I have reviewed a few EVs in the last year and now for my latest review, I picked up a Kia EV3 Air Standard Range, a base model, on 7 August for a two week media loan.
I am writing this review from the perspective of a retired senior in my early 70s who has been driving internal combustion engine (ICE) cars for almost 50 years. I’ve driven a manual Ford Anglia 997cc and a Renault 12 in East Africa, a Honda Civic in North America, a Ford Focus in Ireland and for the last 35 years various models of Toyotas, Fords, Holdens, Mitsubishis and Mazdas in Australia.
In my last two jobs, towards the end of my working career, I used to look after the management of fleet cars as part of my corporate services responsibilty. And part of the fleet were Toyota Priuses, the most common hybrid car of the time.
I recently started taking an interest in electric vehicles and have attended the November 2024 and March 2025 EV shows in Sydney.
I am planning to attend the Sydney International EV Motor show in November 2025. It was at the March 2025 Everything Electric Australia show that I got to see the EV3 GT-Line specification and discuss its attributes with Kia personnel.
The odometer reading was 2908 km, the car was 100% charged, and showed an available range of 438 km. I returned it on 21 August with the odometer reading 3178 km.
I had only clocked 270km during the review period as the weather has not been conducive to road trips. That would be about 7,000 km per annum, much lower than the average of 10,000 km that I clock up each year.
I understand from news reports that we’ve had the wettest August on record in Sydney, not a good time to be on wet and slippery roads!
The EV3 is 360mm shorter in length as compared to my 2017 Mazda 3 but extremely roomy! The boxy nature of it provides for lots of leg room and head room for the front seat and back seat passengers.
The middle back seat passenger would be very comfortable as it features a flat floor. This is thanks to the all-electric platform.
I found the driver’s seat very comfortable and my passengers, seniors too, who I took for a spin round the neighborhood found the seats comfortable too. Getting in and out from the driver’s seat is so much kinder to my knees and back!
There is plenty of cargo space as well, it has a 460L boot space and you can drop the floor another 10cm or so, which creates additional space for tall suitcases.
Like so many new cars, the EV3 Air does not come with a spare wheel and for longer trips a spare would give peace of mind.
I understand from my son that the underfloor of the boot can fit a Braumach space saver wheel, definitely worth exploring. It also has a 25L frunk.
The ride of the EV3 was very good in spite of the many potholes I encountered, some of the roads had deteriorated due to the inclement weather.
I found driving this small SUV very easy. The single pedal driving is very convenient and I used ECO mode for all the trips. Parking and manoeuvring was easy too.
Most of my driving was in my neighbourhood for shopping and visiting friends with the exception of two trips that I made to the Inner West and Lower North Shore.
The EV3 used 12.4 kWh/100km for a 34 km trip and 12.4 kWh/100km for a 7.4 km trip. Very economical for a small SUV.
I charged the car using my 10 amp electrical outlet in the garage dialled down to 8 amp, the majority of the charge was from the grid as we were experiencing cloudy days during the 2 mid Winter weeks I had this car on loan.
The standard range model has LED lights, cloth upholstery, manual seat adjustment,12.3 inch touchscreen media system and 12.3 inch digital instrument cluster, wired and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android auto system which is very useful for my use of Waze Navigation system on my Samsung phone.
The sound system is more than adequate and playing streamed music or podcasts from my Samsung Amazon music app is really convenient.
The front door handles are what I call the Tesla style with the rear ones up on the side of the windows, similar to the rear door handles of the Hyundai Inster, an EV that I have reviewed previously.
The EV3 was a pleasure to drive, a true 5 seat small SUV which was not too gadgety for me. If you are in the market for a practical small SUV, the EV3 Air Standard Range is a good option for urban use and the Long Range is worth considering for longer trips, takes care of the range anxiety aspect too!
EDITORS VIEW
I have done a city driving video review of the Kia EV3 Air Long Range previously.
It is an excellent car which would sell more if Kia didn’t make the Air specification of their electric cars so bare bones in terms of inclusions compared to similarly priced or cheaper Chinese electric car alternatives.
At the current price of $48,990 driveaway (NSW) for the Kia EV3 Air standard range, there are several competing Chinese cars with similar range that offer many more inclusions for less money eg the Geely EX5 Complete which is currently $44,226 driveway (NSW).
Kia EV3 Air Long Range is the standout version with far more range than any other competing Chinese electric car at this price point ($56,490 driveaway NSW).
The Kia EV3 Air Long Range is the first small Australian electric car with over 600km WLTP range .. but what is it like to actually drive on Australian slow inner city and motorway roads? Watch my video to find out
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