2023 Kia EV6 GT-Line RWD

After several experiments and test drives, copious amounts of internet research and the fortuitous introduction of a Novated Lease scheme at my employer, earlier this month I took delivery of a two-year old, heavily depreciated *Kia EV6*.

For me, this car manages to tiptoe along a perilous path between Mr Musk's vehicles (with their [flawed dependence on the centre screen](https://blog.themillhousegroup.com/2024/03/tesla-model-3-2022-standard-range-rwd.html)) and the influx of Chinese vehicles (which in my experience ride like wheelbarrows) - a well-built, good-to-drive vehicle that has (roughly) the dimensions I favour with a decent range. The novated lease (ex-tax) brought the cost of the car down to close to 50% of its original sticker, and all the registration, insurance, servicing and consumables (electricity and tyres) all get paid from my pre-tax salary so it works out very nicely as a package deal. Having owned and driven it now for a couple of weeks (including a couple of decent road trips) here are my takeaways: *Pros* - Locally-tuned suspension rides really well - RWD dynamics disguise the (significant) weight - Real-world 450km road-trip range - Generally excellent cabin - Screen in front of driver *Cons* - HVAC/Media soft-keys always in wrong mode - Boot/trunk space could be bigger - Lack of Kia Connect in AU The cons probably warrant more explanation; the *HVAC/Media soft keys* are a halfway-house that means you don't always need to be interacting with the main central touchscreen à la Tesla - this is good, but the fact that they are not actual buttons and each one has a dual function (depending on the "position" of the master switch) can cause annoyance. For some reason, Kia Motors Australia have decided that the EV6 isn't supported by the Kia Connect app. That means no fancy seat pre-heating but also basics like seeing the battery charge level is simply impossible on Australia. Crazy, right? That said, it's an excellent car, and hopefully some future software/firmware updates will fix most of the cons.