[0:00] This is the new 2026 Kia K4 Turbo
[0:05] hatchback, and it looks like a sporty
[0:08] hothatch. It's also got a turbo
[0:10] four-cylinder engine with almost 200
[0:13] horsepower, and it comes from Kia's
[0:15] sporty GT line. Unfortunately, this car
[0:20] isn't exactly what I was hoping for. And
[0:22] today, I'm going to review the K4 Turbo
[0:25] hatchback and explain why. and I'll show
[0:28] you all of its quirks and features.
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[1:33] Code deurro. All right, time for the
[1:36] quirks and features of the Kia K4
[1:40] hatchback. Starting with the basics. The
[1:42] K4 is Kia's new compact car and it
[1:46] replaces the Forte. The K4 sedan debuted
[1:49] last year and the hatchback is new for
[1:53] 26 and is pretty similar to the sedan
[1:56] except with no rear end. In fact, they
[2:00] literally basically just took off the
[2:02] back of the sedan. The hatchback is the
[2:05] same car as the sedan right up to the
[2:08] end of the back doors and then instead
[2:10] of a trunk, you have a hatch. It's all
[2:13] pretty simple. The result is that the
[2:14] hatchback's about 11 in shorter than the
[2:17] sedan, which is a pretty significant
[2:19] amount, and it's a lot more attractive.
[2:22] The sedan is a little bit kind of
[2:24] ungainainely oversized for the segment.
[2:27] Looks a little awkward and weird. The
[2:30] hatchback doesn't really have that
[2:32] problem. It certainly looks more
[2:34] exciting, more aggressive, sportier,
[2:36] younger, more fun. It really is a much
[2:39] more attractive car than its sedan
[2:41] counterpart. As for the exterior quirks
[2:44] and features, there are quite a few. One
[2:47] is the giant orange running lights. When
[2:50] the car is on, you can see up front big
[2:53] and they're vertical and horizontal.
[2:55] They are quite large. In fact, when
[2:57] you're driving this car during the day
[2:59] with no headlights on, they are so
[3:01] bright that if you get close to
[3:03] something like in a parking spot or the
[3:04] car in front of you, it lights up as
[3:06] orange because of your giant orange
[3:09] running lights, which are a very
[3:11] distinctive look to this car. Also
[3:13] distinctive this car in terms of
[3:14] lighting, the turn signals in back. You
[3:17] can see these sort of vertical and
[3:18] diagonal lines in the turn signals when
[3:20] they turn on, which looks kind of cool
[3:22] and again gives it a little bit more of
[3:24] exciting kind of sporty character
[3:26] instead of your normal basic boring turn
[3:29] signals. Now, to me, the most
[3:31] interesting exterior detail of this car
[3:34] is the door handle on the back doors.
[3:37] You can see it's not mounted on the body
[3:39] of the car. Instead, it's upright
[3:41] vertically mounted on the rear pillar.
[3:44] And you open up the door this way. Not
[3:46] that unusual, but a little strange. The
[3:48] most interesting part is that this
[3:50] design detail is shared with the sedan.
[3:53] Like I mentioned, these cars are the
[3:55] same up through the rear doors, and that
[3:57] means the sedan gets these doors that
[3:59] really look like they belong in a
[4:01] hatchback. But there they are here, just
[4:04] like on the sedan. And of course, behind
[4:06] the rear door, then things change and
[4:08] become hatchback specific. But a nice
[4:10] interesting design quirk. Also
[4:12] interesting when it comes to opening the
[4:14] car. I love the key. I love the way it
[4:16] looks. Love the way it feels. I love how
[4:18] the lock button is sort of mounted
[4:20] diagonally on top, almost like a
[4:22] detonator that you're pressing. It feels
[4:25] cool and it feels good to press the lock
[4:27] button on this car. But I especially
[4:29] like that any button you press, the
[4:32] little Kia logo on the key actually
[4:35] lights up in green to confirm that it
[4:39] got your press. So when you push a
[4:40] button, Kia lights up for just a second
[4:43] in green, which is kind of a cool little
[4:45] detail that you get to see every time
[4:47] you press lock or unlock for the car.
