We’re just getting into the holiday season, but we’ve already unwrapped our first present, this 2022 Kia EV6.  It’s the personal prize of one of our associates, who is allowing us to share in a year-long ownership experience.

While not Kia’s first EV, it is their first one based on a dedicated EV platform, and easily their best looking.

Wind trim means 19-inch wheels, gloss black trim, vegan-friendly artificial leather seats, and a host of safety and active driving features.  An optional tech package adds surround view monitor and remote parking assist.  

With dual-motor all-wheel-drive, output is 320-horsepower with 274-miles of range.   

The two-motor setup knocks off a few miles of range, but the extra power it returns more than makes up for it. Switching the drive mode to “sport” sharpens the throttle and adds a little extra oomph when accelerating, but there is no adaptive suspension, so the handling characteristics remain the same regardless of drive mode. Fortunately, it handles just fine as-is.

We’re just getting to know this little crossover; but so far, ride is solid, with no squeaks or rattles; and the interior is both lovely to look at and highly functional.

We’ve spent much of the new year cruising in our 2022 Kia EV6, now resting with another 4,000 miles on the odometer after two months of use.

As expected, the 320 horsepower dual-motor all-wheel drive system is more than ample for daily use, but what’s more noteworthy is how it’s delivered.

The thing that gets people excited about EVs is the instant torque under hard acceleration, but the fact is on a daily basis that doesn’t matter a whole lot. Living with this EV6 we’re impressed by how smooth it accelerates, whether it’s from a stop or while rolling.

And then deceleration is equally as impressive. We really like being able to control how much regenerative braking we’re getting with the steering wheel paddles, and then when we do lift off the accelerator there’s no jarring grabbiness. It’s a well-tuned system.

Not only does it ease some of the pain of city gridlock, it makes longer hauls more bearable too. Same can be said for the seats, especially the reclining rears.

Speaking of longer trips, we can attest to the 274 miles of range. We’ve found the battery estimates to be pretty dead-on, only shrinking with the occasional bout in Sport mode.

Now, the EV6 isn’t flawless. The aero door handles look cool, but can be awkward to use since they don’t automatically pop out like they do on the GT Line trim. On the flipside, We turned off our auto-opening rear hatch since it kept popping up when we didn’t want it to. And the auto park feature is finicky to activate. Still, these small quirks haven’t deterred us from spending more time behind the wheel.