Kia EV6 Australia Review. Features,Pricing, Design, Range, and charging

Kia EV6 Australia Review.

Kia EV6 Australia Review
Kia EV6 Australia Review. Features,Pricing, Design, Range, and charging
Image credited: kia.com/au

This isn’t just a new Kia vehicle. It’s the beginning of a whole new Kia that will usher in a new era of exciting electric power trains and higher prices. Meet the new Kia ev6. It’s exciting. It’s new, and they’re already on a waiting list as long as you’re armed for it in Australia. So let’s not waste time. Let’s go figure out exactly what we’re dealing with here; we’re going to be covering everything here from price and feces to design practicality to safety ownership, what it’s like to drive efficiency, and of course, that excellent EV powertrain and if you want to jump ahead at any point feel free to use the time codes but otherwise strap in and join me for the whole EV adventure got it right.

Pricing and Features

Image credited: kia.com/au
  • Kia EV6 Air RWD: $67,990
  • Kia EV6 GT-Line RWD: $74,990
  • Kia EV6 GT-Line AWD: $82,990

So the EV6 isn’t cheap. You can get into a pulsing star 2 for less money or a tesla model 3. but Kia says the pricing here has been more closely modelled on what is expected from the tesla model y the car it sees, along with the Hyundai Ioniq 5, of course as its crucial competitor.

The ev6 arrives in Australia in two trim levels the entry-level single motor air and the gt line which can be had in single motor rear-wheel drive or twin motor all-wheel drive and all share the same battery and platform but offer different levels of performance and range the air rides on 19-inch alloys gets led headlights and tail lights flush-fitting door handles and power-folding mirrors in the cabin you’ll find part vegan leather seats led interior lighting and a clever v2l powerpoint that helps keep devices topped up twin 12.3-inch curved displays handle onboard tech, and there’s dual-zone climate onboard navigation wireless phone charging and USB charging for your devicesstep up to the ev6 gt line.

You’ll get bigger 20-inch alloys, a gt line body kit, and an external v2lPowerPoint that matches the one already in the cabin. The seats are trimmed in suede and vegan leather, and you get an active sound design that allows you to dial-up or down the driving soundtrack. You add an augmented reality head-up display, a 14 speaker meridian sound system, a heated steering wheel, and heated and ventilated front seats, which also have a lean back relaxation mode for recharging.

Kia also homologated a more minor, which means a cheaper battery version of the ev6 for Australia, but with the brand holding some 25 000 registrations of interest and with only about 500 vehicles to be delivered this year, there’s little chance of them adding it anytime soon if you want an ev6 now then it’ll be one of these.

Design

The ev6 is destined to be constantly compared to the ionic five, but which one looks better is a matter entirely for you. One thing is certain though the two sure looks different. Believe it or not, the KIA ev6 is classified as a large SUV because of its size, but it doesn’t look like a large SUV, does it? It doesn’t look like a keyer either, and I’ve got to say I’m a fan of its look. It’s kind of got this boxiness and this aerodynamic profile all at the same time.

I’m a big fan of these big 20-inch alloy wheels with this sort of two-tone arrangement i love its kind of swooping roof line and i particularly like these cool hidden door handles and there’s even more incredible stuff inside so Jump in and we’ll take a look now it’s fair to say that this isn’t your typical kia cabin and i gotta say i reckon it mostly works really well i absolutely love this twin screen setup they’re big they’re clear they’re really easy to use i think this little strip of controls here is both clever and really modern feeling you can swap it from navigation and audio controls to air con which means you can still use the dials for air con or you can use them for volume or changing stations or without bothering the big screen.

so there are still shortcuts to get to the things you use the most often the use of the eco materials is really lovely as well i like the new look steering wheel and the seats are really comfy and supportive too and recline all the way back in sleep mode but there are a couple of sort of exciting quirks here as well one of them is the fact that there’s three usb ports two usbc’s and one is the traditional fat plug and yet only the fat plug operates the apple carplay without it you’re locked out as there’s no wireless apple carplay either so there’s a couple of not so modern quirks in an otherwise really modern feeling cabin.

Practicality

The ev6 is a sizeable beast thanks to the Hyundai group’s EGMP platform, which is good news for cabin spaceDo you remember earlier when I said the Kia ev6 was classified as a large SUV? Now, that’s a calculation based on a vehicle’s length and width? It’s pretty apparent here in the back seat, so I’m sitting behind my 175-centimetre driving position. As you can see, there are miles of space between my knees and the seat in front, although, to be fair, headroom could feel a little tight if you’re much taller than me now. The other good news is that you can genuinely fit three people across the back row here because there’s no tunnel getting in the way, which means extra space for their legs now. The other cool thing back here is that you can charge absolutely everything.

so, for exampleIf you have a laptop that demands to be plugged in as mine does, you plug it into the conventional plug down there, plug it into your laptop and away you go. Now, if you want to charge your phone, each of these seats has a little USB port on the side of them which plugs in there and plugs in there, ensuring you’re pretty much always topped up. There is another one of these plugs on the outside of the vehicle to power stuff outside of the car, like if you’re camping; now, it’s also got all the other practicalitystuff covered.

