2023 Kia EV6 vs Audi E-Tron Gt

What's the difference?

A hundred thousand dollars used to be big money. And for a family SUV, it still is. But don’t make the mistake of confusing the Kia badge with pedestrian motoring. The EV6 GT is proof that Kia can make high performance cars that work, and make the most of modern EV tech in the process.

We’re a bit disappointed in the real-world range of the car, and there’s no doubt the vast majority of drivers neither need nor want a car as focussed as this one. But as an example of how a modern, digital electric car can feel more like an old-school analogue performance car, the GT is Exhibit A. And for those of us for whom it’s about the journey, not the destination, this is indeed good news as EVs continue to take over the world.

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with meals provided.

The e-tron rightfully takes its spot at the top of Audi’s range. It’s a harbinger of all things electric in the performance realm for years to come and to look at, touch, and feel, it’s Audi all the way through.

The spirit of the Taycan also lives here, though, so while it’s a little less imposing to look at, it’s almost every bit as impressive to drive, making it compelling if you’re looking for an early slice of what performance electric motoring can look like.

Our pick of the range? The base is really all the GT car you could ever need, but at the end of the day most buyers will opt for the RS anyway...

Perhaps the most poignant element of the GT’s design is that Kia has lavished lots of Australian input into the final product.

Like Kias before it, the EV6 GT benefits from plenty of Nth-degree local suspension tuning which, given the way some imports buck and crash on Aussie roads, is commendable and clever.

It’s also interesting that Kia has remained committed to this approach, especially since the new GT features the brand’s 'Electronically Controlled Suspension' (ECS) the first for an all-electric Kia.

By looking at real-time road speed, cornering forces, braking and acceleration forces and the actual road surface, the ECS can tailor the dampers’ behaviour to maximise dynamics, grip and ride quality. For some carmakers that would be enough, so full marks to Kia for taking the next step with local calibration input.

Perhaps the other design element of note is the fact that Kia sees the GT as not just a high performance family car, but also a vehicle that it is happy to describe as 'track worthy'.

And even with the straight-line speed involved, that’s a big statement for any car weighing north of 2.1 tonnes. Testing at the infamous Nurburgring in German underlines Kia’s determination to give the GT the smarts to handle a track day.

The use of high-performance Michelin tyres backs this up when a conventional EV tyre would improve range but at the expense of grip in corners.

To further underline how serious Kia is about that claim, the GT features a completely different steering set-up to lesser EV6 models.

The GT gets a variable ratio steering rack with a faster ratio than the other EV6s and variable levels of power assistance to improve feel. There’s even additional bracing on the GT to stiffen the body and make full use of that sportiness.

Another big part of any track-day car revolves around the braking system, and to that end Kia has fitted the GT with huge brakes.

The knock-on effect, of course, has been the requirement to fit 21-inch wheels for rotor clearance as well as a new front suspension system that features a double ball-joint design to complete the clearance for the 380mm front discs. Four-piston front calipers are also part of the GT braking package, identifiable by the bright green hardware.

In specific detail terms, other design standouts include the sequential LED indicators, flush-folding door handles, solar glass, intelligent headlight system and 64-colour ambient interior lighting.

If there’s a design disappointment it’s that the GT looks pretty much like any other EV6.

Yes, the 21-inch wheels and tyres are pretty easy to spot, but from the front, only a slightly different grille, lower bumper and matrix headlights give the game away.

That doesn’t make it an unattractive car (by any means) but it doesn’t automatically mean onlookers will know you’ve spent the extra gold for the extra performance.

And over in the Swing-and-a-Miss column is the synthetic soundtrack Kia has chosen for the GT. There are three different, selectable background noises linked to motor speed, but, to us, they simply sound like three different stages of wheel-bearing failure.

I was an e-tron doubter. When I first saw pictures of Audi’s flagship electric offering I thought it took the brand’s oval formula to the extreme, with the silhouette of a bar of soap on wheels.

