Kia EV6 review

Make and model: Kia EV6 GT-Line
Description: Large five-seat hatchback
Price range: £48,275 (plus options)

Kia says: “The Kia EV6 brings long-range, zero-emissions power, ultra-fast charging and distinctive styling to the crossover SUV market.”

We say: Our 2022 Car of the Year is still a brilliant car in 2024. If you’re looking to make the switch to an EV for your next car, the Kia EV6 should be right at the top of your shortlist.

• Kia EV6 (2021 onwards) – Expert Rating
• More Kia new car reviews, Expert Ratings, news and features

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Introduction

It’s hard to believe that the EV6 has been around for three years – it still looks bang-up-to-date, even as a lightly updated version is set to debut later this year. In that time, it has won a stack of motoring awards, including The Car Expert’s Car of the Year trophy in 2022.

The EV6 is also single-handedly responsible for elevating Kia’s brand reputation from worthy but generally invisible to cutting edge and innovative. Yes, the brand had been steadily improving and developing for the past decade, but the EV6 was a leap forward – and it has been followed by the similarly excellent EV9 large SUV, all-new Niro EV, and with several more new electric models to come over the next couple of years.

But EV technology is evolving quickly, and there have been several new rivals that have arrived since the EV6 was launched. Is it still top of the tree, or has it slid down a few branches? We spent a week with a mid-spec Kia EV6 GT-Line to find out.

What is it?

Like many electric models, pigeon-holing the Kia EV6 in comparison to conventional petrol or diesel cars is a bit tricky. Size-wise, it’s slightly shorter than a BMW 3 Series overall, but the wheelbase (the length between the front and rear wheels) is much longer and the overhangs (in front of the front wheels and behind the rear wheels) are shorter. That means you have more cabin space, allowing five adults to travel comfortably.

You also sit a bit higher than a conventional saloon or hatch, but not quite as high as an SUV. That’s because the batteries are placed along the floor of the car with passengers sitting above them, which is good for the car’s balance and handling, and makes it better to drive. You also get a decent-sized boot plus a ‘frunk’ – a front trunk storage space under the bonnet, since the electric motor takes up much less space than a conventional engine.

So it’s a mid-sized car with the cabin space of a bigger car, and you sit higher than a normal car but not as high as an SUV. It’s available in either rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive versions, with a range of trim and performance levels.

Who is this car aimed at?

This is essentially the new family car shape of the 2020s – the 21st century equivalent of the Ford Mondeo, for example.

Underneath its sleek skin, the Kia EV6 is closely related to the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Genesis GV60; all are about the same size and share most of their hardware. It’s no coincidence that all three brands are part of the same family – the Kia and Hyundai are almost direct rivals in the mainstream family market, while the Genesis is aimed a more premium audience.

Who won’t like it?

It’s an electric car, so there will inevitably be a percentage of car buyers who insist they will never buy one. Which is a shame, because they’ll be missing out. Plenty of research shows that most perceptions of EV problems don’t translate into reality (range anxiety, unreliability, charging problems, fires, etc.).

There will also still be some people out there who think Kias are still budget vehicles of poor quality, but the world has changed a lot in the last decade and Kias are now some of the most technologically advanced EVs on the roads – and very well put together with quality materials.

The good news is that EV buyers are more likely to consider different car brands from what they have been used to, so hopefully people will at least test drive a Kia EV6 before choosing their next car.

First impressions

There are no petrol or diesel cars that look anything like the Kia EV6. The proportions could only be an electric vehicle, and Kia’s designers have made good use of them.

The EV6 is a sleek-looking car, although it sits higher than you’d expect. The nose is low and sports car-like, rather than being a high SUV-style thing with an enormous fake grille that most cars on the road today have.

The style is definitely more forward-looking than the similar Hyundai Ioniq 5, which leans into 1980s retro to similarly pleasing effect. But there’s a decent chance that the Kia will still look fresh in five years’ time, while the Hyundai may start to look old-hat. We think Kia’s probably on the money, here.

Inside, the initial feeling is of space, helped by a flat floor throughout the cabin. So the area between the driver and passenger is quite open ,and the middle passenger in the back doesn’t have to straddle a big hump in the floor.

What do you get for your money?

Once we’ve got the first impressions out of the way, it’s time to look a bit harder at exactly what you’re getting for your money with the Kia EV6.

There are four trim levels available, called Air, Horizon, GT-Line and GT-Line S. There are two performance options – a rear-wheel-drive version with 226hp that’s available with all trim levels, and an all-wheel-drive version with 320hp that’s only available on the top two trim levels. We’re driving the 226hp version in GT-Line trim, which is a good combination.

