• High-quality cabin, improved for the facelift
• New steering wheel is a big improvement
• Heating and stereo controls are fiddly

How is the quality and layout?

The facelifted Kia EV6 is even more high-quality than the old model. The brand has introduced a few new soft-touch materials on the dashboard and centre console, and a fresh steering wheel (poached from the larger Kia EV9 SUV). The tweaks have made a good interior better.

The layout leaves a little to be desired, but we think that’s more for our love of simplicity rather than Kia’s inherent bad design. We’ll explain. There’s a haptic panel under the touchscreen that’s used to control either the stereo and nav or the climate controls. You switch between the two modes using a toggle on the left-hand side of the panel.

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They feel properly futuristic to use, but we don’t like how you need to take your eyes off the road to operate them. Simple push buttons would be far more intuitive. Once you’re on the correct screen, you can at least use the physical dials on either side of the panel to adjust the volume and radio station or the climate control temperatures. There’s still a shred of common-sense thinking buried in the space-age tech.

Infotainment and tech

As before, the EV6 has two 12.3-inch screens. The one in the middle handles your media and navigation functions, while the one ahead of the driver displays your speed, driving range and safety info. Most of the stuff in the cabin is controlled from the touchscreen, which we’re not normally fond of because of how distracting it is on the road.

But the EV6’s screen is mounted high up on the dashboard within your line of sight, so it makes the best of a bad situation. We’d have liked to see Kia’s take on a BMW iDrive-ish click wheel, though, as even our tallest tester found it a bit of stretch to reach the left-hand side of the screen from the driver’s seat. At least it has a good voice control setup.

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We rather like the EV6’s menu design. There are lots of screens to scroll through, but they’re all easy to read and well organised (apart from the driver assistance menu). If you’d rather not interact with Kia’s system, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are now fitted as standard. However, you don’t get a wireless smartphone charger as standard, which sort of defeats the point of the exercise for the cheapest Air model.

Happily, Kia’s new and spindlier steering wheel also lets you see the EV6’s cornering cameras on the gauge display. The pre-facelift car’s massive central spoke completely obscured them from view when turning.

Comfort

• Loads of space in the cabin
• ‘Relaxation’ seats recline when charging
• Good driving position

The EV6 is a comfortable car for both its driver and its passengers. There’s lots of adjustment in the driving position but, if we’re being particularly critical, we wish the steering wheel telescoped out of the dashboard a little further. Taller drivers will find they’re overreaching for it.

Kia’s ‘Relaxation’ seats are firm and supportive, and we’ve covered huge distances at the wheel of the EV6 without feeling stiff at the end of our journey. Road and wind noise is well-suppressed, too, which is good considering how quiet the powertrain is.

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Kia’s seats have a party piece, too. At the touch of a button, the front seats lift and recline, allowing occupants to stretch out, read a book or get some sleep. The company says they designed them like this to make the EV6 more comfortable to sit in while it’s parked or charging. We haven’t had to use them for very long, though. The EV6 charges too quickly for us to get settled.