2025 Kia K4 GT-Line review

The Kia Cerato is dead after 20 years in the Australian market, and it's been replaced with a new model that has moved the goalposts for Kia's small sedan. This is the 2025 Kia K4, and it's looking to hold a similar level of market share in the coming years.

Firstly, it's not so small any more. Whereas the old Kia Cerato was also known as the K3 in its home market of South Korea, the K4 is – as you can gather – a size up in terms of dimensions. It's 70mm longer than the old Cerato GT and 50mm wider. It's slightly lower, however, at 1425mm.

Along with coming all the way from Mexico – built in Kia's relatively new factory in Pesqueria, Nuevo León – the 2025 Kia K4 is quite a modern-looking interpretation of the small sedan. There's no shortage of sharp lines and angles, especially in the lighting signatures at each end.

But does the new Kia K4 deliver, and will it be able to continue the fight against the Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic and closely related Hyundai i30?

Pricing for the 2025 Kia K4 has gone up compared to the model it's effectively replacing. The gap is around $3500 at the bottom of the range (for the Cerato S), but it grows to over $6000 at the top of the range.

And in this test, that's exactly what we've got. With an asking price of $42,990 plus on-road costs, the 2025 Kia K4 GT-Line is $6130 more expensive than the 2024 Kia Cerato GT that has been replaced.

For that money, you do get a healthy level of specification at least. This includes heated and ventilated front seats, with electric adjustment, and fake leather trimming. There are also projector-style LED headlights and LED tail-lights, a wireless phone charger and wireless phone charging. There is a sunroof for the GT-Line, ambient interior lighting and a heated steering wheel.

The GT-Line sets itself apart from the range mostly through the powertrain, with a 142kW/265Nm 1.6-litre turbocharged petrol engine outstripping the 112kW/192Nm non-turbo 2.0-litre motor comfortably. This runs through an eight-speed torque converter automatic transmission (the old Cerato had a clunky dual-clutch gearbox), and a more sophisticated multi-link rear suspension (instead of a torsion beam set-up in lesser models).

So, it's something of a warm small sedan then. Right?

Getting a bump up in size is beneficial for the K4 in terms of offering more interior space. And if you've spent any time in any of Kia's latest models, you'll find plenty of familiarity inside the K4. The GT-Line trim level does feel more upmarket through the materials and two-tone colourway, and the seating is relatively broad and comfortable for a vehicle of this size.

Some of the plastics around the central console are a little scratchy, but the twin deployable cupholders (that can be stowed to make a larger, raw storage space) are handy. There's extra storage in the slot below the climate controls – where the wireless charging pad is – in front of a regular old almost T-bar-style gear shifter.

It's a minimalist interior design overall, which has a focus on symmetry and simplicity. But Kia hasn't gone all-out on deleting all of the physical buttons, which is appreciated. There's still an effective physical rolling volume controller, and some buttons for your regular air-conditioning needs.

This is backed up by a handy standalone LCD display for the cabin climate, which is wedged between the infotainment and driver displays. It's a bit awkward to see, because you need to crane your neck around the steering wheel. But, it's there and it works.

Otherwise, the K4 provides nothing to complain about in terms of ergonomics. It's comfortable, offers plenty of adjustment, and has some nice touches to help befit the asking price.

The second row – which is somewhat buried behind those strangely shaped and raking rear haunches – benefits mostly in terms of the amount of space afforded. It's an important consideration, and (along with the big 508-litre boot) could make sense for some young families that aren't completely blinded by our SUV craze.

It would work for baby seats and large adults, and is rounded out nicely by air vents, USB-C power outlets and outboard ISOFIX points.

Although, the low seating position and relatively small rear window in the second row means sidewards and forwards visibility isn't great.

Accessing the boot is easy enough, and you'd be surprised about how deep it goes. While it might look like a liftback, it's not. But the opening is large enough for most people, I'd wager. Some of the finishes here seem a little crude, with unfinished panels (save for the overspray) and exposed speaker backs.

But for when you need it, dropping down the second row is easily done to free up more load space.

Similar to all of the latest and greatest from Kia, there is no shortage of digital flat screen to pore over inside the K4. In one long panel, you've got the combined might of a 12.3-inch infotainment display, a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, and the 5.0-inch LCD climate panel wedged in between.

The infotainment set-up is good, and has an easy-to-navigate operating system with all of the features that one would expect: wired and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, native navigation, digital radio and AM/FM reception. And thankfully, there's a handful of physical buttons to help with common functions. This includes the handy addition of customisable buttons, both on the dashboard and steering wheel for any of your favourite needs.

My tip is short-cutting to the driver assistance technology for at least one of these buttons, and maybe smartphone mirroring for another.

The Kia K4 comes with a decade of free map updates as part of the infotainment system, and a subscription to Kia's own connected services. The Kia Connect app on your phone can by synced to the vehicle, giving you remote functions like locking/unlocking, vehicle location and many other things.

The 2025 Kia K4 is yet to collect an ANCAP score, and is one of the only Kia vehicles to currently be missing a rating.

However, Kia says there is one in the works. And rest assured that whatever the score may be, it will be covered by Drive.com.au.