[4:49] Just another nice little interesting
[4:52] Easter egg detail. As for powertrains,
[4:55] two are available in the K4 hatchback.
[4:58] The base engine is a 2 L naturally
[5:01] aspirated 4-cylinder about 145
[5:05] horsepower and that is only offered with
[5:07] a CVT automatic. Or you can step up to
[5:11] this, the GT line turbo, which has a
[5:15] turbo four-cylinder that's 190
[5:17] horsepower, and that is mated only to an
[5:21] 8-speed automatic. No manual
[5:23] transmission in this car. All
[5:25] front-wheel drive, no all-wheel drive,
[5:27] nothing like that. no GR Corolla
[5:28] situation. And even the big engine, the
[5:31] turbo, isn't the fastest thing on the
[5:33] planet. 0 to 60, probably in the low to
[5:36] mid7se second range for this car.
[5:38] Certainly not a competitor for a GR
[5:41] Corolla or a Focus RS or any other kind
[5:44] of modern really hot hatchback. This is
[5:47] sort of a warmish hatchback. And as for
[5:51] pricing, the regular Kia K4, the sedan,
[5:54] starts around $23,000 with shipping,
[5:57] which is pretty reasonable in today's
[5:59] kind of inflationary world where cars
[6:00] are getting more expensive. That's a
[6:02] pretty affordable number. Now, the
[6:04] hatchback isn't offered with some of the
[6:06] base level trims you can get in this
[6:08] sedan. Instead, the entrylevel hatches
[6:10] and EX models is pretty well equipped.
[6:13] So, the starting price for the hatchback
[6:15] is around $26,000. If you want to get
[6:17] the GT line, you pay just a little bit
[6:20] extra. It mainly includes 18-in wheels.
[6:24] That's its primary benefit. But the GT
[6:27] line also comes with a few other kind of
[6:29] style upgrades throughout the car. The
[6:31] really top-of-the-line K4 hatch is this
[6:34] one, the GT Line Turbo. So, you can get
[6:37] the GT line with the base engine, but if
[6:39] you get the Turbo, it starts around
[6:41] $30,000. This one has been equipped to
[6:44] around 33,000 including all of its
[6:47] options. This is a fully equipped car
[6:50] and that price is around the starting
[6:52] figure of a Volkswagen GTI. So, an
[6:55] entrylevel base model GTI or a fully
[6:59] equipped K4 GT line turbo hatchback.
[7:02] About the same number. But anyway, next
[7:04] we move inside the K4 GT line turbo
[7:08] hatchback. I got to say the interior is
[7:11] pretty nice. I have some disappointments
[7:13] with this car. I'll primarily share when
[7:14] I'm driving it. But inside, looking at
[7:17] the materials and the design, definitely
[7:19] not one of them. This is a well-laidout,
[7:21] highquality interior, especially for a
[7:24] vehicle at this price point, the sort of
[7:25] 28 to $33,000 price range. This is a
[7:29] nice place to be for that number. And
[7:31] there are some especially good materials
[7:33] I'm surprised to see like the seats
[7:34] which you can see two-tone perforated
[7:37] leather down the center which looks nice
[7:38] and then this sort of white rim all the
[7:41] way around looks pretty cool and looks
[7:42] pretty high-end. You also have GT line
[7:46] imprinted debossed into the seats which
[7:49] also looks pretty cool and pretty
[7:50] high-end. Same deal with the steering
[7:52] wheel which again is two-tone. The horn
[7:54] pad in this area above, separate color
[7:56] from the rest of the wheel, gives it
[7:57] kind of a luxury car feel and
[8:00] distinctive look. You also have a flat
[8:02] bottom for this steering wheel, which
[8:04] adds kind of a sporty character to this
[8:06] car. More importantly, though, there is
[8:08] a really impressive level of equipment
[8:11] in this vehicle. You can see over on the
[8:14] driver's door panel, you have these five
[8:16] buttons, all of which are impressive.