There are two cup holders up front and two more in this pull-down divider. There are bottle holders in each door, although a bottle is just about all you’ll get in these and two Isofix attachment points in each window seat. Step around to the boot, and you’ll find a vast space that will swallow between 480 and 490 litres of cargo, depending on your trim level.

It’s joined by a frunk or fruit maybe in Australia storage space under the bonnet that will store another 52 litres in rear-drive variants, or 20 litres in the twin motor gt line more numbers Kia reckons the ev6 will tow 1600 kilograms break and 750 kilograms unbreak with a 100 kilogram down ball cleverly the ev6 will automatically detect the weight of the trailer and then adjust your range estimates accordingly.

Under the Bonnet

Now the ev6’s engine is, of course, not here. This rides on the brand’s EGMP platform, which means most of theimportant stuff is actually under the bodywork in the entry-level air or the gt line rear-wheel drive, both of which get a single motor at the back. You get a more prominent front, or you might call it fruit in Australia. Still, in this the gt line all-wheel-drive, which gets twin motors the, one at the front and one at the rear, you sacrifice that extra space for a lot more power, which makes this model in particular properly quick.

Range and charging

Range and charging
Kia EV6 Range and charging Image credited: kia.com/au

All ev6 models are equipped with an 800-volt architecture and a 77.4-kilowatt-hour battery, but you can have more power and less range or less power and more range. It’s up to you. The air will travel the furthest at a claimed 528 kilometres between charges. Interestingly the gt line rear-wheel-drive shares the same battery and motor but will travel 24 kilometres less at 504 kilometres.

Finally, the gt line all-wheel drive willtravel 484 kilometres between charges, and when it does come time to plug in, Kia reckons. A 50-kilowatt charger will take you from 10 to 80 in around 1 hour and 13 minutes. A 350-kilowatt charger will do the same in around 18 minutes, and using an at-home wall box will take you to complete in around 11 hours.

Driving

So it doesn’t sound exciting to say now that there are so many events on sale in Australia. Still, I guess what first strikes you about the ev6 drive experience is how familiar it is. I mean, yes, the car looks very different from the outside. It certainly looks different on the inside, but it’s pretty easy to forget you’re driving an EV at all from behind the wheel. It just drives like any other keyer or any other car.

So I guess what that means is if you’re still nervous about making the EV switch, there’s nothing new to learn here it just kind of feels like you’re cruising around in any old car, to be honest. Still, there are some perks to EV ownership that only present themselves when you plant your right foot now; we’ve spent plenty of time today in the single motor rear-wheel-drive versions that are both the air and the gt line and in the all-wheel-drive gt line.

There’s no doubt that the all-wheel-drive twin motor version feels far more urgent and far more potent than the other models but to be perfectly honest with you, I maintain that for most people, most of the time, the air or the rear-wheel-drive gt line the single motor will be all the power you’ll ever need. You’ll get to maximize your range as a benefit.

When you go to twin motor, you use more power, and as such, you get a shorter range, so power or range that’s the question of the ev6 family, and I got to say, having spent a fair bit of time in the ev6 all-wheel-drive twin motor today, it produces plenty of power. It is appropriately, suitably urgent. It’s not lightning fast like you know, there’s no crazy ludicrous modes or anything like that, but there is no shortage of power on tap when you plant your right foot.

We took in some twisty roads, actually, and I’ve got to say the way this car hides its circa two-ton weight, its pretty sizable dimensions are imposing. In fact, at times, it’s almost too impressive that you forget just how short the gap between corners is in a car this urgent when you’re playing your right foot; of course, all the power arrives all at once.

You can find yourself barrelling into a bend faster than you might have expected. It’s times like that the weight does start to show itself just a little bit but generally speaking, it is really, really proficient both as a road car and as a sort of semi performance car; the other thing is that it is pretty quiet in the cabin, too. There’s been a ton of work done on insulating this thing, of course, with no engine or no traditional engine generating a kind of background hum. Road noise and windows are a bit more obvious, but they’ve done an excellent job here trying to minimize it as much as possible.

