Publisher's note: Normally, the cars you read about here at MikeHagertyCars.com are loaned to us by the press fleets of the various manufacturers for several days. Seven is typical. Occasionally, we'll get a longer period of time, and sometimes it'll only be three or four days. Our "30 Minutes With" series features cars we spent half an hour driving during this spring's Western Automotive Journalists Media Day in Half Moon Bay, California.
Needless to say, these are quick drives and brief impressions that we hope to be able to flesh out with a full review of the vehicle at some point in the near future.
Media Days is a driving program, with journalists taking cars from the staging area at our host hotel, the Aristocrat, down Highway 1 to Highway 84, onto Stage Road (named for the former stagecoach stop still---but barely---standing on the corner), past the historic (since 1889), socially-aware and only-in-Northern-California funky San Gregorio General Store, through some marvelous twists and turns that lead back to Highway 1 and ultimately back to the hotel.
At the hotel, support teams from Page One Automotive and DriveShop sanitize the vehicles as they return while journalists choose their next vehicle from a total of 20 cars, trucks and SUVs provided by their manufacturers. This goes on for eight hours on day one, minus a 90-minute lunch break, and for three hours on day two.
The last car I had the opportunity to drive was the 2022 Kia EV6 GT-Line.
I was already familiar with the EV6, having driven an EV6 Wind from our home in Suburban Sacramento to Half Moon Bay for Media Days. That story covers most of what there is to say about the EV6, so let's use this opportunity to talk about the EV6 line.
All EV6s are battery-electric vehicles. The differences are in power, range and number of wheels driven. The base EV6 is called the Light. It starts at $41,400, is rear-wheel drive with 167 horsepower and an EPA estimated range of 232 miles per charge.
The Wind RWD, which we drove to Half Moon Bay, has a starting price of $47,500. Power bumps up to 225 horsepower and range increases to 310 miles. There's also a Wind e-AWD with 320 horsepower. The range then dips to 274 miles.
There's also the GT-Line, in RWD (base price $51,700) and e-AWD form (base price $56,400). Their power and range specs mirror those of the Wind RWD and Wind e-AWD. The differences are in available colors, exterior trim and wheels (GT-Lines ride on 20-inchers, while the Wind has 19s).
I haven't driven the base Light model, but the Wind and the GT-Line are both tremendous vehicles that will open a lot of eyes about what electric vehicles are today. Which you choose is purely a matter of style. You can't go wrong either way.
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