To be fair, maybe this is a bit premature, but I have a minute. It's at almost 1800 miles, so let's round up...
First impression/exterior/visual:
This vehicle looks like a hot hatch. When you walk up to it, it's hard to wrap your head around it being the size of a RAV4, until you actually get up TO it. The proportions really play with your mind.
The panel gaps/alignment, I give 9.5/10. The rear hatch is ever so slightly misaligned, but nowhere else could I find any misalignment what so ever, and the rear hatch is MUCH better aligned than on my Acura RDX. The Acura had about a 1/2" misalignment, while the EV6 GT has roughly a 1/4-1/5" misalignment. Very minimal, and not something I will muck with, but I do note it. The rest of the exterior panels are flawlessly aligned, and my attention to the rear hatch being 1/4" to 1/5" off is the level of scrutiny applied to the rest of the car.
The paint is glossy and was free of obvious defect. I measured the thickness on the left and right rear fenders at 135-144um, the rear and front doors left and right at 134-142um, and the roof at 118-122um. Left to Right measurements were within 5% of each other on all but the rear fender near the top, which was 125um instead of the 140um or so of the opposite, and the driver's front door, which was low 120's um in one spot vs 140ish for the rest of the door(s). I was unable to measure the hood, as it had PPF already installed, but including PPF, it measured in the 280-290um range. XPEL cites their PPF as ranging from 165 to 225 microns. The hood area has to be stretched to fit. It is impossible to guess at what the paint thickness on the hood is, but I would suspect 125-145um based on other measurements, plus my measure of the PPF+paint at 285um or so in a corner that shouldn't have seen much stretch. The uniformity is excellent.
Attention to exterior detail gets a 7/10. I noted blue paint on one of the neon green calipers. I believe this to be a factory thing/error/issue. I also note that the OEM splash guards are not effective. I purchased some from Amazon that are much better, and similar in coverage to my Acura RDX, Volvo C40, and RAV4 Prime. The EV6 GT guards are almost like plastic "sheaths" over the corners they attach to, and little else.
Interior Visual:
The interior gets a 8.5/10. The stitching is perfect, no defects or panel misalignments or rattles over normal conditions, and even most rough roads are noted. The controls all fall easily to hand, and the touch-screen has a little "shelf" where the heel of the hand can rest while prodding at it. Helps with precision. The materials selection includes a liberal amount of piano black, but the car was delivered with this in flawless condition, so kudos to the factory and shippers, lol. The seats are extremely supportive. The manual adjustments may turn some off, but I find them to be precise, and a non-issue. I am the only person who drives the vehicle. The materials take it down from 10/10 because a bit more real metal could have been used at this price point for metal-colored items, I believe, as well as a few more softer-touch things like dash, etc. although the materials used are not unpleasant in any way to me. Otherwise? EXCELLENT! for its price point.
Exterior engineering:
I give this a 8.5/10. The windshield looks easy to replace. The wind noise is a VERY bare minimum. They frankly have worked some voodoo here, as far as I'm concerned. The charge port door opening/closing electronically is a very nice departure from my "just keep booping it until it stays shut!" Volvo C40 experience. The glass all around is laminated, front and rear side windows. Sound mitigation is excellent! The reason I give the car 8.5 instead of 10/10, is because the under-body shields do allow for ingress of pea gravel and other kicked up road debris, which can then bounce against the hatch flooring and create what sounds like a rattling hatch latch. Also, the Michelin PSAS4's do create a bit of "boom" at highway speeds, and I cannot decide if it is a fault of this size in that tire, or if the wheel-wells may have been designed or engineered in such a way as to mitigate this, and weren't. With the splash guards (aftermarket) installed, debris is pushed away from the car/does not strike, as it does with a Tesla Model Y and the rear door area. My one real complaint are the headlights. They are LED, reflector. The output is poor compared to my previous vehicles, and projector beams would solve this. Many opine that re-aiming the lights will help, but the output just isn't there, and mine are aimed just fine, being a 2023 model. They aren't unsafe, but I've been spoiled by the RDX specifically.
