2025 Kia K5 First Look
This fresh and lively midsize sedan packs more features for 2025.
Kia
A wide range of updates bring the 2025 Kia K5 midsize sedan up to date for the upcoming model year. Revised styling, bigger screens, and even a new standard engine add up to a thorough mid-cycle refresh.
Here's what is known so far about the 2025 Kia K5.
Kia
2025 Kia K5 Cuts a Dashing Figure
The difference is in the details, at least when comparing the updated K5 to its 2024 model-year predecessor. Kia tweaked its headlights, taillights, and wheel designs as well as its front bumper. All but the base LXS trim level now ride on 18- or 19-inch wheels. The top-end K5 GT even wraps its big tires in sporty Pirelli P-Zero rubber.
Inside, the K5 gains a new single panel that houses a 12.0-inch instrument cluster screen and a 12.3-inch touchscreen for infotainment and navigation. Below, physical buttons for the climate-control system have been replaced by a new touchpad.
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Kia's K5 Gains a New Engine for 2025, But Don't Look for a Hybrid
The previously standard 1.6-liter turbocharged four-cylinder is replaced by a 2.5-liter inline-four without a turbocharger, but there's more detail to consider than just the size of the engine. The new engine makes 191 horsepower, an 11-hp increase over last year, but its torque rating drops from 195 pound-feet to 181.
An eight-speed automatic transmission remains the only available gearbox choice, and all-wheel drive sticks around as an option on the mid-level GT-Line trim. The top GT version sticks with its 290-hp turbocharged four-cylinder and standard front-wheel drive.
Kia
More Tech for 2025 Kia K5
The larger touchscreen now includes wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility, plus a new version of Kia's infotainment system that offers over-the-air updates. Kia also says that the available navigation system has been tweaked for quicker responses.
Other tech upgrades inside include a wireless charging pad and USB-C ports for front and rear-seat passengers.
All models now include front and rear parking sensors, while most trim levels offer or include adaptive cruise control, a blind-spot camera system that displays a live feed through the digital instrument cluster, and side parking sensors that can help reduce the risk of a curbed wheel. The top versions even include the ability to use a smartphone as a key to enter the vehicle.
The step-up EX trim level sees a number of additional standard features, including Bose speakers, a power-adjustable driver's seat, heated steering wheel, and power-folding rearview mirrors.
Written by humans.
Edited by humans.
Andrew GanzAndrew has been hooked on cars since his mother coaxed him into naps by driving him around in her rattly old diesel Mercedes-Benz. Perhaps it was the diesel fumes that lulled him to sleep. Either way, he has since parlayed his automotive enthusiasm into a decades-long career as a journalist writing for such well-known sites as Auto Express, Autoblog, Car and Driver, Leftlane News, Motor1, Motor Authority, and The Car Connection, not to mention numerous classic-car publications. When he's not researching cars, he's probably working on one — though he has yet to own a diesel Mercedes. Off to the classifieds he goes.
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