The Kia EV6 is one of the biggest and boldest electric cars released in the past year. Over the past 12 months EVs like the Audi Q4 e-tron and the Tesla Model Y have come on the scene. The striking looks of the Kia EV6 and its broad range of technology means there’s been lots of interest in it and when you see the EV6 for the first time you might be surprised at just how big it is.
Special mention : Superb design inside and out. Very good technology. Base spec doesn’t really need the GT line upgrade to feel premium. Spec tricks such as USB hidden ports throughout the cabin. Floating consoles are well integrated and come in handy. Vegan leather. 7 year warranty.
Needs work : Somewhat odd seating positions due to battery integration and floor space layout. Too many safety beeps, they’ll end up being ignored which is worse. Lane assist is too sensitive for Irish road design.
| BHP 229 PS | Electric / Auto |
| 0-100 km/h in 7.3 seconds | Road Tax €120 |
| Price: €49,999.83 GT Line : €54,940 | Boot space 490 / 1,300 litres Range 500 km |
In reality it’s about the size of an SUV but also with hatchback design elements. It’s a similar car as the Hyundai Ioniq 5 which doesn’t come as a huge surprise because Kia and Hyundai are owned by the same group and the Kia EV6 is pretty much the same underneath.
The Ioniq 5 and the EV6 actually differ massively on the outside. The Hyundai is much more angular and futuristic whereas the Kia is a little bit smoother and arguably very easy on the eye. There are smoother lines around the bonnet and a swoopy line down the side of the car which more conventional.
Kia has spiced things up with an angular front end and that’s available on all but the entry-level cars. If you go for the base spec Kia EV6 then you get plastic cladding around the base of the car and also around the wheel arches.
There are 19-inch wheels as standard although the top spec are 20s. Another neat little design feature is the flush door handles that pop out when you approach the car. There’s also a small little wing at the back which gives the car an athletic look. The key striking feature at the back is the LED light system that runs along the width of the car and gives it such a presence when out on the road. There’s also some chrome added down the side which looks purely decorative but contains some more lights. At the back of the car there are body coloured bumpers on the GT Line and if you go for the entry level car you’re going to get black cladding for that SUV look. Overall the EV6 is a really handsome looking car and if you find the Ioniq 5 to just be a little bit too divisive then maybe the Kia is the one to go for, at least from an aesthetic point of view.
All Kia EV6’s come with an automatic boot release and when you open it up you get 480 litres of storage which isn’t as big as an Audi Q4 e-tron or a Skoda Enyaq but it does beat the Ford Mustang Mach-e and the Tesla Model Y is huge at 854 litres. Because it’s got a hatchback style boot it’s really easy to load items in and out of the EV6. Due to the sloping roofline you might struggle to fit some bulkier items into the back but you can open up a little bit more storage by removing the boot floor, it won’t be much though. And if you just need to get that little bit more in the back, open up the bonnet and you’ll find you have a little bit of extra storage.
Like most EV’s you can get the EV6 in two different motor configurations, the standard one is a single motor which is slung over the rear axle meaning it’s rear-wheel drive and that produces 228 horsepower. It’s capable of a 0 to 100 km/h time of 7.3 seconds which is relatively quick. Bear in mind that a lot of electric cars deliver most of their shove really low down and so 0-50 km/h is brisk. Next up is the all-wheel drive version with a motor at the front and at the rear, when combined they produce 325 horsepower and a 0 to 100 km/h time of 5.2 seconds which is nippy indeed. Now in 2022 there’s a version that will produce 585 horsepower, there’s no performance figures out for that just yet but the idea of a near 600 horsepower Kia is fantastic.
The EV6 comes with a 77.4 kilowatt hour battery which is a little bit bigger than the top spec battery available on the Ioniq 5 and that delivers a range between 527 km and 482 kms depending on which model you choose. The general rule of thumb is the more powerful the car, the slightly lower the range will be. So an all-wheel drive version with 325 horsepower will get a range of 505 kms.
When it comes to charging, the EV6 is one of the fastest on the market because like the Ioniq 5 it utilises 800 volt architecture meaning it can charge at speeds of up to 350 kilowatts. That’s if you can find one of those chargers which will be exceptionally hard at the moment because they’re very rare. Theoretically you can go from 10% to 80% battery in around 18 minutes and that makes it faster than the Tesla Model Y for now.
The EV6 starts off at just over €50,000 which makes it just a bit more expensive than the closest Hyundai Ioniq 5. However it’s worth bearing in mind that the Ioniq 5 is available with a smaller battery option which isn’t available on the EV6. if you compare like for like, they’re just about on par with each other in terms of price.
