2022 Kia EV6 Reviews, Pricing & Specs

A Tesla Model Y is a sedan with a puffed-up, bubble roof. The Kia EV6 is sportier and svelte like a Ford Mustang Mach-E. Better still, the EV6 is lower and wider—at least visually. The short highback tail has a lip spoiler that doubles as a lightbar. The wheels are stretched to the absolute furthest corners of the chassis and they're so offset from the cabin that the body has hips. Just like the wide fenders that curve outward from the glass on a Porsche 911, the EV6 has those same voluptuous curves for both style and stability. The headlights squint in anger and trace a V-shaped pattern that mirrors the black trim below on the bumper. That trim mimics the air intakes of a gas car, but since electric motors don't need to ingest tons of air, they're sealed. The wedgy profile looks blade-sharp up top with the angled roofline and the twin ducts in the rear spoiler. Down low, it's smooth and silken, especially in our test car's matte silver paint.

The Hyundai IONIQ 5, the corporate cousin that naturally competes with Kia EV6 and shares its E-GMP platform, looks techy and unique. The EV6 goes for a more sporty aesthetic. There's so much style, Kia put recessed lights below the rear spoiler that illuminate the body, not the ground. The chrome trim below the taillights hangs like a thick platinum necklace, for no other reason than to sparkle. The reverse light isn't so much a light as it is an architectural model of acrylic blocks. The flush door handles retract when unlocking. The rear charge port is hidden beneath the right brake light and has a magnet to keep it closed. There's no practical reason for any of these features, which is why the EV6 kept our full attention. Industrial design like this is why cars—and the people who make them—matter.

The interior features a curved section of dual 12-inch screens laid on top of a linear dash, a floating centre console, and black and white seats covered in suede and leather (both faux and convincing). Ambient lighting flows around the dash and circles the rear passengers, who stare at front seat backrests that belong on the set of a sci-fi movie. The hockey-puck shifter and digital controls further separate the EV6 from basic Kia models. We like wild and crazy, but mostly, the aesthetic is car first, computer second. That's why the EV6 is so enjoyable to drive.

Our test drive was in the most powerful EV6 available at launch, a GT-Line e-AWD with two electric motors making 320 horsepower and 446 pound-feet of torque. With a 77.4 kWh battery mounted low in the chassis, this roughly 2,100-kilogram (4,600-pound) car zips to 60 mph in a claimed 4.6 seconds (official zero to 100 km/h times are not published) and corners like a getaway car. The top-power GT trim is coming in fall 2022 with specs of 576 hp and a 0-60 time of less than 3.5 seconds, while the base RWD Standard Range configuration (and, thankfully, only this trim) has the smallest battery (58 kWh) and a measly little motor (167 hp and 258 lb-ft). We don't recommend even looking at it. However, the single-motor RWD Long Range model is more acceptable, since its drivetrain pairs the larger battery with a higher-output single motor (225 hp, same torque).

On the dual-motor GT-Line, there's so much twist when you hit the accelerator pedal in Sport mode. Simply point, steer, and you're gone. The EV6 routes torque so quickly and effectively that we never noticed a lurch or an interruption in power. Whether on pavement or deep snow, in a straight line or around a decreasing-radius turn, the EV6 handily outguns Kia’s other performance sedan, the Stinger. In most driving situations, only the rear motor drives the wheels until you demand full power or start slicing corners. That’s when the front motor activates. You can feel the torque shifting instantly, whereas on many gas-powered all-wheel-drive (AWD) crossovers, there's a heartbeat between your right foot and when the non-driven wheels begin to engage.

When braking, the EV6 gives almost too much control: There are more than eight settings for the regenerative braking that control how intense the car decelerates when lifting off the accelerator. In the maximum I-Pedal setting, it's so strong it can stop the car without touching the actual brake pedal, allowing for one-pedal driving. In auto mode, it can slow down to pace the car in front using the adaptive cruise control's radar sensor. You pick a setting with the left or right steering wheel paddles. In the touchscreen, you can select two firmness settings for the brake pedal. That's harder to adjust and can't be changed while moving, but everything else is on the fly. Selecting drive modes is super quick: It's a large button on the lower-left corner of the steering wheel, similar to the position used by Ferrari and Porsche. This is a car that changes moods as fast as you can flick a finger. And the excitement it delivers—wow.

The fun doesn't last. Our weeklong test with the EV6 in below-freezing temps (-6 to -1 degrees Celsius) revealed disappointing driving range, no doubt zapped by the cold and the EV6's tremendous power output. We used Kia's Winter Mode, which like in the Niro EV uses some extra power to keep the battery at a more constant state of charge. On start-up, we ran all the heating accessories at max settings—and thanks to the car's highly efficient heat pump (standard on all models but base in Canada), switched them to low or off within 15 minutes of driving. But the climate, an occasional speed burst on the highway, and using Sport mode a small fraction of the time can't justify the excessive amount of energy our EV6 needed to run in a northern winter.

After charging the battery to 95 percent on a warm 7-degree day, the EV6 showed an estimated 400 kilometres of range in the default Normal drive mode. The computer adds a few kilometres when switching to Eco mode—great on a highway cruise but agonizingly dull—and subtracts some in Sport mode. Using the heat on a moderate setting—22 degrees with the fan speed on level 2 or 3—subtracts about 30 kilometres from the estimate in any mode. That's all well and good. Estimates are exactly that.

