More Golf R than GTI: Kia EV4 GT hot hatch driven

We get an early taste of the dual-motor EV4 GT to see if it can bring the classic hot hatch into the electric age

We have had small electric hot hatchbacks like the Alpine A290 and large ones like the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N but as yet nothing in the real heartland of Volkswagen Golf GTI-sized machinery. Cue the phrase: until now.

To be fair, the lack of traditional family-sized electric hot hatches has been due to a near total absence of donor cars. Almost all 4.2- to 4.4m-long, five-door, five-seat EVs have been homogenised crossovers, in part because of the need to accommodate the depth of a battery pack. But a few years down the line, that just feels like an excuse. Where’s the creativity?

The Kia EV4 was arguably the first electric family hatch in the traditional mould, and now Kia has decided to turn it into the first Golf GTI-sized electric hot hatch as well. The Cupra Born, Volkswagen ID 3 and MG 4 are the closest conceptual rivals, but those are noticeably taller and their hot derivatives either feel more like trim levels than bespoke performance models (the VZ and GTX) or are unengaging to drive (the XPower).

You might have noticed that I tested the Kia EV4 GT, this bona fide hot hatch version of the EV4, almost six months ago. Talking shop for a moment, last autumn Kia brought an early prototype of the GT to a Car of the Year event in Denmark, where it was launching the EV4, to give jurors a clearer idea of the full model range (which also includes a saloon) to come. We got there thinking this GT prototype was for static display, but the keys were handed over for short drives in exchange for a signature with lots of dos and mainly don’ts, one of which was don’t write about it until now.

It seemed to catch even Kia representatives at the event by surprise, because information on the car we were testing was close to non-existent. The press release that came from the event focused only on some guff about the ‘GT wrap’ that hides the car’s final styling underneath. There was no slideshow to sit through, as is de rigueur with any car tested on these first drive pages. The horror! Nor was there an engineer to sit in the passenger seat, as is almost always the case with such prototype drives, given the value of mules like these can run into the millions and they have their quirks. We were simply told not to press the literal big red button on the centre tunnel.

Credit to Kia for trusting us with it. At the time, it was an intense half an hour or so of journalistic investigation mixed with car reviewing to find out not only what the EV4 GT was and what it wanted to be but what it was like too. It was a fun 30 minutes, as it turned out.

My starting point for this car was actually a conversation with Kia development chief Manfred Harrer a few weeks earlier, in which he accepted the notion that the dynamic enjoyment of Kias hadn’t kept pace with the improvements in design and desirability of the cars and he said the GT models would be his starting point in trying to address that. He has made good progress: the EV4 GT feels a good deal more alive than the standard EV4 on which it is based with both its powertrain and its chassis and the adjustability they offer together.

Its dynamic personality is more Golf R than Golf GTI, not just owing to the technical fact that it has four-wheel drive (thanks to an additional 94bhp motor for the rear axle) rather than front-wheel drive (the 194bhp motor from the standard EV4 remains at the front) but also in how it goes down the road.

The suspension makeover from the standard EV4 feels significant: the GT does a Golf R impression in offering superb comfort and compliance alongside plenty of grip and stability when being pushed. It uses the clever system we have seen before on Hyundai Group models, whereby a front-facing camera scans the road ahead and prompts the suspension to adjust in milliseconds for any bumps ahead. The steering feel is also much improved, addressing a particular Kia weak point.

The EV4 GT seems like a car set up almost exclusively for road use, rather than track use, as I suspect it would feel a bit stodgy and heavy on the smoothest surfaces with only cornering speeds and trying to slide around to think about. The EV4 GT can still put a smile on your face around a corner as well as impress you with how it is able to handle a bumpy road, being capable of searing cross-country pace, and unlike many fast EVs it has far more in its repertoire than rapid standing-start acceleration.

Still, it is quick: a 5.6sec 0-62mph time is claimed and a 120mph top speed estimated, although according to the performance data logger you can view on the central touchscreen, someone had got the former down close to 5sec dead. The virtual gearshift function made famous by the Ioniq 5 N also features, and among the driving modes is one labelled GT (enabled by a button on the steering wheel) that makes everything as fast or as stiff as it goes.

Michelin Pilot Sport 4S 245/45 tyres front and rear are wrapped around 20in alloys and behind them are some beefed-up brakes with, on this liveried prototype at least, some fetching neon-coloured calipers.

The EV4 GT receives some meaningful upgrades over the donor car in a cabin that feels classy with some sporty touches. Best among them are new sports seats that make it seem like you’re sitting lower than in the standard EV4, and they feel great too, with an Alcantara-like wrapping and leather trim.

Piece it all together and you get a car that shows lots of promise and in several different ways. It shows that more humble Kia hatches can be as good to drive as they look, that this GT can display proper dynamic clarity and positioning without you really knowing anything about it and that electric cars can make for enjoyable traditional hot hatches with the right tuning.

As with the Golf R, there are hot hatches that are simply more fun to drive – the Honda Civic Type Rs of this world. But there’s hope here that there is life in the family hot hatch yet in the electric era.