Economy Plus: the K4 GT-Line Turbo
Everyone who noticed the long, lean, future-forward K4 assumed it was a mid-priced electric. In fact, it’s a gas-powered economy car, in more ways than one. The back door handles are hidden in the rear quarter-panels. This color, which we’d call sea-foam green, Kia has dubbed Morning Haze.
This is an economy car? Even the steering wheel is attractive—although it does block some of the touchscreen. The dashboard includes nearly 30 inches of high-fidelity digital displays, which Kia calls ccNC, for Connected Car Navigation Cockpit. Wireless Apple CarPlay10 and Android Auto11 come standard on all K4 models.
Everyone who noticed the long, lean, future-forward K4 assumed it was a mid-priced electric. In fact, it’s a gas-powered economy car, in more ways than one. The back door handles are hidden in the rear quarter-panels. This color, which we’d call sea-foam green, Kia has dubbed Morning Haze.
This is an economy car? Even the steering wheel is attractive—although it does block some of the touchscreen. The dashboard includes nearly 30 inches of high-fidelity digital displays, which Kia calls ccNC, for Connected Car Navigation Cockpit. Wireless Apple CarPlay10 and Android Auto11 come standard on all K4 models.
What, you may ask, is a Kia K4? Clearly, it’s a sedan. (Do we still buy sedans?) What does it cost? (It looks a bit spendy.) Where does it sit on Kia’s deep bench? Isn’t it electric? (It looks electric.) Is it crammed with tech that I can’t deal with?
The K4 is not battery-powered, although seemingly everyone assumes it is. And it’s not a hybrid, either—under the hood there’s a normal 4-cylinder gasoline engine. The standard K4 motor is a 2.0-litre 4-cylinder making just 147 horsepower and 132 pound-feet of torque. However, we’re driving the K4 GT-Line Turbo, so our car has a smaller (1.6-litre) yet more powerful turbocharged Four good for 190 horses and 195 torques.
All K4s, with either motor, are front-wheel-drive. The GT-Line and GT-Line Turbo, however, have a multi-link rear suspension to improve their handling and bump absorption.
The base engine gets a continuously variable automatic transmission. CVTs can wring the most out of an anemic motor by keeping it on the boil, but they tend to be noisy and unsatisfying to drive; our more powerful K4 has a conventional 8-speed automatic transmission. However, since Kia evidently has programmed it for maximum gas mileage, it keeps the engine at low revs, where the throttle response is sluggish. Switching to Sport mode—the button is right on the steering wheel—provides a bit of adrenaline and lets us stay with traffic more easily.
(Vanishingly few Sport modes actually provide extra power. Instead, they re-map the transmission, and possibly the throttle, to respond more quickly to the driver’s foot, which makes the car feel livelier.)
In Normal mode, the driver also can goad the K4 Turbo with the shift paddles on the steering wheel. This can be especially useful on the highway, when Sport mode would eat into the fuel efficiency by keeping the engine at higher RPM. The EPA-DOT estimate for the K4 Turbo is 36 miles per gallon on the highway, but at a steady 70 or so MPH, we averaged close to 43 MPG.
The other surprise cooked into the K4 is its price. The entry-level LX lists for $23,145 while our well-equipped, top-end GT-Line Turbo bears an MSRP of just $31,445, or about 17 grand less than today’s average new-car sticker. In fuel efficiency and purchase price, then, the K4 qualifies as an economy car—and, thanks to Kia’s 60,000- and 100,000-mile warranties, its operating costs should fall below average also.
The new-for-2025 K4 replaces the Forte, Kia’s previous econo-sedan. The K4 costs a couple grand more than last year’s Forte, but it’s larger, more spacious, more stylish and better outfitted. Kia has done a good job of leveraging existing components here—the K4 is built on a platform shared with several Kia and Hyundai models, including the Elantra and Niro.
Price notwithstanding, our K4’s cabin feels as upper-class as the car’s eye-catching sheet metal. The seats are attractively upholstered, comfortable and supportive; the fronts are heated and the driver’s adjusts electrically. The digital dashboard with its horizontal touchpad is thoroughly modern and packed with the latest versions of useful apps, including Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and there are USB charge ports everywhere plus an inductive phone charger. Throughout, everything was designed nicely and with a degree of flair.
A basic suite of active and passive driver-assistance features is included with every K4 as part of the all-new digital cockpit. Optional upgrades (such as the $2,200 Technology Package on our car) run the gamut from memory settings for the driver’s seat and wing mirrors to 360-degree cameras, interactive cruise control and a wide array of sensors and braking and steering inputs that operate in parking lots and intersections as well as on the open road.
Kia’s press materials make much of the K4’s “segment-above” features and design, and it does seem to punch above its weight class. To the question, then, whether anyone still buys sedans, Kia reported selling 117,961 Fortes last year, which is a nice chunk of change. Judging by its value, perceived and real, the K4 should pick up where the Forte left off and then exceed it.
Next week: Hyundai Ioniq 6