Up close and I couldn’t have been more wrong. The e-tron is spectacular to gaze upon, with awesome details which really cement its place at the top of the brand’s performance range.

The best angle is by far the rear three-quarter, the imposing stance of this car, the way its glossy rear diffuser lifts up to reveal the ultra-wide track of its rear wheels, and the enormous ‘blisters’ which curve over the rear arches are elements poorly communicated in pictures.

When seen up close, though, it leaves no doubt of this car’s aggressive intent and alludes to its on-road prowess.

The rear light fittings, which look flat and like any other Audi in the pictures, are all alluring and three-dimensional in reality.

The side profile has elements of RS7 in there, touches of Taycan, but a signature overall Audi shape, with the most interesting element being the wheel designs.

Like many new EV wheel designs, they’re optimised for aerodynamics, and consist of alloy elements with plastic hubcap-like pieces integrated into them.

The ones on the RS in particular have an interesting effect of looking entirely different depending on how close you get.

The black contrast elements serve to shrink the car from a distance, making it look less intimidating than its Taycan relation.

The front is the least complex part of the car, but the way Audi’s designers have managed to blend the blanked-out grille but maintain the contrasting face shape it shares with the combustion range is admirable.

It doesn’t scream ‘electric’, but subtly blends the best parts of both worlds. I like it.

Inside is equally impressive. I like it almost as much as the rear haunches, if only for the fact that it feels like an Audi, and not just a re-skinned Porsche, which is what I was expecting.

Instead, the flat, minimalist, and almost retro appeal of the Taycan is swapped for a dash design more deeply three dimensional in the e-tron GT, complete with signature Audi elements like a rhomboidal theme, angular detailing, and flush-set screens.

All the materials and buttons feel properly Audi, as well as the refreshingly simple three-spoke wheel which the GT shares with the e-tron SUV.

Personally I wasn’t sure about the Alcantara finishes on the wheel or centre console of our RS test-car. They look nice now but won’t in a few years with enthusiastic use. I’ve seen enough older performance cars to know the Nappa leather is the better choice.

Perhaps the biggest practicality hurdle is the car’s range. At an optimum 424km, it’s okay but not stellar. And if those kilometres are highway ones, you can forget about 424km; it’ll be a fair bit less than that.

Meantime, the long wheelbase of the basic EV6 platform means there’s lots of legroom in the rear, making the car a comfy four-seater (the rear-centre seating position is decidedly last place) with enough knee space for adults in the rear.

The cabin is dotted with USB and charging points and there’s wireless charging in the double-layer centre console. There’s a also a bottle-holder in each door, map pockets in the front seat-backs, a luggage net and retractable cargo cover.

Kia’s insistence that the GT be capable of track-day work means the headrests on the front seats allow for a helmet to be worn, while the lack of power adjustment for the front seats mean they can be mounted closer to the floor.

Even so, the sunroof gobbles up precious headroom, and the cabin is a bit tight in that direction even without a helmet.

The digital dash and head-up display is clear and legible and the menu system contained within the touchscreen has a positive action and is logically laid out. Only the gear selector makes us wonder with its dim indicator lights that are hard to discern in some ambient light conditions.

The silver steering wheel buttons are also a bit hard to fathom when light reflects off them. The starter button is also not where you instinctively look for it.

As with most performance cars, there are some wins and losses here. The e-tron GT gets off to a rolling start though with its front seat (let’s be honest, this is where the action is meant to happen anyway), offering great adjustability, a sporty low position, and plenty of headroom and arm space for the front two occupants.

On the downside, storage space isn’t as stellar as I’ve come to expect on cars with new EV platforms. Most of this is down to the GT’s intent as a sports machine first, with low-set seats meaning less room to carve out for batteries under the floor, and hence less storage cutaways down the centre.

The two cupholders are nice and big, and the console armrest box is okay, complete with a little side-mounted wireless charger, but the door pockets are embarrassingly small with no bottle cutouts, and there’s precious little storage elsewhere.