Interior engineering:
I give this a 9/10. Kia really REALLY did their homework on this vehicle and what an EV means for NVH. Everything is thought of. The backs of the belt buckles which abut hard plastic have felt on them. The middle-seat buckle in the rear has an elastic band which can be applied to hold it in a divot in the seat. Everything is soft on hard, or soft on soft which could possibly move. It is a rolling isolation chamber on all but the roughest roads. The HUD does have more reflection off the windshield than my Mazda or Acura products did, however. The reclining rear seats are a nice touch "because they could", and the flat foot room in the back takes full advantage of the eGMP skateboard platform for space.
Technology:
I give this a 7/10, on account of coming from the C40's EXCELLENT Google based system which calculates charge percent and requirements at all destinations entered into NAV. The Meridian sound system generates a lot of complaints, but I found t hat with the proper settings, it's better than the Bose in my CX5, and on par with the HK in my C40, lagging only behind the RDX's ELS Studio because of lack of as many speakers. The sound quality is crisp, and the bass does not lack, in my opinion, as many reviews may have said. The "autopilot" (HDA2) is pretty good. It requires minimal intervention on straight roads (touch the wheel every several minutes), but a bit more if curves or exits without painted lines are involved. On curvy roads, it's a non-starter. Lane keep assist is pretty good, but just cannot cope with more than gentle sweepers. For me, the HDA2 is perfect. I don't want to trust automated systems more than this one asks to be trusted.
Practicality:
I give it a 7/10. The hatch area could be larger, but the 2nd row does fold pretty flat. I would say this vehicle has the practicality of a medium wagon, rather than a medium SUV like the RDX, because the hatch area is "lower". However, if a station wagon is too small, this may not be the right vehicle for you. Ground clearance for an EV isn't bad, at a measured 6" from battery to my garage floor. My CX5 had 7.5" (rated), and my C40 (7", as rated), for comparison. The floorboard being flat provides unexpected storage for long/thin items like gun cases, etc. that previously would have been a poor fit in this location. The efficiency of this vehicle has averaged 2.6mi/kwh during my ownership, total. This includes blasts of WOT and 1/4 mile passes and so forth, as well as near single digit temps. All of it. Lifetime ownership of it at just shy of 1800mi is 2.6mi/kwh. 90% of this has been in MY Mode, which I have set up to deliver GT level power. I find the EPA rating to be VERY close to "on", even in the winter, even how I drive the vehicle. The rating is lower than other EV's, but it is far more honest, and the gulf in efficiency in the real world isn't near what is made out to be, on paper. Fast charging is excellent. It's been cold out, but I still find that DC fast charging, when I rarely engage in it, is notably better than my C40 was. This is class leading charging performance with the 800v architecture.
Performance:
This is what it's all about...so how is this thing? First of all, I changed the Goodyear's out immediately (before taking delivery) for Michelin Pilot Sport All Season 4 tires. I want to lead with that.
How does it accelerate? Like a monster. Absolutely like a monster. On even cold pavement, it hooks very well, with my Dragy app showing a sharp "spike" on initial takeoff that you don't get with wheel spin. I hear a faint "squeak" of the tires, indicating a very very small amount of slippage, but as data shows, a SLIGHT amount of slip is actually more grip than a dead hook, on street tires. This seems borne out with my 0-60 times. Raw, I have run 3.51 seconds, with 1ft roll-out subtracted, this is just 3.29 seconds, per Dragy. This was on 75% battery, with the pavement temp in the 30's, and the battery performance monitor indicating the battery was not quite at optimal temperature (a bit cold). I think in ideal weather with 70% or higher battery, this car may be capable of a 2.99 or very near, 0-60, on these tires. Edmunds got 3.6, but they actually laid rubber, and made smoke. The Michelins do not do that. They hook up. While it does taper in acceleration after about 60-70mph, it far from dies, turning in a 1/4 mile pass of [email protected] mph. For an SUV sized/shaped vehicle, this is excellent match-up of ET vs Trap Speed. It pulls. All the way.
Handling: Excellent. The steering feedback is easily as good as any sports car I've owned, better than my 370Z, and on par with my C6 Z06. Feedback is simply amazing for EPS in an EV. Body roll if you push it IS notable, but it's not bad, and the vehicle is very well controlled and damped. It hides its weight pretty well. You can tell Albert Biermann tuned the vehicle. It soaks up mid-corner bumps and tracks true. The suspension is excellent. It BITES into a corner and pushes you through with rear-bias power distribution on a 49/51 weighted chassis.
