Kia EV6 Long-Term Test - Part 2: It Becomes More and More Economical

Over Easter, the EV6 had to travel from Munich to Vienna. With nearly 400 kilometers of range, we set off without any charging plans and found a small HPC charging park at the shopping center in Linz (almost) directly on the A1 "West Highway" heading east, operated by Linz AG.

At 38 percent charge, the EV6 reported it would take about 16 minutes to reach 80 percent, but since the passengers had different preferences and various appetites, we let the EV charge for 56 minutes until it hit 100 percent. Next to us was the platform sibling Ioniq 5, which had traveled from the Canton of Zurich to Linz. Consumption on the highway, driven rather briskly with speeds over 120 km/h, was constantly over 20 kWh, while on the country road section to Klosterneuburg it then massively dropped to consistent values around 18 kWh.

In Vienna's streets, the size of the EV6 becomes noticeable

In Vienna itself, the EV6 is fast enough to squeeze into gaps but is almost a bit cumbersome. Some older parking bays are no longer designed for the width of the Kia, so it had one wheel "on the street." Charging at the Schönbrunn Palace Park near the Gloriette unfortunately didn't work out (it would have only been possible with 11 kW anyway), so we would have had to use the large public but non-free parking lot in front of the palace—with a covered fast charger.

Instead, we charged at the highway—now really heading west at the Steinhäusl rest stop, where the Ionity fast chargers stood circular and uncovered in a quiet back corner. In this case, we settled for a half-hour boost from 25 to 82 percent. And since some passengers were researching dark chapters of German history, the further return path led through Mauthausen (with 11 kW chargers directly at the memorial of the former concentration camp) and other chargers in the business park along with a pizzeria and Braunau. There too, as in Mauthausen, well-signposted and functioning 11 kW chargers, at least.

And since the shortest (and quickest) return route from Vienna to Munich anyway passes through the roughly 30-kilometer country road section near Braunau, which connects the Austrian A8 with the A94 in Germany, consumption continued to drop: In the end, it averaged out at 20.8 kWh.

Always impressive is the amount of space offered; always annoying is the constant beeping of the lane-keeping assistant, which you can at least turn off. And it doesn’t like cool, damp weather: In such conditions, it demands the "full-throttle front window defrost" button. Simply warming and fanning the window doesn’t do much here, unfortunately, and it immediately costs around six kilometers of range. The switch between climate control and audio remains somewhat unpleasant, especially when you need to look at the navigation on the screen.

Otherwise, the operation is fine, and the muddy-wet cable from the rain always conveniently disappears into the frunk, which closes with a delightfully old-fashioned clank, just as front hoods have always done! The kids even found this somehow cool and old-school.

What does that mean?

The EV 6 is slowly winning us over: With many positive aspects and a few quirks – which could be fixed with a facelift. And: overall consumption is decreasing – despite "normal" driving habits.