[8:18] The first couple are seat memory. So you
[8:21] press on those and whatever memory
[8:23] setting you've set, the seat will go
[8:24] back to it. Not something you frequently
[8:26] see in a compact car. Next, you have a
[8:29] heated steering wheel, which is also a
[8:30] pretty nice luxury feature to see. And
[8:32] then you have heated and ventilated
[8:34] seats, which again, pretty nice, pretty
[8:37] high-end. Of course, heated and
[8:38] ventilated seats for both front seats in
[8:40] this car. Beyond that, you have an
[8:42] excellent driver assist system in this
[8:44] car. sort of self- steering and auto
[8:47] braking, auto adaptive cruise control,
[8:49] which you can turn on with these
[8:50] steering wheel buttons over on the side.
[8:52] Again, surprisingly impressive for a
[8:54] compact car at this price point. I also
[8:56] love to see the blind spot cameras,
[8:59] which appear in the gauge cluster. You
[9:01] put on the turn signal and you can see
[9:03] the blind spot camera appears in
[9:05] whichever direction you are signaling.
[9:06] Works left or it works right. It is a
[9:08] truly great feature and I wish it were
[9:10] included in a lot more cars. Very
[9:12] impressive to see that and especially
[9:14] impressive to see it kind of trickle
[9:15] down to the K4. It's in other Kia
[9:18] models, but now it's in the compact.
[9:20] Another nice feature in here is the
[9:22] sunroof. It's a rather large sunroof, a
[9:25] little bigger than your typical one over
[9:26] the front seats, and it opens fully. In
[9:29] order to do that, it has to open over
[9:31] the roof of the car, which you don't see
[9:33] too much these days in sunroofs. Used to
[9:36] be more common, but it does open and it
[9:38] does open over the roof. An interesting
[9:39] design detail, but nice to see it there.
[9:42] I also like to see another design
[9:44] detail, the climate controls here in the
[9:46] center control stack. They are not
[9:48] integrated into the screen. So, you can
[9:50] adjust at least the most commonly used
[9:53] climate control functions using actual
[9:56] physical switches here in the center.
[9:58] Now, it's a little bit odd that the
[10:00] climate control screen occupies this
[10:03] space sort of between the gauge cluster
[10:05] and the central infotainment screen.
[10:07] This space is basically entirely blocked
[10:10] by the steering wheel rim if you're
[10:12] sitting in the driver's seat. So, it's
[10:13] not a good place to have that. But, it
[10:16] is nice to have a fixed location where
[10:18] climate control is displayed rather than
[10:20] some other cars where it pulls up on
[10:22] some screen and the infotainment, but
[10:25] it's not always there. At least you have
[10:27] a spot for it, even if it's a little bit
[10:30] blocked by the steering wheel, so you
[10:31] can't see it that well. It's worth
[10:33] pointing out this space is also a
[10:35] touchcreen. So, while you can make your
[10:36] primary climate adjustments with the
[10:38] switches in the center, if you want to
[10:40] do smaller kind of fine-tuning items,
[10:42] they can be done in this sort of oddly
[10:45] placed climate screen between the
[10:48] screens in the car. A hand on that
[10:50] subject, let's talk through the screens.
[10:52] In the center, you have the main
[10:54] infotainment screen, which is rather
[10:56] large and operates very well. It's very
[10:58] intuitive, simple, easy to use. It has a
[11:01] nice home screen. It's all great. Most
[11:03] people connect their phones, use Apple
[11:05] CarPlay or Android Auto, but if you are
[11:07] using the kind of native automaker
[11:09] infotainment system, it works well in
[11:11] Hyundai and Kia models. And I like the
[11:13] fact that it's easy to pull up the
[11:15] camera system. There's a button right
[11:16] here, P with a little camera. You push
[11:18] that and the cameras pop right up to
[11:21] make parking a little bit easier. Even
[11:23] if you haven't gone into reverse and
[11:24] activated the backup camera, you can
[11:26] still pull up your camera system. I also
[11:28] like the fact that there are physical
[11:30] buttons below this screen in order to go
[11:32] to kind of the main screen functions.
