Yahoo Autos Long-Term Introduction: Kia EV6 GT
Road & Track’s first Performance EV of the Year test couldn’t have been simpler or more successful. It consisted of basically one step: Just throw some cars at the mountain. In this case, one in the Angeles Forest outside of Los Angeles. Even more specifically, the mountain graced with the renowned Angeles Crest Highway.
Pretty much all electric vehicles are quick, most are absurdly so. They need no special recognition from this magazine for that parlor trick. What is very much in doubt, by traditional readers of this publication and by its staff, is whether a BEV can truly be a performance car.
Consider this the postscript from that competition. You see, the staff has been living with the under-$100,000 winner of that inaugural competition for months now, charging it, cleaning it, commuting in it, and doing all of the things that are not driving hell-for-leather on the Angeles Crest.
How different will this follow-up test of the EV6 GT be from the PEVOTY testing? Well, by the time a shiny Runway red EV6 GT arrived in R&T’s Detroit-area office earlier this year, snow still blanketed the upper Midwest broken roads. Thankfully, the long-term EV6 GT showed up not on its frankly massive Goodyear summer tires, but on a set of equally massive Pirelli Scorpion winter rubber.
How quickly would the 576-hp dual-motor powertrain drain the 77-kWh battery pack (the same capacity pack as used in less-powerful EV6 models)? Would the GT’s speed and playfulness still make its $60,000-plus sticker price still feel like a bargain, at least compared to the pricier, but no more fun vehicles in PEVOTY? For the record, at $63,525, this vehicle is only floor mats, wheel locks, and a cargo cover away from the base GT. Would staffers ever get used to the capacitive-touch toggle that switches between the climate controls and all other secondary control functions or would they continue to crank up the HVAC temp every time they wanted to turn up the audio? And exactly how much time can one person stand to wait around in the parking lots of big-box stores to quick-charge the car?
Over the next few months, of intensive driving, trundling, charging, quibbling, and road-tripping the Detroit-area staffers will aim to answer these, and perhaps 100 other, questions. The first might be: Can the staff successfully steer the GT’s 21-inch wheels away from Michigan’s tragi-comic potholes? Stay tuned.
A car-lover’s community for ultimate access & unrivaled experiences.JOIN NOW Hearst Owned
You Might Also Like
