Review

2023 Kia EV6 GT review: an electric SUV dialled to 11

A silver Kia EV6 GT

Bruce Newton

Posted January 27, 2023

The most powerful – and most expensive – Kia sold in Australia has immense power and performance, yet is just as comfortable in the city as it is on the race track.

So far, when it comes to high-performance battery electric vehicles, it’s been all about straight line speed - brutal, astonishing acceleration from zero to 100km/h that grabs headlines.

Despite that the EV driving experience has often lacked connection for the driver. It can all be too ‘digital’.

But with the aid of some expert local chassis tuning, Kia’s new EV6 GT flagship delivers a more rounded experience – as well as the acceleration capabilities of a supercar (at a sub-$100,000 price).

In essence, the Kia EV6 GT retains some analogue in its make-up. It features a personal feel, some interaction, and plenty of character.

It is a multi-talented and multi-layered drive that has an enormous performance envelope, and is a worthy flagship for the EV6 line-up.

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The EV6 GT is technically an SUV, even if it's hard to imagine it off-road.
Acceleration is powerful, with the car going from zero to 100km/h in 3.5 seconds.
The Kia EV6 GT claims to be a more rounded driving experience thanks to local chassis tuning.

Kia EV6 GT pricing and features

The EV6 GT is a five-door, five-seat wagon that’s officially classified as an SUV. That’s a bit odd because it’s very hard to imagine one ever going off-road.

It will cost you $99,950 plus on-road costs, making it the most expensive Kia sold in Australia.

In defence of its price tag, you could pay multiples of that for the performance it delivers from its dual electric motor powertrain.

The acceleration is no joke, dashing from zero to 100km/h in just 3.5 secs. That’s pretty impressive bang for your buck. There are $500,000 vehicles that can’t match that time.

But what else do you get for your money? The GT sits above the Air and GT-Line in the EV6 line-up. Equipment exclusive to the GT includes a unique bumper, 21-inch alloy wheels, matrix LED headlights and artificial leather and suede trim for bespoke heated one-piece front sports seats.

However, proving it’s not all one way traffic, the GT sports seats don’t have ventilation and power adjustment.

Equipment the GT shares with cheaper EV6s include dual 12.3-inch digital instrument panel and touchscreen that dominate much of the dashboard.

Also standard are cabled Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connection, wireless phone charging, four USB-C and one USB-A connectors spread through the cabin, embedded sat-nav, dual-zone climate control and a power tailgate to access the substantial 480 litre boot.

You won’t find a spare tyre under the boot floor and the sticky Michelin Pilot Sport 4S rubber is not run-flat.

The EV6 GT comes protected by Kia’s seven-year/unlimited kilometre warranty and has a capped price program to cover its scheduled servicing.

Servicing intervals are 12 months/15,000km and it will set you back $733 over three years, $1371 over five years and $2013 over seven years.

 

A 12.3-inch digital instrument panel and touchscreen dominates much of the dashboard.
Enjoy artificial leather and suede trimmed bespoke seats in the front, though they are without power adjustment.
The rear seats can be folded down to expand the trunk to 1260 litres.

Kia EV6 GT safety equipment

The swap to one-piece sports seats that have been sculpted for helmeted heads means the Kia EV6 GT is not rated by ANCAP.

Because of that redesign, Kia reckons the GT would score no better than four stars, which would in turn be applied to the rest of the range.

Lesser EV6 models already get five stars, but the GT gets the same core safety equipment.

Key safety equipment includes autonomous emergency braking with junction turning and adaptive cruise control. The GT also has the ability to monitor blind spots, traffic behind you when reversing, keep centred in its lane and advise on tyre pressures.

The EV6 GT comes with six airbags. Because of the new sports seats it misses out on the front-centre airbag standard with the rest of the range.

The GT also gets a head up display, a 360 degree camera, front and rear parking sensors and shows the left- or right-side of the car in the instrument panel depending on which indicator is activated.

Reflecting its performance capability, the GT comes with bigger mechanical brakes than other EV6 models as well as a stronger regenerative effect. It also has a unique tune of its electronically-controlled adaptive suspension and electric-assist variable gear steering as well as additional chassis bracing.

Kia EV6 GT interiors and design

The GT has a long 2,900mm wheelbase, so its large 77.4kWh lithium-ion battery pack can fit between the axles. It also has a flat floor as there’s no need to route things like exhausts from front to rear.

The result is a comfortable interior that is generously sized in both the front and rear.

Apart from those huge screens and single piece seats, the cockpit of the car is defined by a diving board-style centre console with significant storage area underneath

It also features an unusual twin-spoke steering wheel (most cars have at least three spokes) and a dark trim with GT-specific neon-green piping.

It’s good that physical buttons are retained for audio and climate controls, although you do have to toggle between the two as they share the same panel.

Storage is decent up-front, but less generous in the rear where the single piece seats eschew seat pockets. There are rear air vents located in the B-pillar.

The rear seats do fold down, allowing the boot space to expand to 1,260 litres. A front trunk (or ‘frunk’) adds 20 litres of stowage.

 

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Kia EV6 GT battery power, charging, and efficiency

The EV6 GT’s outputs make it the most powerful Kia ever sold.

The key to its added performance compared to the GT-Line is a bigger rear e-motor. Drive is transferred to all four wheels via a single speed automatic transmission, aided by a limited slip differential at the rear.

Note that the full power is only delivered in GT mode. Normal and Sport make do with about 30 per cent less while Eco reverts predominantly to only the rear motor.

The EV6 GT includes an 800V electrical architecture that can charge from 10-80 percent in just 18 minutes. Home charging from 10 to 100 per cent at the max 11kW AC rate equates to seven hours 20 minutes.

The EV6 GT can recharge regeneratively on the run and the driver can influence the response level via paddles on the steering wheel. At minimum there is virtually no brake effect when you lift off the accelerator. At maximum you can single pedal drive, which means rarely if ever having to press the brake pedal.

As the highest-performing member of the EV6 range, it’s no surprise the GT has the highest consumption claim at 20.6kWh/100km and the shortest range at 424km.

The EV6 GT also offers a vehicle-to-load (V2L) function that means it can recharge devices such as laptops and even other EVs from its battery pack.

 

A Kia EV6 GT

The GT mode is brutally responsive, allowing you to really exploit the vehicle's full killowatt count. 

Kia EV6 GT performance and handling

The EV6 GT is a beautifully resolved sporting chameleon to drive.

In its thrifty Eco mode it dawdles, in Normal it cruises comfortably, in Sport it gets up and pays attention, and in track-focussed GT mode its brutally responsive and eager to exploit its full kilowatt count.

Once you get to know what you like, you can set your individual preferences in ‘My mode’.

On the open road, the EV6 GT can be nimble in response - as an EV is meant to be. But it’s not just nailed to the road. There is still some ride compliance built in, allied with a well-weighted steering that communicates what’s happening down at road-level.

It ranks up there as one of the best battery electric vehicles to swiftly drive on country roads, yet it’s also refined enough to cope unpretentiously in snarled city traffic.

All this from a vehicle that is 4,695mm long, 1,890mm wide and weighs in at nearly 2.2 tonnes.

With its quietness and lack of need for gearshifts, it’s not quite as engaging as one of those evocative and cantankerous petrol-powered sporting cars. But it’s certainly more fun and better balanced to drive than some super-fast EV slot cars that command higher prices.

 

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