Apparently, isnt good enough, pretty quick isnt either so kia called on executive technical advisor albert biermann to sprinkle the ev6 with some of the same magic that has made hyundais n badged cars such a runaway success Music. This is the kia ev6 gt, but its no, its. No parts been special lets just quickly take a look at the ingredients: its got 577 brake horsepower, 740 newton meters of torque, not 62, three and a half seconds its got dual motors for all wheel, drive adaptive suspension and an electronic limited slip differential. If the standard ev6 is a tane tikka, this this is a face: melting madras visually. The gt is ever so slightly sportier than the standard ev6 as we suggested. The conventional car is a smart looking thing, but a light. Dusting of performance parts just amplifies its athletic persona, theres, a more aggressive body kit, with different bumper inserts larger 21 inch, wheels, bigger brakes and painted calipers and its a similar story around the back where youll find bespoke trim and these vertically aligned reflectors the price for All of this 61 595 pounds its a bit easier to forget that youre driving the gt when you sat behind the wheel, if you thought the exterior makeover was subtle. Well, its even more subtle on the inside here you get some yellow stitching on the steering wheel. Youve got some yellow piping on the seats, but apart from that, you get a familiar dual screen layout.

You get the same climate controls. Everything in here feels very familiar, but look all that performance that we talked about earlier is all well and good. But how often are you going to use that on the road? Handily weve got a little test track here, so weve got a few different activities. Planned were just going to see what this car is like when you up the pace a little bit. The first of those activities, quite rightly when youve got 577 brake horsepower under your right foot, is a straight line, drag race to simply experience this cars straight line. Speed, if nothing else well go straight for gt, so just pull it up to the line im just going to fold the raw throttle and see what it feels like. My goodness me, 150 kilometers an hour. Oh my word that is seriously quick. I can absolutely believe that this thing does not 62 in three and a half seconds Music. There are four driving modes, so you get eco, normal and sport. Those are the first three and even in normal. This thing is absolutely very quick. The steering immediately feels a little bit weightier than it does in the standard ev6 its um. Now the suspension and the dampers have been tweaked, so its a little bit softer at the front and its a little bit stiffer at the rear, so that softer damping at the front means that the turning is its more accurate, its more pointy.

But the stiffer suspension setup at the rear. Well, that means that you get less dip when you floor the accelerator, so overall the car just feels that much more stable, but you know what were noticing more than more than anything, really is the effectiveness of regenerative braking in a car like this on a track Like this, if youre using the performance to its full potential, or even if youre kind of just just going like seven tenths being able to just lift off the acceleration, the car slow into a corner without you even touching the brakes, its a really kind of rewarding Way to drive – and it kind of allows you to to use the brakes, but without upsetting the balance of the car. If you like, regen on the road, youre gon na love it on track and then theres, one more difference. The interior, and that is this big. Yellow button labeled gt on the steering wheel when you press that you get the full 577 brake horsepower the traction control softens off, so you do get a little bit more slip, but its still a really controlled car. The egmp platform was always a good basis, but well this is its finest application, yet, certainly when it comes to faster track dropping, but just because you can doesnt mean you will or even that you should. This is an ev6 gt and it is vastly more important that it can handle the road stuff.

Then it can handle the track stuff. So without further ado, lets head out here and find some actual roads and see what this car is like to live with day. To day before that, just a word on range and charging every ev6 gt gets the same 77.4 kilowatt hour battery and the same 240 kilowatt 800 volt charging as the standard car. However, the added power matches the greater rolling resistance from those larger wheels means range, falls from 314 miles to just 263 miles, thats a hefty chunk and might be cause for concern for those looking to use their ev6 gt as an uh gt car. But all is not lost. Thats ultra rapid 240 kilowatt maximum charge speed means a 10 to 80 top up takes just 18 minutes. So while you might need to stop more often, you wont be waiting any longer to get back on your way, but look out here on the motorway doing well the best part of 60 70 miles an hour. The first thing you notice is its perhaps not as refined as you might expect is: you might want it to be for a gt car for an electric gt car. But while there is a bit of road noise at 70 miles an hour, the ride itself is actually well its really well damped, its quite an accomplished set up and it just kind of rounds off those little lumps and bumps okay. These roads, arent representative of the uk roses theyre not littered with potholes its, not those kind of really annoying motorway expansion joints, but theyre not perfect either the seats theyre really comfortable as well theyre contoured in the right places got all the right kind of support.

One thing i probably would say is that actually, when youre absolutely going for it, you could do a little bit more side, support on the on your thighs, but otherwise its just a really comfortable seat. Okay, so weve done the track. Stuff weve done the motorway stuff and lets be honest. Most of the motorway stuff applies to the the faster, a road bits as well, but now were on a smaller windier twistier bit of road and weve got a kia ev6 gt, so whats it like at normal speeds in normal driving. Is it still as entertaining as it is on track and well? The short answer is yeah its still a decent car to drive its dead, easy to thread together. Sweeping bends like these theres very little movement body steering is nice and accurate, theres still loads of power. Even in normal mode, i dont see why anyones really going to regularly switch through to sport or even gt, to be honest and again, the regen just works really nicely ive got it on its maximum setting and im. Barely touching, the brake is so fantastic in these kia and hyundai products, its just so intuitive and so simple to use just instantly feels just perfectly judged. The question is, though, are the changes that keiras made to the gt and the associated price hike worth it? Im? Not sure i dont know you could look at its two ways: can you its either a really expensive kia or its a cut price porsche and well, if you look at it as an expensive kia, then no its, not particularly good value.

But if you look at it as 600 horsepower grand tourer and disregard the badge, yeah youre, getting quite a lot of your cash, you could perhaps do with a little bit more sound a little bit more noise, but its not completely silent. Like a volkswagen id4 gtx is, there is a little bit of of motor wine a little bit so youre, not completely devoid of interaction. Music. The only final thing to address is what this car is like to drive around town at 30 miles an hour in an urban environment. The good news is its good to drive at 30, as it is at 130. Its just really well behaved its calm, its quiet, its comfortable. The only thing i have noticed is it doesnt. Take that many turns to go from locked lock on the steering, which means that, if youre, maneuvering or parking, you might take a few more points to get into that space than you would have done. Ordinarily, it goes back to what weve just said. It really does depend on how you perceive the ev6 gt on one hand its a very expensive keyer on the other. It offers much the same power and performance even a similarly plush interior as cars costing tens of thousands of pounds more. We should add, however, that really few will ever want or need nearly 600 horsepower in a four door: family car and its not as if the standard all wheel, drive, ev6 is particularly slow.

The gt, then, as good as it genuinely is, feels like an engineering exercise proving kia can rather than kia, should save yourself the best part of 10 grand and 50 miles of range and stick with the standard car head to drivingelectric.com for all the latest electric and Hybrid car advice, news and reviews and check us out on twitter, facebook and instagram.

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