Introduction to the 2025 Kia EV6 GT
The original Kia EV6 GT, while always a supremely rapid thing thanks to its 585hp dual-motor set-up, was never quite as good in the corners as it was at effortlessly shrinking the straights - perhaps best exemplifying the small but significant difference between something which is a very fast EV, and then another vehicle which is a properly gratifying driver's car.
Well, applying both the facelifted looks of the rest of the EV6 range on the outside to some of the learnings taken from sibling company Hyundai and its blistering Ioniq 5 N underneath, now we have the new and improved 2025-model-year GT to play with.
Packing a huge 650hp and using tech that can mimic internal-combustion-powered performance cars, does the Kia finally convince as a dynamic superstar? To find out, we spent two days on some of Scotland's very finest roads in the latest EV6 GT, assessing its relative strengths and weaknesses.
Pros & Cons of the 2025 Kia EV6 GT
Pros: Superb chassis upgrades, monster performance, smart looks and interior
Cons: Fake engine noise, needs more 'revs', ever so slightly buttoned-down
Exterior & Design of the 2025 Kia EV6 GT
• New 'Star Map' front light signature
• Smooth shape still looks appealing
• Neon Green accents highlight GT
The Kia EV6's generally smoothed-off shape, complete with its distinctive 'Kamm' tail, continues to turn heads despite the fact we've been familiar with its form since 2021 now.
For the GT, there are some subtle differentiators from the rest of the range, the most obvious being the exquisite and variant-unique 21-inch alloy wheels, from behind which some Neon Green brake callipers peep out.
The whole muscled-down stance and gloss-black detailing help with giving the EV6 GT some real presence as you walk up to it, but compared to the Ioniq 5 N (we don't want to keep making comparisons to the Hyundai, but it is inevitable given how much the two cars share) it's a rather underplayed effort.
Some people will love that, of course, and the Kia is a 'GT', when all's said and done, so maybe this is an aesthetic case of discretion being the better part of valour.
Beyond that, the most obvious change from the GT it replaces is the 'Star Map' angular front-light signature, which the flagship shares with every other updated-for-2025 EV6 in the range.
It, along with a revised rear-lamp array, does freshen the Kia's overall appearance up just enough to make it stand out, so visually the GT passes the first important test.
The EV6 GT's dimensions are:
Length: 4,695mm
Width: 1,890mm
Height: 1,545mm
Wheelbase: 2,900mm
Just five colours are available for the range-topping EV6 GT: White Pearl, Wolf Grey, Midnight Black, Runway Red and Yacht Matt Blue. It's likely the white will be the standard colour, with the next three all commanding an upgrade fee, while Yacht Matt Blue will be the most expensive paint finish by some distance, although it is exclusive and new for the GT.
Interior, Practicality, Tech & Comfort of the 2025 Kia EV6 GT
• Ergonomically superb
• Integration of tech works well
• New bucket seats are lovely
The Kia's interior didn't need drastic overhaul work as part of the range-wide facelift, and whereas the 'regular' models toned down the piano-black trim to prevent greasy finger-marks, the GT builds on that with its own distinctive set of features.
And nothing more so than all the Neon Green highlights, which clothe the steering wheel (stitching and 12 o'clock marker), the GT Mode button on the wheel, and which can be found on a set of magnificent, low-mounted, figure-hugging bucket seats.
Overall, it's a pleasing effect and the bright, eye-catching shade always surreptitiously reminds you you're in the 650hp model as you're driving along, even if the cabin in a broader sense isn't the most dramatic as high-performance cars tend to go.
No qualms with the GT's technology, though, as the twin 12.3-inch screens you'd find in any EV6 are retained here; they're augmented by bespoke displays, principally when you click the car into its most aggressive GT Mode and the cluster changes its look completely.
Alongside these is a customisable head-up display for the driver - which quickly conveys concise information thanks to its graphical clarity and size - as well as the innovative strip on the centre stack of the Kia that you can switch from infotainment controls to shortcuts for the onboard climate control. Although these aren't 'real' buttons, they work almost as smoothly and so the GT's cabin is off to a flyer: looks good, is beautifully built, works intuitively.
That it then layers on top loads of practicality is merely the icing on the cake. The EV6 GT is on the 'E-GMP' platform, dedicated to electric propulsion, and so the floor of the cabin is completely flat throughout the passenger compartment.
That not only leads to enough leg- and headroom in the second row to make carrying three adults look like it might be feasible, though there's not a lot of space under the low front seats for feet.
Up front, there's a raised centre console, replete with useful storage features, the wireless smartphone charging pad, cupholders and some physical switchgear (for the climate seats, powering the car on and off, and the rotary drive selector).
And then you have a good-sized boot, rated at 480 litres with all seats in use and accessed by a powered tailgate as standard. This rises to 1,260 litres with the second row folded away, which is not bad but not huge as 4.7-metre-long cars go.