Braking is very very good. It uses a combination of regen and physical brakes (it has massive 15" rotors up front, and 14.2" rotors in the back) to shave speed, and does so very well at any speed, well into triple digits, without causing upset. The transition point between regen and physical is not tangible except in parking lots at 1-2mph, and even then it isn't "a thing". You can just kindof hear the pads touch the rotors.
Driver Selectable Features: Kia really hit a home run, here. You can modify the diffs, traction control, steering feel, motor output, and braking feel 100% independent of each other, and save it as "MY MODE", accessed by pressing the green GT button twice/cycling. My preference is to basically re-create GT mode, but with the suspension set to Normal and the traction control nannies in full effect. Because it clamps down a bit tighter on any potential wheel spin, my 0-60 time in this mode is about 3.75 seconds, or 3.55 seconds with the 1ft rollout subtracted. A follow-up run with GT mode engaged resulted in roughly a 3.5 second time, raw.
Many people are concerned with "Kia says GT mode is only available down to 70%...that sucks!!!". Let me assure you, it hits hard even below this. At 53%, I tested the 0-60 to be 3.63 seconds with a touch of wheel spin on account of road surface, or 3.40 seconds with 1ft rollout subtracted. Again, the battery likely was not at optimal temperature (the MAX PERFORMANCE battery conditioning mode is grayed out below 70%). Also as to that, I have found it to be minimally impactful to use, at best, or taking forever, at worst. I've not in 38-45*f weather noted it to work too well. I think the cooling is excellent, and it fights hard to keep up with heating the battery vs. the cooling when driving.
In short, it is my opinion that should you snag one of these, you're getting every penny you paid for it, at $64K, and if you get it discounted, you're stealing! This is based off of my experience recently having put over 10K miles on a RAV4 Prime, RDX ASPEC ADV, and Volvo C40, each. The EV6 GT is just superb. This is one of the few cars I've owned where if someone asked me what I'd change, I really don't have much to say.
First impression/exterior/visual:
This vehicle looks like a hot hatch. When you walk up to it, it's hard to wrap your head around it being the size of a RAV4, until you actually get up TO it. The proportions really play with your mind.
The panel gaps/alignment, I give 9.5/10. The rear hatch is ever so slightly misaligned, but nowhere else could I find any misalignment what so ever, and the rear hatch is MUCH better aligned than on my Acura RDX. The Acura had about a 1/2" misalignment, while the EV6 GT has roughly a 1/4-1/5" misalignment. Very minimal, and not something I will muck with, but I do note it. The rest of the exterior panels are flawlessly aligned, and my attention to the rear hatch being 1/4" to 1/5" off is the level of scrutiny applied to the rest of the car.
The paint is glossy and was free of obvious defect. I measured the thickness on the left and right rear fenders at 135-144um, the rear and front doors left and right at 134-142um, and the roof at 118-122um. Left to Right measurements were within 5% of each other on all but the rear fender near the top, which was 125um instead of the 140um or so of the opposite, and the driver's front door, which was low 120's um in one spot vs 140ish for the rest of the door(s). I was unable to measure the hood, as it had PPF already installed, but including PPF, it measured in the 280-290um range. XPEL cites their PPF as ranging from 165 to 225 microns. The hood area has to be stretched to fit. It is impossible to guess at what the paint thickness on the hood is, but I would suspect 125-145um based on other measurements, plus my measure of the PPF+paint at 285um or so in a corner that shouldn't have seen much stretch. The uniformity is excellent.
Attention to exterior detail gets a 7/10. I noted blue paint on one of the neon green calipers. I believe this to be a factory thing/error/issue. I also note that the OEM splash guards are not effective. I purchased some from Amazon that are much better, and similar in coverage to my Acura RDX, Volvo C40, and RAV4 Prime. The EV6 GT guards are almost like plastic "sheaths" over the corners they attach to, and little else.