The low seat and curvy roof means you have to duck down low to get in, and oddly the big fixed sunroof doesn’t have a retractable shade, so this car is going to get hot being left out in the Aussie sun.

The screens, as usual with Audi products, are a highlight, offering super fast, sharp hardware, and attractive and functional software, with the only real downside being some of the touch areas when phone mirroring can be quite small with such a high-resolution screen.

The back seat lays claim to this Audi’s big EV party trick, the fact that there are sizeable cutouts in the under-floor battery pack so adults can enjoy usable legroom.

It works. I have airspace for my knees behind my own seating position, and headroom is surprisingly good, too.

Technically the e-tron GT is a five-seater, but the centre rear position is all but useless, at least for adults, as it is very narrow.

There’s nowhere to put your feet thanks to a raised centre floor to facilitate additional battery space, almost like a transmission tunnel in a combustion vehicle.

Rare amenities for rear passengers include two USB-C ports and a third climate zone with a control panel, although, unlike some EV rivals, there’s no full-size household power outlet.

Boot space comes in at 350 litres which isn’t huge considering the e-tron GT’s rather large footprint.

As a result it could only hold two of our three CarsGuide test luggage cases. There’s no under-floor storage here, although you do get an elastic net.

The GT also scores a surprisingly large under-bonnet space, perhaps a good spot for keeping your charging cables.

There are two forms of the Audi e-tron GT, the regular GT version with prices starting from $180,200, or the full-fat RS, which takes a healthy jump to $248,200 along with a corresponding rise in performance and standard equipment.

Audi promises the e-tron GT is better value than its Porsche Taycan rival like-for-like, starting with all-wheel drive only as opposed to the Taycan’s rear-drive base-spec.

For those worried about EV value, consider the e-tron GT is both faster and much more affordable than the R8 was before it was discontinued in Australia last year, with the latter starting from a whopping $316,377, before on-road costs, before it met its end.

Taking its spot at the helm of Audi’s range, the e-tron GT certainly doesn’t want for standard gear, with equipment on the base version including 20-inch alloy wheels, adaptive air suspension, a fixed glass roof, LED matrix headlights, a 12.8-inch digital instrument cluster and 10-inch multimedia touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a 710-watt audio system, and of course all the expected safety gear.

The standard GT variant is slightly less powerful than the RS with its dual-motor set-up producing ‘just’ 350kW/630Nm, but maintains the rather unusual two-speed transmission and, of course, the all-wheel drive system.

Let-downs for this model include the surprisingly average feeling synthetic leather seat trim, and the plastic filler panels adorning the dash which the RS replaces with much more attractive carbon-look inserts. These are no deal-breaker for sure, but the seat trim in particular feels a bit rude on a vehicle which costs over $180,000.

The RS e-tron GT meanwhile ups the power to a whopping 440kW/830Nm, increases the standard wheel size to 21-inch, adds actual Nappa leather seat trim with an additional ventilation function, as well as an all-wheel steering system, rear differential lock, upgraded laser headlights, and tungsten carbide brakes as standard.

The car we primarily tested for this review had further options, taking the price to nearly $280,000, including a more hardcore carbon ceramic brake package, coming in at a staggering $12,500.

The e-tron GT also offers an extremely rare option in the world of EVs, a 22kW AC charging inverter ($6900), which makes it the fastest charging car in Australia on this standard. Good luck finding a public outlet which will actually go that fast.

Thanks to its heavy-duty 800-volt battery hardware, it is also one of the fastest charging electric cars in Australia, full stop. More on this in the charging part of this review.

A purely electric car, the EV6 GT is all-wheel-drive courtesy of having one electric motor across the front axle, and a second motor driving the rear wheels.

Add it all up and at maximum power, you have 430kW/740Nm at your disposal.

