2025 Kia K4 Review and Test Drive

With the base engine, the 2025 K4 emphasizes sharp style and heaps of features.

James Riswick | 

Apr 23, 2025 | 6 min read

James Riswick

Three compact sedans were among the 25 bestselling new vehicles in 2024, but Kia's Forte was not one of them. For 2025, Kia has replaced the Forte with the compact K4 sedan, which offers more interior space, newer tech, and a bold design. I can't promise the K4 will be a bestseller, but I did find it more competitive and appealing than its predecessor.

The 2025 K4 is available in LX, LXS, EX, GT-Line, and GT-Line Turbo trim levels. The GT-Line and GT-Line Turbo boast sportier styling, different interior treatments, and an available turbocharged engine. Base prices range from the low to high $20,000s, including the destination charge to ship the car to your local dealership from the Kia factory in Pesqueria, Mexico.

I tested a GT-Line with the base 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine standard on all K4 models except the Turbo. Kia loaded the car up with a sunroof and the Premium package, but the price still didn't crack $30,000. Including the $1,155 destination charge, the manufacturer's suggested retail price was $28,345.

James Riswick

Is the 2025 Kia K4 a Good Car?

The K4 is a stylish and affordable compact car that's big enough to credibly serve as a family vehicle. It's not as polished as the Honda Civic in my experience, but in terms of base models, it's cheaper and equipped with a more generous warranty. And if the K4's standard engine is insufficiently thrilling, you can always upgrade to the GT-Line Turbo for a turbocharged 1.6-liter four-cylinder making 190 horsepower.

James Riswick

The 2025 Kia K4 Is a Practical Sedan

The K4 sedan may have a conventional trunk, but from the side and rear, it reminds me of the kind of sleek hatchback known as a sportback. The unusually shaped front lighting, hockey-stick taillights, and rear roof-pillar treatment with integrated door handles are bold touches on a car otherwise free of excess trim and body lines. It's cool, different, and doesn't say "economy car."

From what I saw, the materials may not be quite up to Honda Civic standards, but they're more interesting to look at, especially in my GT-Line's black-and-white color combination or the EX's green-and-black color scheme.

Physical toggles control the temperature, fan speed, and air direction. However, as I found during my test drive of the GT-Line, you must use a 5.0-inch climate control touchscreen sandwiched between the instrument and infotainment screens to access other climate functions. The design felt cumbersome at first, but it does reduce button clutter and is, in my opinion, better than squishing the climate controls into the infotainment touchscreen.

The basic vehicle controls are normal, right down to the old-school shifter. Interior storage is also quite good, including a large phone-holding bin with wireless charging in the EX and above models. The cupholders in the doors and center console could actually hold my test fleet of metal water bottles, unlike those I've tested in Kia's SUV lineup.

James Riswick

The roomy back seat (2.3 inches more legroom than the Forte and 0.6 more than the Civic) had enough room to not only accommodate my 6-foot-tall father sitting behind me, but also my own 6-foot-3-inch frame while I drove. It easily fit my son's forward-facing car seat with minimal front passenger seat disruption, as well.

Trunk volume measures 14.6 cubic-feet. In my testing, I could fit five suitcases and three duffel bags in the trunk, more than I could manage with the Honda Civic in sedan form (despite it having 0.2 more cu-ft on paper).

James Riswick

The 2025 Kia K4 Is Packed With Tech

The K4 gets Kia's latest infotainment system, which includes new layouts, fresh graphics, and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity. Kia's navigation system proved excellent during my test drive, adapting to changing traffic conditions and responding well to voice commands.

The new radio interface, however, wouldn't let me see my channel favorites list and song information simultaneously. While I found I could still split the screen between two different menu options, audio content wasn't one of them. So I could see the weather forecast alongside the navigation map but not what song was playing.

James Riswick

As for advanced driver-assistance technology, the base K4 offers a range of features that includes blind-spot monitoring, driver-attention alert, and lane-keeping assist. Higher trim levels add safety tech beyond that — in my GT-Line test vehicle, for example, adaptive cruise control and lane-centering assist basically did all the driving for me when traveling on freeways, apart from my keeping a token hand on the wheel. The lane-keeping, blind-spot-warning, forward-collision-warning, and driver-warning systems operated as expected and without false alarms.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration gave the K4 five out of five stars for overall crash safety. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety named it a Top Safety Pick for its crash-protection and crash-prevention scores.

James Riswick

Kia's K4 Is Not Actually That Sporty

The K4 may not be as sporty as its styling would imply, but it wasn't out of its depth on a mountain road, either. It had sufficient grip and good body control in tight turns, and the extra amount of steering effort in Sport mode was spot-on. That said, there's little in the way of steering feel, and, in general, I didn't find the K4 as fun to drive as a Honda Civic. Ride comfort was excellent, though, especially considering the GT-Line's relatively low-profile tires.

The K4's standard 2.0-liter four-cylinder makes 147 horsepower and 132 pound-feet of torque. I found it required a foot to the floor to quickly get up to highway speeds, and passing also took some forethought. The way the engine sounded, however, was the more significant issue. Unlike the smooth, mechanical thrum of the Honda Civic's similarly powerful base engine — it makes 150 horsepower — the Kia on my test drive produced more of a whirring sound accompanied by a slight whine above 4,500 rpm.

James Riswick

The K4's continuously variable transmission (CVT) is better. Like other CVTs, it keeps engine revs low in sedate driving to maximize fuel economy. When accelerating more aggressively, it simulates gear changes for a more normal-feeling driving experience. Honda and Subaru CVTs do this too, but, in my experience, Kia's programming is more convincing. It also has paddle shifters that snap off impressively rapid up- and downshifts.

The K4 GT-Line's EPA-estimated fuel-economy ratings are 29/39/33 mpg in city/highway/combined driving. I managed only 27.3 mpg on my evaluation route, and a 45-mile highway journey showed 34.5 mpg.

No hybrid option exists, but if you're willing to sacrifice some gas mileage for a more powerful, better-sounding engine, the K4 GT-Line Turbo has a 1.6-liter turbo four-cylinder good for 190 horsepower and 195 lb-ft of torque. It costs about $2,900 more, but includes some of the Premium package's equipment to add value.

James Riswick

The 2025 Kia K4 doesn't quite match the Honda Civic for overall refinement or driving enjoyment. Still, its lower price, generous feature content, sophisticated tech, and bolder style is likely to appeal to anyone shopping for a compact car.

All vehicle pricing includes MSRP plus destination charges (set at the time of publication), and will be rounded to the nearest thousand.

James Riswick

James Riswick has been testing cars and writing about them for more than 20 years. He was the senior reviews editor for Autoblog and previously served multiple editor roles at Edmunds. He has also contributed to Autotrader, Car and Driver, Hagerty, J.D. Power, and Autoguide Magazine. He has been interested in cars forever; his mom took him to the Toronto Auto Show when he was 18 months old and he has attended at least one every year since (OK, except in 2020). When he's not testing the latest cars, he has a babied 1998 BMW Z3 in James Bond blue, a 2013 Mercedes-Benz E350 Wagon, and a 2023 Kia Niro EV.