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00:00G'day, I'm Paul. So recently we drove the Hyundai Ioniq 5, and I remember commenting
00:04on how that was a big departure from all of Hyundai's other cars. And this is Kia's
00:10version of that, and it is a huge departure for Kia from the rest of the Kia range. It's
00:15called the EV6. Pricing for this is still yet to be confirmed for Australia, but we
00:20do know that it's going to arrive in early 2022. And today we're checking out this
00:24pre-production car. This is going to compete with things like the Tesla Model Y, the Hyundai
00:29Ioniq 5, the Volvo XC40 Recharge. There's a whole stack of competitors in this segment,
00:34and we think it'll probably be priced around the same as the Ioniq 5, around that $70,000
00:38mark. So today we're going to do a detailed walk-around of this car. If you do want to
00:41skip ahead to other parts of this video, you can use the time codes up on the screen there,
00:45or if you're on YouTube, just scroll down and use the chapters below. And if you haven't
00:49done so already, subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon. That's going to tell
00:52you every single time we check out Macro cars.
00:57Let's talk exterior design. So for the Australian market, you're going to have seven external
01:00colours to pick from, including this matte grey. Globally there's 11 colours available.
01:05Now matte grey, you might be looking at this and going, oh my God, this is so hard to keep
01:08clean. My Supra was finished in this same colour, and it was actually pretty easy to
01:12keep clean. You just don't use any abrasive stuff on it, and you know, just clean it regularly
01:17and it'll be fine. Now in terms of the design, I'm going to jump down the front here. So
01:21new Kia logo up the top there, and it looks really cool here offset with the matte grey.
01:25It just gives it a bit of a polished sort of finish, and it kind of looks like this
01:29has just been cut straight out of this sort of solid bit of metal. It's got the cut lines
01:34on it, and I just think it looks fantastic. Down the front here, you've got a camera.
01:37All of this is blocked off. So I have mentioned in other EV reviews before that they don't
01:42predominantly need as much cooling at this top end. It's mainly down here, but they look
01:46kind of weird if you don't have a grille, like your Tesla Model 3s just have that sort
01:50of flat nose on them. So that's why all of this stuff's covered up. Beautiful sort of
01:54texture on there as well. Down the bottom here is where you have that radar sensor as
01:58well, and then more parking sensors. Over with the headlights, you have a full LED headlight
02:02package here with LED daytime running lights and indicators. And then down the bottom there,
02:07you've got some faux vents just off to the side. We'll hop around to the side here and
02:11have a look at these wheels. So 20-inch alloy wheels. This is the GT line. There is actually
02:16a full-fat GT model coming, which will be even faster still. They're talking about zero
02:22to 100 time in the three-second range. So that is still yet to come, but you can kind
02:26of see where they're heading with this. It is really going to have those performance
02:29overtones, and I think that this wheel design looks really cool. It goes one step further
02:33with the full-fat GT, and I think that that thing is going to be a lot of fun to drive.
02:38As we move down the car here, you've got LED indicators built into that wing mirror, but
02:42a piano black on the side there and also on this pillar that leads to the roof. You've
02:47got a camera in the side there for the 360 camera, and more piano black trimmed down
02:51the bottom of the car. Now, door handles. They're similar to Tesla in the sense that
02:55you push them out like that, and then to open the door you give that a pull and then close
02:59it like that. You've got a little tab on there to lock the car as well, so you just put your
03:03finger on that and then the car locks. So intuitive setup. Not quite the Tesla setup
03:07though where you don't need the key. You still have to carry the key around with you to get
03:10in and out of the car, which I think is a bit counterintuitive. I think we're done with
03:14keys now. You've got these piano black pillars down the side, and then as you move to the
03:18back of the car, have a look under here. You have these puddle lights that are attached
03:22to the spoiler element, so that gives you projection down onto the ground, which is
03:26really cool. On the opposite side you have a charging port. I'll run you through that
03:29in a second, but come around to the rear. Up the top there you've got a shark fin aerial,
03:33and have a look at this aero element here. So because there is no rear wiper under there,
03:37they basically redirect air down the back of the car here. It then pushes any sort of
03:42stagnant water drops off the back of your window, so in theory you don't ever need a
