More spec is nice, but worrying about how much you’ve spent isn’t. I have certain red lines, without which I wouldn’t even consider buying: heated seats, CarPlay… and nothing else is that important. Annoyingly, the heated seats mean I can only consider the top model in most cases.

 

I agree with your sentiment @Red Lake re the pricing

We are all different, ( good job) but when New Car Discount can get me into a ‘better’ Ioniq for less money…..
Perhaps we need to wait for the Discounted/Pre-reg EV3 models to hit
I also think there will be a lot of Pistachio Green demos…..

 

I’m currently eyeing up the EV3 as my next car for when my lease on the Ioniq 5 ends.

I reckon the Air is probably ok for me, but not having the automatic pop-out door handles is a dealbreaker for the wife.

We test drove a Premium Ioniq 5 which had the pop out door handles, then despite ordering the higher specced Ultimate, we got the manual door handles, which she finds difficult to use.

For me the power tailgate and HUD are nice to have, but I could line without.

Maybe in a few months, I’ll be able to pick up a nearly new GT-Line S.

 

Travel assist (auto steer on VW’s) is the one thing I’d have to have now. It makes motorway driving so much less stressful. I never thought following lines in a lane would take to much effort over a long trip.. but it does.

 

Appreciate that we’re all different; I’d never order a base spec car over a top spec car. I always finance PCP / lease. Trick is to get the deal on the top spec car at the right monthly payment, often easily enough done As resale is always better.

 

It's an expensive business, when repeated across multiple cars and decades. And inevitably higher interest paid on the finance. Of course you get a more luxurious/fun car for every mile of driving across those years, which is what counts for a lot of people.

But offers will blunt the cost difference. Presumably there won't be any special deals for a few months on the EV3. At the moment the Kia website is showing:

3 year PCP, zero deposit, 12k miles, 81 kWh plus paint option, monthly rental:
£652 Air
£710 G Line
£772 G Line S

Personally I've plenty of other things I'd rather spend £120 per month on, even though it'd be a lot less as I'd be doing it on salary sacrifice.

 

I actually think paying £7k for all the "extras" on the GT S over the Air is very reasonable - compared to option prices on German cars.

 

It's an extra 19% on the price of the car. Feels a lot more relative to the basic cost of a luxury EV to get from A to B.

I wonder what extras are as a percentage on the even more expensive cars.

 

GT-Line: £39,500
Gets the glass, something about headlights*, bit better interior, and the green paint, nothing else too exciting? Get the weird laptop table thing.

Surely Kia are going to run into trouble in a few months when the >£40k tax starts?

The reason that KIA will run into trouble with the luxury car tax limit is that ANY colour choice, other than the weird orange default colour, pushes the GT-Line price over 40k! I think that is going to put a lot of buyers off.

 

I have never liked the more "exotic" colours like orange, gold etc. I did not think that the so called premium paint colours were anything other than normal paint; ie not metallic or pearlescent etc and thought it was a bit much charging me over £600 extra for basic grey, white, black or light green paint. If I could have lived with orange I would have settled for that, but perhaps that is why Kia chose it knowing many would pay extra to avoid it?

If the luxury car tax threshold stays at £40K, I suspect Kia will be forced to trim a few pounds off the price. They did this with the Soul FE to enable it to qualify for the then subsidy. Unfortunately they did this by trimming features in the MAXX such as Heads Up Display.

 

I have just ordered an Air with the 58kW battery. I am changing my Vauxhall Corsa-e which I've had since new (July 2020) when I retired. I based my decision to go for the base level Air because of circumstances and needs.

I used to do a 490 mile round trip between Ipswich and Liverpool in the Corsa with its puny 45kW battery four or five times a year. Never had any issues even though I would need at least 2-3 charging stops, possibly 4 in winter in the rain with a headwind. The extra range of the 58kW battery and better performance of the entry level Kia EV3 Air would make a big difference today but, I don't need to do that run any more.

Now, I barely do more than a few thousand miles a year and most of that is running around town, so the bigger battery option was not necessary for me. Whilst I charge at home, doing the mileage I do, I would only need to charge from 50% once every five or six weeks anyway.

Whilst some of the extra features in the higher trim levels would be nice, they are not necessary for me as I do not spend that much time in the car anyway. The only "must have" items on my list are heated steering wheel and front seats and maybe, boot space. Things like a HUD are novelty features which are nice to have but not essential. My day job used to provide me with very expensive transport that included a real HUD, which if it ever needed replacing would cost more than two or three EV3 GT Line S's!