[11:35] Obviously, the volume dial in the
[11:37] center, which is nice to have, and feels
[11:39] surprisingly heavy, like a nice weight
[11:41] to it, not cheap. Again, kind of
[11:43] punching above this car's price point,
[11:45] but you also have buttons for the other
[11:46] basic functions, the infotainment
[11:48] system, so you can easily tap a button
[11:50] and go directly to there without having
[11:52] to go through screen menus, which is
[11:54] nice to see. Now, the gauge cluster
[11:56] screen, unfortunately, is disappointing
[11:58] like it is in most Kia and Hyundai
[12:00] models. You do have that wonderful blind
[12:01] spot camera system like I mentioned, but
[12:04] beyond that, it just isn't really all
[12:06] that configurable. You can adjust what's
[12:08] in the center and you can adjust kind of
[12:10] the layout, but there's no full screen
[12:12] map here. It doesn't even show the music
[12:14] that you're listening to. It is just not
[12:16] a particularly well-designed gauge
[12:17] screen, and I wish it had more
[12:19] configurability like basically every
[12:21] other rival does. It's kind of
[12:23] disappointing to see this one like this.
[12:25] Now, in terms of connectivity, one other
[12:27] rather interesting quirk in this car is
[12:30] the USBC port situation. So, you can see
[12:33] a USBC port in the center and it's lit
[12:36] up in orange and there's a little orange
[12:38] light next to it. Well, check this out.
[12:40] If you tap on the button with the orange
[12:42] light, it turns this sort of whitish
[12:44] blue and it changes the color of the
[12:47] USBC port illumination as well. And
[12:49] that's because you're changing the
[12:51] function of this port. You press that
[12:53] button and it switches between a port
[12:55] that only charges your device and a port
[12:58] that charges and actually hooks up your
[13:00] device to the infotainment screen. And
[13:02] you can decide which one it is that you
[13:05] want in that moment, which is a pretty
[13:07] cool feature. For example, if you have
[13:09] Bluetooth already going, you don't want
[13:11] your device to plug into the
[13:12] infotainment system, well then just turn
[13:14] it into a chargeonly port. But if you
[13:16] have it Bluetooth, you can make it a
[13:18] port that recognizes your device as
[13:20] well. And you can flip it with that
[13:22] pretty easy button and color system,
[13:24] which is a really cool feature,
[13:26] honestly. And next up, we move on to the
[13:28] back seat in the K4 hatchback. And I
[13:31] have to say, it is surprisingly roomy
[13:33] back here for a compact car. There's
[13:36] decent room for my knees, my legs.
[13:38] Headroom is good. Actually, better than
[13:40] the sedan because you don't quite have
[13:42] the same sloping roof line. This is a
[13:44] surprisingly decent space in back, even
[13:47] for largesized adults such as myself.
[13:51] And there's some nice features back
[13:53] here, too. For example, you got climate
[13:55] vents, which is very rare to see in the
[13:58] compact car space. Typically, they skip
[14:00] rear climate vents, but that's not the
[14:02] case on this car. You have them. And
[14:04] below that, you got USBC ports back
[14:07] here, which is obviously nice for rear
[14:09] passengers for charging their devices.
[14:11] Other than that, pretty standard stuff
[14:13] back here. Although I will say once
[14:14] again the materials are nice. Again,
[14:17] perforated seats in the center. Leather
[14:20] looks good with kind of this two-tone
[14:22] leather surround also looks good. A very
[14:25] high quality place to be even in back,
[14:27] especially for this price point. And of
[14:29] course, if you want cup holders, you can
[14:31] drop the center armrest and they are
[14:33] revealed, giving you both cup holders
[14:36] and a place to rest your arms. And
[14:39] finally, we move on to the cargo area,
[14:41] the tailgate. Interestingly, not power
[14:44] operated, which is actually pretty
[14:47] normal for a compact car in this segment
[14:49] not having a power tailgate. But this
[14:51] car has so many other features that are
[14:53] kind of above its price point that I was
[14:56] maybe expecting it would have a power
[14:57] tailgate, but indeed it does not. Now,
[14:59] one feature I really do like here is
[15:01] that the button to pop open the tailgate
[15:04] is kind of cleverly integrated below
[15:06] this rear bar instead of reaching down
[15:09] here where it gets so dirty on the
[15:10] bottom. comes kind of a long reach. You
[15:12] just kind of pop under here and then
[15:15] open up your tailgate manually,
[15:18] revealing your cargo area, which
[15:20] honestly is surprisingly large. You got
[15:22] decent space back here, a lot more space
[15:24] than you get in the sedan. And of
[15:26] course, the rear seats fold to provide
[15:28] even more space if that's what you want.