The GT Line comes in at just over €54,344.82 and with it you get 20-inch wheels as well as a suite of semi-autonomous driving modes plus you can option the all-wheel drive system. But if you want to go for the 585 horsepower version when that comes out it’ll be more expensive again.
The Ioniq 5 has a very minimalist cabin with the driving controls located behind the steering wheel and the EV6 is a little bit more conventional because there’s a traditional centre console with a dial for the drive select. There’s also the on/off button, a wireless charger and controls for the heated seats and heated steering wheel.
The seats have suede in the centre and vegan leather on the outside. If you option one of the entry level cars then as standard it’ll come with vegan leather. The dashboard comes with funky graphics on top and the vents have been integrated relatively well although they’re not quite as seamless as you see on other cars. Below that are the controls for the climate settings, all done via touch screen which isn’t the best thing in the world but because you have a dedicated panel you don’t have to go through the infotainment system. You can also switch between the panel working for either the climate settings or you can get some shortcuts for the infotainment screen which is all part of a massive twin screen panel that takes up most of the cabin and when you switch the car off it just looks like one clean display. On the main panel you have Kia’s latest infotainment software which is some of the best in the business, not only is it really slick and responsive but it actually looks very good and gives the car that more futuristic and modern vibe. The digital instrument panel is also bespoke to the EV6 because it’s the only Kia in the range that’s built from the ground up to be an EV plus you also get an augmented reality head up display which layers graphics over the road.
The EV6 has that mix of feeling like a relatively conventional car but it’s just loaded with tech and when you pack that up with the silence of an EV it feels like a very comfortable and relaxing place to spend a lot of time.
The seat position in the EV6 is just a little bit awkward and that’s because it feels like you’re almost sat completely on the seat floor. There’s quite a big distance between passengers legs and the base of the seat. as for everything else in the back though you’ve got a fair bit of headroom and there’s absolutely loads of legroom. In the back you’ve got two USB-C chargers located in the seats in front and there’s also an ac charger as well so you can charge up your laptop on your journey.
As the EV6 is based on the same platform and has the same architecture as the Ioniq 5 you might expect the same driving feel but there are some big differences. First of all Kia says that the EV6 is tailored towards a slightly sportier drive hence the aggressive and sportier looks and to a certain extent it does feel a little sportier than the Ioniq 5. In the corners it means that the EV6 can feel pretty flat, for a relatively big car with a lot of weight it does manage to disguise it. The only problem is that if you’re driving along a relatively old and heavily worn road it can just send the odd ripple through the cabin and you can just tell that the EV6 is a stiff car. The EV6 might have a sportier edge to it but manages bumps a lot better and that’s partly down to having a slightly thicker sidewall.
The all-wheel drive version with 325 horsepower in sport mode feels very quick but if you run it around in sport mode all the time you’re going to drain the battery quickly. Most of the time you’re probably going to have it in eco mode and just eke out as much battery power as possible. it doesn’t make the car feel any more sluggish when you do that in fact if anything it just makes it feel nicer to drive.
In some EV’S (looking at you Nissan LEAF) the estimated range drops down so much faster than you expect but in the EV6 that wasn’t a problem. Is it really worth going for the dual motor over the standard single motor? It can feel brisk when you’ve got it in sport mode but realistically you’re probably only going to go into sport mode the odd time and it doesn’t feel like a proper performance car in the corners yes it corners a little flatter than the Ioniq 5 but it’s not going to feel as sporty as something like a Porsche Taycan which is not a competitor but it’s the kind of car that you get in and go ‘Wow. This, is a performance car’.
It’s got that slightly sportier setup this rides so much smoother and with so much more confidence compared to the Ioniq 5. Will the all-wheel drive version be worth it because the EV6 will drive pretty much exactly the same as the two-wheel drive version. So if you want that all-wheel drive punch it might be worth just saving up and going for the 585 horsepower variant when that launches. In all fairness for most drivers the rear wheel drive version is going to do the job just fine.
It’s also considerably cheaper and compared to other rivals such as a Skoda Enyaq is more practical but is also more boring to drive then you’ve got something like a Tesla Model Y which isn’t as good when it comes to ride comfort. The closest rival to something like this is the Audi Q4 e-tron and choosing between the two of them is really difficult. The Q4 e-tron has been celebrated in the way that it drives and its clever use of packaging. And now the EV6 has turned up and it arguably drives better and it feels just as quick with superb technology. In fact I think the tech is better in the EV6 than it is in the Audi. Whichever trim you go for in the EV6, option the heat pump, it’ll save you time & energy when warming the interior in colder temperatures.