The EV6 additionally has 20 litres of under-bonnet storage, which should be enough to house the charging cables. All in all, for a car of this sort of extraordinary performance level and purported driver involvement, the EV6 GT is far more practical than many of the alternatives.
Performance of the 2025 Kia EV6 GT
• Astonishing speed
• Feels sharper to drive than before
• Has Kia gone far enough?
Kia turned to the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N for inspiration when updating the EV6 GT, so that - from a purely technical standpoint - its car no longer looks inferior to its H-badged relation.
That means Kia's engineers have enacted substantial chassis and steering updates on what was already an uprated set-up compared to other EV6s anyway, while also tweaking the rear-mounted electronically controlled limited-slip differential to cope.
Strong brakes also help to rein in a car which has been emboldened by the addition of another 65hp and 30Nm of maximum outputs.
Originally at 585hp and 740Nm, the EV6 GT was hardly lacking in the first place. But here, it is blessed with 5 N-matching figures of 650hp and 770Nm; it's easy to be blasé about monumental EV outputs these days, we know, but they're still huge digits for any five-door car, never mind a Kia.
What's perhaps of more interest is that not only has the GT taken chassis learnings, the bigger battery pack and added power of the Ioniq 5 N, but also two of the Hyundai's best parlour tricks that make it feel like a bona fide driver's car despite its size and mass: namely, the Virtual Gear Shift (VGS) and the Active Sound Design (ASD).
VGS interrupts the torque delivery of the mighty dual motors on the Kia, to simulate a dual-clutch gearbox going through its ratios (even though the car has the usual single-speed reduction-gear transmission of any EV), while ASD tries to team up with that to make it sound like the EV6 GT has a petrol engine - when it patently doesn't.
Let's start with the good stuff, of which there is plenty. All of these changes, all of these updates, all of these augmentations for the new GT have drastically improved what was already a good EV to start with. So where the pre-facelift car was fast yet not always the most fun, this one feels like an entirely different kettle of fish.
You can tell almost instantly from the lovely weight, responsiveness and directness of the steering, which feels super-serious from inch one. You can discern it from the exceptional damping, operating at a level above what came before due to the way it firmly soaks up low-speed lumps and bumps, with the dignified gait it bestows on the EV6 at faster road speeds, and the way it keeps close control over both the shell of the vehicle and its big, unsprung 21-inch wheels at all four corners - without the car ever bouncing down the road nor coming across as uncomfortable.
So when you add it all up and you're on a particularly interesting road, you'll adore it. There are few EVs, and indeed not that many performance cars with an internal-combustion engine either, that would be able to match its abilities.
Nor, it should almost go without saying, its speed. There is simply no need for this sort of thunderous power and performance in a road car, but the mischievous side of us says that it is wonderful to have the sort of easily accessible haymaker punch that the GT possesses at your beck and call.
The problem, if it can be described as such, is that you know what this hardware could be - and, unfortunately, the EV6 GT never quite attains those immense dynamic heights. It feels as if Kia didn't quite commit to this driver's car lunacy with the same gusto and abandon that Hyundai did with the Ioniq 5 N.
So whereas that latter can sometimes fool you into forgetting you're even in an EV in the first place, with its sublime dynamics and magic-trick-drivetrain, the GT can't pull off the same incredible feat.
The Kia's chassis just isn't quite as playful nor as rear-led, despite the fact its trailing-axle motor is the one providing most of the grunt. It's agile and composed and involving to a degree for its driver, but there's not ever a moment where it feels like you're flustering its monumental all-corners grip; it feels very foursquare and assured, but not massively adjustable on the accelerator.
And then there's the VGS and ASD. These are nowhere near as convincing on the Kia as they are on the Hyundai. For the former, the EV6 GT only simulates six gears instead of eight, which wouldn't be such a problem if the car didn't then hit its artificial 'rev limiter' at a synthetic 6,500rpm.
With the colossal 770Nm on tap, you can rip through all of first to fifth 'gears' in the Kia in the blink of an eye at full acceleration, so you get a rather turbodiesel-like driving experience where you're always upshifting much earlier that you want to.
Kudos to Kia for including the function that the GT won't shift up at the redline if you're in the most aggressive drive modes, which is 'proper' sports car behaviour, but it all feels too sudden and rushed to provide a genuinely cohesive experience.
On top of this, the noise the EV6 GT makes is cloying and thick and buzzy, and it doesn't sound like an engine at all - it's more like the EV fakery we've heard before, that can put proper petrolheads' backs up.
It's also not very loud, which you might think is a blessing given the artificiality of it, and what we can't work out for the life of us is why Kia didn't seek to make the car mimic the lovely V6 growl you used to get in the 3.3-litre Stinger.
Given just how fabulous the GT is in the wider scheme of EVs, you might think we're probably nitpicking here - and maybe we are. Additionally, for many buyers, the more reserved looks and manners of the EV6 GT will suit them far better than the brash, overt menace of the Ioniq 5 N.