03:48wiper to keep it all clean. Huge strip of LED along the back here, and that runs all
03:51the way down the sides of the car with the indicator built into this section. I love
03:56also that this is all 3D textured here, and then it lights up as soon as you put the indicator on,
04:01so really cool setup. And then down the bottom there, more piano black with that big Kia logo
04:06and EV6. Now let's have a quick chat about the dimensions. I want to put the size of
04:10this into perspective for you. It's just under 4.7 metres long, which makes it slightly longer
04:15than an Ioniq 5. It is 1880mm wide, it's 1550mm tall, and that is slightly shorter than an Ioniq
04:235. And then in terms of the wheelbase, it's on a 2900mm wheelbase, so 100mm shorter than an Ioniq
04:285, but the same size as a Palisade, so it should be nice and roomy inside there in terms of the
04:33space. Now let me know in the comments section below, what do you think of the design? Are you
04:38as impressed as I am? Let me know down there. Now let's quickly talk about charging. So it all
04:43happens behind here. Now this is a pre-production car, so I've got to push a little harder than you
04:46would on an actual production car. You've got your charge state just here. You have both AC and DC
04:52charging. AC charging works at up to three phase 11 kilowatts. DC charging will work up to 233
04:59kilowatt peak, so it is a proper meaty setup. It does both 400 and 800 volts. This moves depending
05:05on how much charge is coming into the car. The exciting thing with this and the Ioniq 5 is that
05:09you can actually do V2L, which is vehicle to load, so you plug into there and you're able to take out
05:143.6 kilowatts of energy from the car through a 15-amp plug and run, you know, whatever you need
05:19to run. There's also an equivalent port inside the car that I'll show you later on, but in terms of
05:23charging, this really is at the peak of charging capacity for a passenger car, which is really cool.
05:29In terms of the electric motors and the battery, globally you do have both 58 kilowatt hour and a
05:3377.4 kilowatt hour battery, but for Australia we're only getting the 77.4 kilowatt hour battery.
05:40That means the two-wheel drive will feature 168 kilowatts of power and 350 newton metres of torque.
05:45That's good for a 0-100 in 7.3 seconds, while the all-wheel drive, which is what you'll get in the
05:50GT line and also non-GT line models, will feature a 239 kilowatt set of motors, one on the rear axle,
05:57one on the front, that will produce 605 newton metres of torque and will do 0-100 in around
06:035.2 seconds. But the thing that has me most excited is the full-fat GT model. Same size battery, but
06:09it produces 430 kilowatts of power and 740 newton metres of torque, and that will do 0-100 in about
06:16three and a half seconds. And in terms of range, you can go from around that 350 kilometre mark
06:21all the way to a little over 400 kilometres of range, so there is a fair bit there to take in.
06:27Just keep in mind though that the specs for Australia are still to be confirmed, so we'll have
06:30a little bit more on that when the car is ready for launch. Righto, so we are inside the EV6. We'll
06:36start off with the key. So it looks like a regular Kia key. You've got the ability to move the car
06:40forwards and backwards from outside. You have a remote start function, new Kia logo down the
06:44bottom there. You've got lock, unlock, boot, and then on the back it is blank. Proximity sensing
06:50key, so leave that in your pocket. Once you're inside the car, you have an EV start button here.
06:55I know I've spoken in the Ioniq 5 review about how silly it is to just write EV there, because
07:00obviously we're in an EV, but anyway. In terms of the design, I think this looks sensational. So
07:06it's not quite as out there as the Ioniq 5, but I think that's a good thing. That may not appeal
07:11to everyone. I love the fact that they've got these two big screens here ahead of the driver.
07:15They've used recycled materials along the dashboard there, and this is going to look
07:19familiar if you've seen our Sportage review, because it allows you to switch between these two
07:23systems here, which is your shortcut buttons for the infotainment plus the climate control.
07:28This whole centre stack looks great as well. You've got LED lights you can configure around
07:32the cabin here, and it's just a very smart design that I think just really suits the look and
07:38character of this car. In terms of the materials, so that's all that recycled material. The carpets
07:44are recycled as well. All of this stuff is pretty nice. This is a pre-production car,
07:48so I'm probably going to just reserve judgment. We won't do our hardness test on this just yet,
07:52because there's no point, but in terms of your touch points, that is kind of firm there and then
07:56softer on the door, but I suspect this will be softer when we do get our full production cars.
