Kia EV6 Review

Practicality and Boot Space

It’s a stocky car, the EV6. Perhaps its swoopy lines disguise its size a little, but you’re looking at something that’s longer and wider (albeit lower) than the Audi Q4 e-tron SUV, for instance. And yet it has less boot space. A 490-litre capacity isn’t bad at all, and is usefully more than you get in the Nissan Ariya or Ford Mustang Mach-E, but it’s still probably a bit less than you’d hope for in a car this size. And you’ll lose another 10 litres to the optional premium sound system. There’s further storage in the EV6's frunk, though (under the bonnet); 20 litres if you’ve gone for an AWD EV6, or 52 litres if you’re happy with the performance of the base RWD model.

Interior and Design

If you think the outside of the EV6 looks a bit busy, just have a look at what’s going on in the cabin. There are two screens, a button for every day of the year and a space-age floating centre console. You sit quite low in the EV6, so don't expect an SUV-like driving position; it's much more like a hatchback or saloon from behind the wheel. Head further back and that roofline cuts into rear passenger headroom – as well as slicing the window area – which could make some occupants feel a touch claustrophobic. It’s something to try before you buy if you’ll regularly have people sitting in the back. Even so, there's still plenty of leg- and headroom for the average adult to sit comfortably so, as long as your kids are happy with the small windows, the EV6 still makes a very usable family car. 

Dashboard​

The dashboard in the EV6 is a very modern affair, complete with a duo of screens set into a single housing on top of the dash. A touch-sensitive black panel display beneath that shows shortcut buttons either for your nav and media, or you can hit a button and the panel changes to offer climate controls, instead. That takes a bit of getting used to, but to be honest it works okay and we like having separate shortcut buttons for the main infotainment features. Otherwise, the materials all feel good quality, the rotary controls for the volume or air-con feel nicely damped, and - while the Kia isn't quite up there with BMW and Mercedes for interior quality - the dash in the EV6 is classy, solid and fairly easy to use. 

Technology

There’s a wealth of desirable technology as standard, with sweet little touches like a three-pin socket to power big external electrical items. Loads of safety kit, too.

The EV6’s dual infotainment display set-up gives you the same amount of screen space as a Tesla Model 3 but it’s arranged in a more useful way, especially if you prefer to have the speed display somewhere within your eye line. It all helps the EV6’s driver-focused feeling. The left-hand display is a touchscreen and it’s all pretty intuitive to use, with crisp graphics that are easy to see even in bright daylight. For 2024, the whole system is powered by a much faster processor that allows owners to flick between screens and menus at a considerably quicker pace.

That system also features sat-nav and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto at last (original cars were hobbled with a wired connection. There's also standard heated seats and steering wheel, nav-augmented cruise control, a host of LED lights and more charging ports than most of us will have devices for. It’s a tech feast, but one presented in a pleasingly easy to understand way.

Safety

Euro NCAP awarded the Kia EV6 the full five stars in its crash tests, not least because of how much safety equipment comes as standard. Unlike some rivals, you don’t have to peruse lots of option packs or jump several spec levels to get all the active systems. Among the standard safety kit on all models is lane-keep assist, forward-collision avoidance, hill-start assist and a driver drowsiness warning. Top spec EV6 GT-Line S models add blind-spot monitoring and a rear cross traffic alert, to help you reverse out of parking bays more safely, as well as a smart park assist function. The Korean companies know how to throw lots of kit in – this may be an expensive Kia, but it’s a thoroughly well-stocked Kia, too.