But after two days—more than half of our time on the highway—the EV6 was down to 15 percent battery. That's 80 percent of the battery's capacity to travel 230 kilometres, a little less than the distance from Toronto to Kingston. When adding the remaining range, that meant the EV6 delivered only 65 percent of Kia's 441-kilometre estimate as rated by Natural Resources Canada. After another charge to 80 percent, we drove in similar conditions and consumed 74 percent of the battery's capacity in 200 kilometres. Any way you break down these numbers, this is poor efficiency.

The EV6 performed much better when the electrical flow was reversed. The car can accept up to 240 kW—among the fastest EV charging anywhere—but the 150-kW fast chargers we used could not output more than 130 kW of peak power. (We plugged into every 350-kW charger we could find, none of which were operable. Instead, we had to use 150-kW fast charging. At one station, a fellow EV driver in a Lucid Air couldn't get his car to charge at the top rates, either.) Even so, the EV6 took 35 minutes to go from 15 to 80 percent battery, gaining an estimated 238 kilometres. At a 50 kW station, we charged from six percent to 50 percent in 40 minutes, gaining about 161 kilometres. Back at another 150 kW station, we charged from 59 percent to 95 percent in 36 minutes, gaining 161 kilometres. That's more impressive, as charging stations throttle back their outputs when EV batteries reach 80 percent to avoid heat damage.

Still, this is nowhere near Kia's claim of adding 350 kilometres in 18 minutes. Maybe in other parts of the continent, the charging networks are better. But in our northern climate, this is the present reality of driving an electric car in the cold weather. Sad to say, it's no better since we tested the Kia Niro EV in these same conditions three years ago. We can tolerate long charging times, but the energy consumption is disappointing even for an EV with a performance powertrain. Charge at home every day, or don't buy one.

The EV6 reinvents a few core functions, such as the door handles (they pop out when you get near the car with the key), the paddle shifters, and the twisting rotary shifter that always returns to centre. But the craziest one is combining the climate controls with the stereo and shortcut controls in a thin touchscreen. With one small touch (showing a fan icon and an arrow icon), the knobs change from adjusting temperature to adjusting volume and tuning. The screen reveals the shortcuts for the stereo, nav, and vehicle settings, and then poof! They're all gone and replaced with climate controls. It's neat to see at first but frustrating when driving. More often than not, you adjust the volume and don't realize you've raised the temperature to 25 degrees.

With a low floor, you'd expect generous legroom and headroom in all seating positions—and that's exactly what you get. Although there's no panoramic moonroof stretching to the rear cabin, the back seats recline and have air vents with optional heated cushions. It’s an airy, open space that lets everyone spread and stretch out. But while the rear cabin rivals a midsize SUV, the cargo hold matches a subcompact SUV. The high load floor and the low roof height eat up cargo space: Just 690 litres behind the seats and 1,322 litres when folded. On rear-wheel-drive (RWD) models, the front trunk offers a few more. But on AWD models, there’s an electric motor hogging the space.

Towing capacity, when equipped, is rated at 1,043 kilograms (2,300 pounds). More useful is the onboard power generator, which can run 120-volt equipment (or charge another EV) by using the charging port or the outlet beneath the rear seats.

The EV6 infotainment system works like other Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis models. Which is to say, it's simple, quick, easy to adjust settings, and is full of connectivity (except wireless Apple CarPlay or Android Auto—the projection systems are available but they require a wired connection). The instrument panel shows vehicles in surrounding lanes when using the available Highway Driving Assist (HDA) and shows a 3D bar graph of the car's power and speed, but otherwise, it doesn't offer any customization. That's OK because it shows live feeds of your blind spots when changing lanes—an optional feature all cars should have.

The 360-degree surround-view cameras are sharp and clear, plus they have a 3D rendering of the car you can rotate on the touchscreen. You can customize "engine" sounds and even change how quickly the tone rises and falls in pitch. The head-up display (HUD) uses augmented reality to display directional arrows that change size and location based on your position. It can also track a car in front of you with an underline when using the adaptive cruise control and the HDA. The software can adjust the display automatically based on your seat settings. The highest trim GT-Line Package 2 has a 14-speaker Meridian stereo with surround modes, and both Kia EV6 GT-Line packages include a remote parking assist system that lets you stand outside the car and move it forward and backward. Overall, the tech isn't overwhelming. It’s impressive.

The EV6 starts at an MSRP of $44,995 for the base trim that we don't recommend for its small battery pack and undersized single motor. However, because pricing starts this low, all EV6 trims qualify for both the federal government’s $5,000 incentive and provincial rebates where applicable.

The AWD Long Range where most Canadians will want to start is priced from $54,995, while a loaded AWD Long-range GT-Line Package 2 is priced at was $61,995 before destination fees of $2,000. The forthcoming GT will likely crest $65,000. They're all expensive cars—and among the most expensive Kias on sale. The EV6 has plenty of electric SUV competition, from the Mustang Mach-E to the Volkswagen ID.4, the Polestar 2, the upcoming Nissan Ariya, and even its Hyundai cousin, the IONIQ 5. There's little value in the EV6, given how these electric vehicles rely on a non-Tesla charging network that in 2022 is still not up to speed with the performance and capability of modern EVs. The cold-weather range also needs serious improvement. But the EV6 is so fun to drive and integrates useful technology within an extraordinary design. If you're not concerned about driving 300-plus kilometres in the cold and can charge at home, it's definitely the hot new car to buy.

Note: Images show a US model.