Drove the Kia EV6 AWD base model
 

My younger brothers 2005 Mazda 3 he has babied since new just got a bad rod knock so we spent the day car shopping. He is only interested in new cars and we went to Toyota, Ford, Honda, Nissan, Hyundai, Dodge, Jeep, and Kia. Everybody is very out of stock. There was one Civic, one Accord, one Corolla, zero Camrys, etc. Now the Kia dealer just got in a EV6 they said wasn't for sale but we could test drive. It only had 40 miles on it and was a wind AWD with a $1500 camera package. I think about $52000 msrp. It was a really nice car. A nice combination of buttons and screens, tons of acceleration, 274 mile range, very roomy, not tall, but not short, pretty upright seating. We also drove the twin turbo GT2 Stinger which is supposedly a bit quicker 0-60 but I would say the butt meter thought the EV6 was quicker. Definitely quicker than my 400hp AWD Lincoln.

My brother was impressed enough to put a $1000 down to claim the next unspoken for one coming in in 3-5 weeks. Same options, just a steel grey color. They do have some markups, but they are more they require you to purchase a bunch of add ins, I think about $6000 worth. So it's not exactly just $6000 added to msrp, but the extended bumper to bumper warranty for 10 years, the ceramic coating, the windshield protection plan, the clear bra, etc. Are mandatory add ons. I personally can't drop $60k on a car although he will get that $7500 credit later if he moves all his IRA to roth, or maybe $5000 of it if he doesn't. We probably will help him put a level 2 charger in his garage but he thinks he might get by on the 110v. I doubt it. One funny thing is he owns the home but splits the power bill 3 ways with roommates. He laughed at thinking they now get to pay for 2/3 of his "gas". We have $.10/kw anyway.

Something like 3% of vehicles sold in the US are electric now. Not too bad. I bet he wouldn't have dropped $60k on any other Kia.

I wasn't sure if this vehicle shortage is media hype or reality. Sounds like it's real, then.

He could have had a Tesla for $60k, though...

An AWD? And then no tax credit. Plus this one is only a month out. They had a used Model 3 dual motor at another lot for $59,000 with 30,000 miles on it. We don't have a Tesla dealer or Tesla service here which is a big turn off. I would say the EV6 is nicer inside than a Model 3 too.

His other choice was the Stinger and a loaded GT2 does go almost to $70k but they would deal on that a little.

A quick drive past just about any dealership will show the new car shortage is real.

Why would he want a Tesla? Much more expensive and all the vehicle controls hidden in a touchscreen. Who wants to use a touchscreen to change the direction of your HVAC vents or change windshield wiper speeds?

I feel the same way about my landline. Prefer electro-mechnical switches.

I saw a EV6 in the flesh for the first time last week - someone at work has one.

Very much a wagon side profile but WOW that car is WIDE. I think it looks even better in person than in pictures.

He finally picked up his yesterday. He doesn't get his 40 amp 240 charger installed for like 10 days. Supposedly you get 1000 kwh of free fast charging at electrify america which they have a 350 kw right in his commute line of travel here. If not the dealer has a level 2 he could leave it at, and the dealer is about 4 blocks from his work. He's about 40-50 miles pre day so it should work out ok until he gets the home installed, and we are $.10 or $.11 per kwh right now here.