Kia EV6 vs Tesla Model 3
- by Carsguide.com.au
- May 21, 2022
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The EV6 Air is a single-motor rear-wheel-drive that produces a maximum power output of 168kW and 350Nm of torque.
The Air has the slowest 0-100km/h sprint time in the EV6 range at 7.3 seconds, but that’s honestly enough for my little family. It still feels pretty damn zippy when you put your foot down.
Under the bonnet
If you’ve ever driven the previous Model 3 Performance you’ll know that it could well have come with Space X badging (arguably Elon’s more impressive engineering achievement), because it really did thrust rather than accelerate.
But this time the engineers wanted to go all out. Customers appreciated the incremental performance they got from the last Model 3 Performance version, but they told Tesla they wanted more.
With many enthusiasts among Tesla's engineering and development team, they looked to unlock the performance potential of the platform.
So, that meant a whole lot more madness and torque thump. It comes from a new Performance 4DU, an all-new drive unit - featuring an entirely new rear motor that uses bar-winding technology - unlocking 22 per cent more continuous power, 32 per cent more peak power and 16 per cent higher peak torque delivery.
Overall figures are 380kW and 740Nm, but looking at them written down, they seem big, yet not as big as they feel in this car, as it’s shoving you from a standing start to 100km/h in three seconds flat.
It feels faster. Sick-making fast, even.
Efficiency
Officially, you get a driving range of up to 528km (WLTP) from the 77.4kWh lithium-ion battery. However, the longest range I ever saw was 480km, which admittedly is still very good.
The EV6 Air has a Type 2 CCS port, which means you can benefit from plugging into a fast charger and the accepted voltage is a whopping 800v.
On a 50kW system, you’ll get from 10-80 per cent charge in 73 minutes and on a 350kW system, which charge time drops to just 18 minutes.
Expect it to take longer on AC charging, though. To get from 10-100 per cent on an 11kW system, it will take approximately seven hours and 20 minutes. On a standard house plug ... expect it to be on charge for around 30 hours.
The Air also has a vehicle to load (V2L) capability – meaning, it has a standard house three-pin plug port available to charge larger appliances while on the go.
The official combined energy consumption is 16.5kW/100km (WLTP), and my usage came out at 16.02kW after a mix of open-road and urban driving this week.
Efficiency
Despite being heavier and gruntier, Tesla claims the new Performance Model 3 manages to be more efficient than the one it replaces, albeit delivering just a two per cent reduction in energy consumption. Claimed energy usage is 16.7 kWh/100km.
Tesla claims a total range of 528km on the WLTP, which is obviously going to drop if you drive it the way its makers clearly intended.
Using a Tesla Supercharger, you can add 228km in 15 minutes and... that's all Tesla will tell us. There are no official figures available for how long a full charge takes, on either a Tesla charge or a home wallbox of your own.
Driving
The EV6 Air handles itself really well, it's been hit by torrential rain and didn’t skip a beat.
The Air really grips the road and distributes the power through the rear wheels evenly. Even at higher speeds, there’s no wobble and it feels stable when you accelerate.
Steering is on the right side of firm and makes the Air feel very zippy when navigating tight city streets.
There are three levels of regenerative braking available, as well as a one-pedal function called iPedal, which is probably the best I’ve sampled and I like how responsive it is in stop-start traffic. However, when using this function on hills, I still hover over the brakes as it can still roll forward a bit.
The cabin can get really loud from road noise at higher speeds, but it seems to come from underneath the carriage, rather than through the windows. The suspension is well-cushioned but not spongy.
Parking the EV6 isn’t an issue once you get used to the rotary gear selector and the reversing camera is super clear. You get a 360-degree system on higher grades but the Air does come with front and rear parking sensors.
Driving
Very occasionally, one drives a car that makes the human body feel inadequate to the task. I would have worried that I’m getting old, that my body is simply too flubby and my brain too broken, to cope with the kind of wild acceleration and brutal g-forces the Model 3 Performance delivers.
But, fortunately, I had a videographer in the passenger seat, a much younger man who loves fast cars, and he kept threatening to vomit when I drove it hard, too.
I’ve driven quite a few cars that you can use make your passenger sick, or hurt their necks - one obvious competitor in the shape of a Porsche Taycan Turbo S comes to mind - but it’s very rare that a vehicle is so intense it can make you, the driver, feel bilious.
Yes, you do bring this on yourself, by choosing to push this Performance anywhere near its limits through particularly sharp and intestine-shaped roads like the canyons outside Malibu Tesla chose to launch it on.
On longer, sweeping bends it was far more of a joy, and less physically punishing, but in the tight stuff it often felt like corners were being thrown at you, as if you were driving behind the Millennium Falcon and being pulled along in its wake.
