The car

It's a 2022 Kia EV6 'Earth', painted metallic grey and featuring tan-coloured 'vegan' leather upholstery. Bought in February of this year, the car has covered less than 1,500 kilometres.

The owner

Tony O'Brien is a public relations consultant and former journalist (Environment Correspondent with the Irish Independent). He lives in Shankill, Co. Dublin.

"I've owned a wide variety of cars in the past - no particular brand loyalty - from Opel to Renault, Alfa Romeo to Land Rover, Saab to Ford. Always looking for something different.

"As I work from home, daily mileage can be very low, just meetings round the city or city centre. I occasionally visit clients in Wicklow and Wexford.

"I'm a pretty relaxed driver, but the EV6 allows for speed and power if you need it on dual-carriageways and motorways."

Tony's previous car was a Ford Mondeo Hybrid. "I wanted to start the move away from diesel so moved from a diesel Mondeo to Ford's hybrid model. With the impact of climate change plus rising petrol/diesel costs (and this was before the invasion of Ukraine) and the knowledge that government policy was to phase out the use of fossil fuels, I decided I wanted to go fully electric.

The ownership experience

Before choosing the EV6, Tony did his research:
"I looked at Hyundai, Peugeot, VW and Kia. Wasn't overwhelmed by any of them until I saw and test drove the EV6 - that really excited me, which is very important for such a significant purchase. Another key factor: none of the other salesmen offered me a test drive there and then. Nor did they give me a trade-in value there and then. The Kia salesman did both."

And has the EV6 worked out for him?

"I'm delighted with my choice: the Kia EV6 is a beautiful, super-equipped car and ticks all the boxes. The most expensive car I ever bought, but a surprisingly good trade-in value on my Mondeo plus government grant helped get it over the line."

Advice to prospective buyers

"I would heartily recommend the Kia EV6, if you can afford it. Secondly, do your research: read the motoring reviews and use sources such as CompleteCar.ie (Thanks Tony: cheque's in the post - Ed) and then visit various dealers to look at and drive the different models.

"An important piece of advice I would give concerns range, one of the key factors in terms of choosing an EV. I have noticed pretty wild fluctuations in the range stated on my dashboard. If it says 400km on the screen, turn on the heater or the air conditioning and watch it drop instantly by 20/30km. Also, higher speed can reduce the range."