All models have the same 77kWh battery, which gives an official driving range of 328 miles for the lower-performance models and 314 for the higher-performance models. As with any car, the economy and driving range are based on carefully conducted lab tests in a controlled environment, so your results may vary. Assume a maximum range of about 300 miles in good conditions and you should be OK.

Kia EV6 Air starts at just over £45.3K, and has a decent level of kit included as standard. All EV6 models come with a five-star safety rating, but the Air misses out on some of the more advanced accident-avoidance tech like blind-spot collision assist and rear cross-traffic assist (useful for reversing out of blind driveways or car parking spaces).

Horizon is a new trim level, priced at just £700 above the entry-level Air. For that extra outlay, you get quite a lot of extra equipment, like upgraded headlights, front parking sensors, electric front seats (with memory for the driver’s seat), heated outer rear seats, automatic tailgate and wireless phone charging. A very worthwhile upgrade.

GT-Line starts at £48.3K, or £49.2K if you want a heat pump – we’ll get to that shortly. Over and above Horizon, the seats are upgraded to ‘premium relaxation’ units (more bolstering, one-touch recline function) with suede upholstery replacing the vegan artificial leather on lower models, some extra active safety aids (blind spot assist, rear cross-traffic assist and side exit assist, which is designed to warn you if you try to open your door when a car is approaching) and some minor visual differences. This was previously our suggested sweet spot in the EV6 family, but the new Horizon spec has most of the same upgrades for a lot less money.

GT-Line S is the top-spec version, starting at £52.8K – in other words, £4.5K over the GT-Line and £7.5K over the Air. For that additional money, you get larger alloy wheels (20-inch instead of 19-inch), an upgraded 14-speaker sound system, sunroof, head-up display, remote parking assist (park your car remotely using your car key!), auto pop-out door handles, ventilated front seats, 360-degree cameras, parking collision avoidance (stops you reversing into a pedestrian or object) and upgraded front collision avoidance and further minor visual differences. It’s a well-specced car, but quite pricey. Worth a look if you’re buying a near-new used car, as the price premium for the top-spec model will be much less.

Unlike many European brands, Kia doesn’t have an endless options list that allows you to customise the specification – for example, if you want a sunroof then you need to choose the top-spec GT-Line S. This may seem inconvenient if you don’t want to pay for a load of extras you don’t want to get one that you do, but it simplifies things to keep costs down for the manufacturer and tends to improve resale values for the top-spec cars.

The GT-Line and GT-Line S cars also allow you to pay an extra £900 for a heat pump. This feature helps to improve battery range in cold conditions, as well as using excess heat from batteries and electrical components to help heat the cabin. Some EVs now include this as standard, but it’s worth paying the extra money for if you are at all concerned about driving range in cold weather.

We like: Horizon trim offers great value for money
We don’t like: Heat pump only on selected models and costs extra, some safety tech only on higher-spec models

What’s the Kia EV6 like inside?

If the exterior looks thoroughly modern, the interior is probably even more so. As is the case with most new cars, buttons and knobs have largely been banished in favour of touchscreen controls, which looks lovely but is not great for adjusting things on the move. It is quite dark unless you have the sunroof, however, as there’s a lot of black everywhere.

Kia has certainly maximised the space advantages of an electric car, with loads of space down low for your feet and for additional storage. EVs don’t have a traditional gearbox or transmission, so there’s no big lump between the driver and passenger. Equally, there’s no driveshaft or exhaust pipe running from the front of the car to the back, so there’s no hump in the floor for the middle passenger in the back.

That may sound unimportant, but it makes a big difference for loving with a car or taking long family journeys when you’re loaded up with stuff. If you jump back into a petrol or diesel car after driving an EV6, you are suddenly very aware of how restricted your space is.

The seats are comfy and supportive (we had the ‘premium relaxation seats’ in the GT-Line model), while the view out is decent without being amazing. As in most new cars, the rear window is small and over-the-shoulder blind spot visibility is poor, but the EV6 is no worse than other cars in these matters.

The dashboard is dominated by what looks like one long screen running from the driver’s door to the centre of the car. It’s actually two 12-inch screens side-by-side – the one in front of the driver has all the usual gauges and information, while the central one handles all the stereo, navigation, heating and air-conditioning, and other car functions. There’s also a row of separate controls underneath the central screen. Cleverly, this can be switched between air-con and stereo controls, but they’re still touch-sensitive controls so you need to take your eyes off the road to operate them rather than going by feel.