[15:30] I will point out though that the cargo
[15:32] area is otherwise not particularly
[15:35] exciting or impressive. You don't have a
[15:37] power port back here. You don't have
[15:38] like netted storage areas off to the
[15:41] side, which you often see in a hatchback
[15:43] car being bought for kind of the
[15:44] purposes of practicality. You don't get
[15:46] that here. But still a decent size cargo
[15:49] area, which is nice to see and kind of
[15:51] adds a practical element to the sort of
[15:54] sporty K4 Turbo hatch. And with all of
[15:58] the quirks in mind, I'm curious to see
[16:01] how the K4 Turbo hatch drives. So, let's
[16:05] get it out on the road and find out. All
[16:08] right, driving the K4 GTline turbo
[16:12] hatchback.
[16:14] Uh, I read some article that that
[16:17] likened this car, compared it to an Audi
[16:19] hatchback. I think it was Car and
[16:21] Driver. Uh, that is not true. That is
[16:24] not accurate. Uh, that is uh that is a
[16:27] very questionable piece of journalism.
[16:29] This car is not in any form an Audi
[16:32] hatchback. I was actually hoping that it
[16:34] would be because on paper it's got a lot
[16:36] of the the same benefits as the A3
[16:38] hatchback from like 2006. So, in a way
[16:40] that makes some sense. About the same
[16:41] power, about the same size, you know,
[16:43] and it's a nice interior with a lot of
[16:44] good equipment. So, I was really had
[16:46] some high hopes. Uh, and then I got
[16:47] behind the wheel. Uh, and I have to say
[16:50] I'm I'm kind of surprised at how
[16:53] unawudiylike it is. Like, it's not even
[16:56] close. Like, that that article is just
[16:57] so off the rails. I'll tell you the
[17:00] problems. The first problem is
[17:01] unquestionably the powertrain which does
[17:03] not feel anywhere close to 190
[17:06] horsepower. You know, 0 to 60 in the in
[17:08] the low sevens is probably accurate. Um
[17:11] that it is the throttle tipin is not
[17:13] good. Um it there is turbo lag like in a
[17:16] car from 25 years ago. Maybe it's an
[17:18] Audi hatchback from 1993.
[17:21] There's there's real turbo lag in a way
[17:22] that is like kind of surprising to me as
[17:24] a human being who drives modern cars.
[17:27] It's like this isn't really how they how
[17:29] they go anymore. So, the initially you
[17:31] don't really get much thrott much uh
[17:33] acceleration. Then when the when you
[17:35] finally do start to get acceleration
[17:37] sort of deeper in the rev range, it's
[17:39] loud. It's slow and it's loud. The
[17:42] engine is loud. The wind noise and tire
[17:44] noise are not great. The ride quality is
[17:46] not great. And also, the steering is not
[17:49] great. The car does not steer quickly.
[17:50] The car does not steer um sportily. like
[17:54] it's just not a particularly enjoyable
[17:57] vehicle I would say to drive. So even
[17:59] though they've put 190 horsepower in it,
[18:01] that doesn't that hasn't made it fast.
