– Literally – Let’s cut to the chase: Acceleration. Any car that accelerates to 100km/h in 3.5 seconds is a serious performer, but even so, when he drives the GT for the first time, he’ll be amazed at how ferocious the car’s response is.
Thanks to that instant torque, it’s more like being shot from a cannon than leaving the starting line, but the Kia does it incredibly easily and effortlessly.
While many truly powerful cars struggle with grip, friction and traction control to get going, the Kia just flies towards the horizon.
Hardly any squatting, no loss of grip, just a seamless delivery of Newton meters. Your grandmother could launch this car as fast as Lewis Hamilton.
But while many electric cars offer similar levels of traction and acceleration, the EV6 GT adds a whole new dimension.
While many of its competitors fall victim to dead weight and the weight transfer that comes with it, Kia is a more dynamic contraption, breaking down the theory that EVs are straight-line only.
Big, sticky Michelin tires and a beautifully thought out damper calibration (the work of a local expert) combined with a quick steering rack and better-than-average steering feel and feedback make the GT ready for corners. Not only does it drive quickly, but it also maintains composure (and pace) on patchy, rugged surfaces.
It should start slipping from the speed and steering angle, but it doesn’t. Bumps and throttle on corner exits cause other cars to lift their front wheels, but the Kia senses the road mostly ahead and adjusts the damper response.
In fact, its ability to predict road surfaces is closer to reality than you might think. The GT’s adjustable suspension remains passive (or reactive) rather than truly active (future-looking), but the algorithms that control the dampers monitor steering angle, speed and throttle position to ensure a super-fast ride. It’s smart enough to scan the road with. Adopt a posture that reacts quickly in real time, solves the worst and keeps the wheels on the road.
Talking to the engineers who accomplished this feat reveals a lot about what it takes to make a two-ton high-horsepower car work naturally. Like the example, we travel the same road hundreds of times with perfect instrumentation and the brain power to interpret that data.
But hundreds of passes are worth the effort when a car with very high roll stiffness can provide a ride like these 21-inch tires.
I also had the opportunity to drive the EV6 GT on the tight, winding and narrow Haunted Hills Hill Climb circuit in Gippsland, Victoria, as per Kia’s insistence on track preparation.
Frankly, Kia has too much power for this circuit. We think it’s better to leave it in Sport rather than GT mode. In GT mode, the power softens up a bit and the front he’s less keen on tracking torque from the axle to the rear and back. Slide again to dial out.
Unless you’re on a fast, flowing circuit like Phillip Island, driving a GT in Haunted Hills was like trying to land a four-metre shark on a tiny three-metre car.
Either way, this car’s on-road encouragement and dynamic poise are enough to convince us that this is one of the first EVs to actually speak the same language as enthusiastic drivers. , you can thank the Australian suspension engineers for that.
