12 Months with a Kia EV6 GT — Putting the Hoons in Their Place

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We met up with Shayne and Amy Aberhart at our Bundaberg EV display as part of Agrotrend. Amy was there to look after the First Aid needs of the attendees, and Shayne came along later to chat about his Kia EV6 GT. In a fortuitous turn of events, Amy happened across our Tesla while she was looking for a place to park. We talked her into leaving her car to be part of our display. We were in dire need of more EVs, as we only had our Tesla Model 3 SR and John Baldwin’s MG4 to show the public.

We had previously had a brief look at the Kia EV6 GT in Gympie, where it was touted as the world’s best performance car. But the salesman didn’t really know the car.

Now was a chance to talk to someone who had lived with and enjoyed the Kia EV6 for a year. Shayne shared his love of the Kia in conversation with Majella and I smelled an interesting article cooking in my head, so here we go in his own words:

By Shayne Aberhart

I guess I’ll start off with some priming information. I ride motorbikes primarily — a GSX-1300R and a ZX-14R. Some record-breaking machines, so you understand that I love to go fast.

I chose the KIA EV6 GT because I wanted to go fast and have fun, while maintaining a subtle enough look to blend in, but slick enough to be proud to own by looks alone. My partner wanted a car that she could fit more in and have more ground clearance than the old 2007 Chrysler 300C SRT we used to drive daily. We’ve since sold the Chrysler and rely solely on the EV6 since we have total faith in it after around 6 months. I primarily work from home with a second job, so there’s no arguing over who takes it for the day, but when we go out together, I always insist on driving. It’s just too much fun.

We looked at a few cars over a week, and notably a WRX STI. After that test drive the salesman asked how it was. “Incredibly underwhelming” I said with confidence and my response shocked the poor guy. You’d expect something with an STI badge to get up and out the gate like a mad bull on a mission, but instead it just kinda moseyed along like a wounded cow. I also drove a Hyundai Kona…. But we won’t talk about that.

There weren’t many other cars that could even compare. Teslas around town were all second hand and in my opinion have replaced the Holden commodore in popularity around cities. I wanted something I hadn’t seen often. The Hyundai Ioniq 5 with its retro-futuristic look and Inoiq 6 were a close second and third choice. Some notable options were the Jaguar E-Pace and even a Range Rover hybrid, which we didn’t test drive, unfortunately.

Our job consists of sometimes being called at early hours of the morning, and the Kia EV6 GT is perfect for sneaking away at night without disturbing the neighbours or even the local pets in the area.

Amy and I work as funeral directors. Amy does all the day work, meeting with families, industry partners, and travelling between multiple sites many MANY times a day. I assist with the night duties along with Amy and we’ve been doing this together for well over 10 years. During the day, the car is usually sitting in a car park around very affluent buildings, so it fits in very well amongst some high priced Mercedes, BMW, and Porsche cars to name a few. During work services, it’s even used by colleagues to sneak away without disturbing proceedings. But we’re pretty sure they just want an excuse to drive it.

We’ve had the car (affectionately called Eevee) for almost exactly 1 year at the time of writing this and haven’t regretted it for a moment.

Charging has never been an issue. Never got caught out in the middle of nowhere, and every other EV owner will either move on to another charger closer to their destination if we REALLY needed to charge or nobody was at the stations and it was a breeze.

Lack of charging stations isn’t an issue, as I’m sure you’re aware. It’s lack of high-powered charging stations that’s an issue. Though, I have no problems with walking around and grabbing a coffee or having a quick feed while I explore the local area.

Long distances to places I’ve never been in the car can be a little nerve racking, but once you’ve done it once and plan the route, those worries disappear the next time.

People comment on the car all the time, want to know what it is, range, comforts, etc.

And getting looks from the footpath are always ego boosting, just wish I had an engine to rev though. But the sound system by Meridian is top tier, very pleasing to the ears, and I know they can always hear the thumping coming from the little subwoofer in the boot.

I have taken on many car enthusiasts (both Japanese and muscle) — newer drivers that are inexperienced and believe their cars are faster than sound, usually sporting a P-Plate on their car and quite a few motorbikes for a drag — since I’ve had it. The Kia handles like a rollercoaster and takes off like a cut snake. Always met with smiles afterwards and comments like “Holy S#*t that thing’s fast.”

Being in a small town hasn’t caused many issues. I can get from one side to the other with stop-go traffic and the car only uses maybe 5% battery. But that’s all relative and dependant on temperature, air-con usage, and whether I decide to ever take it out of sport-mode.

Actually, I see a lot of Kia EV6s getting around town, but just the base models and they have government plates … usually parked at the hospital or the department of transport.

I’m glad the police are starting to look into EVs for their cars. They’ll keep up with almost everything on the road with the low centre of gravity, but the yellow colour will probably make me laugh if I see one in person. It’s just not a flattering visual for the EV6.

When I first got the car, I took my retired police friend for a ride in it and it blew his socks off, he couldn’t believe it was that quick off the showroom floor.

I also took my very wealthy boss for a ride and now he wants one. He even said, “You’d pay for a top dollar Porsche to get this smooth and fast of a ride.” After those experiences, I always tell people to put their heads on the headrest before showing them what it can do.

Always my go-to for a fun hoon session and putting XR6 turbos in their place. But if I want to show off, be a nuisance, beat anyone on the road and get away… it’ll be the bikes.

Thanks, Amy and Shayne — looks like the Queensland police have been listening. See the news report in this video. It might be worth the cost of a ticket to be pulled over by one of these. In the regional city of Bundaberg, the future is bright and electric.