Kia EV6 review: An electric car that's practically perfect

There’s an awful lot to like about the Kia EV6, even if you’ve not actually driven one. We recently had the chance to try the car for a week. It’s been a lot of fun and the EV6 definitely offers up lashings of the feelgood factor.

Kia has worked wonders with the styling with this all-electric offering and then gone a step further by packing in performance and lots of tech. The end result is a package we’ve recently experienced on the road in a Kia EV6 GT Line S 77.4kWh all-wheel-drive variant.

The car we’ve been testing came fully loaded too, with a dazzling metallic red exterior and an interior that featured black suede seats complimented by white vegan leather inserts. Overall, the effect was pretty dramatic, especially with the striking 20-inch alloys that combined polished rims with gloss black lacquer spokes. There were neat black side sill moldings that enhanced the lines of the car even more. Read our full Kia EV6 review to find out more.

Kia EV6 review: Design and style

Compared to the bad old days, Korean cars have come on in leaps and bounds. They're far less generic and, in the case of the EV6 the design is really great. The car is based on the same E-GMP platform as the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and also the soon-to-arrive Genesis GV60. That’s a perfect place to start as the Ioniq 5 has already proved its worth as a brilliant EV.

The metallic red finish of our example was really easy on the eyes. The EV6 manages to blend angular lines and plenty of curves in the right places, producing an end result that’s fun to look at from pretty much any angle. In terms of size, it’s a bit like the Ioniq in that it looks like a saloon but as you get closer you realize it's a lot bigger in the metal.

In fact, with a length of 15.3 ft, width of 6.2 ft and height of 5 ft this is a sizable EV, which means there’s plenty of room on the inside. That immediately makes it family-friendly, with seating for five and a sizable trunk that can hold nearly 17.6 cubic feet, even without any seats being folded down. 

Access to the car is easy too, with large doors that open nice and wide and a powered trunk lid that makes life easy if you’ve got your hands full. A small frunk under the hood works well for one or two similarly tiny items.

Exterior design flourishes include flush door handles, electrically folding and adjustable door mirrors, a glass sunroof and a spoiler-type overhang above the rear window.

This helped to keep the glass quite clear in rain, which is something the Hyundai Ioniq 5 had problems with, as neither car features a rear screen wiper. Also at the back are the neat wraparound taillights that look great in daylight, but really pop after dark.

Kia EV6 review: Performance

Our car featured the GT Line S 77.4kWh AWD powertrain and running gear layout. That meant maximum power of 321bhp and 605Nm of torque from twin motors, distributed as 350 to the rear and 255 to the front, via a single-speed automatic transmission. 

This being an EV, driving the car is easy and it can be even more straightforward if you engage the i-Pedal, which engages the one-pedal driving system. That way you rarely have to use the brake.

You can adjust the regenerative properties of the car using up and down paddles just in front of the steering wheel. Drive modes, with three to choose from including Eco, Comfort and Sport are accessed via a pushable button just underneath the steering wheel. The EV6 also offers one-touch cruise control, which we found pretty impressive.

The car we drove felt really responsive and the all-wheel drive proved really impressive on winding country modes. The instant torque is particularly noticeable if you switch to Sport mode, though the battery level does ebb away that much more rapidly in the process — especially if you’re pushing the car and have a full quota of occupants.

In the best circumstances Kia says you’ll get 310 miles of EPA-rated range. You’ll only get that if you purchase the $47,000 Wind RWD or $51,200 GT-Line RWD models — both with 19-inch wheels. The $40,900 Light RWD model only offers 232 miles of range, while the $50,900 Wind and $55,200 GT-Line AWD models offer 274 miles.

Thankfully, much like the Hyundai Ioniq 5, the Kia EV6 is a doddle to charge. If you’re lucky enough to find a 350kW charger you can get from 10-80% in a mere 18 minutes. 

That slips to 73 minutes for 10-80% on a more common 50kW connection though. Fully charged we’d get around 320 miles on our example, which is perfectly acceptable we think.

Kia EV6 review: Interior

Just as the exterior design hits the spot, Kia has done a fab job with the interior of the EV6. There are plenty of subtle touches that make it even classier too. 

They include like the low-key lined graphics that run across the central binnacle and over the dashboard, which is a neat touch. In fact, the more time you spend sitting in the very accommodating seats, the more you realize just how much effort has been put into getting the interior vibe right.

Admittedly, if you’re rather tall then the rear seats feel a little less roomy, with the roofline slightly compromising headroom. Sit in the front, though, and you’re rewarded with lots of space. There’s no transmission tunnel, which means more storage and a 12.3-inch touchscreen that packs in all of the infotainment goodies. There’s a lot in this area to explore, and as you’d expect, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto form part of the collection.

Our model also came with a 14-speaker Meridian audio system, complete with active sound design (ASD), which performed really well. Elsewhere, the wireless phone charger pad in the center, just ahead of the armrest was a practical touch.

Also enhancing the overall driving experience was the sizable bundle of driver aids. This included an augmented reality head-up display, which proved its worth on more challenging unfamiliar roads.

Better still, if you’re intimidated by reversing, the Kia EV6 offers an optional Remote Smart Park Assist (RSPA) that can get the car into tight spots. Even more impressively, once you’ve read how to do it in the manual, you can get out and use buttons on the keyfob to slot your EV6 into a narrow space. It’ll even pull itself out again when you need to get back in.

That’s one very cool feature, and just one of numerous goodies that nestle inside the beefy manual — which is well worth a read given the array of tech packed into this car.

Kia EV6 review: Verdict

We loved our time with the Kia EV6. Long drives are no problem at all, thanks to the good range and a cockpit that’s super accommodating. The fully adjustable premium relaxation seats could be adjusted in loads of different ways. There’s also cool lighting that soothes the mind if you’re on a marathon journey. It’s a really great place to sit and soak up the sounds from that audio system too.

It’s really worth taking your time with the Kia EV6 and, aside from enjoying its excellent driving qualities, carry out a deep dive into the tech hidden inside this car. There’s just so much clever stuff going on with the EV6, inside and out. As you spend more time with the EV6 the extra tech treats keep coming too. Overall, there’s very little to find fault with on this car.