Five—No, Six—Sorry, Eight—Features I Didn’t Expect in Our $25,000 Kia K4

When I began my year with our long-term Kia K4 LXS, I resigned myself to bare-bones motoring; that was, after all, the whole purpose of the exercise. I knew I wouldn’t suffer too badly, as the K4 has a long standard equipment list, but I wasn’t expecting the unexpected. I’m way jaded on that whole “surprise and delight” thing the marketers love to talk about, but the truth is I have been genuinely surprised—and, yes, even delighted—at some of the features the K4 has. Not silly stuff you only show off to the neighbors (like Tesla’s fart mode) but features I actually use. (Well, most of ’em.)

A quick diversion before we begin: I got quite a few emails regarding the K4’s $275 oil change. Most expressed frustration with their own dealership experiences, an issue about which the automakers often seem to throw up their hands and say, “They’re independent businesses, what can we do?” (To which I say: “Your name is on the buildings, too,” and “How many people are avoiding your brands because of lousy dealer experiences?”) Without question, dealing with dealerships has been the worst aspect of this otherwise pretty wonderful K4.

Also, I can also confidently say, from what you, darling readers, have told me, that there are at least two honest Kia service departments in these great United States.

Now, on to the subject of this screed. Yes, I know, eight is a stupid number. I started out with the intention of highlighting five things, but, Scout’s honor, the list kept growing. Maybe it’s because I’m oldish, but I can’t believe how many nifty and advanced features, not long ago reserved for high-end cars, can be found in our cheap K4. It’s a reminder that when we shop for a vehicle, we should think about platform age; the K4 was the freshest compact design when we got it, and it benefits from its up-to-date underpinnings. Last spring I reviewed a Hyundai Venue, and while I quite liked it, it lacked many of the features of the K4, no doubt owing to its older architecture.

Oh, and just to prove I’m not a complete Kia shill, I’ve thrown in a few things I think one could reasonably expect from a car at this price point that are missing from the K4.

Ready? Here we go.

1. Really good adaptive cruise control and lane centering.

Adaptive cruise control, which slows to match the speed of cars ahead of you, is nearly universal these days, thanks to the widespread adoption of distance sensors that feed automatic emergency braking systems. (Kudos to the automakers: The government has given them until 2029 to fit these systems, and the industry is getting an early start.) So it’s no surprise the K4 has that. But lane centering? Or, more specifically, really good lane centering? Consider how many cars charge extra for lane keeping systems that don’t work nearly as well as the K4’s, and you can understand my surprise and delight. Honestly, I don’t know how Kia (and Hyundai) sell the advanced Highway Driving Assistance suite when this basic system is so good.

I imagine a few of you are saying “I can steer my own damn car!” Yes, well, so can I, but I find myself using the lane centering system all the time. It makes driving less fatiguing, and while I’d like to think I’m the world’s greatest driver, the fact is that sometimes my attention wanders, and when it does, so does the car. This never happens with lane keep. Like me, it has its moments of being really annoying; at a highway split or on an off-ramp, it might tug the wheel in a direction I don’t necessarily want to go, but I’ve never felt as if the K4 was not under my control. After 10 months with the K4, I find myself automatically flipping it on and off, just like cruise control. I love it.

2. Traffic sign recognition.

If I were ordering this list by the things I least expected, this would be number one. (Ditto if the list was in order of uselessness, because I rarely take advantage of it.) Down at the bottom of the K4’s little digital dash display, it shows the last traffic signs I’ve passed, including the speed limit. Not that I use it much; as an Angeleno, I run Waze navigation nearly full time, which (usually) shows the speed limit. Honestly, I often forget this feature is there. It’s more useful in a place like Germany, where the speed limit changes every 10 feet, but we’ve all had those “Wait, is this a 30 zone or a 40 zone?” moments, and it’s cool that this inexpensive car (usually) has a ready answer.

