Kia EV6 GT review

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Kia updates its fastest car and borrows one or two tricks from that other powerful Korean EV

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Three years ago, Kia surprised us with the original version of the Kia EV6 GT. These were the dark days before our world got lit up by the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N. Here came Kia with a car that didn’t just have a power figure to raise eyebrows but was supposedly capable of pushing plenty of traditional driver’s car buttons too. I remember liking it when we did our first ‘fun EVs’ test, even if a full road test later showed it not to be the fully rounded dynamic item.

Now, with the facelifted EV6, arrives an updated EV6 GT as well. On the face of it, it looks like Kia has simply copied the homework of its Hyundai neighbour. It adopts the same dual motors (223bhp at the front axle, 378bhp at the back, a bit more at either end for short bursts) and bigger (84kWh) battery as the Ioniq 5 N, as well as its virtual gears. In reality, of course, the two teams are very closely connected, and this evolution was always part of the plan.

Question remains what this Kia adds to the party.

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DESIGN & STYLING

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Kia EV6 GT review 2025 02 side panning

The pitch here from Kia is that, as the name suggests, the EV6 GT is more of a grand tourer: same performance, similar sort of involvement but more everyday comfort. That’s slightly odd, since the regular EV6 is positioned as the sportier alternative to the loungey Ioniq 5, but fine, we'll go with it. The right tuning can make an enormous difference to how a car feels – and there's no shortage of things to tune in this sort of car: dampers, steering, limited-slip differential, synthesised noises…

You might simply prefer the way the Kia looks. The two cars may share a lot of mechanicals, but they do look very different. The GT adopts the same visual updates as the standard EV6 but with new 21in wheels and some aggressive bumpers. There’s something sinewy about its front end, like a snarling dog – a bit aggressive for my liking, but it certainly has impact.

INTERIOR

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Kia EV6 GT review 2025 10 dash

It's had a spruce-up inside too. Like in the regular EV6, a lot of the gloss black plastic surfaces are now matt with a brushed steel effect, and the dash is coated with a sort of fabric similar to the woven stuff that BMW is so fond of lately.

Is it an expensive-feeling cabin? Not really, but it is consistent, is original, feels high-quality and gives you quite a cocooned feeling – unlike the Ioniq 5 N, whose sporty character can be slightly at odds with the base Ioniq 5’s lounginess.

The bucket seats (electrically adjustable in the Kia) are comfortable and supportive but do feel set slightly too high in relation to the otherwise quite enveloping interior.

As we’re used to by now from Kia, everything infotainment is top-notch: fast, intuitive and connected in all the ways you need. The multi-functional touch bar that switches between shortcuts and climate controls isn’t my favourite, but it’s better than these things being buried in the touchscreen, and there are separate physical controls for the heated and cooled seats.

ENGINES & PERFORMANCE

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Kia EV6 GT review 2025 26 performance

Fast? Very. I actually put it through the MIRA road test procedure, because exploring the full performance envelope of such a car would be irresponsible on the road. With the same motors as the Ioniq 5 N, it unsurprisingly posts near-identical acceleration times.

That said, this is one of those cars where you have to be in the right constellation of settings for it to do the numbers. Plant your foot in Normal mode and it feels quick but not spectacularly so, because it only gives you the final 20% or so when you’ve kept your foot in it for a while. GT mode supposedly liberates full power but still yields only a 4.5sec 0-62mph time. To get the advertised 3.5sec, you need to engage Launch Control in a settings menu, which will refuse duty if you’re not in the right drive mode and ESC mode.

There are three volume levels for the virtual 'engine' noise, but even the loudest is fairly quiet. The lower 'gears' also feel quite short, so you end up being a gear higher than you might be in a six-speed ICE car in order not to hit the limiter. This is a strange thing to consider in an electric car...
Illya Verpraet
Road Tester

Easier to access is the new ‘virtual gear shift’, since you can simply programme the star button on the steering wheel to turn it on and off. It’s slightly different to the system in the Ioniq 5 N, because there are only six 'gears' and the ‘engine’ sound is a more abstract spaceship noise, rather than a pastiche of a petrol engine.

There’s enough texture and complexity to both the noise and the car’s behaviour that you can easily get sucked into the illusion; it will clatter into the limiter and bog down if you try to accelerate from 30mph in sixth. It’s too quiet, though: even in the loudest mode, you need to strain to hear it.

