I live in Connecticut and want to keep the car msrp under 50000 to get the ct rebate of 2250. Acceleration is not a big factor for me. How does the ev6 wind rwd handle in snow?
Kia ev6 wind rwd in snow
PilotCivic
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Thinking more broadly, I've always found people's opinions of snow performance to be interesting. For me, it's always been entirely predictable.
There's really nothing special about it. Snow performance is about traction and the car's ability to apply power, which is determined by the drive system and the tires. I've had 23 different cars, and I've driven them all in the snow, and there have been no real surprises. Two-wheel-drive cars where most of the weight is above the unpowered wheels do the worst, but that can be managed by adding weight. I used 200 lbs of sandbags in the back of an old Lincoln Towncar and got through some of the worst winters of my life.
Two-wheel-drive cars where more of the weight is over the drive wheels do better, and the EV6 RWD models fit into this category. There used to be a big stability difference in RWD vs. FWD cars because of the propensity to fishtail, but modern traction control has made this almost trivial. RWD cars have the advantage of being able to maintain steering control during a skid, which is my preference to the understeer that you get with FWD.
AWD/4WD cars clearly do the best in bad weather, but the advantage isn't nearly as significant as many would like to believe. Better ability to accelerate is great, but most accidents aren't caused by a lack of acceleration. I'm prone to overconfidence, so it's easy for me to get going too fast in an AWD car and wish I didn't.
If I had to choose between spending money on AWD or winter tires, the choice isn't even close. Winter tires are far and away more of an improvement than AWD. I'd take a 2WD car on winter tires over anything AWD with all-seasons. My RWD Model 3 had ~90% the acceleration in the snow of the AWD SUVs that I've had before, but was far more stable, and the braking performance wasn't even close. Nowadays, having a second set of winter tires isn't even a requirement with the new all-weather tires like the CrossClimate 2 because they perform well year-round.
In summary, there is no mystery here. The RWD EV6 should perform just like any other rear-wheel-drive car that has a slight rear-bias for weight. If you live in an area with frequent snowfall, investing in a good set of winter or all-weather tires is a good idea.
There's really nothing special about it. Snow performance is about traction and the car's ability to apply power, which is determined by the drive system and the tires. I've had 23 different cars, and I've driven them all in the snow, and there have been no real surprises. Two-wheel-drive cars where most of the weight is above the unpowered wheels do the worst, but that can be managed by adding weight. I used 200 lbs of sandbags in the back of an old Lincoln Towncar and got through some of the worst winters of my life.
Two-wheel-drive cars where more of the weight is over the drive wheels do better, and the EV6 RWD models fit into this category. There used to be a big stability difference in RWD vs. FWD cars because of the propensity to fishtail, but modern traction control has made this almost trivial. RWD cars have the advantage of being able to maintain steering control during a skid, which is my preference to the understeer that you get with FWD.
AWD/4WD cars clearly do the best in bad weather, but the advantage isn't nearly as significant as many would like to believe. Better ability to accelerate is great, but most accidents aren't caused by a lack of acceleration. I'm prone to overconfidence, so it's easy for me to get going too fast in an AWD car and wish I didn't.
If I had to choose between spending money on AWD or winter tires, the choice isn't even close. Winter tires are far and away more of an improvement than AWD. I'd take a 2WD car on winter tires over anything AWD with all-seasons. My RWD Model 3 had ~90% the acceleration in the snow of the AWD SUVs that I've had before, but was far more stable, and the braking performance wasn't even close. Nowadays, having a second set of winter tires isn't even a requirement with the new all-weather tires like the CrossClimate 2 because they perform well year-round.
In summary, there is no mystery here. The RWD EV6 should perform just like any other rear-wheel-drive car that has a slight rear-bias for weight. If you live in an area with frequent snowfall, investing in a good set of winter or all-weather tires is a good idea.
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We appreciate all this info. We are planning on a move to SE Connecticut maybe as early as next year. Thanks to the drop in EV prices it doesn't make any financial sense to trade in our '22 RWD. The plan is to get dedicated winter tires for the EV6 and just roll with it that way. If it gets really nasty we leave it in the garage and take the 4x4 SUV if we have to go anywhere. With how heavy the car is and the traction control software I think we will be fine for that area.
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i'm in Ct too and i got dedicated winter rims. i have an interesting strategy and will share a video
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102 Posts
I also live in CT. Last winter was fairly sparse with the snow storms, as have been the last few years. Are there years we get a lot of snow, sure, but with the climate lately the winters have been mild. It is New England, so if you don’t like the weather, just wait 15 minutes. RWD is finale as long as you plan accordingly. I had a BMW 3 series that was great in the snow, Mustang not so much. Mainly due to having summer tires on the Mustang and putting dedicated winters on the BMW. The choice of sneakers for the vehicle made all the difference in the world. Also drive all my truck in RWD unless 4WD is needed to get out. I do have an AWD Wind, but that is because it is what the dealer had available at the time.
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Avis car rental has many Kia EV6s in Wind RWD configuration. I am interested in taking one to the SnowBelt over Winter '24 and was interested in confirming the RWD EV6 would be OK. I found a great video of someone driving one around in snow conditions! No issues observed!
Title: Trying to crash Kia ev6 RWD 58kwh in snow mode so You don,t have to.
Link:
Screenshot:
![Image]()
Title: Trying to crash Kia ev6 RWD 58kwh in snow mode so You don,t have to.
Link:
Screenshot:
We have driven through one winter in northern Ohio with our Wind rwd. We never encountered any traction problems on snowy roads. There is a lot on weight on the drive wheels so the car did not lose traction during accelleration. If you live in an area with steep hills, or mountains, AWD would be an advantage. We frequently do road trips so the extra range outweighs addittional traction that we dont really need.
We had an EV with a heat pump so I was concerned resistive heating would kill our range but the lighter weight and more efficient drive train seemed to offset lack of a heat pump. The rwd has worked out well, even in winter.
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