Kia K3: Sedan with a double life under the knife

On the hunt for a sedan in the compact middle class? Then you have to search well these days. Audi has the A3 Limousine, BMW the 2-series Gran Coupé, Mercedes-Benz the A-class Limousine and you can still knock on the door of Mazda and Toyota for the 3 Sedan and the Corolla Sedan. Ford no longer has a Focus Sedan in the Netherlands, Opel does not supply a sedan version of the Astra and the time that Kia had the Cerato on the order list in our country is now also about 14 years behind us. Nevertheless, the Cerato plays a role in this article. The Cerato still exists. The current generation of the model was presented in 2018 and not only has several model names, but also several appearances. One of those flavors has now been facelifted.

The Chinese Kia K3 before the facelift.

Elsewhere in the world, the Kia Cerato is called Forte or Cerato. In China and in Kia’s home country, the car has a completely different name: K3. The K3 sold in South Korea was already facelifted in 2021. This time it is the turn of the K3 as it is on the market in China, but that car looks slightly different from the other versions of the model. That in itself is not so surprising. The Chinese version of the Kia K3 already had a completely different snout than the Korean K3, Cerato and Forte. The striking thing is perhaps more that the Chinese K3 crawls closer to its international brother after its touchpoint session.

Kia Forte

Kia flattens the relatively high grille with vertical bars of the Chinese K3, with the result that the new K3 grille resembles that of the K3 as sold in other countries. The design of the bumpers also corresponds to a certain extent with that of the other versions of the model. Especially on the hood you can see that the Chinese K3 has a different shape: the hood extends to the grille and even contains a spur. On the international K3, the hood stops a few centimeters in front of the grille. The 4.67 meter long K3 also has a slightly different interior than, for example, the Korean version. For example, the Chinese version gets touch-sensitive buttons under the ventilation grilles in the center console and a different infotainment system. Kia also squeezes another automatic lever in the Chinese K3. The digital instrumentation measures 12.5-inch and the sedan comes on the market in China with a 115 hp naturally aspirated 1.5 and with a 140 hp 1.4 T-GDI. Until recently, the K3 was also available in China with a plug-in hybrid powertrain. That version has not yet been presented. In the form of the K3 GT/Forte5, there is also a more hatchback-like version of the K3.

Do you miss the sedan in the compact middle class? Have you ever had one? Do give your opinion!