But, in our opinion, this car is a nine-out-of-ten machine, when it could've been full marks - just like the Hyundai. It's a case of so very, very close... yet no cigar.
Range, Battery & Charging of the 2025 Kia EV6 GT
• Battery size increased eight per cent
• Max charging speed up to 258kW on DC
• Official 450km of range
Kia has enhanced both the size of the battery (from 77.4- to 84kWh) and the maximum DC charging speed (from 233- to 258kW) by eight per cent, which accordingly increases the GT's one-shot driving range from 424- to 450km this time around, while simultaneously preserving the 18-minute 10-to-80 per cent fastest charging time.
Bear in mind we saw an increased consumption rate of 25.8kWh/100km across 440km of mixed-roads (and fairly rapid) testing, which'd mean something more like 310km of real-world driving from the roughly 80kWh of usable energy. Essentially, the more you enjoy the EV6 GT's mighty performance, the sooner you'll be back at an electrical hook-up to recharge the battery pack.
Meanwhile, the Kia's maximum AC charging rate is 11kW, at which speed it would need seven hours 35 minutes for a 10-100-per-cent top-up. On the more typical 7.4kW, you'd be looking at nearer to 11 hours to get the same job done.
Running Costs of the 2025 Kia EV6 GT
• Low motor tax like all EVs
• Excellent seven-year, 150,000km warranty
• Fixed service plans from €540
Few cars with this supreme level of performance will be as cheap to run as the Kia EV6 GT. The zero-tailpipe emissions result in an annual €120 rate of motor tax, as with every EV on sale in the country, while the GT is subject to the same excellent Kia seven-year, 150,000km warranty as any other model from the manufacturer.
There are then an array of fixed-price servicing plans available for the EV6, which can either be paid for in a lump sum or financed as part of your monthly payments. Go with the former and two services will cost you €540 up front, rising to €1,455 for five services, while the latter would require between 20 and 50 monthly payments ranging from €25.76 to €29.12 per month for the same thing.
Bear in mind these figures are for servicing the regular EV6 - it may be the GT requires additional attention and could yet have increased fees as a result.
Irish Pricing & Rivals of the 2025 Kia EV6 GT
• Availability in Ireland not confirmed
• Could be similar to pre-facelift GT at c.€85.000
• Related Hyundai Ioniq 5 N its main threat
Kia Ireland isn't currently planning to bring the updated EV6 GT into the country, but we'd expect it to come in at around the €85,000 required for the pre-facelift version if it did.
For reference, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N starts from €79,995.
The new GT will come with nigh-on everything fitted that you could possibly want. So bank on 21-inch alloy wheels, rear privacy glass, LED exterior lighting, artificial suede upholstery, heating elements for four seats (all but the centre-rear position) and the steering wheel plus ventilation in the front seats, electric front-seat and steering column adjustment with driver memory function, automatic climate control, alloy pedals, a powered tailgate, twin 12.3-inch digital screens plus a customisable head-up display, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, wireless smartphone charging, a 14-speaker Meridian premium sound system, customisable ambient lighting, digital key and fingerprint recognition, all-round parking sensors with a 360-degree camera system, adaptive cruise control, a heat pump, and then a whole wealth of advanced driver assistance systems.
Verdict - Should You Buy the 2025 Kia EV6 GT
In the purest terms, the updated Kia EV6 GT is a marvellous machine and one of the most edifying EVs to drive you could imagine. Fast, assured and rewarding, the changes have built on the sound foundations put in place by the pre-facelift GT to deliver a car which deserves to be talked about as one of the pioneers of electric models that prioritise driver enjoyment above other concerns.
There is the nagging doubt, however, that Kia didn't quite go the whole hog with the hardware it had at its disposal, and so the most discerning of drivers are still going to pick the superior Ioniq 5 N instead.
That said, the kinematic gap between these two stablemates is much narrower than it has ever been, and we should therefore simply rejoice in the fact that Korea is now clearly at the forefront of the EV revolution - providing the sort of zero-emission machines, such as this fantastic new GT, that truly crank up the desirability factor for car enthusiasts.
FAQs About the 2025 Kia EV6 GT
Why is the more-powerful Kia EV6 GT not any quicker?
It's to do with the increased weight of the battery pack, up by 6.6kWh to an overall 84kWh, which takes the Kia's unladen weight to bang on 2.2 tonnes. So even with an additional 65hp and 30Nm to play with, the performance stays the same. Mind, it's hard to complain with 0-100km/h in 3.5 seconds and a 260km/h top speed, isn't it?
What are the other models in the range besides the Kia EV6 GT?
Kia Ireland currently offers the EV6 in both Earth and GT-Line specifications, both equipped with a single rear-mounted motor making 229hp and the 84kWh battery pack. These start at €49,510 with up to 582km of range possible.
Want to know more about the Kia EV6 GT?
Is there anything else you'd like to know about the Kia EV6 GT? Or anything you feel we haven't covered here? Then just head over to our Ask Us Anything section and, well, ask us anything.
