As well as VGS, the EV4 GT has Kia’s Active Sound Design system that feeds artificial engine noise into the cabin. The sound itself is reminiscent of the five-cylinder warble of an Audi Quattro, although the set-up is entirely optional if you prefer the silent acceleration that most EVs deliver.
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The combination of simulated gearshifts and audio accompaniment adds another dimension to the EV drive, although like the set-up in the EV6 GT, the simulated ratios feel a little short, and you can easily end up hitting the virtual rev limiter when changing manually. The shifts themselves are punctuated by a brief pause as the next ratio slots home, while hitting maximum revs sees the car stop accelerating, so you lurch forward against the seatbelts.
Leave VGS to its own devices, and it behaves much like a regular auto, although it’s not the most responsive set-up around. Demand full power, and you have to wait a second for the system to wake up and kick down a couple of ratios, while it hangs on to gears once you’ve finished with a burst of acceleration. Overall, though, the EV4 GT delivers the fast responses needed from a hot hatch.
It’s decent in the corners, too, despite the limitations of its two-tonne kerbweight. The adaptive dampers offer three levels of firmness, ranging from comfortable to firm, but not overtly harsh (although we’ll have to try the car on UK roads to see how good it really is), and the steering offers different weights to boost the car’s sportiness. The main benefit that the EV4 GT has over its EV3 and EV5 siblings is a lower centre of gravity, courtesy of its hatchback body. With more of the car’s mass closer to the road, it’s more accomplished in corners, feeling stable and sure-footed and with minimal body roll, while torque vectoring boosts responses when adjusting your line in corners.
This handling ability doesn’t come at the expense of comfort, either, courtesy of the fact that the dampers can be slackened off in their softest setting. Stick with this mode, and there’s decent cruising comfort to be had as the suspension soaks up bumps. It’s helped by a camera-based system called Preview Electronic Controlled Suspension. This is designed to scan the road ahead and prep the dampers for sharper bumps in milliseconds, although with no obvious alerts that the system is activated, it’s hard to tell how effective it actually is.
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