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Kia EV6 - UK

783K views 7K replies 316 participants last post by  EV6Tim 
#1 ·
Hi Everyone, I thought I would start up a thread specifically for UK-based subscribers.

I have recently ordered a Kia EV6 GT-Line S 4WD in Matt grey with Heat Pump. I had originally signified my interest by paying a £100 refundable deposit (returned last week direct from Kia). On the 4th May my dealership, Newbarn in Bognor Regis (great people to work with) took a £500 deposit and ordered my car.

As of today I have no delivery date (October 2021 has been mentioned). However the orders were well over-subscribed here in the UK so I am unsure how that will affect delivery, hopefully I will be near the front of the queue if it is based on ordering time.

I have yet to see any photographs of a grey EV6 GT-Line S (unless someone knows differently) and so have to rely on the scant written data available.

On delivery I will be asking the dealer to take the car to the local CeramicPro installer for them to clean and cover the car, glass, wheels and interior with their magic goo. Hopefully that will protect the car from Seagulls and sea spray!

Interested to hear from others who have ordered and how their experience has been to date, and what news they have been able to pick up.
 
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#219 ·
Yes quite right. I think people don't realise the battery on something like the EV6 will power a house for several days.... the whole house.

Which exaggerated the load with heating seats and air conditioning, plus the video screen. Even if you add the cold weather factor EV's are far more efficient in a traffic jam.

if you allow say 10% safety margin in your route planning you'll be fine. That would cope with a four hour + delay.
 
#220 ·
It was a point raised by my wife and if I am honest myself as well. I did think I was being a little daft as I could imagine a large number of stranded EV owners complaining they wouldn’t be able to listen to Radio 1 as they were in a traffic jam. However for a large number of doubters, anti V8 loving petrol heads, see Guy Martins “documentary“ it would be another stick to beat up EV’s.
 
#222 ·
True although EV's are much more efficient in slow traffic. So if you turned off the air conditioning and the radio etc it would last for weeks. I saw a guy on YouTube left a model3 fir two weeks and it dropped 2%.
The Guy Martin programme was very poor. I typical journalists making the story they want. Deliberately choosing a charger with restricted supply and not checking it before he went for a break and deliberately choosing PAYG Ionity when the Ionic should have had contract rates. Very poor. Plus why choose a beetle for a record? Crap to be honest.
 
#225 ·
Yes it was good to watch, and interesting that Kia has some cars hitting the European roads already. I did read one review of a pre-production car where they were not happy with the ride on the 20inch wheels, but did acknowledge that this might improve once the suspension was tuned.
On a separate matter, I have ordered the red colour. In some images this looks like a really nice deep red, but in others it looks like a very bright post box red. Seriously hope it is the darker red. My sales rep said that the brighter red was for the Asian market, but seems to have the same colour reference.
 
#226 · (Edited)
#227 ·
so really good details in those drives, thank you. Very interesting that they have dynamic dampers. I'm really pleased about this and I like the fact they have made it slightly harder than the Ionic5 as I think this will suit my preferences. It's good news too that they have these for journalist to drive in Europe when its still middle of August.
 
#228 ·
Agreed Jon. I was interested to hear about the dynamic dampers. Hopefully, they will manage to fine-tune them for our wonderful roads. The cars being here and in Europe already matches what the Kia rep told me at the roadshow event, where he said that some EV6's were already en-route via shipping (clearly these early ones for testing). He also said they fully expected to fulfill initial orders in late October.
 
#231 ·
There's always a compromise with physics but I lived with 2 tonne SUV's most of my life. End of October would be brilliant as a) it's my birthday and b) I have some trips planned. I've just been looking at a 500 mile trip to France with A Better Route Planner to my Parent's house. The only issue is they only have a 45amp supply so it would be granny charging at the house. It's doable. There are 50Kw chargers in the nearest town. It might be a bit brave to do that with a brand new car but you never know. Half Term week.