Interior Visual:
The interior gets a 8.5/10. The stitching is perfect, no defects or panel misalignments or rattles over normal conditions, and even most rough roads are noted. The controls all fall easily to hand, and the touch-screen has a little "shelf" where the heel of the hand can rest while prodding at it. Helps with precision. The materials selection includes a liberal amount of piano black, but the car was delivered with this in flawless condition, so kudos to the factory and shippers, lol. The seats are extremely supportive. The manual adjustments may turn some off, but I find them to be precise, and a non-issue. I am the only person who drives the vehicle. The materials take it down from 10/10 because a bit more real metal could have been used at this price point for metal-colored items, I believe, as well as a few more softer-touch things like dash, etc. although the materials used are not unpleasant in any way to me. Otherwise? EXCELLENT! for its price point.
Exterior engineering:
I give this a 8.5/10. The windshield looks easy to replace. The wind noise is a VERY bare minimum. They frankly have worked some voodoo here, as far as I'm concerned. The charge port door opening/closing electronically is a very nice departure from my "just keep booping it until it stays shut!" Volvo C40 experience. The glass all around is laminated, front and rear side windows. Sound mitigation is excellent! The reason I give the car 8.5 instead of 10/10, is because the under-body shields do allow for ingress of pea gravel and other kicked up road debris, which can then bounce against the hatch flooring and create what sounds like a rattling hatch latch. Also, the Michelin PSAS4's do create a bit of "boom" at highway speeds, and I cannot decide if it is a fault of this size in that tire, or if the wheel-wells may have been designed or engineered in such a way as to mitigate this, and weren't. With the splash guards (aftermarket) installed, debris is pushed away from the car/does not strike, as it does with a Tesla Model Y and the rear door area. My one real complaint are the headlights. They are LED, reflector. The output is poor compared to my previous vehicles, and projector beams would solve this. Many opine that re-aiming the lights will help, but the output just isn't there, and mine are aimed just fine, being a 2023 model. They aren't unsafe, but I've been spoiled by the RDX specifically.
Interior engineering:
I give this a 9/10. Kia really REALLY did their homework on this vehicle and what an EV means for NVH. Everything is thought of. The backs of the belt buckles which abut hard plastic have felt on them. The middle-seat buckle in the rear has an elastic band which can be applied to hold it in a divot in the seat. Everything is soft on hard, or soft on soft which could possibly move. It is a rolling isolation chamber on all but the roughest roads. The HUD does have more reflection off the windshield than my Mazda or Acura products did, however. The reclining rear seats are a nice touch "because they could", and the flat foot room in the back takes full advantage of the eGMP skateboard platform for space.
Technology:
I give this a 7/10, on account of coming from the C40's EXCELLENT Google based system which calculates charge percent and requirements at all destinations entered into NAV. The Meridian sound system generates a lot of complaints, but I found t hat with the proper settings, it's better than the Bose in my CX5, and on par with the HK in my C40, lagging only behind the RDX's ELS Studio because of lack of as many speakers. The sound quality is crisp, and the bass does not lack, in my opinion, as many reviews may have said. The "autopilot" (HDA2) is pretty good. It requires minimal intervention on straight roads (touch the wheel every several minutes), but a bit more if curves or exits without painted lines are involved. On curvy roads, it's a non-starter. Lane keep assist is pretty good, but just cannot cope with more than gentle sweepers. For me, the HDA2 is perfect. I don't want to trust automated systems more than this one asks to be trusted.
Practicality:
I give it a 7/10. The hatch area could be larger, but the 2nd row does fold pretty flat. I would say this vehicle has the practicality of a medium wagon, rather than a medium SUV like the RDX, because the hatch area is "lower". However, if a station wagon is too small, this may not be the right vehicle for you. Ground clearance for an EV isn't bad, at a measured 6" from battery to my garage floor. My CX5 had 7.5" (rated), and my C40 (7", as rated), for comparison. The floorboard being flat provides unexpected storage for long/thin items like gun cases, etc. that previously would have been a poor fit in this location. The efficiency of this vehicle has averaged 2.6mi/kwh during my ownership, total. This includes blasts of WOT and 1/4 mile passes and so forth, as well as near single digit temps. All of it. Lifetime ownership of it at just shy of 1800mi is 2.6mi/kwh. 90% of this has been in MY Mode, which I have set up to deliver GT level power. I find the EPA rating to be VERY close to "on", even in the winter, even how I drive the vehicle. The rating is lower than other EV's, but it is far more honest, and the gulf in efficiency in the real world isn't near what is made out to be, on paper. Fast charging is excellent. It's been cold out, but I still find that DC fast charging, when I rarely engage in it, is notably better than my C40 was. This is class leading charging performance with the 800v architecture.