Again, I went for the orange entry level colour. Not my favourite but I could not justify the extra £650 and I'm too long in the tooth to really care about making a fashion statement. Also, an auto tailgate would be nice too but not a deal breaker.

And long as the EV3 is efficient and reliable, that's all that matters when on a fixed income and only do low annual mileage. The Corsa's best feature, as far as I was concerned, was the LED Matrix headlights. They were fantastic. I'll miss not having those on the EV3.

The other selling feature for me is the 7 year warranty. My Corsa was faultless (except for the crappy app) until it simply flagged up a traction battery fault one morning a few months ago. Whilst the car was out of warranty, the battery was still covered and they replaced it with a new one, although it took two and a half months for them to figure out the issue and get it replaced.

I have always purchased new cars and kept them for around four to five years before replacing them. Knowing that when I come to replace the EV3 around 2029, it will still have at least another 2 years of warranty which will make it a bit more desirable.

So, I am looking forward to delivery later this month of the EV3 Air with no added frills and telling everyone that the colour is "copper" rather than sunset orange. 😳

 

Nothing wrong with orange, just personal taste. If we could have seen it "in the flesh" we may have accepted it and saved £650, the colour looked different in every picture or video we saw. I also think being lighter, the smaller battery version would be okay and may handle better. We would have preferred the 17" wheels and no sunroof, but the main driver has become hooked on HUD since we got the Soul FE so it had to be the GT Line S. I occasionally use the heated steering wheel for a few minutes, but have never liked the sensation of heated seats and don't use them. So if not for the HUD we may well have gone with the Air. Some will say a "fool and their money are easily parted" and I would have to agree.

 

* headlights are something called "Small Cube Design". Is this matrix or just bollocksy marketing speak?

I don't think anyone answered that, but yes, it is just marketing and design, not function. The EV3 does not have matrix headlights.

 

@Red Lake

Dont know if its of interest, but AUTO EV has done a video on his YT channel regarding the question of an EV3 AIR , and whether the GT Line is worth the extra dosh

Search Auto EV EV3……….sorry havent got a link

 

@Red Lake

Dont know if its of interest, but AUTO EV has done a video on his YT channel regarding the question of an EV3 AIR , and whether the GT Line is worth the extra dosh

Search Auto EV EV3……….sorry havent got a link

Value is entirely subjective. I won’t buy a car without heated seats, which sometimes means I have to buy the top model, even if I don’t care about any of the other features.

 

Autocar opinion on the Air (note comments on material quality):

 

Cost wise, you would have to do an awful lot of winter driving to justify £900 for a heat pump. Range wise, the smaller battery Air model would benefit most from a heat pump; the long range models should have adequate range for most without a heat pump.

I find heated seats uncomfortable after about 2 minutes and may have mentioned before that we don't like a sun roof. The HUD was the must have for the main driver, so it was the GT Line S for us, which is a shame as most of the extra tech is unlikely to be used.

 

I find heated seats uncomfortable after about 2 minutes and may have mentioned before that we don't like a sun roof. The HUD was the must have for the main driver, so it was the GT Line S for us, which is a shame as most of the extra tech is unlikely to be used.

The HUD and the driver's seat memory were the deal killers for us, had to be the GT Line S for us, but as it turns out there are some great deals to be had on the Ioniq 5 right now, with dealers willing to discount significantly below list, plus PCP with 0% interest and £2,000 deposit contribution.

That let us order the Ioniq 5 N-Line S trim and pay less on a PCP than we would have for the EV3 GT-Line S...

 

Anybody know if the rear view mirror is the same on all the trims and if its auto dimming, looked at spec sheet but doesn't mention anything.

 

It certainly is in other markets, but I can't find it confirmed for the UK models.

 

We checked out the Air, GT-Line and GT-Line S in our local showroom yesterday.

The Air has a LOT of grey plastic in the dash.

By contrast, the GT-Line has a much plusher interior and the ambient light accents. It just says "quality" where the AIr says "utility". The seats are definitely more comfortable too.

GT-Line S is a up another level of sophistication - mainly due to the sunroof which oddly makes it feel more spacious inside.

If we can, we'll go for the GT-Line S, mainly for the electric memory seats, the 360 camera, and the HUD. But definitely not the Air.

 

The only issue I have with my GT Line loan car is the slow charging rate.

Good car otherwise

Missing my EV6.

 

What charging rate were you expecting from a 400v architecture?

