Ever since the Kia K4 came out, I’ve been curious to try it. Kia (and Hyundai, its corporate sibling) has been on a roll with fresh designs inside and out. Their current design language brings genuinely premium-looking styling into the under-$30K segment, which used to feel pretty bland.

Recently, thanks to National Car Rental, I finally got some seat time in a new Kia K4.

(Side note: if you haven’t used National before, they often let you pick any car from the aisle, and if the lot is full you can luck into free upgrades. On the day I picked up my car, I could’ve driven away in a new BMW X1 or MINI Countryman. Hertz might not be my default rental choice anymore.)

Design

The new Kia K4 exterior design is striking. I can’t tell if any of the lines are missing or making the car look too complicated. It balances everything very well to me. If I have to be picky, the fastback-style rear design makes the trunk area a bit bulkier than ideal, but hey, you get a lot of space for luggage on a family trip.

Kia K4 has a bulkier rear side

Inside, the K4 is equipped with a main 12" screens, with ample physical buttons for AC control and multimedia control. Coincidentally, it also shares a lot of similar elements with the Hyundai Sonata, such as the infotainment system UI and the phone charger port design.

Most of the physical buttons are well tuned, especially the volume button on the steering wheel and center console, which has a nice friction to it.

One interesting design is the cup holder, which is made of two big square blocks, but with one button press, you can release the circular cup holders. I think the original idea was to let it fit more things when there are no cups around. However, given my personal experience with how many cups/bottles end up in my car, I don’t think it’s that useful.

Drive

The new Kia K4 is immediately easy to drive. From the moment I pressed the gas pedal, everything felt natural; there was literally nothing to adjust to—no weird throttle response or strange transmission behavior.

Steering response is linear and power is sufficient on city roads. I didn’t notice any obvious lag when I try to speed up. The car has a comfortable suspension and decent noise control. I would say at any speed under 80 km/h, the car feels very much under control. With the car being a bit over 4.7 meters long, I don’t feel it’s monstrous to maneuver.

However, the engine under the hood is not a 3-litre V6, so when I try to be more demanding after merging onto the highway, or shift into Sport mode, the RPM will unsurprisingly go to 4,000–5,000. At higher speeds, the noise from the engine becomes obvious.

Tech

On paper, the tech package in the K4 is impressive for this class, with dual digital displays and standard Apple CarPlay/Android Auto. In practice, I have mixed feelings.

Apple CarPlay looks nice on this wide-aspect-ratio screen. However, the far right edge is a bit too far from the driver’s seat. When I need to tap some buttons on the right side of the screen (e.g., route overview in Google Maps), it’s kind of hard to reach for me.

The digital display in front of the driver mimics a traditional cluster: speedometer and tachometer on the sides (which I later learned are not full size LCD screens), with trip and vehicle information in the centre (which is an independent 5" display). The whole package is designed well so it actually looks like another full size 12" screen. But then Kia lets you pick between a few themes, but it mostly just changes colors rather than layout, so customization is limited and you would realize it's a visual trick.

The main cluster looks like a giant screen, which is just a visual trick. Photo credit: https://www.reddit.com/r/kia/comments/1gvw62m/i_have_seen_two_different_style_displays_on_the/

My car also came with Smart Cruise Control, which offers some help during long-distance driving, but overall I don’t have full confidence in those systems except Tesla’s. I wouldn’t know how the system actually performs (aka how much I trust it) within just a few days of use.

Still, even with some disappointments, the tech design feels about two years ahead of the game (of its tier), I would say.

Comfort

The seats are comfortably firm and provide decent support, but here’s where my height becomes a problem. I’m taller than 6', and the K4 doesn’t feel like it was designed with my proportions in mind.

In the driver’s seat, there’s no extendable thigh support, so to get enough leg support I have to slide the seat quite far back. Once I do that, the steering wheel doesn’t telescope out quite far enough, so I end up either sitting closer than I’d like or reaching a bit for the wheel.

In the rear passenger seats, there are similar issues with leg support. With the car being 4.7 meters long, there is ample room in front of my knees. However, my legs are floating in the air with no cushion supporting them. At the same time, my hair brushes the headliner, so there isn’t much headroom to move around comfortably.

These issues will mostly affect taller drivers and passengers. Average-height folks will probably find the K4 perfectly comfortable, but for me, the ergonomics are a potential deal-breaker, which is a shame given how much I like the rest of the car.

Economy

My average fuel consumption falls around 8.9 liters/100km, which is around 26.4 MPG, which I'm pretty satisfied for a car this size.

Summary

The Kia K4 is a very solid all-rounder in the compact family-sedan segment: modern design, easy manners behind the wheel, and tech that punches above its price. For anyone of average height who fits comfortably in the cabin, I’d absolutely recommend putting it on your test-drive list.

If you’re around my height or taller, though, make sure you spend some time in both the front and rear seats before signing anything—the K4’s packaging simply isn’t as friendly to tall people as its styling and feature list might suggest.