Kia EV3 Air Long Range review: Small, electric SUV is practical, polished... with winning real-world range

How much does the Kia EV3 Air long range cost to buy?

At the time of testing, Kia listed driveway pricing for all variants of its EV3. The range opens with the Air Standard Range which costs $46,990. Next up, there’s the Air Long Range we’re testing here, which lists at $52,990, then there’s the Earth Long Range, which costs $58,990, while the range-topping GT Line Long Range costs $68,490.

Remember, those prices are all drive away, at the time of testing, in Sydney, NSW.

Competition in this segment is fierce, with the standout options being the BYD Atto 3, the Zeekr X and the Volvo EX30. Given the near $70,000 ask for the range-topper, there’s little doubt that the Air as tested here – whether you opt for standard or long range – is the smart choice in the range.

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How fast is the Kia EV3 Air Long Range?

In Air Long Range specification, you get an 81.4kWh battery pack with FWD via a single elector motor. Kia claims 604km on the WLTP cycle, and outputs are 150kW and 283Nm. As a result, the EV3 isn’t a silly fast electric car (certainly in Eco and Normal modes), as some can be, but it’s still sharp and responsive (in Sport mode) in the way nearly EV is. Kia claims a run to 100km/h in 7.7 seconds, which is fast enough for normal driving duties.

EV3 is a good thing to drive, around town or on the highway, with Kia’s typical attention to driving detail, ride comfort and bump absorption, all matched by a chassis that handles competently, too. It certainly doesn’t feel as heavy as it might either – at 1885kg in this specification. 17-inch wheels and decent sidewalls play their part here, too.

If we had to pick between the EV3 and the EV5, we’d go with the EV5, such is its competence as an all-rounder on any road. It handles the patchwork of road surfaces in Australia nicely, and quietly, with the cabin always remaining calm. Even on coarse surfaces at 110km/h, the cabin remains quieter than we expected. There’s some tyre noise – and occasionally some wind noise – that enters the cabin, but nothing intrusive.

A really sharp bump or speed hump can transmit into the cabin, but not in a nasty way, and it doesn’t feel heavy from behind the wheel on the move. At slow or high speed, the steering feedback is excellent and it’s nicely balanced. If you wanted an even sharper driving experience, the entry-grade EV3 is lighter with a smaller battery.

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On the subject of steering, the tight turning circle is ideally suited to city use, where you can work the EV3 through tight three-point turns and annoyingly compact parking spaces with ease. You can cycle through multiple modes with the regenerative braking, too, to suit the feel you’re looking for. In dialed-up one-pedal mode, it’s pretty aggressive though, so you’ll need to get used to that.

We found some of the active safety technology to be too enthusiastic, and it kept telling me I was distracted or tired, when I wasn’t. You can deactivate both the fatigue monitor and the distraction monitor, but you have to work through some screens to get there. It could be easier. Speed zone warnings and overspeed warnings were also a little over zealous for our liking, but the one-touch mute button on the steering wheel cancels them out. We don’t debate the inclusion of such technology. We simply maintain that for those of us who are switched on behind the wheel and love driving, they should be easier to turn off.

How fast can the Kia EV3 Air Long Range charge?

Based on a tweaked version of Kia’s E-GMP platform, the EV3 is FWD and runs 400-volt architecture, rather than the other use of the platform where you’d find RWD and 800-volt architecture. EV3 uses nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) battery chemistry.

Where the standard range variants can charge at up to 100kW, Long Range models as tested here step that up to 127kW. If you charge at home, you’ll access 11kW capability which means five and a half hours to around seven hours from 10 to 100 per cent, depending on your setup. On the run though, in the best-case scenario, you’ll be able to get the EV3 from 10 to 80 per cent in as little as 31 minutes. On a fast charger, during our test, we saw the EV3 taking on 120kW.

Kia reckons you can average 14.9kWh/100km in the Air variants, and we saw that on the live readout, as an average. Around town, which is what it loves, we dipped down into the mid 12kWh range, while a longer highway run saw that climb to 16.5kWh/100km.

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Is the Kia EV3 Air Long Range practical?

Let’s get the practicality gripes out of the way first. The rear door handles are positioned beautifully for styling enhancement, but annoyingly if you need to use them often. And they will be a major pain for shorter kids trying to open the back doors, too. And then there’s the front door handles, which again preference function over form, and look fantastic, but couldn’t be any less strange to use, especially the first few times.