It’s worth remembering those numbers are precisely the same power and torque as that produced by the last of the locally made muscle-cars, HSV’s final, 6.2-litre, supercharged V8 F-Series line-up back in 2015.

Compared with the non-GT versions of the EV6, that output is almost double the 239kW of the EV6 AWD Dual Motor.

There’s no multi-ratio transmission (just a single-speed arrangement) but there is an electronically operated rear differential to make the most of the 270kW contributed by the rear electric motor.

There’s also a Drift mode built into the car which, as well as courting controversy from the authorities, manages to shift 100 per cent of torque to the rear wheels at small steering inputs to allow the car to be driven sideways.

As the car exits the turn in question, some torque is shuffled forwards to the front wheels to pull the vehicle straight.

A set of paddle shifters control not the gearbox ratios (there are none) but instead the rate of regeneration on deceleration, and turned up to its maximum, can make the Kia a one-pedal car once you get the hang of it.

The GT also features drive models, which tailor the car’s behaviour in terms of steering feel and aggressiveness, suspension firmness, throttle sensitivity and even the stability control’s intervention threshold.

There’s also a steering-wheel mounted GT button which ramps all those settings up to DEFCON 3, placing them at their most dynamic calibrations in the interests of an exciting drive.

In fact, the GT button is the only way to get the full 430kW of power, too.

In the other drive modes, the spare Kilowatts are stored away for you, just waiting for that GT button to be pressed.

The e-tron GT is stupidly powerful. The 350kW/630Nm available in the base GT allow a 0-100km/h sprint time of just 4.1 seconds, while the even higher 440kW/830Nm available in the RS reduces that to a mind-melting 3.3 seconds. Not bad for a car which weighs nearly two and a half tonnes.

Like the Taycan, the e-tron GT sports a two-speed transmission, with the low gear primarily used in sport mode as a take-off ratio, with the second made for highway cruising or when the car is set to 'Eco' mode.

Two electric motors allow for fully adjustable all-wheel drive to enhance handling while the RS goes a step further with its subtle all-wheel steer system and locking rear differential which enhances its agility at both low- and high-speeds even further.

Like the other electric Kias on sale now, the EV6 GT has a Lithium-ion battery with a capacity of 77.4 kWh. Located under the floor, the battery-pack accounts for no less than 479 of the GT’s 2185kg.

The on-board charger can handle 10.5kW and takes about seven-and-half hours to go from 10 per cent to 100 per cent charge.

Using a 50kW fast charger, you’re looking at 73 minutes to go from 10 to 80 per cent charge and if you can find a 350kW fast charger, that time drops to just 18 minutes.

On a full charge, Kia claims a combined range of 424km which is okay, but not exactly stellar. That range will also fall pretty quickly if you start to use the awesome stomp on offer.

And let’s not forget that, in running-cost terms, the GT is front-loaded. That is, the car itself costs more, but it’ll be cheaper to run over the years.

Meantime, as oil-based fuels cost more and renewable electricity becomes more prevalent, the financial and environmental running cost of an EV starts to fall.

Okay, so the jury is still out in terms of the environmental impacts of a 77-plus kWh battery, and if the power you’re using is not the green variety, things change again. It’s a moving target, to be sure.

Either way, Kia claims energy consumption of 20.6kWh per 100km which is higher than many EV rivals but reflects the dual motors and even elements like the 21-inch performance tyres (Pirelli Pilot Sports) rather than the lower-resistance EV-specific tyres of most others.

The GT is also a bit of a hero when it comes to regeneration during braking. The car is capable of producing 0.6G from regeneration alone, and as much as 320kWh of regenerated energy during full braking.

There is just one massive battery in the e-tron range, a huge 83.7kWh (net) lithium-ion unit. This grants the GT a driving range of 540km to the more lenient NEDC (rather than WLTP) standard, while the RS scores 504km of range.

The battery is an 800-volt unit, with an integrated water-cooled design which helps the e-tron GT join the Taycan, Kia EV6, and Hyundai Ioniq 5 as one of the fastest-charging EVs on the market.

