2025 Kia K4 First Drive: Can Kia’s latest be a Compact King?

•    Auto123 gets in a first drive of the 2025 Kia K4.

Austin, TX – For 2025, we bid adieu to the Kia Forte compact sedan. But unlike at so many manufacturers these days, Kia is not saying goodbye to the compact segment. Even with the proliferation of small hybrid crossovers, the brand still sees value in the compact car category. But the packaging of its entry in it is all shiny and new: the car gets a new name, some aggressive new styling and a host of compelling interior features.

2025 Kia K4 – What’s new?

Well, technically we’ve never seen a K4 before so you could say that pretty much everything is new, but that’s not quite the case.

There’s no question that the K4 doesn’t look like any Kia car before it, and there’s more space inside than before, as well as some tech also never before seen in a Kia car.

The asterisk on any kind of “all-new” designation comes in the powertrain department. The transmission and the two engines on offer are the same as what we saw in the 2024 Forte. That’s the case across the five trims – LX, EX, EX+, GT-Line and GT-Line Limited.

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