I should have known. It was right there in front of me the whole time. When I signed the paperwork to borrow the car, it said Kia K4 Hatchback GT-Line Turbo. These are mostly good words. Kia is a strong brand that makes many vehicles I like. K4 is its affordable model, and the world sure needs more of those. Hatchback? Turbo? Two of my favorite modifiers when it comes to cars.
It’s the GT-Line part that should have been a warning. GT-Line brings with it a real Assistant to the Regional Manager energy that the car, unfortunately, can’t shake when you drive it.
Not like this is my first time with a looks-fast-but-really-isn’t trim car from Hyundai/Kia. I’m usually fine with the concept. The Kia EV6 GT-Line I drove last year was plenty quick enough, as was the similar Sonata N-Line.
The problem with the Kia K4 Hatch is that the gap between what it looks like it can do and what it actually can do is too vast. I was at the vehicle’s debut last year in New York, and I was fairly effusive in my praise. My hope was that it would come in at a reasonable price and offer reasonable performance.
Aesthetically, the car delivers. It’s far more compelling to me than any other equivalent lower-trim hot hatch. It’s cleaner than the Corolla Hatchback XSE, more grown-up than the Civic SI, and, unlike the GTI, looks like it was designed this century. The K4 sedan is strange, but it’s a strange I like. The K4 Hatch is striking.
On paper, too, there’s a lot to like from the setup. In GT-Line Turbo trim, the K4 gets a 1.6-liter turbo good for 190 horsepower and 195 lb-ft of torque. There’s no CVT to complain about here, as the Turbo gets an actual, proper eight-speed automatic. While these aren’t quite Civic SI or Golf GTI numbers, power is only a few rows back.
Even sitting in the car, it’s like: Oh, this thing rules. I will be having fun here. I can’t wait to drive it. The materials and the infotainment display look better than what anyone else offers at this point. The seats are comfortable. There are flappy paddles behind the steering wheel.
This was already well-stated when David drove this car (maybe this exact car) a few weeks ago, but it doesn’t drive how it looks. It’s a comfortable car, with an admirably low level of road noise, reasonable handling, and mid steering.
I don’t want to join the complainers, though; I want to fix it. I want there to be an actual Kia K4 GT that splits the difference between this car and the Hyundai Elantra N that it shares a platform with. I’m not going crazy. I’m not asking for a transverse V6 or even a new transmission. Just tweaks!
How I’d Make A Kia K4 GT Out Of This
Let’s start with the obvious: Don’t change the way it looks. Other than, maybe, a different set of wheels and a custom color, I think it’s aesthetically close to perfect. I’m only suggesting wheels because you’ll want something to differentiate it from a GT-Line. Kia makes great wheels, so this should be easy.
Power? I think to be in the conversation with the Civic SI and the Golf GTI, you’re looking at maybe 15 more horsepower. Would I like the bigger, faster 2.0-liter out of the Elantra N? Sure, but then it’s getting too expensive. The 1.6-liter turbo produces up to 201 horsepower in other vehicles, so there’s gotta be a little more juice in there, even if not much more twist.
Would this kill with a six-speed manual transmission? Absolutely. Will Kia give me one? Probably not! That’s ok. The eight-speed that’s here is a good enough place to start. The problem is that it acts like the stereotypical Gen Z employee, somehow present and yet randomly and unpredictably absent at times. Some tweaking here will go a long way.
If I’m going to spend any real money on this car to differentiate it, it’s going to be offering some sort of adaptive damper, similar to what you can get on the N. One of the benefits of the K4 Hatch is that it feels nicer than a car in this class usually does, and I don’t want to have to choose between comfort and performance. If this is the only change I’m making, I think it would go a long way.
Obviously, if you start messing with the suspension, you’re going to impact the steering. I didn’t think that K4’s steering was all that bad, although understeer came on so abruptly that it hardly mattered what I felt. The brakes on the GT-Line Turbo far outmatch the rest of the car and, curiously, seem like the one piece of the car that was overbuilt.
It goes without saying that the stock Kumho Majesty tires are there for comfort, and not performance. The rubber on the GT-Line probably gives the suspension a little boost here and, if I didn’t care about going fast, I think it’s a good compromise. I do care about going fast, so even a more performance-oriented all-season tire will do better than these glorified crossover tires.
All of this isn’t that unreasonable, and the goal would be to get the car in at around $34-35k so that it’s just under the Elantra N, but perhaps a bit ahead of the Civic SI. The only other car I like as much as this in this class is the Mazda 3 Turbo, but that’s AWD and a lot pricer at $38k fully loaded.
Alternatively, the base version of this car with the smaller motor and CVT is a lot cheaper, looks almost as good, and isn’t going to tease you with the promise of performance. I’d be quite tempted to go this route, although I haven’t driven it yet, so caveat emptor and all that.
The Kia K4 Hatchback GT-Line Turbo is a good car, and I’m not going to judge anyone who buys one harshly. In this class, there are reasonable arguments for all the cars, and some of it is just personal preference.
It’s a bummer that this car has almost all the right pieces, though, and I hope Kia makes a few tweaks before the next generation or, even better, gives us a real GT version. Having only a GT-Line version is like only having a sequel. It’s Die Hard 2 without the Die Hard.
So, c’mon. Yippie-Ki-Yay, Hyundai Kia, let’s build this thing.
Top graphic image: Matt Hardigree
The post The Kia K4 Hatchback GT-Line Turbo Is A Bummer, But I Can Fix It appeared first on The Autopian.
