Kia EV6 vs VW ID.4

The Kia EV6 costs £8,640 more than the VW ID.4. For that premium it adds 93 kW faster peak rapid charging. The VW ID.4 is not just cheaper - it also offers 42 kW more power and a 1.0s quicker 0-62mph time. On EVcarsguide's combined category scores, the VW ID.4 comes out ahead overall.

The VW ID.4 is £8,640 cheaper to buy. Running costs are almost identical - about £152 a year either way, at 8,000 miles on an off-peak home tariff. Add 5 years of charging and the VW ID.4 comes out roughly £8,680 cheaper overall. These figures cover list price and home charging only - insurance, servicing, tyres and depreciation will move the real total.

EVcarsguide estimates a real-world motorway range of about 301 miles for the Kia EV6 and 293 miles for the VW ID.4 - effectively matched, and both well below their WLTP figures because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. A rapid charge to 80% takes around 18 minutes in the Kia EV6 and 29 in the VW ID.4, so the Kia EV6 loses less time at each stop.

The VW ID.4 is the easier car for tight UK car parks: it is 38 mm narrower than the Kia EV6. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 548 mm of total clearance for the VW ID.4 and about 510 mm of total clearance for the Kia EV6. The VW ID.4 also turns in a 1.4 m tighter circle, which helps with U-turns and multi-storey ramps.

Over a 8-year ownership window EVcarsguide's degradation model projects roughly 89% battery health for the Kia EV6 and 84% for the VW ID.4. That gives the Kia EV6 a modest edge in retained real-world range. Both use NMC-type cells, so for daily use keep the charge limit near 80% to slow degradation.