All models have Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, so most owners will use these rather than Kia’s own satnav and stereo systems. These are wired rather than wireless so your phone has to be plugged in to use them. That makes the wireless charging tray (standrda on GT-Line and GT-Line S) fairly pointless, but that’s OK because the wireless charging is poor anyway as your phone will almost immediately slide off the charging point. Incidentally, pairing your phone is quick and easy, which you’d think would be normal but many other car manufacturers seem to find otherwise…

Both screens are good, with large and easy-to-read graphics – this is often not the case, with some car manufacturers apparently intent on cramming as much information as possible onto the screen, so you can’t read any of it. You can switch between light and dark modes, or have the car do it automatically. Many people prefer night mode (black background, white text on the screens) even in daytime, but I found that light mode (white background with black text) helped brighten up the black cabin during the daytime.

In the back seats, legroom is excellent and the lack of a hump in the floor is great for the middle passenger or for putting a bag out of the way. Headroom, however, is tight for taller adults who be close to – or touching – the ceiling. That’s particularly frustrating, given how good the legroom is.

There’s lots of storage space in the centre console area, which is good. However, the boot isn’t as large as you’d expect, which is not so good. There is a shallow secondary boot under the main one, which is handy for hiding things – as long as you don’t have to empty the boot to get them out. Under the bonnet is a small frunk, best used for keeping your charging cables.

We like: Dashboard layout is a reasonable balance between form and function, screen graphics easy to read
We don’t like: Wireless charging is a waste of time, boot not as big as several rivals

What’s the Kia EV6 like to drive?

In short, the Kia EV6 is a lovely thing to drive. The steering is light but direct, and you are always confident that the car will follow your direction exactly as instructed, rather than you having to guess whether you’ll need to apply more or less steering halfway through a corner.

Although the power output of 226hp doesn’t sound like a lot these days, it’s less important on an EV because all of your power and torque is delivered instantly rather than increasing as the engine revs harder. So response and acceleration are still good – if not as dramatic as you get in a Tesla.

If you want more performance, the all-wheel drive models give you an extra 60hp, a huge amount of extra torque and significantly improved acceleration. But it will cost you an extra £3.5K, and for most customers it’s probably unnecessary. The main benefit to the higher-performance motor is that it comes in all-wheel drive, which is useful on wet or icy roads.

The ride is firm, but if your current ride is a German car with sports trim (Audi S line, BMW M Sport, Mercedes, AMG-Line, etc.) or you have big alloy wheels, then the EV6 is certainly no worse. Our usual point of comparison is a Volvo V60 estate with R-Design sports suspension and 19-inch wheels, and the Kia was probably better.

The EV6 has a more sporting feel than its sibling, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 (which we’ve only driven briefly to date), but we still found it very comfortable on longer trips.

Braking in an EV can feel a bit unusual if you’re used to a petrol car, because an EV will use the electric motor to slow the car most of the time (called regenerative braking) instead of the actual brakes, which are only used for harder stops. The good news here is that Kia has managed this very well, as the brakes feel quite natural and you don’t get any weird sensation as the car switches between regenerative and physical braking.

You can adjust the amount of regenerative braking, so that the car either coasts freely when you lift off the accelerator, or starts to slow down more rapidly. There are four different settings, with the most aggressive meaning that you tend to drive with one pedal as the car will slow right down as soon as you take your foot off the accelerator. It’s something that takes a bit of getting used to, but is a cool feature of EVs. As the motor slows the car down, some electricity is returned to the battery. The more you use the motor for braking, the more electricity you regenerate. You can adjust the settings easily using paddles behind the steering wheel – once you get used to it, it’s a handy feature.

We like: Enjoyable to drive, generally fairly comfortable
We don’t like: Ride isn’t as soft as some petrol or diesel cars

How safe is the Kia EV6?

Euro NCAP assessed the EV6 in May 2022 and it scored an excellent five-star rating. This score applies to all models sold in the UK.

It scored well in all the crash tests, with good protection for both adults and children in the event of a collision. There are ISOFIX child seat mounting points in both outer rear seats, but not in the middle or in the front passenger seat.

In terms of avoiding an accident in the first place, the EV6 also performs well. Although autonomous emergency braking (AEB) systems are now compulsory on all new cars in Europe, the level of performance varies. The Kia scored well in all of these tests.

The only negative here is that some of the more advanced accident avoidance systems are only available on GT-Line and GT-Line S models. These are systems that are likely to prevent minor accidents rather than major ones, so they don’t affect the safety rating, but we prefer it when all the safety tech is standard on every model rather than only on the top-spec versions.

