Kia PV5 review: Spacious electric MPV delivers practicality and value for families

Kia's van-derived electric people carrier offers exceptional space, strong value and everyday practicality, despite its utilitarian styling

this Kia not only represents excellent value for money, it drives better than a lot of SUVs and is way more accommodating too.

KIA PV5
Rating	★★★★☆
Price	From €42,550 - €43,350 as tested
Power	It’s a full EV with 161bhp
Range	Claimed to be 412km, but 365km is a more realistic figure.
The Spec	Very thorough for something that started life as a van
Verdict	A fine thing indeed – spacious, practical and drives well. For a van

THE Kia PV5 had only been in the driveway 10 minutes. I was unpacking the boot when a neighbour happened by and asked: “When did you become an undertaker?”

I wasn’t taken aback or surprised, but I had to laugh. In its melancholic black overcoat and with its boxy shape, the van-derived car did look like it could be a useful addition to the fleet of any funeral director and you could easily visualise a coffin nestling comfortably in its commodious rear compartment.

Maybe Kia should size up this possibility as a marketing and sales opportunity. Years ago, a man in the old CAB garage in Blackrock specialised in the building and/or sourcing of hearses and it was quite a lucrative business.

He’d have seized on the PV5 with unrefined joy, and the powers-that-be at Kia should be immediately notified of this potential. Indeed, to paraphrase the great French philosopher and novelist, Albert Camus, “What’s called a reason for living is also an excellent reason for dying.”

We were testing the passenger (it’s a five-seater, but a seven-seater is on the way) version of the new Kia, which was conceived as a van before, inevitably, being turned in to an MPV. And a very fine vehicle it is, despite its ‘van look’.

When you review cars, everyone offers you their opinion. Cars like this add to the noise.

That ‘funeral director’ gag was much more amusing than the tired ‘I see you’ve got the one with the Garrett turbochargers’; or the tedious ‘What’s the range on that one, then?’

The thing is that people really do care about cars, even if their knowledge falls well short of the strength of their opinions. So, when someone does actually come up with something funny, it’s usually well received.

Examiner Motoring is light on the technical, because a), dissertations on the complexity of electronic engine-management systems lose you readers faster than West Cork weather can change; and b), we find that stuff boring, too.

Thankfully, there’s nothing too technical about the PV5: It is van-derived, after all.

That said, it is a new take on the nearly forgotten genre of MPV and its ubiquitous replacement, the SUV. It used to be that families always steered towards MPVs, but these days all the family action focusses on the SUV.

This Kia not only represents excellent value for money, it drives better than a lot of SUVs and is way more accommodating too.

The PV5 proves that it need not be that way.

This Kia not only represents excellent value for money, it drives better than many SUVs and is way more accommodating. It is also the beginning of a family of vehicles — many of which will actually be vans — coming from Kia.

But this one will undoubtedly be the big seller. It might not be as cutesy as, say, the VW ID.Buzz, but it’s a hell of a lot cheaper and probably more practical for a family.

The long-range version comes with a 71.2kWh battery, which has a claimed 412km range, although I’m sceptical.

Filled to 100% capacity on my home charger, it showed only a range of 364km, which is still not bad for an EV and will get you most places you want to go — provided, of course, you can access a charging point at the other end of your journey.

Charging times are good, if not eye-opening. A 10-80% charge on rapid will take just 30 minutes, but you will need an overnight stint on a home charger to fill it up.

In essence, there is 161bhp on offer here, and that’s good for a 10.7-second 0-100 km/h time, which is not lightning fast, but not at all bad for a van. Indeed, the factory figure is for a fully loaded vehicle, so the PV5 feels faster than you might expect.

And, because it is the size it is, don’t expect to experience sports car-esque dynamic handling. It is prone to understeer and will lean a bit when cornering, but for such a big and potentially ungainly thing, it holds its own well on B roads and is very comfortable on motorways.

The PV5 might not be the ideal around-town companion, because of its large size, and you do have to take care in a multi-storey car park because of the bulk.

Also, the (electric) rear door is huge, so you should be mindful not to reverse park it too close to another car or wall, otherwise you will not be able to open the boot.

Speaking of the boot: It’s massive. It has 1,330l with the rear seats in place and a near-preposterous 3,615l with them folded.

This Kia not only represents excellent value for money, it drives better than a lot of SUVs and is way more accommodating too.

The interior décor is best described as monochrome; everything is a dull grey. That said, everything works well, but there’s a proviso: Physical controls are nearly totally absent; everything is worked via the 12.9” touchscreen.

This, as we know, is not something Examiner Motoring is exactly sold on — for reasons of safety while driving — but the set-up is not as deranged as is the case with so many of the cars coming out of China.

The amount of space afforded the passengers ‘stands out’. Five hat-wearing Tadhg Beirnes will comfortably occupy each of the seats, and even the guy in the middle of the rear ones will have little to complain about when it comes to leg, head, and shoulder room. He will, however, have to do without a heated seat; only the other four come with this function.

Twin sliding doors provide access to the rear, and they are quite big, so the loading of large passengers is not an issue.

All-round equipment levels are impressive; especially on the Plus version we tested and equally for the price.

Now, while PV5 buyers will not be using the van for funerals, they will be purchasing what is possibly the single-best passenger-oriented van out there right now.

It is cheap, efficient, magnificently roomy, and immensely practical for families and — remembering it enjoys Kia’s seven-year warranty — will probably provide untroubled motoring for a considerable period of time.

Indeed, if Kia had dickied up the interior a little bit with some imaginative colour schemes, the package would be a very complete one altogether.