The EV6 GT’s incredible power comes at the expense of some practicality, but for this kind of performance, I’m ready to pay that price. With a recipe like that, it should come as no surprise that I had stars in my eyes after my first drive of the 2023 Kia EV6 GT, one of my favorite budget electric cars with a ton of extra power. The GT accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in 3.4 seconds, making it not only the fastest EV6 variation but also the fastest production car the brand has ever produced. As it zooms away, several sports coupes and roadsters turn to watch the hot little hatch. The EV6’s outstanding value is, however, negatively impacted by the cost of meeting that need for speed, which includes direct increases in costs and indirect decreases in efficiency and range.
Power Up
Nobody with a pulse would describe the 320 horsepower and 446 pound-feet of torque of the basic EV6 AWD as slow, but the EV6 GT is on a far different level. This is due to the GT’s fully unique electric motor design. The 160-kilowatt rear electric motor from the ordinary EV6 was transferred to the front axle by Kia’s engineers. They next obtained a limited slip differential to fill in in the rear with an even more potent 270-kW powerplant. The dual motor system’s combined output of 576 horsepower and 546 pound-feet is an improvement of 256 horsepower and 99 torques above the previous record.
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Dealing With Upgrades
The EV6 GT is more than just a powerful vehicle. The new electronically controlled active dampers and improved suspension in the electric hot hatch result in a ride that is considerably firmer and more responsive across all of its drive modes. Interesting, the ride height has not altered. The GT’s steering has been calibrated to a tighter 2.30 turns from lock-to-lock, faster than the 2.67 turns for the rest of the range, and the chassis has been strengthened at key locations to provide the suspension with a stronger working platform.
More Power, Shorter Range
With the “Standard Range” EV6 Lite base model being removed from the lineup due to low demand, the EV6 GT is powered by the same 111.2 kWh (77.4 useable) “Long Range” lithium-ion battery pack as the rest of the EV6 family. It takes roughly 18 minutes to complete a CCS DC fast charge from 10% to 80% at a 350 kW station, or roughly 73 minutes with a 50 kW station. The charging hardware remains likewise unaltered. The 10.9-kW onboard AC charger’s Level 2 home and public charging takes about 7 hours to complete, and the EV6 GT keeps the manufacturer’s vehicle-to-load power output function with the supplied adaptor.
Energy Brokerage
The EV6 GT variant, which starts at $62,695 and includes the $1,295 destination fee, is at the top of the EV6 hierarchy and is currently in stock at dealerships. When fully loaded, the added power and performance cost around $4,000 more than a GT-Line vehicle with a similar level of equipment. Consider also that the decreased efficiency and range means somewhat greater operation and convenience costs, but it’s not a huge penalty for a lot more power. However, only 2,000 to 2,500 of the GT’s production runs will be distributed in the US, making it more difficult to find and subject to markups.