3. Good phone mirroring.

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Speaking of running Waze all the time, the K4’s outstanding Android Auto integration is something I often take for granted until I drive a car that doesn’t have it. The K4 has a big, crisp screen—credit that new architecture we talked about earlier—but there’s also been some thought put into the Android layout, which apparently is something the automakers have some control over. By default, the K4 uses a 70/30 split screen, which I usually divide between map and music. I can make any app full-screen, but even in 30 percent mode the map is useful. The display is so good that I can hardly tell you what the Kia’s stock stereo display looks like. Also, the K4’s phone mirroring is wireless, so it comes up automatically. I can type a destination into Waze on my phone, and when I start the car, the directions are ready to go.

One of my pet peeves is a phone-mirroring system that makes it difficult to access car functions. Granted, a base-model K4 has few functions to access, but I do fiddle with the stereo settings from time to time, and Kia’s setup makes it easy. Press Home—a real live button on the dash, by the way—then swipe to Setup and select stereo controls. To return to my phone screen, it’s back Home and then press the Android Auto panel on the screen. Boom. Done.

4. A genuinely useful smart phone app.

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I have been cynical about phone apps for internal combustion cars, probably because I’ve never had one that did this much useful stuff. No, I can’t summon the car or send remote fart noises like you can with a Tesla—at least, I think you can do the fart-noise thing with a Tesla—but the Kia Access app can lock and unlock the doors and start (or stop) the engine (more on that in a bit). It can locate the car, which came in handy when I completely forgot where I parked at the massive SoFi stadium.

More important is what the app tells me: push alerts that I’ve left the car unlocked, left the lights and hazards on, or left the engine running. The last may seem silly, but the K4 idles so smoothly and quietly that—well, I’d be embarrassed to tell you how many times I’ve gotten out of the K4 when it was still running. The car beeps when I do that, so the app hasn’t (yet) had to save me there, but it could have saved me that time I left the hazards on all night. I ignored the chimes from my phone, which I assumed was my boss texting with another late-night editing question (“Since when is ‘turbocharger’ spelled with an S, Gold?”), and woke up to a dead battery. I’ve since learned to avoid the app, and my boss, at my peril.

5. Remote start.

I feel a bit guilty about this, because I don’t live in Michigan and I don’t need to run the car for an hour before I leave my house to avoid frostbite. But it drives me up a tree to start the car and pop it into gear while the engine is still at fast idle. Obviously, I won’t be driving this car when it has 165,000 miles on the clock and the transmission is thinking about throwing in the towel, but my hope is that someone will, and I feel I have an obligation to take care of their future car.

The problem, though, is that I’m chronically late, and by the time I get in the car, I’m usually behind schedule. That’s why the remote start is handy. Like most modern cars, the K4 doesn’t stay at fast idle long; it cold-fires at about 1,600 rpm and settles down to 900 within a few seconds. (Warm idle is closer to 600.) It works out perfectly: I walk outside my apartment complex, and once the car is within sight, I can start the engine via the key fob. By the time I get in and belt up, the revs have dropped. Added bonus: There’s no fancy rigamarole required to drive. Once I’m in, stepping on the brake powers up the rest of the car. Security is good: The engine won’t start unless the doors are locked, and the transmission won’t come out of Park unless the key fob is inside the car.

6. 40+ mpg on the road.

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Yes, I know, one should expect an economy car to get good fuel economy. The K4 LXS’ EPA figures are 29/33/33 mpg city/highway/combined. Up until last month, the Kia was averaging around 30 mpg, roughly 10 percent under the EPA combined figure, which is about what we expect. But I’ve been doing a lot of road-tripping these past few weeks, and the car has routinely returned fuel economy in the low 40s—good enough to raise my average by 1 mpg this month.

Now, I am not a particularly fast driver—I’m too cheap to pay the speeding tickets, and my boss insists I cannot put them on my expense report—though I’m not above weaving in and out of traffic to get past the left-lane bandits. And one can’t leave the Los Angeles area without driving over some pretty big hills (unless one were to go via the Pacific Ocean, which I imagine would void the K4’s warranty). And yet the K4 has steadily returned 42–43 mpg or better without me really trying. And yes, I’m going to try; I’m planning an economy-run road trip to see just how much mileage the K4 can squeeze out of each expensive gallon. Look for that in a future update.