The brakes, special new sporting ones with track-ready pads, were up to the task, even though it often felt like they couldn’t possibly pull you up from the speeds you were doing.
And yes, it was entirely my fault that the very first time I even gently prodded the throttle and it launched me ahead past a California Highway Patrol officer, that was my fault too. Three minutes into the drive, holding an American fine, I had already deduced that perhaps this car was too fast for my own good.
But lots of EVs are fast in a straight line, you’re really comparing the length and depth of your “oooophhh” sounds at this point, but where this one succeeds is by being a lot better in the handling and ride and cornering departments than most.
Tesla’s stated goal with this car was to move beyond straight-line speed, to become more than a one-trick pony, and to do that it’s given the Performance a stiffer structure overall and updated the springs and stabiliser bars.
Aerodynamic changes have reduced drag by five per cent, delivered a 36 per cent lift reduction, and a 55 per cent improvement in front-to-rear lift balance.
Tesla’s own, in-house version of adaptive dampers, not an option but included in every Performance, work with the car’s 'Vehicle Dynamics Controller' through its various modes - 'Insane' and 'Track' being the most… ludicrous - to immediately respond to driver inputs.
The Performance rides well on LA’s awful concrete freeways but feels absolutely nailed down when you attack even a bumpy driver’s road.
This version also has a lot more power going to the rear wheels, to help it feel more sports-car playful and to fire out of bends the way an enthusiast’s car should. And make no mistake, I met them, the people behind this car are serious driving enthusiasts (although they demur, slightly, on whether their boss is one).
Track mode will allow some serious adjustability, drifting ability and fun, so the kind of people who want to hurl around a racing circuit in silence will love it.
Perhaps the only let downs are that it still feels a bit austere inside, just not very special, and that the steering is just a bit digital, soft and uninvolving, compared to the cars they clearly benchmarked against - BMWs and Porsches.
Safety
The Kia EV6 Air is well equipped with safety features and it's here that you don't feel like you're in the 'base model'.
Standard features include the biggies like forward collision warning, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, lane-keeping aids, lane departure alert, driver attention alert, reversing camera and front and rear parking sensors.
Considering the Air is a base model, it's also great to see items like blind-spot collision avoidance, safe exit warning, rear occupant alert and haptic-feedback on the steering wheel (as an additional 'sense' warning).
I rejoiced when I discovered that the Traffic Sign Recognition technology has been tweaked to not sound or alert on every traffic sign or speed change. It still chimes in school zones, but you no longer have to go into the menu to downgrade the sensitivity! Hurrah!
The Air has AEB with car, pedestrian, cyclist and junction turning assist, which is operational from 5.0 - 85km/h but it is usual to see that top figure be well above 100km/h, so this is surprising.
The EV6 achieved a maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating from testing done in 2022 and features seven airbags, including the newer front centre airbag.
There are ISOFIX child seat mounts on the rear outboard seats plus three top-tethers. You might get lucky in fitting three skinny child seats but two fit the best and there’s plenty of space for front passengers when a 0-4 rearward facing child seat is installed too.
Safety
Tesla provided no information about safety for the Performance Model but it is assumed it will be unchanged from a standard Model 3.
Aside from Autopilot that means auto emergency braking, lane keep aids, and instead of blind-spot monitoring, it gets the surround radar view and blind-spot cameras when you indicate.
The latest Model 3 has an additional centre airbag for a total of seven, as well as additional bolstering where the doors meet the body in response to requirements in its American home market.
It should be able to carry its maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating, which the original version achieved in 2019.
Ownership
The EV6 comes with a leading seven-year/unlimited-km warranty. The battery covered by a separate seven-year/150,000km term, but this is a smidge shorter than some of its rivals.
You can pre-purchase either a three-, five-, or seven-year servicing program, priced at $721, $1382 and $2045, respectively. All of which are reasonable for the class.
The seven-year program runs up to a max 105,000km.
Servicing intervals are more in line with a fuel-based car at every 12 months or 15,000km, whichever occurs first.
Ownership
Again, we've been asked to assume the Performance will come with Tesla's standard four-year/80,000km warranty and roadside assistance. And that the battery and drive unit will fall under an eight-year/192,000km warranty, whichever comes first.
Tesla says it monitors its cars to ascertain when they need servicing, and so it is based on a case-by-case situation. Every 12 months/20,000km is recommended for a general check-up, and includes tyre rotation.
Wiper blades, brake fluid and cabin air filters need replacement every two years while the air-con service is every six years.
Of course, there are no oil changes, filters or spark plugs to replace, and even brake pad wear is less than on an ICE vehicle because of the regenerative braking system. Although it will likely be higher in the Performance variant.
Interested in a Kia EV6?
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