On a compatible DC charger which can hit this car’s 270kW peak, the e-tron GT can charge from 5-80 per cent in just 22 and a half minutes.

To help this process along, setting the destination to a charger in the car’s built-in navigation will help to pre-condition the battery to ideal charging temperatures.

Other impressive charging specs include the option to install a 22kW AC inverter, bringing the ‘slow charging’ time down to just four hours if you can find a compatible unit.

Otherwise the standard rate is an acceptable 11kW. The e-tron GT is also one of the only EVs on the market with AC charging outlets on either side, ensuring you won’t have to stretch to reach the nearest charging port.

The downside of all of this is the fact the e-tron GT, like its SUV sibling and Porsche Taycan relation, has a comparatively high energy consumption.

The official numbers are 19.2kWh/100km for the standard GT, or 20.2kWh/100km for the RS. These numbers are already high, but we saw significantly higher again on our test route.

While you probably won’t be driving the car as thoroughly during the every-day commute, I have experienced similarly high numbers in the mid-20kWh/100km range in the e-tron SUV during standard weekly testing, so expect similar. Good thing it charges quickly.

Let’s cut to the – literal – chase: Acceleration. Any car with a nought to 100km/h time of 3.5 seconds is a serious performer, but even then, the first time you launch the GT, the sheer ferocity of the car’s response will surprise you.

It’s more like being shot out of a cannon than leaving the start-line, thanks to that instant torque, but the Kia also does it incredibly easily and fuss-free.

Where a lot of truly powerful cars struggle with grip, scrabbling and fighting against the traction control as they battle to get moving, the Kia simply takes off for the horizon.

There’s little squat, no loss of grip and just a seamless supply of Newton-metres. Your grandmother could launch this car as hard and fast as Lewis Hamilton could.

But where a lot of electric cars offer similar levels of traction and acceleration, the EV6 GT adds a whole new dimension.

Where much of the competition becomes a victim of its own kerb mass and the weight shift that comes with it, the Kia is an altogether more dynamic contraption, putting to the sword the theory that EVs are for straight-line stuff only.

The big, sticky Michelin tyres and the beautifully considered damper calibrations (the local experts’ work) combined with the quick steering rack and better-than-average steering feel and feedback, means the GT can not only be driven quickly around corners, it can also maintain its composure (and pace) even on a patchy, lumpy surface.

Where its velocity and steering angle suggests it should start sliding, it doesn’t. Where a corner-exit bump and lots of throttle would make other cars lift a front wheel, the Kia almost senses the road before it and tailors its damper responses.

In fact, that ability to predict the road surface is closer to reality than you might think. While the GT’s adjustable suspension remains passive (or reactive) rather than truly active (seeing into the future) the algorithms that control the dampers are smart enough to look at steering angle, speed, throttle position as well as examine the road surface in ultra-quick real time and adopt a posture that irons out the worst and keeps the wheels on the road.

Talking to the engineers who achieved this feat reveals a lot about what goes into making a two-tonne, high-horsepower car behave itself. As in, hundreds of passes over the same piece of road with full instrumentation on board and the brain power to interpret that data.

But if a car with so much roll stiffness can also offer the ride composure that this one does on 21-inch tyres, then those hundreds of passes have been well worth the effort.

As per Kia’s claim of track-readiness, we also got the chance to drive the EV6 GT at the tight, twisting, narrow Haunted Hills hillclimb circuit in Victoria’s Gippsland.

Frankly, the Kia simply has too much power for this track and we reckon it’s better left in Sport rather than GT mode where the power is a little softer and the car is not as fervent in chasing torque from the front axle to the rear and back again to dial out sliding.

It would be a different matter on a faster, flowing circuit like Phillip Island, but at Haunted Hills, driving the GT was a bit like trying to land a four metre shark in a three metre tinny.