Kia EV6 economy, battery range and charging

The Car Expert’s unique Expert Rating Index pulls running cost data from across the entire new car market, and one of the most important factors for an EV is its electrical efficiency – the equivalent of fuel economy for a petrol or diesel car. The Kia EV6 scores a C-grade here, being fairly average overall. However, it’s fairly competitive with EVs of similar size if not best-in-class (the Tesla Model Y and Polestar 2 are both better, for example).

The EV6’s battery is a good size, at 77kWh. That means that driving range is still good, even though efficiency is only average. Officially, the rear-wheel drive cars get 328 miles from a full charge (313 miles in the GT-Line S due to its larger wheels) in the UK/EU government lab test protocols. In the real world, which is far more variable than a lab environment, you can probably expect to get around 300 miles in mixed driving – more in city driving, less on motorway driving. This is the opposite of what happens with a petrol or diesel car, where you tend to get better fuel economy on motorways and worse around town. This is because EVs regenerate electricity as they slow down, which you do a lot more of in town than on a motorway.

The EV6 is capable of taking a very rapid charge of up to 350kW. This is great in theory, as it means you can charge from 10% to 80% (standard industry test representative of short-stop public charging, like at a motorway services) in just 18 minutes. Most other cars are limited to slower charging rates so faster chargers don’t offer any benefit. However, it requires a charging point that can deliver electricity at 350kW and, to date, there are not many of these in the UK. If you do find one, they’re also the most expensive chargers to use.

More realistic are 50kW chargers, which are found in most public charging locations. In this case you’re looking at about 73 minutes for a 10%-80% charge. Fast chargers slow down once you go beyond 80%, so to get to the full 100% takes quite a bit longer. That’s normal and is designed to protect your battery.

If you’re charging at home from a wallbox or on an overnight public charger, these are usually 7kW. At one of these, a 10%-100% charge takes about 7 hours and 20 minutes and the charge doesn’t slow down over the last 20% like it does with a fast charger.

The EV6 comes with two charging cables, one for plugging into a wallbox or fast charger, and one for plugging into a regular three-point socket. However, with any modern EV, using a three-point socket is a last resort as the charging speed is very slow. The EV6 would take almost 33 hours to charge from 10% to 100%, so best avoided…

The GT-Line and GT-Line S have an additional feature called vehicle-to-load. This means they have a that you can use your car’s battery to power external electrical devices via a conventional three-point socket (one in the car and another via an adaptor that plugs into the car’s charging socket). It’s handy for things like camping, where you can run a kettle or fridge from you car’s battery.

Verdict

It might be approaching its third birthday, but our 2022 Car of the Year is still a brilliant car in 2024. It’s still one of the highest-rated new cars on our Expert Rating Index, thanks to its strong media reviews, safety rating, zero tailpipe emissions and competitive running costs.

The Kia EV6 is quiet, smooth, comfortable and good to drive. It still looks fresh and modern, and chances are that the styling will age gracefully. The tech is good and everything works well, so your EV learning curve should be relatively short.

Charging is pretty future-proof, as you’ll be able to take advantage of the growing number of ultra-rapid charging points across the UK in coming years.

The boot isn’t as big as we’d like, and that may be a deal-killer for some customers. If your current car is a saloon, you might be happy with it. But if you’re coming out of an estate or SUV, it may be more problematic. The frunk is handy for storing the charging cables, but not really for anything else.

Maintenance costs are pretty good, as the EV6 only requires servicing once every two years or 20,000 miles. That means that owning an EV6 should be affordable and reliable.

Finally, Kia has one of the best new car warranties in the business at seven years or 100,000 miles (whichever comes first). The battery is also covered in terms of capacity – not just failure – during the warranty, so if your battery capacity drops below 70% in seven years, Kia will repair or replace it.

If you’re looking to make the switch to an EV for your next car, the Kia EV6 should be right at the top of your shortlist.

• Kia EV6 (2021 onwards) – Expert Rating
• More Kia Expert Ratings, new car reviews, news and features

Similar cars

If you’re looking at the Kia EV6, you might also be interested in these alternatives.

Audi Q4 e-tron | BMW i4 | Citroën ë-C4 | Ford Mustang Mach-E | Genesis GV60 | Hyundai Ioniq 5 | Mercedes-Benz EQA | Nissan Ariya | Polestar 2 | Skoda Enyaq iV | Subaru Solterra | Tesla Model Y | Toyota bZ4X | Volkswagen ID.4 | Volkswagen ID.5 | Volvo EX40 | Volvo EC40

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