 

I was expecting this that’s the point….

….much prefer 238…

It was a joke fwiw 😁

It achieved pretty well what Autocar got:

 

Don't forget from 1st April Next EV's become liable for road tax at £195 p.a. AND the "Expensive cars" suppliment of 4
£425 for all ev's over £40k new.
The suppliment will apply for 5 years.
That's like another £35 on your lease price if your leasing

 

Hence why people are trying to get new cars registered before 1st April to avoid the 'luxury' tax...

 

To any owners of an EV3, I have a couple of questions.

1. Is the car really as quiet and comfortable to drive as the many YT reviews all seem to say it is?
   Historically I've found reviewers and the real world don't line up on this, and their view is materially different to mine. My original Kia Niro EV was noisy to my ears, especially on coarse road surfaces; Kia says it was 67dB. Same with the Hyundai Ioniq 6 but that was more to do with the 20" tyres, although it too was apparently 67dB. The mix of tyres and suspension was the Achilles heel for that car. My current Kia EV6 is just about okay but still suffers from tyre noise on poor road surfaces, plus a jittery ride at slower speeds, and yet weirdly Kia states this is 68dB so higher than the other two.
2. In the GT Line and GT Line S, you have that daft sliding tray and lose the storage area under the armrest. In the real world, how much of an impact is that and has anyone actually used the sliding tray thingy?
   It is perhaps the single biggest complaint I have from seeing the car, and the whole armrest area just looks cheap and plastic.

I am not looking to change to the EV3, rather it is about my ongoing shortlist of cars for consideration when I get fed up with the EV6 or in a couple of years when the PCP ends.
I appreciate a lot can happen between now and then, but it's useful to get a sense of things with new vehicles soon after they're released and customers have them. Owners will quickly find the things that annoy them or are niggles, plus the things they really like. So the first few months of ownership are key to knowing if the EV3 is a good car or a great car.

 

Wow, if you think the EV6 is noisy, then you have some sensitive ears.

It's by far the quietest car I ever sat in. I guess top class Mercedes, BMW or Rolls Royce will be quieter, but I find it very easy on the ears. The difference with my e-Niro is abysmal.

 

Not an owner but I have had a GT-line loan car for a month and over 2000 miles.

We have travelled to Scotland and Cornwall and I think it’s as quiet as an EV6.

The tray is a non-issue - slide it away if you don’t want it or out if you do. It’s a good base when using your smartphone.

Interior quality is OK for the price I guess.

My only issue is (what I consider) the slow charging at fast chargers but I am used to 200+ in the EV6.

My wife’s i4 does 200+ on 400v.

The UI is better than the gen1 EV6 and will be one thing I miss when I (finally) get my EV6 back.

 

Noise levels are very subjective. Ddepends on your hearing and what noises/frequencies you find most irritating. I saw one review that mwasured it as 70dB but cannot say what the road was like or what speed they were driving etc. A test drive would be your best bet rather than relying on other people's opinion.

 

 

There is a good chance my first EV will be the Kia EV3. I will probably go for the big battery Air which has most of what I want. To me the best safety aid of the decade is the blind spot monitoring. With less clear views in most cars these days and my stiffening neck it has saved me a couple of times. I am a bit obsessed with pulling out stemming from my only "proper" accident, as an 18 year old, about a million miles ago, when I was turning right in a protected hatch on a three lane road and was looking forward for a gap and as I turned somebody overtook me on the outside at 50mph. Sliced the front of my minivan off but we were all alright thankfully. I always check my wing mirrors even when turning right since then but there have been a couple of times when they have been visually clear and as I was about to pull out the warning light came on. So it is disappointing that these often only come on the top of the range models now. Kona being a case in point. At first they told me the same applied to the EV3 but it turns out that they all have the little warning light in the mirror whereas the GT line has the full camera. Be grateful if somebody could confirm that though.

 

To me, blind spot monitoring with the warning light in the side mirrors is essential. Indeed, I believe it should be mandated in some fashion as a key safety feature, perhaps by adjusting NCAP or something, as it is relatively cheap yet saves lives.

The feature Blind-Spot Collision-Avoidance Assist is available on all models of the EV3.

The Kia/Hyundai Blind Spot View Monitor, with the camera on the side mirrors and showing this on the driver's dash when you indicate, is great, but is only ever on the top spec models. Once you've had that feature, you tend to want your next car to have this. On the EV3, this is only available on the top-spec GT-Line S.