Kärcher K5 Power Control review: The deep clean machine

The Kärcher K5 Power Control sits near the top of Kärcher’s pressure washer range, giving you more pressure and a higher flow rate than Kärcher’s mid-range K4 models without going to the extremes of the top-end K7 series.

With this beauty, you can tackle larger, muddier vehicles, extensive areas of hard landscaping and most driveways – Kärcher’s specs say it can handle areas of up to 40m². What’s more, the water-cooled motor should keep it running smoothly all the way, while the Power Control gun and Vario Power spray lance give you more control than you’ll find on Kärcher’s more basic models.

In short, the K5 Power Control is designed to fit the needs of households who demand a little more from their pressure washer. But does moving up to this model make sense, or does all that power come with disadvantages? I’ve been testing the K5 Power Control over the last week to find out.

Kärcher K5 Power Control review: What do you get for the money?

Kärcher sent me the K5 Power Control in its new K5 Power Control Home package, which includes the latest version of the K5 Power Control unit and gun, two spray lances, the T5 surface cleaner attachment and a bottle of its 3-in-1 stone and façade cleaner. This lot will set you back a handsome £415, with the basic package costing £340.

The K5 Power Control has a maximum pressure of 145 bar and a flow rate of up to 500l per hour, giving you 15 bar more pressure and 50 more litres per hour than the mid-range K4 series.

Meanwhile, the Power Control gun and Vario Power spray lance let you control the spray pattern and the pressure level by twisting the barrel of the lance. The second spray lance – the well-named Dirt Blaster – delivers a fierce, tightly focused rotary pattern that will tear through thick mud, dried-on grime and even spilt paint, not to mention soft stone and loose tarmac if you’re not careful where you point it.

Buy the Home package and you also get the T5 Surface Cleaner: a rotating brush that scrubs as it sprays, quickly cleaning surface stains from paving, brickwork and stonework. You can use this in conjunction with the 3-in-1 stone and façade cleaner to remove even dark or heavy staining in a flash.

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Kärcher K5 Power Control review: How easy is it to use?

Once you have everything assembled, the K5 Power Control is very easy to use. The high-pressure hose comes fitted to the K5 unit and has a brass attachment at the other end that clicks into the Power Control gun. Connect your garden hose and plug the unit in and you’re good to go.

Lances twist and click into the gun with ease, and you can switch them in and out with the K5 active. With the Vario Power spray attached, you can twist the barrel of the lance to switch from soft to medium to hard spray settings, with a special Mix setting that’s used for cleaning with detergent drawn from a bottle inserted into K5’s Plug and Clean slot.

With this, there’s no need to attach a special foam spray attachment to use a car shampoo or patio cleaner. It’s important to note that it only works with Kärcher’s own products with the right shape and bottle cap, not cleaners and detergents from third parties.

Kärcher K5 Power Control review: How well does it clean?

Make no mistake: the K5 Power Control is incredibly effective no matter what you have to clean. I used it to remove mud and dirt from my compact SUV and then to apply and rinse a Kärcher car shampoo – it was great at every stage. At full blast, the Vario Power lance had more than enough welly to blast away the mud, remove dirt and wash off hardened seagull droppings from all surfaces.

Switching it down to the Mix setting put me on the track to a good, thick foam, no attachment required. After that, I turned it back to the Medium setting to rinse the car clean and leave it gleaming.

I also used the K5 Power Control to clean stained areas of concrete and some sections of paving spoiled by algae stains, and I had no issues dealing with either with the Vario Power lance set to High. While I wouldn’t say it was essential, the T5 Surface Cleaner can make short work of cleaning larger sections of paving.

The Dirt Blaster lance made short work of some hideously muddy areas of tarmac around the house and driveway, but you do need to take care to avoid damaging loose tarmac or splattering the entire area with blasted-off dirt. I was glad I was wearing an old pair of jeans, as they were filthy below knee level in a matter of seconds.

The K5 Power Control even triumphed at removing splatters of paint from plastic garden furniture, making some cheap but comfy lawn chairs look as good as new. And the advantage it brings over less powerful pressure washers is that it can tackle all these tasks at speed. There’s no need to keep going over the same spot, as the K5 Power Control gets things clean the first time.

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Kärcher K5 Power Control review: What could be improved?

The downside of all that power is that this is a rather big and heavy pressure washer. It stands just under 59cm tall and weighs 13kg before you attach the accessories, so the wheels and the telescopic pull handle at the rear come in very useful when you’re moving it around. I also found the lengthy 10m high-pressure hose was prone to getting tangled during use, as there’s so much spring in the reinforced black pipe. You can wind it around a sort of hook at the back, but it kept leaping off at every opportunity.

There’s also quite a lot of assembly to get through before use. The panels and holsters that hold the Power Control gun and spray lance have to be screwed on, while both wheels need to be attached along with the handle.

Putting it together is only around ten minutes of work, and I assume it helps Kärcher package the K5 Power Control in a smaller box, which is better for the environment when you can stack more in a lorry or container. All the same, you can’t help feeling that you’re being asked to help out with the final stages of manufacture.

Kärcher K5 Power Control review: Should I buy it?

If you’re looking for a heavy-duty pressure washer then this is one of the best around. In fact, its only serious competitor is the Nilfisk Premium 180, which beats the Kärcher on pressure and flow rate but is larger, heavier and more expensive. The K5 Power Control is also cheaper than the K5 Premium Smart Control, and lacks its stablemate’s unnecessary smart controls.

You do have to balance its performance against the cost, size and weight, though. It has features to help you store the high-pressure hose and mains cable, but the K5 Power Control is going to take up more space than smaller pressure washers in your shed or garage, and it’s also more work to drag around.

If you only need a pressure washer for a couple of cars or smaller areas of hard landscaping, then you could save some cash and have an easier time with the smaller Kärcher K4 Classic or Nilfisk Core 130. Neither can match the K5 Power Control for its awesome cleaning power, but both have enough for the majority of users.