08:01Now, let's talk infotainment. Now, some of these specs aren't yet confirmed for Australia,
08:06but I'll run you through what we see here in front of us. So, two 12.3-inch displays. This
08:10is really similar to the infotainment system we've seen in the Ioniq 5 and also the new Sportage. So,
08:15here in EV-specific vehicles, you can see you get an EV display there with a
08:20pretty generic-looking vehicle. I suspect the production car is going to look a little
08:23different to that, but then when you swipe across, you have access to the rest of your functions. So,
08:26the EV menu gives you all of the car's EV details, so battery capacity, range, and also the ability
08:33to schedule charging and also do your vehicle-to-load setup through here. In addition to
08:38that, you have AM, FM, DAB plus digital radio. We don't know how many speakers it is, but Kia is now
08:43working with Meridian, so there's a Meridian-branded sound system, similar to what you find in Jaguar
08:48Land Rover products, and normally they're pretty good, so pretty excited for that. You have Apple
08:52CarPlay and Android Auto. Both of those are wired, so you don't have a wireless setup, which I think
08:58is pretty disappointing in this day and age, but anyway, I'm sure that we'll get to it eventually.
09:03And then some of my favorite functions like quiet mode, so the kids don't hear your radio in the
09:06back there, voice memo if you come up with any great ideas out on the road, and then internal
09:12satellite navigation as well. But because this car is pre-production, it says we're in
09:16Germany somewhere, and we're actually not, so yeah, that is that infotainment system.
09:22Ahead of the driver, you have another 12.3-inch display. This is pretty straightforward, but you
09:26can move through the menus here in the center, so that gives you your safety details and also compass
09:32drive modes. Unique to both the Ioniq 5 and this is going to be that the EV6 will actually have a
09:37head-up display in Australia, or the ability to option it, and it gives you augmented reality
09:43projected up on the screen. We've seen this in Mercedes-Benz products in this center screen here,
09:47but I haven't seen it before on head-up display, and I think that is going to be some seriously
09:51cool technology when this finally does land in Australia. Now moving on to safety technology,
09:56you have both front and rear AEB that detects pedestrians and cyclists. You have a lane
10:01departure warning and a lane keeping assistant. Blind spot monitoring, so you have that built
10:06into the wing mirror, but you can also activate the indicator, and that will activate the blind
10:10spot monitors here ahead of the driver, and I think this feature is sensational. I really love Hyundai
10:15and Kia products that have that technology because it is just a good backup in case you miss
10:19the flashing light on your blind spot monitor, and then you've also got rear cross-traffic alert,
10:24radar cruise control, and then when it comes to parking, you have both front and rear parking
10:28sensors and a 360 camera. I'll show you what that looks like. So the quality is actually pretty good,
10:33so that's looking out the back of the camera, that's your 360 view. Then what you can also do
10:38is get tighter angles, so that's like a trailer parking view, kind of redundant, you can see it's
10:43really hard to see what's going on there. Then you've also got a side view for the wheels, and
10:48then finally you've got a wide angle at the back there, plus a 3D mode, so it gives you your EV6
10:53there, and then you can scroll around and see what's going on around you. So yeah, not a bad
10:58setup. Now super quickly, Kia and Hyundai have a stack of EVs coming. Would you, I guess, venture
11:05into the EV market because it's Kia and Hyundai as opposed to other brands because they'll be
11:10cost-effective. Kia, seven-year warranty here in Australia. Yeah, are you excited by Korean EVs
11:15above and beyond other brands? Let me know what you reckon in the comments section below.
11:18Moving on to practicality, and we'll start with your connectivity. So down the front here you've
11:22got a USB-C port, a USB-A port, another USB-C hidden under here, a 12-volt outlet, then up the top you
11:30have wireless phone charging. Then in terms of your storage for your phone, so it can live on
11:35the wireless charging pad down there, or you can pop it here in the cup holders or even that slot
11:39just there, so plenty of storage options for your phone. In terms of further storage, you've got two
11:43cup holders, you've also got cup holders inside the doors, heaps of storage down here. It's not
11:49like the Ioniq 5 which has like big gaps down the bottom here, and they're kind of useless those
11:54things because if you do put a bag down there it'll just roll into your foot space over here.