If you’re a multi car family, you’ll constantly have to stop to work them out, if you get out of your regular car before getting into the EV3. They can be hard to grip, hard to work out the best way to use them, and that if yanked with some force, they might come off.

Those gripes aside – and I’m sure plenty of you will actually love them – there’s a lot to like about the practicality of living with the EV3 day-to-day. The cabin design, fit, finish and choice of trim material is excellent, and lends a classy feel to the experience. The finishes are all entirely synthetic – that is, no animal products at all – but they don’t feel uncomfortable in the way that some materials of this type can.

Air specification grade gets cloth seat trim and leather-look steering wheel trim, and they work together nicely to deliver a comfortable cabin in regard to the major touch points.

There’s plenty of of clever storage inside the cabin, with a lower console tray that features retractable cup/bottle holder gates to ensure your drinks won’t move around the cabin. Two USB-C ports up front and two in the second row take care of the devices, with wireless charging also standard up front. On that note, we did have some connectivity issues with the wired CarPlay connection, but switching to wireless solved that.

Screens aplenty dominate the cabin, with a 12.3-inch driver’s cluster, another 12.3-inch infotainment touchscreen, and a 5.3-inch screen for climate control functionality. Typical of Kia, the infotainment screen especially is clear, easy to read, and responsive. The driver’s display also works well, displaying what you want, where you want it.

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What warranty covers the Kia EV3 Long Range?

Kia covers the EV3 – as it does it’s whole range – with a seven-year/unlimited kilometre warranty for private buyers. The battery pack is covered by an eight-year/150,000km warranty, which is a year less than the industry standard.

Service intervals are 12 months or 15,000km, and you can cap your servicing prices up to seven years, and prepay if you wish to. For seven years, then, the total servicing cost is $1897. There are also three-year ($674) or five-year ($1285) plans available.

Should I buy a Kia EV3 Air Long Range?

There’s no denying the cache, value, and ownership credentials that come with the purchase of a vehicle – electric or otherwise – from a legacy manufacturer like Kia. The history the brand has in this market, the reliability and service track record, the retained value on the second hand market, and the ownership experience are all the result of a hard won reputation in Australia.

As such, when you’e making the plunge into the EV waters, there’s tangible value in spending more money to access something like the Kia EV3, rather than a vehicle from a challenger brand you haven’t experienced before.

Is that enough, though, to push the EV3 in front of an EV with sharper pricing like the BYD Atto 3? For us it is, but for some of you, it may not. If that’s the case, and you’re ultimately on a budget you don’t want to stretch, then the Kia EV3 might not be for you.

However, there’s no denying the appeal of the EV3. It looks funky, it’s fantastic to drive, and the cabin has plenty of space to make it useful. Perhaps it’s most obvious point of attraction though, is the real world range. As such, its an electric vehicle in this segment that should be on your shopping list.

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EV3 Air Long Range standard features

• 81.4kWh battery
• 150kW/283Nm electric motor FWD
• 604km WLTP driving range
• Dusk-sensing reflector-beam LED headlights with auto high beam
• LED tail-lights with incandescent element
• 17-inch alloy wheels with tyre repair kit, Kumho tyres
• Ventilated front and non-ventilated rear brake discs
• Matte black plastic wheel-arch surrounds
• Body-coloured side mirrors
• 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster
• 12.3-inch infotainment touchscreen with wireless/wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto,
• satellite navigation, over-the-air updates, AM/FM/DAB radio
• 5.3-inch climate-control display
• Wireless phone charging
• Keyless entry and start
• Six-speaker sound system
• Dual-zone climate control with rear air vents
• Cloth seat upholstery
• Leather-look steering wheel wrapping
• Blue lower centre-console tray
• Four USB-C ports (two front, two rear) and one USB-C socket
• Kia Connect phone app connectivity
• i-Pedal 3.0 regenerative braking function
• Vehicle-to-load technology (exterior and interior power sockets)
• Power-folding side mirrors with heating
• Rain-sensing wipers
• Seven airbags, including front-centre
• Rear-view camera with dynamic guidelines
• Front and rear parking sensors
• Autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian/cyclist detection, intersection assist,
• oncoming/lane-change awareness
• Adaptive cruise control with stop and go
• Lane-keep assist
• Lane following assist ‘2’
• Highway Driving Assist 2 software with auto lane-change technology
• Blind-spot monitoring with braking function
• Rear cross-traffic alert with braking function
• Door exit warning
• Traffic sign recognition with overspeed alert
• Tyre pressure monitoring

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Specs