[18:03] That hasn't made it fun. And certainly
[18:05] their tuning of the chassis, the
[18:06] suspension, the steering has not really
[18:08] contributed to a beneficial atmosphere
[18:10] either. I'm not I wouldn't say I'm
[18:11] disappointed in this car. At $33,000,
[18:13] it's like totally fine. But any
[18:15] comparison to a GTI or an Audi or
[18:17] anything like that is is off base. This
[18:19] is an economy car first and a slightly
[18:23] more powerful economy car second, if you
[18:26] will. Like it's been given a little
[18:27] extra power boost compared to, you know,
[18:30] a regular Kia K4, but that doesn't
[18:32] necessarily make it a sporty car. Now,
[18:34] if you look at it from the lens of it's
[18:36] not a sporty car and it's just sort of a
[18:39] hatchback, it's fine. And again, at
[18:40] $33,000, like this is a fine car. It's
[18:43] got great technology for that number.
[18:45] There's a lot of great features in this
[18:47] car in a pretty impressive way, which is
[18:48] a which is a big kudos to Kia. But, you
[18:51] know, you see 18inch wheels and you see
[18:52] GT on the back and you see turbo
[18:55] four-cylinder and you see some
[18:56] questionable car journalists comparing
[18:59] it to an Audi and you're like, "Okay,
[19:01] this is something." And it's just not
[19:03] really. Um, it reminds me of the Corolla
[19:05] hatch before the GR existed. It was like
[19:07] you had it was kind of sporty styling
[19:08] and it was like a hatchback Corolla and
[19:10] you were thinking, "Okay, is this
[19:11] something?" And you drove it, it was
[19:12] like, "No, it's a Corolla." And that's
[19:14] exactly what this is. And I got to say,
[19:15] the regular Kia K4 suffers from the same
[19:18] issues as this car. And I think, you
[19:21] know, automotive affordability has been
[19:23] an issue over the last few years. Cars
[19:24] keep getting more expensive. They're
[19:26] harder to buy. Um, and so Kia has kind
[19:29] of made an effort to keep their cars,
[19:30] especially their entry-level cars like
[19:32] the K4, relatively affordable. But the
[19:34] drawback is you don't have that great of
[19:37] quality and that great of, you know,
[19:39] performance and sportiness and
[19:40] excitement. And I think that that's
[19:43] totally fine when you're making an
[19:44] entry-level compact car like a non-turbo
[19:47] GT K4, just a regular K4 sedan. It's
[19:50] totally acceptable. But you play in this
[19:52] segment, you're getting into the
[19:53] hothatch world, and I think there
[19:54] becomes different expectations. And this
[19:56] car doesn't really deliver on them. Um,
[19:59] again, fine, but definitely not a rival
[20:01] to like real hothatches, including like
[20:03] Hyundai's Veloster N, uh, and Elantre N,
[20:06] which have a lot more like real
[20:08] performance muscle to them. I think
[20:10] they're much more significantly exciting
[20:13] cars. This is just sort of a regular
[20:15] hatchback with a little more power and
[20:18] doesn't deliver that much in the
[20:19] excitement fun department. And so that's
[20:23] the new 2026 Kia K4 Turbo hatchback.
[20:28] This looks cool on paper. Actually, it
[20:31] looks cool in person. It's just not as
[20:33] cool as I was hoping it would be from
[20:35] behind the wheel. Nonetheless, it's
[20:37] exciting to see an automaker even
[20:39] creating a car like this. A kind of
[20:42] sporty, cool looking turbocharged,
[20:44] gas-powered hatchback in the age of EVs
[20:47] and crossovers. And now it's time to
[20:50] give the K4 turbo hatchback a Doug
[20:53] score.
[20:58] And the Doug score is here. 47 out of
[21:00] 100, which puts the K4 hatchback here
[21:02] against some similar cars near the
[21:04] bottom of the hothatch or the nearly
[21:06] hothatch world. Honestly, I was
[21:08] expecting a bit more excitement from the
[21:09] K4 hatchback, but that really isn't the
[21:11] purpose of this car. It turns out it's
[21:13] not a GTI or a Mazda Speed 3 or a Focus
[21:16] ST. It's really more toward the Prius or
[21:18] Civic Hybrid end of things. Just maybe a
[21:20] little more exciting, but not a lot.
[21:23] Don't buy this if you're looking for
[21:24] fun. But consider the sort of fun that
[21:26] it offers to be a nice byproduct of a
[21:28] reasonably practical hatchback.