The brakes are strong too and, within our six consecutive stops, at least, fade-free. It’s a by-wire system, with generally consistent pedal feel. It’s a little light and over-sensitive at the top of the travel but generally very reassuring.

RIDE & HANDLING

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Kia EV6 GT review 2025 27 driving

Anyway, supposedly the point of this updated EV6 GT is that it’s more comfortable. And it is. The original EV6 GT had quite a supple ride on its adaptive suspension, and this one does too, despite the 21in wheels. There’s a slight but persistent patter but, given the performance potential, there’s not much to complain about here.

Thanks to more sound insulation than before and acoustic foam in the tyres, it’s quiet too: I measured it at 66dB at 70mph, which is less than both the Ioniq 5 N and the old EV6 GT and pretty good by any standard.

The EV6 GT retains a drift mode too. It’s engaged through a secret (not so secret: it’s on YouTube) handshake of pressing buttons and holding paddles. It makes it feel as if the rear Michelins have been swapped for Linglongs.
Illya Verpraet
Road Tester

Which leaves the question of how much handling talent it sacrifices. Given the firmest suspension mode is unusable on the road in most cars, the decision to make the EV6 GT’s a bit softer across the board is one with no real downside. Comfort mode covers most bases and Sport mode is usable if you want your body control just that little bit tighter. It still hides its mass well on the road, and I find a bit of body roll quite useful in judging what a car is doing.

When you attack a corner, the balance feels different, though. Presumably this is partly a result of the suspension tuning and partly of the tyres: the Kia rides on 255-section Michelin Pilot Sport 4S rubber, whereas the Ioniq 5 N uses 275-section Pirelli P Zeros.

The Kia has a lazier front end. When you get it settled and you have the (fairly restrictive) ESC set to its Sport setting, the rear axle will still neatly push you through a corner, but it doesn’t feel as alive; it’s more susceptible to some understeer.

Make no mistake, though: this is still a world away from the much more inert stuff like a Skoda Enyaq vRS or Volvo EC40. On a track it can still cut loose, and while it lacks the Ioniq 5 N’s slider for adjusting the front-to rear power split, there’s enough going to the back in GT mode to give you options, whether you’re trying to be neat and tidy or want to coax it sideways.

The updated EV6 GT supposedly has a unique tune for its variable-ratio steering, but it feels quite familiar: heavy, with a sense of binding at the extremities. I don’t love it, but it is geared quite sensibly and you’re never in any doubt about what’s going on.

So in short, the EV6 GT is an Ioniq 5 N with the edge taken off – an Ioniq 5 N Touring, if you will. That idea certainly has its appeal, but then I never thought the Hyundai was excessively punishing on the daily grind. The end result is that the EV6 GT, while really good fun in isolation, doesn’t shine quite as brightly.

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MPG & RUNNING COSTS

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Kia EV6 GT review 2025 01 front tracking

It seems Kia could have taken the opportunity to enhance the EV6 GT’s other grand tourer credentials – by improving the efficiency (probably with some less aggressive tyres) and giving it more range. But instead it has the same 279-mile range as the Ioniq 5 N.

I got about 2.7mpkWh in mixed motoring on the road, which equates to 216 miles if we assume 80kWh as the usable battery capacity (Kia still only quotes total capacity).

Sure, the 250kW rapid charging does facilitate long-distance trips, but a real-world 250-mile range would have lent more credence to its GT billing.

VERDICT

Kia EV6 GT review 2025 32 rear static

The original EV6 GT felt like quite a significant car, and the Ioniq 5 N was a step forwards from there. This new EV6 GT just feels like a variation rather than another decisive evolution: it lacks its own thing a little bit.

Mind you, there are much worse things to be than a slightly cheaper, slightly more comfortable Ioniq 5 N.

Illya Verpraet

Illya Verpraet Road Tester Autocar
Title: Road Tester

As a road tester, Illya drives everything from superminis to supercars, and writes reviews and comparison tests, while also managing the magazine’s Drives section. Much of his time is spent wrangling the data logger and wielding the tape measure to gather the data for Autocar’s in-depth instrumented road tests.

He loves cars that are fun and usable on the road – whether piston-powered or electric – or just cars that are very fit for purpose. When not in test cars, he drives an R53-generation Mini Cooper S.