TAKING CHARGE OF THE FUTURE
From muddy tracks to flooded roads, Kia’s powerful and stylish EV6 passes my tests with flying colours
I am in survival mode, racing down the highways and byways of deepest, darkest Suffolk.
The light is going down on what, at times, has been a grim day and I am lost. I hurtle down lanes no wider than a tractor, which look as though only tractors use them, such is the mud.
Twice I have to reverse up single track roads, once for friendly locals and the second time for an irate farmer with a bale of hay and a dog in the back. Must have been going for his dinner.
I hesitate at a flood, remnant of the day’s rains, because I am in an electric car and I do not know how deep it is – but I plunge in with no ill effect .
Three-point turns, U-turns and an emergency stop at a level crossing have me wondering if I will ever make my destination after having accidentally wiped the sat nav.
In the end I stop, reconfigure the nav and am home within minutes.
“Well, you’ll have really tested the EV6,” said the man from Kia. He was right – I real ly had and I was really impressed.
The Kia EV6 is not the first electric car from this increasingly exciting Korean manufacturer but it is the first on the new E- GMP platform and the first of 11 all-electric cars the firm plans to launch by 2026. And it is a serious contender.
There are three trim levels at launch – entry-level Air, GT Line and GT Line S – each one offering more equipment but even with Air, the model I was driving, there is plenty of power and capability.
And there are two powertrains, a 226bhp rear-wheel- drive single motor or an all-wheel- drive 321bhp with two electric motors, one on each axle. Both are powered by a 77.4kWh battery and have a range of 300 miles. I drove all three models and both powertrains and it is hard to choose between them.
The balance as you corner is terrific, power as you accelerate formidable and there is a choice of eco, normal or sport modes.
You can regenerate power by using the accelerator pedal and brake or
paddles on the steering wheel. The Air comes only as a rear-wheel-drive but all-wheel-drive can be specified on the GT Line or GT Line S. With that comes a Snow mode for winter.
What is also striking about these cars is the look. Way back when Kia was first tantalising us with sketches of the Niro, it produced a Batmobile-type concept.
This is the new EV6. It has big muscly wheel arches, a robust tail with sweeping tail lights, ferocious daytime running lights designed to look like tiger eyes and a sleek and elegant bodyline.
Inside a massive dash hosts two 12.3in screens – one for nav and entertainment systems and the other for the digital instrument cluster, both really easy to read and access. These are common across all models along with a host of driving aids and safety systems (Kia is famous for the amount of kit you get).
On the top spec you will get video wing mirrors, larger wheels, pop-out handles, a bird’s eye view monitor for reversing and rain-sensing wipers – but many of these also come on the mid GT Line.
And, of course, they all have the lovely big and bold new Kia logo on the tail.
Prices start from £ 40,945. Get ready to rumble.