Cool tidbit from the AutoExpress article:
There’s a neat trick too: hold the left-hand paddle and the car will momentarily revert to this setting [i-Pedal] even if you’re in another regen mode, so you can call up this highest level on demand.
Yes I saw that and smiled. It really peeded me off on the Mach E that there wasn't more control. Where I live we have some big hills and I'm in a low gear and on the brakes wasting all that energy. It will be great to max up the regent and watch the recovery. I can see me driving my wife mad with nerdyness.
 
#237 ·
Very quiet at 110mph, good acceleration, no sign of jittering over bumps, and smooth the rest of the time. Interesting that he thought the floating console might change. No sight of the rear window in the rain. I still think the absence of a rear wiper is a minus point. I drove a Mach-e with just the i-pedal but was unsure whether it took account of what was ahead, but the EV6 seems to apply the regen intelligently. I liked the autonomous driving (adaptive cruise control and lane centring) on the motorway. That would be very helpful in congested traffic moving at 40/50mph. I would have liked a demo of parallel parking, but then I have a bee in my bonnet about that. Good video with some useful information. Thank you.
 
#238 ·
Bjorn in his usual style is pretty complimentary on the EV6, I look forward to his Norway reviews as he is usually pretty critical. Either way for me the takeaway is that it is a bit more sporty than expected (y), the suspension is spot on to the point where he is comparing with Audi and Porsche. Hopefully we will see some finished cars in the hands of the journalists and hopefully some serious testing and not half an hour round a track or an afternoon spent mooching around. Ranting bit over.
 
#240 ·
With the Audi e tron, it regens down to 5 mph then then it is on the normal brakes. In vehicles that allow 1 pedal driving, you can come to a complete stop, which is pretty nice but a bit annoying as it starts to brake each time you lift off the accelerator pedal. I have gotten comfortable with Audi's way of doing it as it makes it feel like you are driving a traditional car. I suspect the EV6 with its multiple regen levels should have a coast/no regen setting.
 
#243 ·
The UK manual is very useful. I can see the Portable Charger which comes with the vehicle will charge up to 12 amps in the EU. So roughly a 16 hour charge for me but that's fine if we are on holiday. With local driving it will be two nights so easily enough. For the journey down there are lots of lovely 350Kw Ionity chargers on route, or should I say en-route!
 
#249 · (Edited)
....Rumour has it that the Matte Grey has been pulled from the UK Market, possibly the European market.....
I really, really like the matte grey color, but after long thinking I made my order in yacht blue. Winter conditions here in northern countries are very demanding: salt, salty water, sand, snow and ice on streets and highways. Plenty of bird-droppings in the summertime. You have to wash your car more often than in the southern climate. Hand-washing your car when it is -20C / -4F out, huh?? :oops: That would be possible only if you had access to a large and heated carage supplied with running water and effective air drying/circulation. Too much trouble...
 
#250 ·
Can I ask the Hive wisdom on this Forum, something that might be a very basic or obvious question? Do the range figures that we get quoted for EVs have any regenerative braking included in them?

If not, then how much extra % of range would you think that 1-pedal driving would add? I would have thought that it could be quite significant if the regen was efficient.

Thanks
 
#251 ·
A definition of WLTP. WLTP combined electric range’ (or ‘all electric range’) is an average across all four WLTP test cycles (‘low’= city driving; ‘medium’= town; ‘high’= rural; ‘extra high’= motorway). This reflects:
  • More realistic driving behaviour.
  • Assessment of driving situations to include urban, suburban, main road and motorway.
  • Longer distances.
  • More realistic acceleration and braking driving profile.
  • Higher average and maximum speeds.
  • More realistic ambient temperatures.
Other factors that influence range include:
  • Ambient temperature.
  • Battery state of charge and condition.
  • Driving style.
  • Vehicle payload.
  • Vehicle electronics.
  • Heating and climate settings.
Since none of the literature on WLTP seems to mention regenerative charging, and given that realistically it will only be significant in the urban cycle, I suspect it is not included. I believe however that other range influencers are probably more significant than regeneration, especially slow acceleration, top speed below 50mph, and outside temperature.

I appreciate this does not answer your question directly, but the conclusion I draw is that regeneration will help but not add significant extra mileage.
 
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