The heart races behind the wheel of Kia's EV wonder

This review first appeared in the August 2023 edition of the Cruisin' News, "Oregon, Nevada and California's classic auto news & marketplace."

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Sacramento, California -- In the auto-reviewing game, you sometimes feel awash in a blizzard of motor vehicles. Models and their features start to blend together.  I guess, in some ways, you become jaded.

And then a vehicle like the 2023 Kia EV6 GT with all-wheel drive shows up at your door ... and gets your pulse racing.

I knew from the advance marketing that this all-electric compact crossover was something special. Kia showed the vehicle blazing around racetracks, noting that it was the most powerful production model in the history of the automaker.

But nothing prepared me for the reality that came with seat time.

This fire-breathing, 576-horsepower monster was neck-snapping performance in all its glory.

Over the years, I've driven only a few vehicles where I felt that I had to be extra careful not to let the machine get away from me.  This was one of them.

Just a nudge on the accelerator pressed me into the seat.  A hard hit from my right foot, and it was off to the races.

I'm talking about the kind of performance where you are rolling along amid 70 miles-per-hour traffic, and then suddenly everything around you is frozen to the spot as you blaze off into the distance. A serious rush.

For even well-known high-performance cars, that's the top end. But the EV6 GT takes it up a notch above that.

Positioned on the lower right side of the vehicle's steering wheel is a neon-green button that, if pushed, optimizes all key drive systems and essentially turns the vehicle into a low-level jet.

The GT button response is so strong that I recommend that a driver not push it until he/she is on a wide open stretch of freeway with few cars in sight.  And even then, get ready to hang on and keep that right foot ready to ease onto the brakes, lest you break into triple digits on the speedometer.

Those who have seen the NOS button in the "Fast and Furious" movie franchise (where special effects help produce a breathtaking visual of acceleration produced by a nitrous oxide blast) will appreciate the neon-green button in this KIA crossover.  It produces the same effect.

Naturally, with so much horsepower at hand, all vehicle systems have to be working at optimum levels.  And Kia did a super job with this. The dual electric motors, electronic suspension and electronic limited slip differential work seamlessly to produce eye-popping power and vehicle balance.

Because this is an EV, the over-the-top power production is guilt-free.  The fuel mileage equivalent is 85 miles per gallon in the city and 74 mpg on the highway.

Beyond the performance rush, the tested Kia had a generous lineup of interior comfort/convenience features and was comfortable throughout, with a bottom line on the sticker coming to $62,865.

Steven Center, chief operating officer and executive vice president of Kia America, probably says it best: “Moving toward our tailpipe zero-emissions goals has never been as exhilarating.”

Amen to that, brother.