Kia EV6 review: A new benchmark for electric dreams

The Kia EV6 is a stunning looking machine and, below, the interior of the car is a thoroughly modern design; the materials used look and feel at the higher end of the luxury scale.

Some might cavil at the cost of this car, but when they experience it, they will find it hard to argue with the quality, the technology, the range, and the charging times.

Kia EV6 GT-Line
Rating	★★★★☆
Price	from €49,995 including grants - €53,344 as tested
Power	a 168-kW electric motor and a 77.4 kWh battery.  229 bhp and 340 Nm of torque, a top speed of 185 km/h and a 0-100 km/h time of 7.3 seconds
Range	officially listed at 504 km for the GT-Line model
The Spec	very impressive
Verdict	Up there with the best, right now

I'm beginning to see a trend here, or at least I think I am. Round about the end of 2020 we got to drive the Peugeot e-208 and we hailed it as a ground-breaking electric car and said it was “a window to the future”.

Although it ‘only’ provided a claimed range of 340 km, just over 12 months ago, it was tangibly a more competent affordable electric than anything we had seen until then.

Twelve short months later and we are now driving a car which has palpably moved the goalposts further than we could have envisioned in such a short timescale. And, not only it is a car from a company which less than two decades ago was a laughing stock among motoring cognoscenti, but it is an automobile that is making serious carmakers a lot more resolute about their electric futures.

The car of which we speak is the new Kia EV6, which to any reasonable eye is a stunning looking machine and one which has re-set the standard by which these things are evaluated by motoring hacks like me but also — and more importantly — by the customer who coughs up the dosh.

And while I’m not going to burst the bubble on Kia’s achievement in designing and making this excellent machine just quite yet, I am willing to speculate that in just 12 months time or less, something (or many things, indeed) will have come along which will surpass the capabilities of the EV6.

YOU get a lot of baubles like the 12.3” touchscreen and all the infotainment and connectivity it brings, as well as a head-up display and Kia’s innovative rear facing side cameras.

But that’s speculation; reasonable speculation maybe, but on the basis that Mercedes is already promising a car which it officially unveiled this week (called Vision EQXX) capable of 1,000 km before needing a recharge, you can see where this whole genre is going.

But what of the Kia? Well, for right now, this car is bang on the money. We first heard of it last March when the Korean outfit launched a few teaser pictures of a new electric car which, it promised, was going to have a range of more than 500km and enjoy a seriously eye-catching design as well.

A friend of mine who is something of a petrolhead — more dreamer than anything else, it must be said — was right onto the EV6 from the moment Kia started leaking to the media about it, immediately reckoning it to be a problem-solver for business drivers sick of the whole benefit-in-kind taxation regime in this country.

That he also saw it as an opportunity to get a car from his hitherto recalcitrant employers, was another matter, but you couldn’t argue that he was on the money on all fronts if Kia came up with something as good as they predicted it would be. And they have.

Not only is this a stunning-looking, semi-sci-fi piece of kit, it is also a pretty decent driving prospect and, largely, does what it says on the tin when it comes to range.

Not only is this a stunning-looking, semi-sci-fi piece of kit, it is also a pretty decent driving prospect and, largely, does what it says on the tin when it comes to range.

Deceptively, the EV6 has also — in electric terms — moved Kia closer to premium brands such Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Polestar (the Volvo electric brand) and, yes, Tesla.

The technical details of the car tell us it is equipped with a 168-kW electric motor and a 77.4 kWh battery pack and a single-speed automatic transmission which powers the rear wheels. This translates into a total power output of 229 bhp and 340 Nm of torque, a top speed of 185 km/h and a 0-100 km/h time of 7.3 seconds.

Those figures might not mean much in black and white, but they do indicate that the EV6 is typically electric in that it accelerates very briskly, but is not a neck-snapper like some. Indeed progress can be as swift as you wish, but proceedings are smooth and linear and not at all herky-jerky.

The range is officially listed at 504 km for the GT-Line model we tested — the entry level ‘Earth’ version which will do a claimed 528 km largely thanks to the fact it has 19” alloys rather than the 20” inchers you get on the tester — but during our time with the car we found that a real-world figure of 480 km is not out of the question, which is pretty damn good. If you’re using it for longer motorway-only drives, that figure could drop to 395 km, but that’s pretty impressive right now too.

Connect to an IONITY fast charger (350 kW) and you will get from 10 to 80% capacity in less than 20 minutes and if you can only access a (for now) more normal 50 kW charger will take just under 70 minutes, but if you’re restricted to having to plug it in to a socket at home with your regular three-pin plug, it will take more than eight hours to replenish.

Connect to an IONITY fast charger (350 kW) and you will get from 10 to 80% capacity in less than 20 minutes

On the road, the EV6, being the very wide thing it is, takes a little getting used to in order not to remove the door mirrors at every turn, but it is a very nice car to drive and while the steering might initially seem to lack driver feedback, it is very precise and this makes driving it on B-roads a lot more pleasurable than you’d think.

The ride is very comfortable and the handling much better than you might expect from something with a kerb weight of just about two tonnes.

Inside, the car is a thoroughly modern design and this reflects the adventurousness of the exterior. The materials used look and feel at the higher end of the luxury scale and you do get the impression that Kia spent loads of time and effort getting this just right. And once again they have.

YOU get a lot of baubles like the 12.3” touchscreen and all the infotainment and connectivity it brings, as well as a head-up display (which can be slightly disconcerting when driving in the dark as it gives the impression of moving with the steering) and Kia’s innovative rear facing side cameras which swing into action when you activate the indicators and give you a dash-mounted rear view.

If pictures of the car make it look like a large hatch, in the flesh it is actually a large SUV and thus the interior space is voluminous; you won’t have any problems getting big loads in the boot either and the golf clubs are a cinch.

On the road, the EV6 takes a little getting used to in order not to remove the door mirrors at every turn, but it is a very nice car to drive and is very precise making driving it on B-roads a lot more pleasurable than you’d think.

Kia’s performance saloon, the Stinger, was an indication that the company can make seriously appealing drivers’ cars (even if few enough punters actually wanted a Stinger) and with the EV6 they have emphatically underlined the point, albeit in a different realm of endeavour.

What we have here then is a car which — as of right now — lifts the Korean outfit to a different level than anyone could reasonably have predicted if you’re a student of its achievements, or even lack of them heretofore.

Some might cavil at the cost of this car, but when they experience it, they will find it hard to argue with the quality, the technology, the range, and the charging times.

As of this moment then, this is a car which on the basis of all of the above, sits comfortably alongside much more vaunted opposition. Whether that will remain the case in 12 short months time remains to be seen.