00:00looking for a compact suv and wondering if it's time for an electric car
00:03well this is the kia ev5 essentially an equivalent of the popular sportage i've driven it about
00:101500 kilometers on the highway and in the city through freezing winter and in the spring
00:16join me for a test drive to see what's what
00:50the kia ev5 is not only a more or less electric equivalent of the popular sportage but also a
00:57competitor to the likes of the nissan aria and volkswagen id4 these two electric crossovers
01:02have similar dimensions and offer similar performance while the ev5 measuring 461
01:08centimeters long 187 and a half centimeters wide and 168 centimeters tall is the longest widest and
01:16tallest the nissan aria has the longest wheelbase measuring 277 and a half centimeters while the
01:23kia's is just 275 centimeters and that's also less than in the volkswagen kia's boxy shape is consistent
01:32with the korean brand's current design language although i've noticed it's not to everyone's
01:38taste i like it mostly because the retractable door handles bother me
01:50am i bothered yes i am
01:55i like that kia has included a frunk it's small at only 44 liters but it's big enough for charging
02:02cables people often ask me why do you need a charging cable when you can just charge the
02:08car at home and anyway every charger has a cable right
02:13bitch please
02:16well we don't always charge our cars at home and not every charger has a cable
02:21sometimes in the city there's an opportunity to charge for a couple of hours for example while
02:26visiting a mall or when we're on the road and we want to charge overnight at a hotel meanwhile ac
02:32charging stations often only have a socket where you plug in your own cable and to prevent the cable
02:38from taking up valuable boot space it's nice to have a frunk just pop the cable in there along with
02:43some work gloves to keep your hands clean bravo kia and the actual boot volume should be 566 liters
02:53it should but remember that vda measurements are to the window line not to the cargo cover that's one
03:00thing and two here we have adjustable backrest angle so when the backrest angle is adjusted to 90 degrees
03:11probably nobody's going to sit in the back in any case we have about 98 centimeters between the wheel arches
03:19about 90 centimeters depth by the floor from the sill to the rear seats and the height to the cargo
03:26cover
03:26is about 50 centimeters with the false floor in its lower position plus another five centimeters or so with
03:32the false floor completely removed there is also a small storage compartment just behind the boot sill
03:39with the backrest tilted the boot space up to the cargo cover is optimistically high 400 something liters
03:47on the plus side i like the movable anchor points that can be used as shopping bag hooks and that's
03:52probably what they're good for i wouldn't rely on them to secure anything more substantial then there is
03:58a 230 volt outlet the cargo cover can be stowed under the floor however i don't like the trim around
04:05the
04:05rear seats this is a result of certain design decisions to achieve a flat load space with the
04:11floor in its upper position kia had to implement seats with not just folding backrests but also movable
04:17cushions this causes the entire seat to slide forward slightly leaving all the wiring visible underneath
04:26it's rather comfortable in the rear the side seats are heated at least i hope they are because
04:31otherwise i may have peed myself anyway the floor is flat there are air vents and third zone climate control
04:41there's also a drawer underneath the center console i don't know if it's really necessary but that's what
04:47we get usb-c ports are on the sides of the front seat backrests it's convenient should the people
04:53traveling in the front also want to use them the backrest split 60 40 there is a pass through to
05:00the boot behind the armrest ice fix anchor points are only on the two side rear seats the door pockets
05:07are tight doors cover the sills the kia ev5 has a user interface similar to that in the larger ev9
05:16and
05:16the smaller ev3 this means there's this wide display running across the cockpit and it's divided into three
05:22sections the driver's display the ac panel and the infotainment system then there are several physical
05:30buttons on the steering wheel and here down below the air vents and just below the display are these
05:37touch buttons touch sensitive buttons which are integrated in the dashboard and whenever i rest my
05:43fingers down here to tap something on the screen i tend to press them by mistake and just not the
05:54best idea
05:55but it's not a deal breaker the center console isn't attached to the dashboard like in the previously
06:04mentioned kia models there is a practical shelf near the floor where you can place your glasses keys or even
06:10a small bag the console features cup holders that could accommodate a thermos as well as several
06:15physical buttons including access to the 360 degree camera a fingerprint reader for logging into your
06:22driver profile and then there's the wireless charger which as in most kia models doesn't work so
06:27you have to use a usb cable fortunately there are also usbc ports in the front there's a medium-sized
06:35storage compartment under the armrest the glove box is also average size and kia continues to design
06:41tight door bins instead of bucket holders on the center console i'd prefer larger door bins
06:47seat memory buttons and controls for seat and steering wheel heating are on the doors
07:14so since it's 2026 i start my test drive by turning of the beepers i remember two years ago kia
07:21press
07:22office included a laminated instruction with the ev9 explaining how to turn the annoying systems off
07:27we can now long press the mute button on the steering wheel to disable the speed limit warning
07:36unfortunately kia and hyundai as well don't allow you to disable the audible notification of speed limit
07:44changes perhaps in other countries speed limits don't change as frequently as in poland but here the
07:50constant beeping is driving me crazy because we can't just have 50 kilometers per hour everywhere it's
