New EV Time

[Dave Hedgehog]

So after 6 years and a recent 4k repair bill for the steering the M3P has been replaced by an EV6 GT

I bought one of the discounted ones on autotrader, March reg (pre facelift) so it just avoids the £425 expensivce car supplement, 25 miles on the clock, full 7 year warranty from date of collection, £500 contribution on the finace from Kia

Likes
Its bigger inside and being higher up a lot easier for me to get in and out off
Large apple car play screen (every time i drove the M3 i missed this), bliss!!!
Door handles pop open and can be opened with one hand (i hate the M3 handles, PITA having to put things down to open the car)
Drives really well, it feels more like a normal perfomance saloon/suv, reide reminds me of my RS3, the Telsa got very bouncy and wayward on fast corners
I much prefer the steering, the M3's rack is way to fast for normal steering IMO, its far to easy to input too much steering when in the menus
Real buttons, no more taking eyes of road diving in menus for day to day stuff
The customisable GT button, its a disgrace the M3P does not have one, using the menu to change on the fly is awful
One foot driving (very important for me) is very good
Charging port actually has a light, no more scrabbling around in the dark, and it has a state of charge indicator
Vastly better build quality and material quality
Never had a car with a HUD before, its really useful, especially as the M3s speedo being stupidly off centre, always disliked that
Heated steering wheel, another first for me, i suffer from low blood pressure and cold hands in the winter
Performance doesnt seam that much different to the M3P
Very comfortable and supportive bucket seats
Call to me, you can move the car out of tight spaces on the remote without have to pay Elon thousands to turn the function on!
7 year warranty is a big bonus for me

Dislikes
Going to take a little while to getting use to have a keyfob and having to turn it on and off via a button
No rear wiper (like the M3)
Met Black paint so it will always look dirty (no choice on this).
Reverse doesnt appear to use motor regen so you need to use the brakes to slow it down when parking, the crawl speed is to fast IMO
Would have been nice if carplay was wireless
21" rims, would prefer 19"s hate to think how much the tyres will be ...
No pin to drive, all cars with a touch screen should have this IMO
The towing eyes are rattling about in the back for some reason, they are unused but is there not foam block storage space for them??

Super happy with it and so glad to be shot of the M3, and what an absolute bargain

Edited by Dave Hedgehog on Saturday 2nd August 21:57

[Scabutz]

I've had an EV6 for just over a year. I've only got the lower power GT Line S, but the same gadgets are yours. HUD is brilliant, never thought I wanted or needed one but its great. Sunroof is cool as well as is the sound system, although lacks a little base.

No wireless CarPlay or AA is annoying but I use the onboard sat nav most of the time anyway, you get info in the HUD with that. It has the odd brainfart and picks an odd route but mostly decent.

It's a joy to drive, I love it. I also have the Pearl Black paint, yes it shows all the dirt but clean it and polish it and it looks epic. My daughter days it looks like a Batmobile. I've had so many comments from people on what a nice car it is and a few comments on the paint. More so than my old V10 S6.

Interested to hear how you find the seats in the GT. I thought about one but it was beyond my car allowance and would cost more, but a lot of reviews said the seats were rubbish. I like my comfort.

I will definitely have another EV6 after this, maybe the GT, certainly the slightly more powerful AWD, and would still go for the top of the line GT Line S trim.

I've just got back from a holiday in France, south east of Paris. Was a joy to drive down there and charging was a amazing. 485kw chargers in some areas. Had barely time for a slash and to buy a sandwich and it was charged.

Enjoy.

[PetrolHeadInRecovery]

Thank you very much! Very interesting read.

Re. Crawl speed too high: does KIA have the "snow mode" like Hyundai? It limits the torque (and indirectly speed, too), it felt like it did it for the crawl mode, too.

Used it only once (despite drinking frequently on snow), to make navigating into a tight garage less stressful.

[Dave Hedgehog]

RotorRambler said:

Looks like carplay can be overcome:

Can you add wireless CarPlay yourself?

Yes via aftermarket adapters:
1. Carlinkit 4.0 / 5.0 or Ottocast:
Plug into your USB port.
Translates your wired CarPlay system into a wireless one.
Costs range from £70 £120
Works reliably in many EV6 GTs, based on user reports.
2. Installation: No mods required just plug it into the USB-A port and pair your iPhone via Bluetooth.

Note: You may need to wait 30 60 seconds on startup for it to connect wirelessly with some adapters.

Black cars look great!
I have cleaning mine down to a tee, even on sunny days.
Quick wash as usual, then use Demon Shine. It s fast & effective, gets rid of the water marks etc..

Thanks, they do look great when clean, my cars typically get washed once a year when they get serviced ...

[Dave Hedgehog]

Scabutz said:

I've had an EV6 for just over a year. I've only got the lower power GT Line S, but the same gadgets are yours. HUD is brilliant, never thought I wanted or needed one but its great. Sunroof is cool as well as is the sound system, although lacks a little base.

