Hello
Who’d have thought an electric Kia would be such a talking point? But it is, and for good reason.
HELLO KIA EV6 + GOODBYE POLESTAR 2 & SKODA ENYAQ
Kia EV6 GT-Line S Month 1
Striking family EV wins Giant Test and starts long-term evaluation + Looks; performance; charging speed; chassis-Pricey for a Kia; lengthy waiting lists
Price £55,195 Performance 77.4kWh battery, 321bhp twin e-motors, 5.2sec 0-62mph, 114mph Efficiency 3.5 miles per kWh (official), 3.2 miles per kWh (tested), 0g/km CO2 Range 300 miles (official), 260 miles (tested) Energy cost 4.1p per mile Miles this month 3182 Total miles 4579
I love this car. Please forgive the spoiler, but I’m not going to make you wait nine months before I deliver a verdict that would have been obvious by the end of this first report. While the Kia EV6 is not perfect, it’s obviously really bloody good.
The little flaws might magnify over time and new ones might present themselves, but I suspect these reports are going to tell you how good it is to live with: irritating for those of you waiting impatiently for yours to be delivered.
And wow, is it popular. I’ve never had a long-term test car which people seem so keen to come up and discuss. With its extraordinary styling and mili-tary matt-grey finish it has the presence of a supercar, and some of the design cues too. That aggressively short nose looks like the back of a shovel and very obviously doesn’t contain a combustion engine. Unlike some rivals, the EV6’s pure-electric E-GMP platform is reflected in its external form: this could only be an electric car. It has the performance to match the looks: bar the nutcase new 577bhp GT, this twin-motor 321bhp GT-Line S tops the range. It gets to 62mph in 5.2 seconds and feels faster, as my poor aunt’s neck can attest.
Yet because it’s a Kia and electric, it attracts rather than repels. We’re getting used to people wanting to come over and talk about it. A Model 3 driver pulled alongside at the lights and said this was the car he actually wanted. A guy waiting at the car wash circled it a few times and told me he now regretted ordering a Volvo C40. A friend borrowed mine for a few days while I was testing the VW Multivan and liked it so much he ordered one – but I’ll come back to that tale in a later report.
Why does everyone seem to like it so much? Apart from the looks, performance, value and the obvious cost advantages of an EV, it’s just a properly engi-neered car. A senior contact at a rival car maker told me they’d bought some of these, tested them and torn them apart and been impressed by their power management in particu-lar. This twin-motor version claims a 300-mile WLTP range from 77.4kWh of usable battery, while the rear-engined
