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Kia EV6 first drive: 10 things I didn’t know about the big 310-mile every-person sportwagon

by Seth Weintraub

1. The Kia EV6 is big IRL We’ve known what the EV6 would look like, but in person, it seems a lot larger than the images and video portray.

2. Kia EV6 Dashboard hardware is great, software isn’t as Just like the Hyundai Ioniq 5, the Kia EV6 has two big side-by-side displays, but using them for the first time is a little bit jarring.

3. EV6 Quickly and Quirky charging There are a ton of nuances to the EV6’s E-GMP game-changing 800V charging system which can theoretically max out at 250kW. Kia touts going from 10% to 80% or 210-miles charge in 18 minutes, or adding 62 miles of range in 5 minutes.

4. EV6 Frunk or Frovebox? The Frunk is just a bit bigger than glove box size and looks like an afterthought – like a Pelican case shoved into a motor bay.

5. If you enjoy sport driving, get the AWD EV6 Kia was nice enough to give us about 90 minutes behind the wheel of both the AWD and RWD models. Our first leg was with the AWD version and, once put into sport mode, we were impressed with the (at least) five second 0-60 acceleration, handling, and performance.

6. Kia EV6 has smart ports, charging, buttons in smart places The rear USB-C charging ports are on the sides of the seats so you don’t break them getting in and out of the car.

7. Kia EV6 big power out through the charge port (V2L) Kia says that the power out of the charge port is limited to 1.9kW, which is still an impressive amount of power that can charge e-bikes, run campsites with projectors, or even slowly charge another EV. 

8. Kia Connect and Wi-Fi sharing: To be seen We didn’t get a proper demo of the Kia Connect system, but it looks pretty impressive with an Apple Watch app being my favorite bit.

9. The Advanced Driver Assistance needs more advancement We were driving on mostly curvy roads, which weren’t a great demo opportunity for the driver-assistance features. Often the turns were too sharp and the car would just start beeping and veer into oncoming traffic.

10. EV6 I-Pedal regenerative braking I must be crazy to think that all EV drivers just want one-pedal driving. Kia offers like five different levels of braking modes activated by the steering wheel paddles.