THE FAST SHOW(some text hidden)

By Jonathan Crouch

Ten Second Review word count: 26

Kia's EV4 Fastback takes everything that was good about the brand's mid-sized EV4 electric hatch and packages it up with a bit more 'want one' factor.

Background word count: 124

'Fastback' is quite an evocative body style name that over the years has designated products as diverse as the Mazda3 saloon and the Ford Mustang sports car. We've not though, seen it applied to anything quite as avant-garde looking as this, the Kia EV4 Fastback. The EV4 is an electric mid-size contender that sells primarily in five-door hatch form. But late in the project to develop that model, Kia decided it would also take the opportunity to offer EV4 customers something a little different. The EV4 Fastback is certainly different for Kia, the brand's very first four-door electric car. And a four-door saloon of the sort you'll not have seen before; it should really get company car park talking. Let's take a closer look.

Driving Experience word count: 358

Obviously there's little or no difference between the drive experience of this EV4 Fastback and the equivalent EV4 Hatch, apart perhaps from fractionally improved refinement thanks to this four-door model's sleeker shape. Like all mainstream EV4s, this one comes with a 201bhp front-mounted motor putting out 283Nm of torque, but with this Fastback, you can only have it energised by the larger of the two batteries reserved for this model line. This is 81.4kWh in size and with this saloon takes you a little further than it does in the Hatch, rated at 380 miles. The acceleration won't pin you back in your seat but is more than adequate, 0-62mph taking 7.9s en route to 105mph. That's if you engage the most dynamic of the provided driving modes - Sport, which is accompanied by red-themed lighting in the cabin. Kia says that this mode has been engineered to make the car feel genuinely sportier, rather than just heavier of steering - and there's some truth in that. If you're interested in sportiness, then you'll be interested to know that of minority interest at the top of the line-up is the 288bhp GT version, which offers a dual-motor AWD system developing a potent 468Nm of torque, powering the car to 62mph in just 5.6s. The EV4 GT uses the same 81.4kWh battery as the standard model and offers a WLTP driving range of up to 333 miles, 19 miles more than the hatchback. As you'd expect, all EV4 Fastbacks have a regenerative braking system, operated by steering wheel paddles and including a 'one pedal' 'i-PEDAL' driving setting, which notably slows the car off-throttle. Not all EVs in this segment are quite as refined as you might hope but as we suggested earlier, this one is thanks to its super-slippery 0.23Cd drag coefficient. This of course makes the car a very pleasant highway travelling companion (helped by standard adaptive cruise control) and ride quality becomes fine at higher speeds. Beyond the city limits, mainstream versions of this EV4 Fastback aren't huge fun to drive, but body roll is well controlled and the steering's accurate, even if it isn't very feelsome.