2025 Kia K5 Review and Test Drive

Kia takes one step forward but two steps back with its K5 midsize car.

Christian Wardlaw | 

Feb 12, 2025 | 6 min read

Christian Wardlaw

The 2025 Kia K5 comes in LXS, GT-Line, GT, and EX trim levels, and base prices range from the high $20,000s to the mid-$30,000s, including the destination charge to ship the car from the Hwasung, Korea, assembly plant that builds it to your local dealership.

For this K5 review, I test-drove the EX in Southern California. Optional equipment included carpeted floor mats and a trunk mat, bringing the manufacturer's suggested retail price to $35,930, including the $1,155 destination charge. Kia provided the vehicle for this K5 review.

Is the 2025 Kia K5 a Good Car?

There's plenty to like about the Kia K5. It offers an appealing design, the latest infotainment and safety technologies, and a great blend of ride and handling. Plus, you can get the K5 in GT trim, which turns it into a sports sedan making 290 horsepower. And if you live where winter weather is a problem, all-wheel drive is available. I feel it needs a hybrid drivetrain option, however, and some of the changes to the 2025 K5 do it no favors.

What's New for the 2025 Kia K5

Kia has made two significant changes to the 2025 K5. The first is a new standard engine, a 2.5-liter four-cylinder producing 191 horsepower at 6,100 rpm and 181 pound-feet of torque at 4,000 rpm. It replaces the previous turbocharged 1.6-liter four-cylinder that produced 180 horsepower at 5,500 rpm and 195 lb-ft starting at just 1,500 rpm. Kia spins this as a good thing (more horsepower), but it doesn't feel like an upgrade from behind the steering wheel.

Christian Wardlaw

The second significant change is the standard 12.3-inch touchscreen infotainment system featuring the latest Kia software. Importantly, it supports wireless connectivity to Apple CarPlay and Android Auto across the lineup, and most K5s have wireless smartphone charging. In addition, a new 24.0-inch panoramic display is standard on the K5 EX and optional on the K5 GT, pairing the infotainment system with a matching 12.3-inch digital instrumentation screen.

The other changes to the 2025 Kia K5 are mild, including subtle styling updates, more standard safety features, and a frequently aggravating dual-mode touch-sensing panel that controls the climate system, stereo, and infotainment menu shortcuts.

Kia Zaps the K5's Zing

Since the new engine feels less responsive and is EPA rated as less fuel efficient than the previous turbocharged one, why Kia made this change is a mystery. Based on my week with the car, it's not a positive development.

Christian Wardlaw

Last year, the K5's 1.6-liter turbo four earned a fuel-economy rating of 31 mpg in combined driving (28 mpg for the all-wheel-drive models). This year, the less energetic 2.5-liter without a turbocharger rates 29 to 30 mpg (27 mpg for the all-wheel-drive model). However, there is a silver lining. The 2025 K5 averaged 24.9 mpg on the evaluation loop, outperforming the 2024 K5's 23.8 mpg on the same route.

If official and observed fuel economy is effectively a wash, what you give up with the new non-turbo four is the zing accompanying the old turbo engine's thick torque curve. As a result, compared with the 2024 GT-Line I reviewed last year, the 2025 EX is duller to drive. However, it is quiet and smooth, and since Kia uses an eight-speed automatic instead of a continuously variable transmission, you won't suffer incessant droning unless it is holding a lower gear to power up a mountain grade.

The car's commendable ride compliance translates into a hint of body lean when taking corners. While the K5's suspension feels soft, though, it doesn't allow sudden or excess body motions, making the handling predictable and trustworthy. The standard Pirelli tires provide good grip, and the brakes don't fade while descending a mountain grade. The steering is lifeless, unfortunately — imprecise and requiring more steering input than is preferable when rounding curves and corners.

Christian Wardlaw

This car needs a hybrid powertrain. Electric-motor assist would make it feel more energetic when accelerating, and Kia could significantly improve fuel economy with an electrified powertrain. The K5's corporate cousin, the Hyundai Sonata, offers one, and the EPA says it gets 47 mpg in combined driving. Also, a K5 Hybrid would give Kia a rival to the Honda Accord Hybrid and hybrid-only Toyota Camry.

You can solve this Kia's driving doldrums by getting the Kia K5 GT. It boasts a turbocharged 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine making 290 horsepower and 311 lb-ft of torque. A snappy eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission, sport suspension, quicker-ratio steering, larger front and rear brakes, and 19-inch wheels help you to make the most of the added power. Unfortunately, the GT also has garish neon-green brake calipers and interior accents.

Christian Wardlaw

Improved Infotainment, but Frustrating New Controls

Kia boosts the K5's technological sophistication for 2025, adding more standard safety features while swapping the old infotainment systems for a new one using the automaker's latest software.

The K5's infotainment system features the aforementioned 12.3-inch touchscreen display as well as wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The setup means you can bypass Kia Connect if you'd prefer to use Apple's Siri or Google's voice assistant.

My test car's Kia Connect subscription was inactive, so it couldn't respond to simple commands such as "Go to Starbucks," let alone more complex queries. However, you might still wish to use the other services, which include remote engine starting and climate control operation, a find-my-car function, and more.

Christian Wardlaw

The K5 EX includes a new 24.0-inch panoramic display that marries the infotainment screen with an identically sized 12.3-inch digital instrumentation panel. Compared with other midsize sedans, it clearly reflects sophistication. The display is also an option on the K5 GT.

Aside from the engine swap, the other step backward with the Kia K5 is the dual-action climate and infotainment panel under the dashboard's center air vents. I've used this same design in other Kia models with varying degrees of success. In the K5, it was a consistent source of distraction and irritation.

Due to the location of the Auto Climate's touch-sensitive button, my right index finger knuckle always brushed against it when I reached around the steering wheel rim to find the stereo volume knob. That changed the panel from infotainment to climate functions just before I attempted a volume adjustment, leading to confusion, distraction, and readjustments. Ultimately, I trained myself to rely solely on the steering wheel volume controls.

Christian Wardlaw

Though Kia has updated its K5 for 2025, its competitiveness is fading. Financially, the Hyundai Sonata is less expensive, and it offers a hybrid powertrain like the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry. The Sonata N Line performance model, meanwhile, matches the K5 GT for driving fun. Also, if Kia hasn't improved upon the previous K5's Insurance Institute for Highway Safety crash-test ratings, it may not serve as well as the Honda and Toyota as a family car.

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

Christian Wardlaw

Chris says his first word was "car." For as long as he can remember, he's been obsessed with them. The design. The engineering. The performance. And the purpose. He is a car enthusiast who loves to drive, but is most passionate about the cars, trucks, and SUVs that people actually buy. He began his career as the editor-in-chief of Edmunds.com in the 1990s, and for more than 30 years has created automotive content for CarGurus, J.D. Power, Kelley Blue Book, the New York Daily News, and others. Chris owns Speedy Daddy Media, has been contributing to Capital One Auto Navigator since 2019, and lives in California with his wife, kids, dog, and 2004 Mazdaspeed Miata.