First long Journey in the EV6 AWD GT Line S
We picked up the EV6 (very) late on Thursday and on Friday we headed down to the Devon Cornwall coast for a weekend away. It was about 130 miles each way. We took the dogs with us for beach walks and that meant playing with the boot configuration a little. I took out the false floor and put in a protector to try to keep the sand out of the car, and put in a large dog bed. I folded the seats forward but put our luggage on the rear seats and this extra space worked well. I thought the seats might rattle like this but they did not.
It rained on Friday, so it meant doing the journey without the paint protection, which I wanted to avoid. We decided to leave about 7pm as my wife had to work and Friday traffic would be awful. I decided to take the A roads down to the M5 which was probably a mistake. I wasn’t used to the active-matrix LED headlights so used them manually and not really knowing the car well is a bit of a problem in the rain and sometimes very narrow roads. All was fine but lead to a little stress playing chicken with white van man in a brand new car.
The car behaved perfectly with great poise and balance. It has amazing grip. Some of the driver aid warning can be triggered by normal driving but they are easily ignored and not particularly annoying. I had no issues with the rear window clearing water. As soon as I got to the M5, I started to play with the adaptive cruise control and the driver assistance. I was sceptical and thought these to be a gimmick but now I’m a complete convert. It made driving in moderate rain a drizzle much easier.
I’ve discovered the system learns how you drive and adapts with time. Some have said it twitchy, but I never found this. They are probably resisting it. I could tell it was getting better although at first, I thought it was me getting used to it, perhaps a bit of both. Some have complained that it’s constantly correcting but I didn’t find this at all. I think those drivers are fighting it rather than adjusting and training the system. The lane accuracy is excellent, however, on some A roads it loses the ability, so you need to stay aware. You get a clear warning on the dash and the HUD.
Once on the A roads, I tried the automated main bean and active-matrix headlights. They are excellent. They turn themselves off when they sense streetlights and then turn back on again. I’d prefer them to come back after dimming faster but it’s a small thing. They take about a second to dim back up. We averaged 3.2 miles per Kw but that was with quite gentle driving. I was learning the car not driving quickly. On the other hand, it was night, wet and quite cold and we had both aircon and heating on. At one stage the Inductive Heater obviously kicked in as we had a very slight burning smell like the first time you use a toaster. It passed quickly but did worry my wife briefly. I turned it down, but it had passed. I’ve suggested to my dealer they do this as part of the PDI.
I used Apple CarPlay connecting wirelessly by using as CPLay2air adapter. It cost about £90 and was very easy to set up. They say they use the official chip from Apple. It plugs in to the lower USB A socket and I have stuck it to the plastic nearby. I did the whole journey using Waze but you can play the radio or other functions at the same time. The screen splits. The Kia icon takes you back to the infotainment system. Displays were excellent. I can’t fault them apart from finger prints but that’s inevitable. I think Apple’s oleophobic coatings are better than Kia’s but it’s a small point. Don’t use solvents to clean the screen!! Just a microfibre cloth.
Whilst down there we found out our AirBnB host had a charger and offered us a bit of a boost which was kind. They had a Zappi and Solar panels so were happy for a daytime charge. We were often down single-track roads with surfer van and pickup trucks so the reversing cameras were well tested. The camera system is truly excellent. We found a free Pod Point at a National Trust site although we didn’t use it in the end. It would have interfered with drinking. Good to note for National Trust members as I think many of their pod points are free.
I felt no range anxiety although I did fine habit changing more of an issue. For example, we probably did have enough range to do there and back but I really regret not taking the car down to the National Trust site the first time we walked there. We could have parked and taken a Free four-hour charge which would have negated the need to stop on the way home. Instead, we stopped at an Instavolt charger in a town on our way. We wanted brunch anyway.
The Instavolt charger was good. I used it via the App but could have just swiped a card if I wanted. The price is the same, but this was more training for me. Annoyingly just as I say down for coffee I checked the Kia Connect App and it said, not charging. So I assumed I had messed something up and walked back to the car. The car was fine and charging away. Back to my coffee.
The great thing about the Instavolt App is it shows progress on a graph and this is where I messed up a bit. By the time we have walked back down to the coffee shop and got a coffee it was done. So, I then had “charger hogging” anxiety!! Yep I walked BACK to the charger, with the dog and collected the car and moved it to a car park. We probably would have been fine but there was just one charger, so I did the right thing. Of course, my wife said, “this isn’t stressful at all”. It was my mistake and this is what I mean about re-learning habits.
The Kia Connect App is NOT real time. There is a refresh button but this doesn’t seem to work. Also, I have no idea why is shows the correct range in miles on the Home tab but out of date information under Status … like range in KM which is clearly out of date. It should show 305Km of range based on the actual car status. You would have thought it would update as soon as you open it or at least when you TELL it to update.
The drive back was very easy. It was daylight and warmer and I drove a normal motorway speeds. Consumption was between 3.4 m/Kwh and 3.2 m/Kwh on the motorway. Now I need to clean my car and do the paint treatment.
Likes and Loves
- Sport Mode
- Driver Assistance
- Adaptive Cruise
- Steering and Balance
- Drive modes
- Parking camaras
- Build quality and comfort.
Dislikes
- Plastic fittings in the boot, luggage clips are poor and not good for Dogs.
- Alarm goes off if you open the boot with the key, need to unlock first.
- Lack of Wireless CarPlay
- Kia Connect App is not anywhere close to rivals
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