As you'd expect, the 2025 Kia K4 is brimming with a trove of safety technology and features.

On the inside, you'll find a driver monitoring camera mounted on the steering column, and an array of cameras and radars primed for watching things like lane markings, intersections, other road users and traffic signs.

However, these systems can still be a little overactive and noisy for our tastes. The tuning of these systems has improved in Kia vehicles since this stuff first arrived a few years ago, but it can still be a little bit annoying. Traffic sign recognition sometimes gets the facts wrong, reading the wrong signs at the wrong time and harassing you for no reason.

At least it can be quietened down easily with a long press on the steering wheel volume button.

The driver monitoring system can be a bit overactive at times as well, depending on how vigilant you are on keeping your eyes dead-ahead on the road. If you're one to scan constantly, take part in conversations in the car and look at the map screen every once in a while, you might feel forced to turn this off.

The turbocharged Kia K4 comes with 10,000km service intervals – along with a 12-month time-based limit. This is different to the 15,000km intervals for the larger (but non-turbocharged) engine, and service costs are higher as well.

You're looking at $1361 for the first three years, $2435 for five years and $3877 for seven years' worth of servicing, which is decent (but not overly cheap) in terms of pricing. But at least you have good vision and relative surety for costs into the future.

A premium of $1716.32 is a comparative comprehensive insurance quote covering the Kia K4 against unfortunate circumstances. This is for a 35-year-old male living in Chatswood, NSW. Insurance estimates may vary based on your location, driving history, and personal circumstances.

Without a hybrid engine to choose from, the Kia K4 cannot match the likes of a Toyota Corolla or Honda Civic for outright efficiency. This is especially the case with the turbocharged four-cylinder engine, which favours warmed-up performance over being miserly on fuel.

And against a claim of 6.7 litres per 100 kilometres, we saw an indicated 8.5L/100km after a few hundred kilometres of mixed driving. At least it's a vehicle that's happy enough on the cheaper fuel (91RON), if you're keen on saving a little bit of money on each refill.

There is some sporty intent built into the chassis of the K4 GT-Line, with a ride quality that is firm at times. But with good levels of responsiveness and body control to match the up-specced powertrain, you can see the idea behind what this K4 GT-Line wants to be: fun and snappy, but not overtly so.

The 1.6-litre engine, which carries over from the old Cerato GT (despite losing a few kilowatts) is a nice operator and blends a little bit of raspiness with an otherwise calm and refined demeanour. It's happy to rev out, and that broad band of torque means it feels nicely responsive down in the lower revs.

It's easy to manage through the accelerator pedal, and benefits from Kia adopting an eight-speed automatic transmission in lieu of the old seven-speed dual-clutch transmission.

While you might not get those snappy, sharp gearshifts when you're on the move, it still does pretty well from a sporty point of view. But it's at lower speeds, crawling through traffic and negotiating tight spots, where you get the big benefit. It's smooth, predictable and easy in this case, and is better for daily driving duties.

The gear shifter can be knocked into manual mode, and there are paddle shifters for those who want to bang up and down the ratios without losing grip on the tiller.

There's a better ride quality available in other vehicles in the segment, with the Toyota Corolla and (albeit more expensive) Honda Civic being two that poke out in mind. The firmness of the K4 is noticeable at lower speeds across rougher surfaces, but it does at least pay dividends when speeds rise and you've got some corners in sight.

Once again, it's not a hot-hatch in pseudo sheep's clothing. But it's fun regardless, feeling well balanced through the corners with ample responsiveness through the steering wheel and throttle.

While a towbar is available for the 2025 Kia K4, don't expect big towing capacities from this sedan. A 610kg unbraked towing capacity only allows for small and relatively light trailers to be towed, while including braked trailers (which might need a brake controller) only extends this limit up to 1100kg.

Keep in mind as well, the K4 has a relatively low 75kg towball downforce limit.

The Kia K4 is a different offering to the recently departed Cerato, mostly because of the newer and modern design, increased footprint and higher levels of technology. More tech and more metal mean the increase in asking price is justified somewhat, and the extra interior space would no doubt be appreciated by some buyers.

The K4 GT-Line fits the bill nicely for somebody who wants a responsive and engaging driving experience, without going to the full extent and expense of something like a proper hot hatch. Performance is peppy, handling is enjoyable, and the overall packaging and inclusions make it feel good value in comparison to something like a Honda Civic.

However, both the Civic and the Corolla bring the efficiency benefits of a hybrid powertrain that this Kia K4 simply cannot get anywhere near.

Naturally, it's much closer in its size and appeal to the Hyundai i30 Sedan, which carries similar underpinnings and components.

For those who are still open to the idea of a small sedan instead of an SUV, firstly, congratulations on keeping an open mind. And secondly, keep the K4 right amongst the consideration set.

Sam Purcell has been writing about cars, four-wheel driving and camping since 2013, and obsessed with anything that goes brum-brum longer than he can remember. Sam joined the team at CarAdvice/Drive as the off-road Editor in 2018, after cutting his teeth at Unsealed 4X4 and Pat Callinan’s 4X4 Adventures. Off-road writer of the Year, Winner - Sam Purcell

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