE FIRST ELECTRIC vehicle (EV) ever to win our overall Car of the Year award was a Kia. That was back in 2019, when the e-Niro came out of nowhere to prove that EVs didn’t need to cost a fortune to offer a long range and decent performance. Fast forward five years and Kia has moved the game on once again with another cracking electric SUV.
The EV3 is fractionally smaller than the e-Niro (and its replacement, the Niro EV), but it’s still a surprisingly practical family car. Rear seat space is far better than in the rival Jeep Avenger Electric and Mini Aceman, and not far off what’s offered by the Skoda Elroq from the class above. The EV3’s boot is even more impressive, and only slightly smaller than that of the Kia EV6 – the second EV to win our overall Car of the Year title back in 2022. There’s further storage under the bonnet for charging cables – something that’s curiously absent in the majority of rivals.
Another big source of appeal is the EV3’s driving position. This is an SUV that really does feel like one when you’re behind the wheel, because you sit in an upright position and noticeably farther from the road than you’d be in a Volvo EX30.