Kia EV6 - Electric motor, drive and performance

Although the Kia EV6 sits on the same E-GMP electric car platform as the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Genesis GV60, the Kia has a sportier feel. There’s MacPherson strut front suspension and a multi-link rear end, which helps to keep things nicely controlled. The EV6 has a slightly stiffer set-up than the boxier, retro-inspired Ioniq 5, and it isn’t as tall as the more luxurious GV60, so it benefits from a lower centre of gravity.

What is the Kia EV6 like to drive?

In town

At low speeds in urban areas, imperfections in the road are transmitted through the stiff chassis – especially in GT-Line S trim with larger 20-inch alloy wheels. It’s far from unpleasant, but can’t quite match the Skoda Enyaq for comfort.

The steering in the EV6, although not as light as its Ioniq 5 or GV60 siblings, is pleasingly direct and allows you to accurately place the car when navigating your way through a tight village or along a busy city street. It’s also backed up by good brake pedal feel, with the regenerative braking system blending with the regular mechanical brakes well. It’s particularly adept when the former is left in its auto setting.

Kia’s excellent regenerative braking system offers several levels of braking strength, and can be adjusted on the fly with paddles behind the steering wheel. There’s a one-pedal driving mode called i-Pedal, which is especially good for stop-start traffic because it’s strong enough to bring the car to a smooth stop and hold it in place until the traffic ahead clears, and you can accelerate away.
However, you are very conscious of just how long the EV6 is when driving in tight urban streets. At close to 4.7 metres long, it’s nearly the same length as Kia’s seven-seat SUV, the Kia Sorento.

On A- and B-roads

Unlike some family EVs, the Kia EV6 is a lot of fun to drive on twisty roads. In fact, it’s among the most enjoyable electric cars we’ve driven.  

Leave the drive mode in Normal and the EV6 is alert to your commands, which is good because Sport mode can be too frenetic for everyday use. Given the EV6 weighs up to 2,165kg in dual-motor guise (the single-motor version is 2,090kg – around 120kg heavier than before), the sharper throttle and steering responses are a bit too intense in this sportiest setting, and it all becomes a little unbalanced and overexcitable, particularly when travelling on twisty B-roads. In contrast, Eco driving mode can make the EV6 quite slow to get going again after stopping.

The ride of the EV6 smooths out once up to speed, and is comfortable enough to isolate you from the worst shocks when hitting a pothole. The lighter rear-wheel-drive version is perhaps a touch more compliant than the four-wheel-drive model, but you’d have to drive the two back-to-back to really notice the difference. In either variant, there’s not much body roll in corners, and body movements over lumps in the road at speed are well controlled.

The 577bhp GT model comes with electronically controlled suspension and a limited-slip differential, and feels more agile than the regular EV6.

On the motorway

At motorway speeds, the ride in the EV6 settles down and it becomes a rather serene cruiser, with little whine from the electric motor. Road noise is well suppressed at higher speeds, with just a little wind noise coming at higher speeds from around the windscreen pillars and large door mirrors.

The autonomous driving technology fitted to the high-end GT-Line S models helps to take some of the strain out of long trips. Along with an easy-to-use adaptive cruise control system that doesn’t brake harshly when it detects traffic ahead, you get lane centring support along with an automatic lane-change function. Indicate which lane you want to move into, and provided everything is clear, it’ll smoothly change lanes for you.

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0-62mph acceleration and top speed 

The entry-level 225bhp rear-drive Kia EV6 covers the 0-62mph dash in 7.7 seconds, which is fast enough for a family car. The dual-motor set-up in the four-wheel-drive version has 320bhp, cutting the same acceleration time to just 5.3 seconds. If you need the extra traction of four-wheel drive, it might be worthwhile, but our preferred rear-wheel-drive car still has enough poke in reserve for motorway overtakes that you’ll question the expense of the faster model. Both versions still top out at a maximum speed of 114mph.

If you’re in a hurry, the 577bhp EV6 GT will launch from 0-62mph in a mere 3.5 seconds, then go on to a top speed of 162mph. Flooring the accelerator pins you to your seat while the numbers on the speedo climb at an alarming rate.