No wireless CarPlay or AA is annoying but I use the onboard sat nav most of the time anyway, you get info in the HUD with that. It has the odd brainfart and picks an odd route but mostly decent.

It's a joy to drive, I love it. I also have the Pearl Black paint, yes it shows all the dirt but clean it and polish it and it looks epic. My daughter days it looks like a Batmobile. I've had so many comments from people on what a nice car it is and a few comments on the paint. More so than my old V10 S6.

Interested to hear how you find the seats in the GT. I thought about one but it was beyond my car allowance and would cost more, but a lot of reviews said the seats were rubbish. I like my comfort.

I will definitely have another EV6 after this, maybe the GT, certainly the slightly more powerful AWD, and would still go for the top of the line GT Line S trim.

I've just got back from a holiday in France, south east of Paris. Was a joy to drive down there and charging was a amazing. 485kw chargers in some areas. Had barely time for a slash and to buy a sandwich and it was charged.

Enjoy.

I was initially after the GT Line S as its quick enough for me 95% of the time, but this was 39k so it seamed daft not to

i cant live without waze now, it updates so quickly and shows all the speed cameras and most mobile sites

[Sheepshanks]

Dave Hedgehog said:

i cant live without waze now, it updates so quickly and shows all the speed cameras and most mobile sites

Same - although I will say it’s been rubbish recently at random local rural road-closures while extensive water main replacement has been going on.

I hadn’t realised wireless CarPlay wasn’t universal until looking at EVs - we got used to it on VW Group cars. Our Gen 2 Kona has it. IIRC there’s some weird issue with EV6 - it was working on press demo cars so buyers expected it but the hardware isn’t fully compliant so Kia took it off.

[Dave Hedgehog]

Sheepshanks said:

Same - although I will say it s been rubbish recently at random local rural road-closures while extensive water main replacement has been going on.

I hadn t realised wireless CarPlay wasn t universal until looking at EVs - we got used to it on VW Group cars. Our Gen 2 Kona has it. IIRC there s some weird issue with EV6 - it was working on press demo cars so buyers expected it but the hardware isn t fully compliant so Kia took it off.

at least its got CarPlay, and its a brillaint screen for it

[Scabutz]

Sheepshanks said:

Same - although I will say it s been rubbish recently at random local rural road-closures while extensive water main replacement has been going on.

I hadn t realised wireless CarPlay wasn t universal until looking at EVs - we got used to it on VW Group cars. Our Gen 2 Kona has it. IIRC there s some weird issue with EV6 - it was working on press demo cars so buyers expected it but the hardware isn t fully compliant so Kia took it off.

Kia are only adding it to the next generation infotainment system that's going in the EV3/5 etc. They seem to have done the classic thing of getting bored with the first thing as they get excited about the next stuff.

The onboar dat nav is pretty good with fixed cameras. It will give you an audible warning when you are approaching. If you are in a average speed check and a good chunk over it will constantly bong until you slow down. It also automatically disables it when it detects you're in France where it's not allowed.

[Jazoli]

Wireless CarPlay is easy to sort for £25, we use these in all the families cars where wireless isn’t standard

https://amzn.eu/d/7qRpuza

Works flawlessly in our cars.

[Dave Hedgehog]

Jazoli said:

Wireless CarPlay is easy to sort for £25, we use these in all the families cars where wireless isn t standard

https://amzn.eu/d/7qRpuza

Works flawlessly in our cars.

thank you, any lag?

[Jazoli]

Dave Hedgehog said:

thank you, any lag?

None that is noticeable, they just work in my experience.

[Dave Hedgehog]

The lack of frunk and under boot storage is a bit of a pain, I couldn t find anything to say where the towing eyes should be stored so I packed them in some foam on the frunk, no where to put the tyre kit so it s Velcro d to the back of the rear seats

And my neighbours had a great laugh watching me try to get the supplied charging cable into the tiny circular bag it comes with

[Sheepshanks]

Dave Hedgehog said:

And my neighbours had a great laugh watching me try to get the supplied charging cable into the tiny circular bag it comes with

I can't remember who told me, but I was told once it's out of the bag it doesn't go back!

[Dave Hedgehog]

Sheepshanks said:

Dave Hedgehog said:

And my neighbours had a great laugh watching me try to get the supplied charging cable into the tiny circular bag it comes with

I can't remember who told me, but I was told once it's out of the bag it doesn't go back!

i had to feed it in like a snake, do most of the zip up and slowly rotate the 'snake' around in a circle, took me a good 10 minutes ...

I have a stretchy cable on my charger so it will be a spare for that and is now in the frunk, my 10m cable is in the boot floor as they are always handy to have if you are charging away from home on 7kw chargers