Performance:
This is what it's all about...so how is this thing? First of all, I changed the Goodyear's out immediately (before taking delivery) for Michelin Pilot Sport All Season 4 tires. I want to lead with that.
How does it accelerate? Like a monster. Absolutely like a monster. On even cold pavement, it hooks very well, with my Dragy app showing a sharp "spike" on initial takeoff that you don't get with wheel spin. I hear a faint "squeak" of the tires, indicating a very very small amount of slippage, but as data shows, a SLIGHT amount of slip is actually more grip than a dead hook, on street tires. This seems borne out with my 0-60 times. Raw, I have run 3.51 seconds, with 1ft roll-out subtracted, this is just 3.29 seconds, per Dragy. This was on 75% battery, with the pavement temp in the 30's, and the battery performance monitor indicating the battery was not quite at optimal temperature (a bit cold). I think in ideal weather with 70% or higher battery, this car may be capable of a 2.99 or very near, 0-60, on these tires. Edmunds got 3.6, but they actually laid rubber, and made smoke. The Michelins do not do that. They hook up. While it does taper in acceleration after about 60-70mph, it far from dies, turning in a 1/4 mile pass of [email protected] mph. For an SUV sized/shaped vehicle, this is excellent match-up of ET vs Trap Speed. It pulls. All the way.
Handling: Excellent. The steering feedback is easily as good as any sports car I've owned, better than my 370Z, and on par with my C6 Z06. Feedback is simply amazing for EPS in an EV. Body roll if you push it IS notable, but it's not bad, and the vehicle is very well controlled and damped. It hides its weight pretty well. You can tell Albert Biermann tuned the vehicle. It soaks up mid-corner bumps and tracks true. The suspension is excellent. It BITES into a corner and pushes you through with rear-bias power distribution on a 49/51 weighted chassis.
Braking is very very good. It uses a combination of regen and physical brakes (it has massive 15" rotors up front, and 14.2" rotors in the back) to shave speed, and does so very well at any speed, well into triple digits, without causing upset. The transition point between regen and physical is not tangible except in parking lots at 1-2mph, and even then it isn't "a thing". You can just kindof hear the pads touch the rotors.
Driver Selectable Features: Kia really hit a home run, here. You can modify the diffs, traction control, steering feel, motor output, and braking feel 100% independent of each other, and save it as "MY MODE", accessed by pressing the green GT button twice/cycling. My preference is to basically re-create GT mode, but with the suspension set to Normal and the traction control nannies in full effect. Because it clamps down a bit tighter on any potential wheel spin, my 0-60 time in this mode is about 3.75 seconds, or 3.55 seconds with the 1ft rollout subtracted. A follow-up run with GT mode engaged resulted in roughly a 3.5 second time, raw.
Many people are concerned with "Kia says GT mode is only available down to 70%...that sucks!!!". Let me assure you, it hits hard even below this. At 53%, I tested the 0-60 to be 3.63 seconds with a touch of wheel spin on account of road surface, or 3.40 seconds with 1ft rollout subtracted. Again, the battery likely was not at optimal temperature (the MAX PERFORMANCE battery conditioning mode is grayed out below 70%). Also as to that, I have found it to be minimally impactful to use, at best, or taking forever, at worst. I've not in 38-45*f weather noted it to work too well. I think the cooling is excellent, and it fights hard to keep up with heating the battery vs. the cooling when driving.
In short, it is my opinion that should you snag one of these, you're getting every penny you paid for it, at $64K, and if you get it discounted, you're stealing! This is based off of my experience recently having put over 10K miles on a RAV4 Prime, RDX ASPEC ADV, and Volvo C40, each. The EV6 GT is just superb. This is one of the few cars I've owned where if someone asked me what I'd change, I really don't have much to say.
Last edited:
