First Drive: Kia EV6 GT 2022 Review

When Clarkson loaded a £182,000 Ferrari 612 onto the channel tunnel train in 2004, during that famous Top Gear race to Verbier, he had around 540PS (397kW) underfoot courtesy of the Scag's 5.5-litre V12. Fast-forward 18 years and V12s are a dying breed, but that kind of power is more accessible than ever before. Take the new EV6 GT, an electric family car from Kia that can trump that blue Ferrari in almost every performance metric. It's this in which we found ourselves, crossing into Europe under the waves as JC did in all those cars all those times, with no less than 585PS (427kW) at our disposal and the performance potential to hustle most supercars. Oh, how relentless is progress?

That said, this is the most powerful Kia ever made, by a country mile. Based as it is on the marque’s flagship crossover the EV6, the GT is Kia’s answer to hopped-up versions of rivals from Tesla and Ford, the Dual-Motor Model Y and the Mustang Mach-E GT. It also takes over as the absolute flagship performance Kia, from the delightful Stinger GT, which has now gone off sale in the UK. It’s not a direct replacement, obviously, but it’s the de facto head of the family now. 

There’s not a lot that separates the EV6 GT from its lesser-powered more affordable siblings in terms of body styling. The bumpers are more or less the same, with little other than the lurid green brake calipers, vertical reflectors, a token spoiler and GT badging marking it out. 

That said, the standard car looks great, with Kia leading the way when it comes to rethinking car design on all-new EV architectures not designed to house engines and fuel tanks. It’s sort of an estate, sort of an SUV, then you look at the snub nose which has an almost Audi R8-like snarl to it. There’s a bit of Aston Martin DBX at the rear, and a nicely balanced glasshouse in between that manages to keep the car looking low-ish, without occupants suffering for lack of light. The surface treatments are smooth and progressive but still eye-catching – all in, a looker, a total success as far as we’re concerned. At least, in standard form.

If only the GT could have had a bit more of a visual identity all of its own. If you’ve got 580PS on tap and you’ve paid out £60,000+ for the privilege (around £10-£20k more than a ‘normal’ EV6), wouldn’t you want it to look a bit more special? There are cases to be made on both sides. On the one hand Dual-Motor Tesla Model Ys go entirely unchanged and buyers don’t seem to care for much more than their ‘Dual Motor’ badging as giveaways. On the other, the Mustang Mach-E GT gets its own more aggressive facia, meaning you won’t mistake it for a ‘normal’ one. It’s down to taste, but we can’t help but wonder if you should get ‘more’, whatever that is in terms of styling, for your money.

It’s more a shame given the power and performance is there to be shouted about. That monstrous 580PS headline figure is only part of the story, with 740Nm (516lb ft) being more operative in the simply savage 3.5-second 0-62mph sprint. For context, that trumps the more expensive Mach-E GT and matches that of the Tesla Model Y Performance. That kind of punch is available almost all of the time at road speeds too, making motorway sliproads a warp-speed experience every time if you so wish.

That power comes courtesy of two electric motors with one on each axle, fed by a 77.4kWh battery pack via the E-GMP platform’s 800-volt architecture. Technically, the performance is absolutely spectacular. Day to day? It’s borderline unpleasant and vaguely frightening. You access the EV6’s GT’s full potency by pressing the lurid green ‘GT’ button to the right on the steering wheel. Do so with caution and without your foot on the ‘gas’, as the dramatic increase in throttle given versus throttle applied will see you spearing off forward. 

You’ll notice straight away, too, that the EV6 GT’s ride is much choppier with the GT button pressed – it’s a bit busy in ‘Normal’ mode as is – as the adaptive suspension tightens up in anticipation of more enthusiastic driving. That Biermann-spec chassis is pretty magical given its weight, controlling the mass of the car spookily well, if not in a way that encourages you to throw it around. There’s a sense of natural balance with the low centre of gravity and e-LSD working out back, putting the power where it is preferred. Yet even with that and in tandem with the tighter suspension, this remains a 2.2-tonne, slightly lifted crossover. That’s to say, not naturally gifted in its contest with the laws of physics and in spite of the nice seats, not possessed of a dreamy driving position. 

Happily and as the badge, promo bumf and indeed non beefed-up looks suggest, this is a GT, not an out-and-out sportscar. Its titanic accelerative performance is the star of the show, with the dynamic and handling faculties a supporting feature. Yet it’s the existing capacity as a wonderful and well-equipped place to spend time that all EV6s share, that help the GT excel in day-to-day touring.

Indeed the standard EV6’s interior was a great place to start for the GT and, more-so than on the outside, the GT-ness is clear to see. There’s no hiding from that bright green ‘GT’ button on the wheel, with the colour spanning the stitching of the rest of the interior. Ancantara trim on the doors and seats are so-stitched and alongside the GT badging and the superb – albeit not electrically adjustable – bucket seats, are welcome reminders of the car’s flagship status. On the dash there’s also a new sportier stylised texture that’s sort of like carbon-fibre, but not to the point of being abject tacky fakery. It’s rather nice, we think.

The new two-spoke vegan leather-trimmed wheel is especially appreciated after getting out of the Stinger, where the ‘90s-esque leather-effect plastic airbag stuck out like a sore thumb. The floating elbow-height centre console with the rotary drive dial remains from the standard car and is still cool, as do the twin screens, with the infotainment touch-controlled. We’re getting used to the clever switchable panel that can handle both media and HVAC controls. While not as simple as a slew of buttons, it’s a better system than most haptic/touch-based controls. Perceived quality is high, if not at the heights of Germanic solidity. The distant scratchy plastics and occasional creak are more noticeable for your £60,000, but the design remains really cool, while the main touch points feel good.

Given that it shares the 77.4kWh battery with its siblings, the vastly more powerful GT does suffer for its performance in terms of range. Its maximum claimed range is 263 miles, compared to the 300+ of lesser EV6 models, which translated to around 200 indicated on a cold Belgian morning. In cities of course it should stand to beat that but it’s another reason why you might consider buying further down the EV6 food chain.

In terms of cabin tech, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto come as standard, as do USB charge ports, including a number of USB-C outlets. There’s a 14-speaker Meridian sound system, dual-zone climate control, a reversing camera with guidance lines, blind spot mirror cameras that display in the instrument binnacle when turning and more. In all, the EV6 GT is a very well-equipped car, as are all EV6s if truth be told. Everything that’s good about the standard car – and that’s a lot – is good here.

What we’re not quite sure of, is why there’s no electric adjustability in the seats or steering, which the top-flight Stinger, that Kia reckons this replaces, did feature. The outgoing car also had cooled as well as heated front seats, which lower EV6s can also have. The GT only gets heating and we expect the lovely Alcantara-trimmed buckets are to blame. 

Finally, the driver assistance and safety systems, particularly steering and lane-keep assist, need to be dialled back, as they are too aggressive for our liking. The wheel wriggles around in your hand like one of the front wheels has a flat-spot and it’s pretty unnerving. It’s always switched off within 30 seconds of setting off, so finer calibration is definitely needed. 

Once you get beyond the truly neck-breaking performance of the EV6 GT, what you have is a very nicely trimmed but ultimately more expensive version of a great car, with a few more flaws. The power and torque are utterly captivating, it’s a lovely place to cover miles and it looks great, but we can’t help but wonder if there’s genuinely over £10,000’s worth of flagship appeal in this car over a top-of-the-line EV6 GT-Line S. In the real world, for many, there won’t be and that’s fine. For some – especially those for whom the limited range isn’t an issue – the monster Top Trumps pace, fancy seats, tweaked looks and ‘top of the range’ status will really appeal. 

Where the EV6 GT makes much more sense, is when it’s compared with rivals, especially in terms of price of entry. The Tesla Model Y Performance and Ford Mustang Mach-E GT will set you back a respective £5,000 and £10,000 more than the Kia. Both are to our eyes not as good to look at, or as nice to be in. So in conclusion? As a flagship EV6, it doesn’t make a huge amount of sense, at least not to us. But as a foil for Ford and Tesla? An absolute winner.