07:5750 40 60 70 50 60 40 50 etc anyway um that's before the system detects the wrong speed limit
08:07say on a ramp which happens quite often on motorways and then there is the drive attention monitor it
08:14reacts even when i look too long in the side mirror before changing the lane the system also sometimes goes
08:21off when i glance at the instrument cluster to see why the car is beeping at me this time so
08:27it's best to
08:28go into the driver assistance system settings every time you start the car and completely disable traffic
08:34sign recognition and driver attention monitor i'm surprised hyundai and kia haven't fixed this in the
08:41past two years i mean please do something about it i can't recommend your cars to anyone these days
08:47because of the annoying implementation of the mandatory safety features no matter how good the cars
08:54otherwise are once kia gets the beeping issues under control the ev5 is a decent car the adaptive
09:02cruise control with lane keeping assist works well the suspension is comfortable the sound insulation is
09:10more than adequate the seats are comfortable visibility is good i could daily this around town it sounds like
09:19a perfect family hauler maybe i could even sometimes take it somewhere further but not too far i'll explain in
09:28a moment
09:32the kia ev5 is currently only available with an 81.4 kilowatt hour battery that's the so-called long range
09:39model
09:39with a range of up to 750 kilometers in some markets there is also a 64 kilowatt hour battery 400
09:45kilometer
09:46standard range model available however for now this long range version is the only one we have in europe
09:52it has 217 horsepower and 295 newton meters of torque the promised zero to 100 kilometers per hour time is
09:598.4 seconds i checked and achieved 8.1 seconds in sport mode and 8.2 seconds in normal mode
10:06i should add
10:08this was measured at minus 2 degrees celsius and with battery charge below 80 percent
10:19okay so what about the range i first drove the ev5 in early february 2026 when we were experiencing
10:27sub-zero temperatures across poland this was just a short test drive i'm a world car awards juror and i
10:34needed to get to know the ev5 before the next round of voting i drove the ev5 for 600 kilometers
10:41in one day
10:42it was minus 12 degrees celsius at 120 kilometers per hour the car consumed over 30 kilowatt hours per 100
10:49kilometers so with 80 charge i had a range of up to 200 kilometers between fast chargers
10:58i then booked the ev5 to film the full review in mid-april this time i took it for a
11:05700 kilometers
11:06road trip but split in two days the daytime temperature hovered around 10 degrees celsius
11:11not ideal but at least not freezing at 120 kilometers per hour with cruise control consumption wouldn't
11:17drop below 25 kilowatt hours so in order to reach the fast charging station i planned not using the oem
11:24navigation i engaged eco mode in eco mode consumption dropped to 24 kilowatt hours per 100 kilometers which
11:31gives us about 250 kilometers range between fast chargers tesla this ain't
11:42peak charging speed is 150 kilowatts so prepare for at least half an hour
11:47to top up the charge from 10 to 80 percent a bit longer if it's cold and the battery wasn't
11:53pre-conditioned pre-conditioning uses a lot of energy so if you're hyper milling just to get to the next
11:59fast charger you may want to skip this step pre-conditioning can be activated automatically
12:04when you're using oem satnav or manually when you're planning your own route
12:12so i wouldn't go on long road trips with the ev5 very often there's only so much toilet breaks and
12:19eating junk food at services that one needs not to mention the cost of fast charging but for driving
12:25within the range of your home outlet preferably powered by cheap solar energy the ev5 is perfect
12:36just don't count on tesla economy around the city i was seeing about 15 kilowatt hours per 100 kilometers
12:42in dense traffic however when city streets open up or you are running errands and stopping frequently
12:47energy consumption can approach 20 kilowatt hours per 100 kilometers
12:53the kia ev5 has a standard 10.5 kilowatt onboard charger so using a home wall box you're charged in
13:01less than eight hours a 22 kilowatt onboard charger is an option in some markets the car can tow trailers
13:08up to 1200 kilograms but for reasons i mentioned earlier you're more likely to haul a trailer with diy
13:14supplies from your nearby store then tow a boat across the country
13:22this ev5 is front wheel drive however there is a 265 horsepower all-wheel drive version in some markets
13:30also during the 2026 brussels motor show kia showed the ev5 gt not to be confused with gt line the
13:38gt also
13:39gets all-wheel drive but that's to complement its on-road performance rather than for off-roading
13:45the car i'm reviewing has less than 17 centimeters ground clearance and i expect the gt to sit even
13:53closer to the ground
14:07price of the kia ev5 started 45 990 euro for the air trim this test car is a front wheel
14:15drive gt line
14:16with rather expensive iceberg green matte paint for almost 1700 euro the price as tested is 53 680 euro
14:27the kia ev5 is a cool shopping trolley especially if you have solar panels and take advantage of various
14:33city incentives for evs like using bus lanes free parking or dedicated parking spaces that's assuming
14:40you can deal with all the beepers but maybe you like playing loud music or maybe your kids are louder
14:46than adas however if you're looking for a do-it-all compact crossover which will take you further
14:52than across belgium without a charging brake never mind those exotic trips across the continent an ev may
14:58not be for you just yet and not in the foreseeable future and what do you think about the kia
15:04ev5 let
15:05me know in a comment section below if you like my sarcastic down-to-earth and possibly mildly amusing car
15:13reviews join me every friday at 3 pm central european time and don't forget to subscribe and like this
15:20video as it helps me with the youtube algorithm thanks for watching and i will see you in the next
15:25one
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