Either way, however, the car’s on-road encouragement and dynamic poise is enough to convince us that this is one of the first EVs to actually speaks the same language as the enthusiast driver. And you can pretty much thank the Aussie suspension engineers for that.

You’re probably wondering if you can even see out of the e-tron GT given its low-set shape and seemingly small windows, but the answer is yes. Mostly.

There’s decent visibility out the front with surprisingly good mirror coverage to see out the rear, although the rear window is a bit hopeless, offering just a letterbox aspect of what’s behind you.

The seating position is excellent, though, allowing you to sit nice and close to the ground, rare for an EV.

It feels every bit the sports car it claims to be, and when you step on the accelerator pedal it is ridiculously, enormously fast.

Even if you’re already at velocities higher than 100km/h, the e-tron can draw from a well of seemingly limitless torque to jolt you forward even faster.

One of its most impressive traits, and I think the e-tron GT shares this with the Taycan, is how the car seems to shrink the faster you drive it.

Particularly in RS trim with the four-wheel steer, this doesn’t feel like a two-and-a-half tonne, five-metre long grand touring monolith, responding to your inputs with the agility of a much lighter two-door coupe.

It ducks and darts around corners, and while its steering seems to have a noticeable artificial component, regardless of drive mode, the all-wheel steer isn’t as invasive as you think it’s going to be.

In fact, it’s only noticeable when driven back-to-back with the base car which doesn’t have it, with the RS having noticeably better road holding with the tech equipped.

It furiously holds onto corners, with the electric all-wheel drive and fat tyres keeping everything under control. You have to be really irresponsible in this car to get the tyres to even scream out in pain, let alone slip, a feat I suspect 90 per cent of buyers won’t come close to experiencing.

These observations, mind you, come from exclusively on-road use of the e-tron GT. It will be curious to see how it handles more punishing conditions on-track, for the rare set of buyers this will appeal to.

For those keeping it to road-use, the adjustable air suspension grants pretty impressive ride quality considering the size of this car’s wheels and its overall weight.

It’s excellent at smoothing out corrugations and shrugging off smaller bumps, but when dealing with bigger hits this car can’t quite hide its limitations. Things go from ‘ooh’ to ‘owch’ very quickly as the dampers and bump stops intervene.

On the whole though, this car is hugely impressive. Does it feel like a Taycan? Yes, actually. This is one area where the two EVs feel their most similar. But the Taycan is awesome, so this is high praise for the Audi.

All the key active gear is present, and refreshingly, aside from the arguably unnecessary laser-equipped LED headlights, nothing is on the options list.

The e-tron GT is equipped with autobahn-speed auto emergency braking with vulnerable road user (cyclist and pedestrian) detection, as well as intersection assist.

There is also lane keep assist with lane departure warning, adaptive cruise control, and blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert and rear auto braking.

This combines with the clever all-wheel drive system and array of front, side, and curtain airbags to make for a theoretically safe car, although the e-tron GT is yet to be rated by either ANCAP or EuroNCAP.

Like all modern EVs, the Kia should be cheaper to maintain than conventional cars purely because there are fewer moving parts.

Energy costs will come down to where you charge from and whether you have access to home solar panels.

The warranty is typically Kia-good, though, with seven years and unlimited kilometres on the basic car and seven years and 150,000km on all high-voltage components.

Kia offers a three-year, five-year and seven-year servicing plan at $733, $1371 and $2013, respectively.

Service intervals are every 12 months or 15,000km, whichever comes first.

Audis now have a competitive five year and unlimited kilometre warranty, and the e-tron GT also scores a separate and industry-standard eight-year warranty for its high-voltage battery components.

The additional ownership perks for this car are significant, however. Audi throws in complementary installation of a 7.2kW wall charger at your home, as well as a six-year Chargefox membership, making your energy consumption free from public outlets for the first six years of ownership.

There’s also free servicing for six years (covering the first three bi-annual or 30,000km visits). A truly premium car with no truly premium service costs? What’s not to like about that?