7. So Many Ways Into the Trunk, Old and New

The Kia K4 has more ways to get into the trunk than any car I can think of. All K4s have an electric release that can be triggered by the key fob, the app, or a button on the decklid. It also has a lazy-open feature that will pop the trunk if I stand behind the car with the key fob. (This can be disabled; mostly I find it handy, but last week, while standing near the K4 chatting with a friend, the trunk opened itself three times.) And next to the driver’s seat, together with the fuel door release, is an old-fashioned manual cable-operated trunk release.

“Isn’t that a quaint bit of 1980s?” you might say. In fact, after driving the K4, MT photo chief Brian Vance said exactly that. Yes, but it’s useful. Let’s say you were to ignore the app’s warnings, leave the hazards on all night, and drain the battery. (Who ever would do that?) Where do you keep your jumper cables or booster box? Probably in the trunk. But a dead battery means the electric trunk release won’t work. I’ve seen cars that have a hidden cable release; others would require you to fold down the rear seat and crawl into the trunk—how humiliating. The K4’s old-fashioned cable release allows you—er, me—to maintain one’s dignity at a time when it’s most needed.

8. Auto Hold

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Auto hold allows you to take your foot off the brake pedal at a red light; when you push the accelerator, it releases the brake. Not long ago, this was a mainstay of luxury cars, and I was genuinely surprised to see it in the K4. A few of my colleagues tell me they can’t stand auto-hold, and I can’t imagine what the hell is wrong with them. It does wonders for your reaction time at a stoplight drag race.

Three Things the K4 Ought to Have

Now, let’s talk about the things I would like to see in the K4. Obviously, this is a $25,000 car, and I’m not expecting four-zone climate control or leather-wrapped windshield wipers or even a better-sounding stereo, which the K4 could arguably use. I’m also leaving out a manual transmission, though I wish with all my heart the K4 had one. Here are a few genuine conveniences that I wouldn’t expect to add significantly to the cost of the car.*

* Disclaimer: I’m not an engineer or an automotive program manager, and what the hell do I know?

1. Rear-seat air vents.

This is probably the K4’s biggest annoyance: There are no air vents for the back seats, and even if I crank the A/C to the point that icicles form on my fingertips, my friends still complain, and the dogs still pant. Note that in our recent compact sedan comparison, we observed that neither the Nissan Sentra nor the Honda Civic offer rear seat vents, either. The K4 does have them on the back side of the center console—but only in the EX and GT-Line trims.

Why not offer them in the LX and LX-S? Remember, it’s cheaper to build cars all alike than to offer choices (which is one reason the above list of surprise nice-to-haves above is so long), and one would think that offering a single center console and eliminating build choices on the line would offset the cost of the vents. Buyers might or might not notice them on a test drive, but they make a real difference for comfort—and, for pet owners like me, safety.

2. Auto stop/start.

This is the feature that shuts the engine off at stoplights, and most of my colleagues think I’m nuts to miss it in the K4. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard “That’s the first thing I shut off.” Well, I like auto stop/start. To me, it seems useless and wasteful to have the engine idling when it isn’t needed, and in my smog-choked adopted hometown of Los Angeles, every little bit helps. P.S. Please conveniently forget what I said above about using the remote start feature.

3. A manual transmission.

Oh, dear. I promised I wasn’t going to write that, and I did. Sorry.

More on Our Long-Term 2025 Kia K4 LXS Sedan: 

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• Introduction: What Ever Happened to Cheap Sedans? 
• Update 1: What Are We Missing in the Cheap(er) Trim? 
• Update 2: K4 vs Kicks—Should We Have Opted for a $25,000 SUV?
• Update 3: That Time All the Warning Lights Came on at Once 
• Update 4: Cheap Cars Have Never Been Cheaper
• Update 5: Why Does a $25,000 Car Need a $275 Oil Change?