Hi,
Welcome to my first Ever Blog. I wanted to share real world feedback on our first ever electric car - a Kia EV6 GT line RWD 77.4kwh battery vehicle. We have owned the car for just over a week now.
Just wanted to give my opinion on what I like, what I don't like and what we i'm unsure of! Its early days so i'm sure there will be more to come. Hoping this will help those who have ordered or are thinking of ordering one.
First Impressions
Leasing
This is the first lease car we have ever had, The process was fairly smooth and apart from the car turning up really dirty all was well with the delivery process. It arrived a few weeks later than we were first advised but judging by some of the delays and lead times lately we feel we were pretty lucky.
The lease agent has offered to re-reimburse the cost of a Valet due to the state of the car when it arrived.
What we Like:
The looks!
I think the looks are quite divisive but it looks different from the norm and modern. The flick up rear tail spoiler is a nice feature and reminds me a little of the of the Aston Martin DBX. The stance and proportions of the car look better in the flesh than in pictures. Its quite a big car.
This is the first EV6 I've seen in the Hertfordshire area (apart from the local dealership demo we drove). And it definatley draws attention and staring eyes from passers by. Some have said it looks like a Lamborghini Urus (not sure i'm with them on that one, but a compliment I guess).
The other day whilst driving we were chased to the lights on a dual carriage way by another driver who gestured us to wind down the windows and was really excited to see one on the road and was asking about how it was as they were interested in buying. I've never had that happen before in any car - even something with more premium badging.
Driving
This is a nice car to drive, the car controls are light and easy. Performance is brisk. (especially in sport mode), even though this is the lower powered RWD model. This is a heavy car due to the batteries but it never really feels it. The steering lacks a bit of feel but is generally good. The ride is firm but not overly harsh over bumps and uneven surfaces and is smooth and comfortable
The regenerative breaking options in this car are great, in particular I like the i-Pedal mode where you can drive using just the accelerator , it takes a bit of getting used to but makes driving in town very easy.
The Driver assist modes are good, with active cruise control working well on the motorway, slowing down when vehicles break or pull in front. The lane assist can be a little annoying on B-roads and narrow lanes but it can be turned off. It beeps and warns and sometimes it feels as id the steering is fighting you a bit, but you get used to it quickly.
Current Running Costs
I have a 7kw Pod point home charger and have an economy 7 electricity tariff. I set the car and charger only to charge during economy 7 hours (12-7.00). So far full charge is costing around £11.00. Scheduled charging is via the app works but is a pain and has lost the schedule a couple of times, More on the app (Kia Connect) later.
What we don't Like
KIA Connect App
The app isn't very good. It sometimes doesn't do what you ask it to do - especially remote functions such as turn on heating, lock or unlock the car, sometimes it fails. It also sends status information back from the car to the app, This is often wrong and doesn't correlate to whats showing on the dash in the car e.g. remaining distance can vary 50 miles from the app to the car! Hoping for much improvement here.
THE BIG ONE! - Remote heating
A nice feature of this and most modern cars is being able to heat/defrost the car remotely via the app or set it up on timer. This was the one feature my wife who does early morning school runs was looking forward to. No more scraping ice of the windows. Unfortunately it doesn't work! It just blows cold air out on to the windscreen! Mrs H is very disappointed as was looking forward to using this now the mornings are frosty. Apparently a known bug and no fix available. The EV6 forums suggest it may be fixed with software update or cars may need a new inverter. More on this from our local dealer and KIA UK later.
Remote Car unlocking
We previously had a Kia Sportage with key-less entry , the doors would unlock when you approached the vehicle if you had the key. You could then start and drive the car without taking the key out of your pocket. You could lock the car by pressing the handle at the end of the journey - without ever getting the key out. I cant find a setting to change this so assume its an option or now part of the GT line S spec?? Bit disappointing.
HVAC/Climate Control
You cant set the climate control to control the heat in the car without pressing the "Heat" button to make it hot. Even if you set temp to 27 degrees it wont heat without hitting the "Heat" button? Not like a normal car where you just set the temperature and the car will heat and cool accordingly. Not sure if this is an EV thing or due to the car not having a heat pump ?? Comments ideas welcome on this one,
Zombie Mode
Have done this a few times, if you accidentally press the power button twice and orange symbol appears on the dash and you are unable to start the car or select drive or reverse. Thanks to the guy over on the EV Odyssey you tube channel who shows how this happens and how to fix. Just a little annoying.
Things we are unsure on
Range
The RWD version of the car has a claimed range of around 328 miles. The first time we charged it up it showed approx 280 miles of range, when we charged it last time it was cold (4 degrees) and it only showed a range of and 226 on a full charge:
On a recent 70 mile round trip that involved lots of motorway we used about 110 miles of range. Will see how we get on over time and when the weather improves.
The Boot
The boot is small for such a large car - so far it hasn't been an issue but think it would struggle with family luggage for a 1 week UK Trip.
Dealer Experience
I spoke to KIA online about the remote heating issue, they patched me through to our local dealer (Ken Brown KIA). The car was booked in last Friday. When I arrived they didn't know much about the EV , I confirmed with them the issue and asked the service person to update the paperwork as it stated heating wasn't working and it didn't mention that it was only not working via the remote app. They kept the car a whole day and when I collected appeared to have done nothing. Informing me the reason the heating want working was because I hadn't pressed the "heat" button. When I explained the issue one more time they advised me that the issue was with the app and not the car so they cant do anything. They did a safety inspection (one week old car) whilst they had it and advised I should pay £29.99 for a Mandatory lights front anti bacterial treatment:
Is that a thing?? Nothing like nice sanitised lights. Wouldn't want my lights spreading covid.
KIA UK
I sent KIA UK an email enquiring about the status of app update/remote heating fix. They replied quickly and I had a call back within a day. The Customer service person was very nice but again didn't seem to know of the issue. They did say that KIA are working hard on getting the app updated. Surely it must be working for the e-niro customers out there? Comment please if its not.
He advised returning the car if not happy as it was only a week old - I had to explain lead time on the EV6 is 6-9 months currently so returning it wasn't really an option and if I could get a replacement the issue would still probably exist.
He then suggested we take the car to another dealer for a "second opinion" on the remote heating issue.
So not a great result via dealer or KIA UK. Probably best to keep an eye on the forums for now and get up early to scrape the ice off the windows.
Overall
We are very happy with the car, would be nice to get the minor issues sorted. Its a very comfortable family car that's easy and nice to drive. Would be good to get the app updated and fix some of the issues which are a little annoying. So far have liked the fact we don't have to visit the petrol station and are able to charge at home overnight at relatively low costs.
I have downloaded and installed the latest update from update.kia.com but it hasn't fixed the issue with remote heating or zombie mode.
Thanks for reading , please feel free to comment/ask questions.