For the EV6 being Kia’s 1st true electric vehicle, it stands out from the crowd – in both design & features. Whether you like the design or not, there’s nothing on the road that looks like the Kia EV6. It is marketed as a CUV or crossover and despite the images making it look Civic-sized, it is pretty big inside. I call the design an optical illusion of looking smaller than it truly is as it’s a nice surprise when 1st getting inside. Roomy in both the front & rear of it. Like roomy enough to put 4 adults over 6 ft inside w/o having to adjust any seats either.
The interior measures in at a whopping 103 cubic ft and you got 28 cubic ft of cargo space in the trunk that turns into 54 cubic ft when you put the rear seats down. And speaking of the seats, they are crafted from vegan leather & suede materials that have been recycled & repurposed. The front seats offer both 3 levels of heated & ventilated options as the rear only have 3 levels of the heated option. And does the EV6 have a frunk? Yes, but it’s super small, and probably best not to acknowledge it as one.
You got dual 12.3inch panoramic screens that give you just about everything you need to drive. One of them is the driving instrument panel and the other is for navigation and entertainment. Both offer Blue Light Filter BTW to reduce eye strain and such. A shining star from this is their Blind Spot View Monitor. This has been seen on Hyundai vehicles, this appears in the instrument panel when changing lanes. This is a camera angle that is amazing and much-needed. As well as a 360-degree view for parking or checking out your surroundings whether parked or in motion.
The driver assistance system does get marks for offering vehicle-follow in stop-and-go traffic without having to press the accelerator or resume button. While navigating highway traffic, the EV6 reacted safely without too much acceleration or braking when vehicles cut in front of it or when they moved out of the way. I never felt the need to step on the brake or accelerator because the system was too aggressive.
The steering wheel has a heated option w/ cruise control/driving modes, media, and phone call controls at your fingertips. Good & standard stuff here. Handling the audio is a 14-speaker w/ Subwoofer & external amp provided by Meridian. I left it in Surround mode and loved bumping music from it as well as playing Encanto via Bluetooth from my phone for my son while charging the car one time. Speaking of the entertainment controls, many folks find it a bit divisive that you have to switch between heating/cooling & entertainment controls on one panel and not both at the same time. But it wasn’t that big of a deal for me but I can see folks wanting to access both though.
And speaking of power, you got a Qi wireless smartphone charger in the center console, a total of 5 USB ports (4 USB-C and a single USB-A), a 2-pronged 110V AC outlet underneath the rear seat for vacuum cleaners or game consoles for road trips, etc., and an included adapter for the charging port that accesses their V2L (Vehicle to Load) feature that allows you to charge devices like smartphones, laptops, tablets, home appliances, e-bikes, camping equipment, and even charge other EVs when the car is parked. Basically turning your EV6 into a small generator. This is a cool feature that’s not on many EVs outside of this, Hyundai’s Ioniq 5, & the Ford F-150 Lightning.
As if you’re looking for some smart car action, Kia didn’t forget about you. You have a Remote Smart Parking Assist that can hit the buttons on the keyfob to access it and pull your EV6 in/out of parking spots.
Now outside of being an EV, you get fast performance here as well. Kia armed this top-of-the-line EV6 w/ a dual motor e-AWD and a 77.4 kWh battery capable of 320hp + 446 lb-ft of torque. This is capable of pulling speeds of 0-60MPH in about 4.6 seconds and easily lives up to it. And believe it or not, this bests the likes of the Porsche Cayenne and the Long Range Tesla Model Y. This all results in smooth and powerful takeoffs from a complete stop. Which comes in handy entering highway on-ramps.
It can handle the steep inclines of Pennsylvania w/ ease as well as the windy back roads of Jersey w/o breaking a sweat. And this w/ 4 different driving modes to choose from w/ Eco, Normal, Sport, & Snow. I mainly kept in Normal as Sport mode would probably get me pulled over. And being my 1st EV beyond a brief test drive, regenerative braking took a little getting used to. The EV6 has 4 braking regen modes going from levels 0-4. Level 0 is barely on, Level 1 is on a little bit, Level 2 is a little harder, and Level 3 is aggressive. To attempt to get some range back, I kept it mostly at 2 and occasionally put it at 3.
This utilizes Hyundai’s E-GMP (Electric Global Modular Platform) architecture which uses an 800-volt architecture, while just about everyone else is using a 400-volt system. The 800-volt system allows the EV6 and Ioniq 5 to charge at a rate of up to 350 kW at a DC fast charging station. Making it charge faster than damn near every other EV on the road.
And unlike Tesla, you got the joys of faster DC charging which can give you up to 80% in around 18 mins. the week I had it was during extreme mid-90-degree weather so it took more like 20-25 minutes to get to 80%. Now charging up to full will take around an hour though. That 80% charge only cost me around $25 BTW.
But keep in mind, that heat and such can play a variable as it was easily over 90 degrees out the last time I charged, and an hour charge only got me up to 80% of juice. Electrify America charging stations are the way to go for charging but are not as abundant as Tesla’s Superchargers though. I almost had to get towed trying to find a charging station when running low in range. And speaking of range, I wish this model had more. I felt like I didn’t get the exact 274-mile range but w/ the extreme 90-degree heat and driving w/ the AC on, I probably got around 250ish miles. I would need the step-down RWD GT-Line EV6 to get over 300 miles of range w/ less HP at 225.
The heads-up display is a bit barebone. Compared to the likes of Mazda who offer more details on theirs. You get to see Stop signs as well as the Speed Limit of where you are. This comes in handy when it’s not posted. Kia’s version just offers your speed and blindspot alerts unless you have the navigation running.