So what you are missing is that kind of engine thrum and all that kind of thing. He’s got a kind of curious solution to it, so when you put it in sport mode, it does get a little louder, just not louder in the way you I might be expecting now we’re going about 85 and 100 zones here, so I’m going to plant my foot. hopefully, you can hear what I’m talking about that kind of jet and hum in the background suggests you’re doing something a little bit sporty now for fans of the sort of traditional ice engine performance and exhaust rumbles that take a little bit of getting used to.

But I don’t know; I think it’s cute now. This car, like all keys, has undergone a local tuning version for its suspension, but this one’s been done a little bit differently covert kind of prevented them from doing it in person, so they’ve taken it, describing it as a tuning program via correspondence where
Kia and Australia and their engineering experts have sent over their requirements to Kia in Korea. They’vemade the changes and sent the car over.

So it wasn’t the traditional tuning program, but it works pretty well. They seem to have struck a nice balance between a kind of suppleness and sportiness. It’s not rock hard; only rough road imperfections make their way into the cabin, but it doesn’t feel disconnected from the driving experience either. If you feel a part of it, the only thing that takes me a moment to get used to is the steering, which doesn’t feel super progressive.

I’m not sure if that’s because of the weight and size of the vehicle, but it does take a few little mid-corner corrections I’ve found to try and get the right line, but I’m sure it’s saying you get used to now. It’s obviously got some sporty aspirations this gt line because along with the regular regen braking, which you adjust by the flappy paddles here it’s also got something called sport braking mode which doesn’t really impact the level of kinetic energy being recouped it’s more to make it feel like a race car or a performance car so you activate that mode which you can only do when stopped.

So i’ve done it already for you and then when you hit the brakes it really bites like it really bites it takes a little bit of getting used to so just something else to play with in the cabin and i guess that kind of sums this car up doesn’t it it’s somewhere between a suitably sporty ev and just a regular comfortable capable vehicle.

but i gotta say it straddles that line pretty well it does both jobs pretty accurately of course we should point out here that the current ev6 family is really an entree to this vehicle’s potential performance there is another one coming the gt and it has some seriously impressive power figures i think 430 kilowatts and 740 newton meters from its dual motor powertrain meaning a sprint to 100 kilometers an hour in just 3.5 seconds just when it’s coming though remains to be seen but expect it either late this year or sometime in the first half of 2023.

Safety

The safety story starts here with the usual collection of airbags, including a centre airbag, but the air then adds clever stuff like a reversing camera and blind-spot collision warning with rear cross-traffic alert, lane keep assist and lane following assist, multi-collision braking front, rear parking sensors active crews with speed limit assistance and a tire pressure monitoring system the gt line model is then built on that again adding a blind spot view monitor and a 3d surround-view camera there’s no end cap rating yet, but Kia will adopt the European crash scores in its bid for a five-star rating here.

Ownership

Have you heard that EVs are cheaper to service than ice cars? Well, they are. The ev6 is covered by KIA’s 7-year unlimited-kilometre warranty, with its high voltage bits covered simultaneously. Still, with the kilometres capped at 150 000 kilometres, the battery is guaranteed to maintain 70 capacity at the seven-year mark servicing costs are pretty impressive, with care inviting owners to pre-pay their maintenance costs for three years at 594. five years at thousand eighty-nine Dollars or seven years for one thousand five hundred and eighty-four dollars, and that comes out to around two hundred and twenty-six dollars per year.

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Conclusion

It’s impressive the EV 6, but it’s more than that. It’s also exciting because it means there are big things ahead in the EV space, not just for vehicles from Kia and Hyundai but all manufacturers. so if you’re still on the fence about evs, then prepare yourself because a change or a charge is coming now.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is Kia EV6 available in Australia?

The new EV6, Kia’s first dedicated electric vehicle is now available in Australia. It will go on sale in February and will be priced at $67,990, before any on-road costs. The Kia EV6 will be available in Australia from February. There are two trim levels and two options for the drivetrain, making it one of three models.

What is the range of the Kia EV6?

274 miles
The EV6 shares the same powertrain hardware and batteries as Hyundai’s Ioniq 5, but has a range 274 miles, compared to Hyundai’s 256.

How fast can a Kia EV6 charge?

My testing confirmed Kia’s claim that the electric vehicle can charge from 10 percent to 80 percent in only 18 minutes. This is a remarkable speed compared to the Mach-E’s time of around 45 minutes and the VW ID. 4 (about 35 minutes).

How many Kia EV6 have been sold?

According to the manufacturer, 6,551 Kia EV6 retail sales outside of South Korea were reported in March (a record), which includes 3,092 in Europe as well as 3,156 in the US. According to Kia, 121 units were sold here.

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