11:58Centre console is quite deep, so plenty of storage space there. And again, unlike the Ioniq 5, it's
12:03not like a bucket type thing, it just goes all the way in for your glove box, so plenty of storage
12:09space in there as well. Now let's talk comfort. You've got dual-zone automatic climate control.
12:14Like I said before, one push of this activates that. You've got heated and cooled seats for the
12:19front row here, heated steering wheel. And then in terms of your seats, loving this design, so
12:25there's like an alcantara finish in the centre there with this offset colour. Love this sort of
12:30contouring on that headrest as well, it really is quite a creative setup. In terms of the seat
12:35adjustment, both full electric seat adjustment, you also have the ability to store your memory up
12:40the front here as well. But like the Ioniq 5, this has the zero gravity seats, which means a couple
12:45of pushes of buttons here means you can go into the full recline mode, so while the car is charging
12:52you can kick back and relax, maybe stack some Zs or something like that, and then once it's charged
12:58you just get straight back into action. So yeah, really cool and novel setup, and I like the way
13:03they've been able to do this without integrating that sort of footrest down the bottom. Steering
13:08has both tilt and reach adjustment, and then finally our reach test. All of this stuff is easy
13:14to reach, but I do find the outer edges of that screen just a little bit of a stretch from the
13:19driver's seat. So the second row, let's start off with room. Look at this, have stacks of knee room
13:25there. Toe room is surprisingly not very good, my toes are kind of just wedged there. I would have
13:29liked to be able to stretch out a little bit here while in the second row, but headroom is not too
13:34bad. This doesn't get that full glass roof that you get in the Ioniq 5, so it's just that sort of
13:38front sunroof setup there. I'm not sure if a panoramic roof is going to be available as an
13:42option, but yeah, it's just one of those cool things that kids love. You've got mat pockets in the back
13:47of the seats here. You've got air vents in the B-pillar. Nothing down here, and that's because
13:52your USB ports are built into the seats here, so two USB-C ports. You've got a center armrest here
13:58with two cup holders, but have a look at this. You can swipe them out of the way, and I think that is
14:02such a good feature, because sometimes you don't want your cup holders. You can just move them out
14:06of the way and have that set up. So same design for the seats here with that Alcantara stuff and
14:11the offset colors. Isofix points on the two outboard seats, and then you can also move these
14:17seats if you do want to recline a little bit. Now down here as well, you don't have to just use your
14:22charge port for vehicle to load. You've actually got a power point down here, so this is the type
14:26of stuff that makes electric cars so versatile, and I think people are going to love it. Now let's
14:31talk cargo space. So similar to the Ioniq 5, you've got a power tailgate, and then depending on
14:37whether you go for the premium sound system or not, you've got a little over 500 litres of cargo
14:42space available here, with a sub floor. So beneath here you've got room to store some of your cables,
14:48the V2L plug for example, and you can also tuck away that cargo blind. Then if you don't go the
14:52premium sound system, you have a little bit more depth. Up the front there you have a little bit
14:56of storage as well. Again, depending on whether you go rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive, it varies
15:00in size, but in all-wheel drive trim it's kind of a tiny little space, around 30 litres. What you can
15:05do though is drop that second row, and then it gives you a pretty flat loading floor, making this
15:10I think perhaps a little more practical than the Ioniq 5. So the Kia EV6, one of the things I forgot
15:17to mention earlier is that unlike the Ioniq 5, which I didn't really love the way that it rode
15:22on country roads, I thought it was just really unsettled, didn't have good body control, all of
15:26the ride and handling tuning for the EV6 has been done here in Australia, so during COVID they were
15:31hard at work giving this an Australian tune, and that will generally mean it will be a great car
15:36to drive. So I can't wait to get behind the wheel of this, I'm really keen for your feedback, let me
15:39know in the comments section below. They've had something like 16,000 expressions of interest in
15:44Australia, but they only have about 500 coming in 2022, so it's going to be slim pickings for a lot
15:49of people, but let me know what you reckon about it down there. Are you on the waiting list for one?
15:53Let me know the colour and spec that you're going for. I think I'm going to hang out for the GT,
15:57this should be an absolute weapon when they start sticking those fast motors inside it. Now, if you
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