An electric Kia that’s faster than a Lamborghini? The 2023 EV6 GT, driven

The first time we drove the EV6 was in January. The EV6 instantly impressed us, offering a less polarizing design and more playful handling than the Ioniq 5. The rear- and all-wheel drive can achieve excellent levels of efficiency, and the E-GMP has an 800 V battery pack that can be quickly charged.

My seat time in the EV6 confirmed the wisdom of hiring Albert Biermann away from BMW to build up the Korean automaker's research and development program. The EV6 GT is a limited-production variant of the EV6 that can take on some of the best cars in the world at a racetrack and cost less than $60,000.

The EV6 GT has the same 77.4 kWh battery pack as the other EV6s, but the EV6 Light has been discontinued. The EV6 GT's battery will provide more power to the electric motor that drives the front and rear wheels.

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The EV6 GT has 21-inch wheels shod with a performance tire. Even though the amount of regenerative braking has been increased, it's still possible to equip the EV6 GT with large, ventilated disc brakes. The car rides on electronically controlled dampers with revised spring rates and retuned steering compared to lesser EV6s, and there are unique front suspension components, plus new traction and stability control.

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You need to press the neon green GT button on the steering wheel to get all that power and Torque. In eco mode, the EV6 GT's power goes mostly to the rear motor for better efficiency, sending just 287hp of power to the motors. The maximum power of the batteries in normal and sport modes is enough to make this a quick EV even though it has a not-inconsiderable curb weight. The big brakes are explained by this as well.

If you press the green button, you'll get at least 70% state of charge remaining, which will allow the car to open all 576hp. The EV6 GT easily ran a quarter-mile time of 11.5 seconds at Las Vegas Motor Speedway's drag strip. The EV6 GT will keep going until it reaches 161 mph, a tenth of a second faster than the Model Y Performance and the Ford Mustang Mach-E GT.

On the track, I was able to properly explore GT mode's more permissive handling and found a car that will powerslide quite readily, but which is easy to catch. The suspension was able to cope with riding the curbs, although it's true that the road course at LVMS is flat, and the curbs are smooth and not tooth-rattling. A warmup lap in sport mode followed by laps in GT mode confirm just how much faster the latter is. And you'll be glad to know that the brakes work well, even though you do notice the car's mass on track when it's time to slow things down from speed.