2026 Kia EV3 First Drive Review: More Like This, Please

The first thing I noticed was the headrests. I can’t say I’ve ever paid much attention to them when reviewing cars—with few exceptions, they all work the same. The 2026 Kia EV3 is one of those exceptions. Its headrests are hollow, soft cradles covered in breathable mesh, positioned just forward enough to catch your head in a neutral sitting or driving position. They are simultaneously supportive and invisible. They are the Aeron chairs of headrests, and I’m not exaggerating.

These are actually borrowed from the three-row Kia EV9, which is a nice segue into the real strength of the EV3: experience. Here, finally, is a $35,000 electric car that feels like a mature product. Well-engineered, smartly packaged, and stuffed with the right amount of safety and convenience tech, the subcompact SUV is positioned to be your neighbor’s first EV. Far from a cost-cutting exercise, it just might be the true successor to the once and future Chevrolet Bolt as the American market’s new entry-level electric.

As overall EV adoption has slowed, Kia and Hyundai (and Genesis too) have kept up their momentum by focusing on the $30-50K price range, and together they now account for 10% of U.S. EV sales in 2024. But the lower end of that spread is still primarily occupied by de-contented versions of pricier models like the Ioniq 5 and compromised budget EVs with sub-300-mile ranges. We’re still missing a Goldilocks model that feels like it was designed specifically for that buyer—straightforward, enjoyable, and still a great car. The 2026 Kia EV3 looks like that model.

The big caveat is that although the EV3 is already on sale in South Korea and Europe, Kia doesn’t expect to start U.S. sales until 2026 at the earliest. A lot can and will happen before then, and details like trims, pricing, and EPA-rated range are a ways off. The target $35,000 price could easily come under pressure. But if Kia can pull it off… this would be a big deal.

Kia and Hyundai have both received endless plaudits for their design glow-up over the last few years, but to me, it’s Kia that’s taking bigger risks and reaping bigger rewards. In styling the EV3, Kia successfully scaled down what worked on the EV9—chunky lines, short overhangs, and an upright greenhouse—while simplifying things for the smaller canvas to create a clean, distinctive look. Excellent wheels, too. Impressively, Kia employed a ton of aerodynamic tricks between the underbody panels and wheel arch designs to bring the drag coefficient down to 0.26Cd, which you definitely wouldn’t expect from its squared-off body.

It rides on Hyundai’s modular E-GMP platform that underpins all of the company’s standalone EVs with a liquid-cooled 81.4-kWh battery in the floor. Unlike the others, though, it’s saddled with a 400-volt architecture to keep the price down, which means charging times are longer: Kia says going from 10 to 80% will take 31 minutes with a max DC fast-charging rate of 130 kW. It’s shipping with CCS ports now, and Kia wouldn’t confirm if it’ll get Tesla’s NACS standard and Supercharger access when it goes on sale here. I expect it will.

Keep in mind this is a small car styled to look bigger than it is. At 169.3 inches long, it’s pretty close in overall size to the Chevy Bolt (though also a bit wider), and its 61.4-inch height is actually shorter than the Kia Soul subcompact to which it will inevitably be compared. It’s also lighter than you might expect for an EV: between 3,800 and 4,000 pounds. As it is, the battery is good for an impressive 370 miles of range on the WLTP cycle, and we expect it to crack 300 when the EPA gets its hands on it. Power figures are… normative: 201 horsepower and 209 lb-ft of torque, routed through a single motor on the front axle. AWD will be available by the time it lands here.

It’s not setting speed records, but is that the point for a car like this? Moving inside, the EV3’s cabin is where it really starts to stand out. It’s spacious, notably comfortable (especially the front seats), and easy on the eyes with a pleasant mix of recycled materials that don’t feel cheap. Kia redesigned the HVAC system to shrink the dashboard and open up more space in the footwells. Rear legroom is great too, though a higher-than-average floor does give the impression that you’re sitting on the car, similar to older Subarus.

We’ll have to see how Kia ends up packaging U.S.-spec EV3s, but the base model I drove in Seoul last week was hardly a penalty box, with a triumvirate of screens stretching across the fabric-covered dash—two 12.3-inchers for the driver display and infotainment, with a 5-incher in the middle housing the climate controls. In the car’s most noticeable ergonomic blunder, that one is always blocked by the steering wheel. Thankfully there are backup physical buttons under the screens. And Kia’s latest infotainment is excellent—easy to navigate, snappy, and crisply designed.

The EV3 was also spec’d with a beautifully clear HUD, front heated/ventilated seats, rear heated seats and HVAC vents, V2L charging to power your blender or campsite, and a responsive ambient lighting strip across the dash that flashed red when I exceeded the speed limit (this can be turned off). One final oddity is Kia’s choice to forgo a standard center console storage bin for a floating armrest housing an extendable “table” that slides out towards the dashboard. It’s neat to look at, slightly uncomfortable to use, and overall I’d rather have the junk space back. Cupholders are mounted in an open bin on the floorboard, and while it makes the front row feel especially roomy, throwing the detritus of your life down there is a messy look.

So, how does it drive? Serenely. It’s not exciting, but again, that’s not the point. The throttle response is tuned for a easy tip-in and gentle but urgent acceleration en route to a 7.5-second 0-62 mph time. There is literally no steering feel—Sport mode just makes it heavier. But it rides like a car twice its price: beautifully well-damped over Korea’s many speed bumps, extremely quiet at any speed, smooth as can be. The suspension is cushier and more compliant than any other EV I’ve driven, where the cars struggle to balance ride quality with high curb weights.

You should expect some changes to the driving experience in U.S. spec cars, though I genuinely hope they don’t mess with the suspension and power delivery. This is a commuter in the highest sense of the word, a car engineered to be used every day in rush hour without punishing its occupants. And let me tell you, we encountered plenty of traffic on the congested test routes through Seoul. But set the lane keep assist and adaptive stop-and-go cruise control, and the EV3 will capably carry you through a traffic jam.

Also of note: it’s not the most fun thing to be driving in an unfamiliar city full of confusing interchanges where you can’t read the signs. Kia’s native navigation system was wonderful, displaying clear diagrams showing exactly what lane I needed to be in and projecting them onto the HUD. There are two other technical advances of note coming with the EV3. One is what Kia calls i-Pedal 3.0, its adjustable regenerative braking system that now allows one-pedal with varying levels of regen strength that can all bring the car to a complete stop. Works as advertised, even if I prefer to coast.

The second is Kia’s Smart Regenerative System 3.0, which aside from the clunky name promises to use a variety of sensors and GPS data to adjust regen strength on the fly. Say you’re hustling along and come upon an unexpected sharp corner or a dangerously slow driver. The system is supposed to detect that and automatically increase regen to slow the car down for you. In practice, it was a little hard to trust as it tended to bomb into corners and get too close to other cars. But it did technically work, and Kia has plenty of time to dial it in before unleashing it on American roads.

It’s long seemed like an agreeably cheap, practical, and enjoyable electric car in America is an asymptote: a line we’re constantly approaching but never quite meeting. Taken as a whole, the 2026 Kia EV3 is the first EV I’ve driven that’s capable of crossing it. It feels like a more premium product than its price would suggest not because of gimmicks or flashy tech, but because it is simply a well-considered and well-made car, the same way a Honda Civic outclasses its context as basic transportation for people who don’t really want to think about what they drive. I’m not saying the Kia EV3 will change the world. But I am saying it will change minds. How many? Until we see a U.S. model, that’s in Kia’s hands.

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