At the New York Auto Show, Kia pulled the cover off their all-new 2025 K4 compact sedan, replacing the Forte in their lineup. The fourth generation of their compact sedan competing against Corolla, Civic, Sentra and others, it gets also the new name K4 to bring it in line with the brand’s global naming.
The first thing you might notice is the bold new styling with some pretty unexpected forms and details, certainly setting it apart from the crowd for better or worse. In the latest collection of Kia’s “Opposites United” design language
The face sports vertically formed LED headlights and a chunkier grille form that resembles their latest SUVs. At the rear in fact are LED taillights that look almost lifted from the full-size EV9 SUV. What’s most pronounced are its front and rear corners that really give it a more muscular from than ever before.
The devil is in the details though. The rear rear door handles are hidden and the rear roofline gets what might be a controversial ovation with the brash vertical trim that visually put’s a stop to the greenhouse window line.
Shown here is the top-end GT-Line model which has unique front and rear fascias more aggressive in their style, 18-inch alloy wheels, and gloss black trim at the mirror caps, windows, and more. It gets slightly larger too now 185-inches in length and 72.8-inches wide.
They tell us the extra footprint will give the rear seat a class leading 38 inches of leg space and best in class headroom of 37.3-inches which brings us inside. An all-new interior gets the latest Kia corporate parts bin cockpit with available dual 12.3-inch digital screens.
It’s a good look and provides platform for a raft of new feature content across all trim grades too long to list here. With upgraded infotainment and back-end electronics, Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are now standard on all trims. Top models offer up to a Harmon-Kardon audio system.
Available in trim grades LX, LXS, EX and GT-Line the standard powertrain is a 2.0-liter naturally-aspirated four-cylinder with 147 horsepower mated to a continuously variable transmission (CVT). You can step up to more power with the optional 1.6-liter turbo which offers 190 horsepower. The latter comes with an 8-speed automatic transmission.
Suspension is an evolution of before with MacPherson struts at the front and a torsion beam axle at the rear for most models. The GT-Line trim gets you a more sporting tune to the suspension and most importantly a more tech-savvy multi-link rear suspension.
If you are into all of the latest greatest automatic driver assistance systems with parental guides, reminders and interventions for all of your of driving attention foibles, the new 2025 Kia K4 offers class-leading standard and optional features in this area – too many to list here.
The 2025 Kia K4 arrives in North American showrooms this summer. Full specifications including pricing, mpg and more will be along closer to that time.
