The Kia EV6 GT-Line offers a stylish way into the world of electric vehicles, but is it worth its circa-$80,000 price-tag?

We tested the rear-wheel drive version of the Kia EV6 GT-Line during a week of mixed driving to see how it’d perform as a family vehicle.

Price and features of the 2023 Kia EV6 GT-Line RWD 

The Kia EV6 GT-Line RWD (rear-wheel drive*) has a recommended retail price of $79,590 (excluding optional extras, accessory prices, and on-road costs). (* There is an all-wheel drive version and our review of that will be up soon, so keep checking our website.)

It has a 168kW/350Nm electric motor, a 77.4kWh lithium-ion battery, and a single-speed (reduction gear) transmission. Official range on a full charge is listed as 504 kilometres.

Standard features include a 12.3-inch touchscreen multimedia unit with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, 12.3-inch digital driver cluster, 14-speaker Meridian premium sound system, head up display, eight-way power-adjustable driver’s and front passenger seats, climate control, artificial black suede seat trim, LED DRLs and headlights, and 20-inch alloy wheels. 

There are three USB chargers (one USB-A and two USB-C) in the front tray, plus two USB-C in the front seat backs, as well as one 12V outlet in the front tray and one in the boot.

The Kia EV6 GT-Line has the maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating from testing in 2022.

Safety gear includes autonomous emergency braking (with car, pedestrian, cyclist, and junction detection), lane-keep assist, lane following assist, blind spot and rear cross-traffic alert (detection) and avoidance (braking for obstacles), rear parking sensors, rear-view camera, and adaptive cruise control.

The exterior colour on our test vehicle is premium paint (yacht blue, $520). Other choices are Runway Red, Glacier, Steel Grey, Snow White Pearl, Aurora Black Pearl, and Moonscape Matte.

Our EV6 is also equipped with a 5m Type 2 single-phase straight cable (32A 7kW), which costs $492.91, and that's stowed away in the rear cargo area, ready to be deployed for use.

Pre-paid servicing options are three years ($594), five years ($1089), and seven years ($1584). 

Pay-as-you-go service costs and service intervals are $129 at one year/15,000 km, $333 at two years or 30,000 km, $132 at three years/45,000 km, $358 at four years/60,000 km, $136 at five years/75,000 km, $354 at six years/90,000 km, and $141 at seven years/105,000 km – for a total of $1583.

Cargo space in the rear is listed as 480 litres (VDA); 1260 litres (VDA) with the 60:40 split-fold second row not in use; and it has 20 litres of storage space under the bonnet. It does not have a spare tyre; it has a “tyre mobility kit” (read: a tyre-puncture repair kit).

The EV6 has official towing capacities of 750kg unbraked and 1600kg braked.

Driving the 2023 Kia EV6 GT-Line RWD

The Kia EV6 GT-Line is 4695mm long (with a wheelbase of 2900mm), 1890mm wide, and 1545mm high. This five-seater has a tare weight of 2000kg, and a gross vehicle mass of 2435kg.

I spend the majority of my testing time in utes and 4WD wagons – so it’s a lot of fun to have an extended crack at an urban electric vehicle.

If you’ve never been in an EV before, get ready because the EV6 punches off the mark with jarring ferocity – the RWD variant has an official 0-100km/h time of 7.3 seconds.

But this is a sensible, composed vehicle with precise steering and even-handed ride and handling.

Suspension is a bit too firm for my liking, but that’s the norm in the realm of city-friendly vehicles.

It rides on Continental PremiumContact 6 (255/45 R20) – fine for city driving and even, at a stretch, less-than-ideal country roads but, because I’m from a 4WD background, I’d prefer more rubber on the road.

The EV6 has a turning circle of 11.6m, so it’s not unwieldy to steer around.

On a full charge, we used about 25 percent on the drive from Sydney’s Marrickville to just south of Wollongong, a distance of 81km.

After a couple of days of infrequent driving we charged at one of the free NRMA DC chargers in Wollongong’s Stewart Street East car park and managed to get from 50 percent to 83 percent in 30 minutes on a maximum 75kW charger.

Note: There are two DC Fast Charging units at this location, with CHAdeMO and CCS2 connectors, so four plugs in total. The machine closest to the street can deliver a maximum 150kW charge; the next machine in can yield a maximum 75kW charge.

Also, an important factor to remember about EVs is that charging times are not uniform: you can swiftly charge a car up to 60 or 70 percent, but chargers become gradually slower from that point onwards until they are only effectively trickle-feeding your EV from 90 to 100 percent.

What we think of the 2023 Kia EV6 GT-Line RWD

Overall, the EV6 is a classy EV that offers a smooth and refined driving experience. 

It’s the kind of quietly cool vehicle that Kia excels at making and the EV6 has enough going for it in practical terms that you can almost forgive it its $80,000 price-tag.

Almost.

I prefer the AWD version of the EV6 though – purely for its flexibility in traction-compromised conditions… so stay tuned for my review on that.