• by Tanya Gazdik , Staff Writer, September 30, 2024

Editor's Note: This story ran in a previous edition.

It takes a pretty special vehicle to make Los Angeles traffic bearable. 

I was out in LA last week to attend the funeral of a dear friend and mentor, Linda Deutsch.  

Linda and I worked on opposite sides of the country when we were both at The Associated Press -- she was a prolific courts reporter for more than 40 years covering the trials of everyone from Charles Manson to Michael Jackson to O.J. Simpson -- but it was years later that we struck up a friendship via the Journalism & Women Symposium, a professional journalist group. 

The funeral was like no other I have ever attended. Judge Lance Ito (who presided over the Simpson trial) and Thomas Mesereau, (Jackson’s lawyer) were among the speakers. At the end of the service, we all joined together to sing “Can’t Help Falling in Love” because Linda was a huge Elvis Presley fan. Linda would have loved the whole thing so much. 

I had the opportunity to test-drive the Kia EV6 GT while I was out there.

Today is World EV Day, so it makes sense that I review an electric vehicle. And there are not many EVs that are more fun than a Kia EV6 GT to drive. 

I spent more time driving than mourning on Wednesday, unfortunately, but the Kia EV6 GT definitely took the edge off.  

The sleek and stylish steel matte gray powerhouse that I drove offered 576 horsepower and 545 lb.-ft. of torque. Sadly, I didn’t have much of a chance to really enjoy those horses on the congested L.A. freeways. But when I did, I couldn’t help but giggle. There’s no power like you find in an EV, trust me on this. 

Probably more important in L.A. traffic was the advanced driver-assistance systems including forward collision avoidance, blind spot assistance, rear cross-traffic collision avoidance and lane-keeping assistance.,

I don’t know how anyone could survive driving out there with adaptive cruise, which automatically slows you down and speeds you back up in stop-and-go traffic. 

The MSRP, including options and destination and handling, tallies $64,090. It’s a bargain for this kind of performance, safety and comfort, not to mention the environmentally friendly aspects of owning an EV.  

Fuel economy is 88 MPGe city and 77 MPGe highway for a combined 83 city/highway. You will save $5,250 in fuel costs over five years, compared to the average new vehicle. But maybe more important, you’ll enjoy yourself while doing it -- even in traffic jams.