It’s Kia’s final boss: the EV9. An all-electric, three-row SUV which costs from £65,000 – or will at least, when the entry-level rear-drive model lands in the UK in summer 2024. For now you’ll have to make do with four-wheel drive, more equipment, and a starting sticker closer to £75,000. This is not your nan’s Kia Rio.
What on earth makes Kia think it can take on the Land Rover Discovery and Mercedes EQS?
If you’ve not been paying attention, Kia and its sister brand Hyundai are behind some of the very best electric cars around today: the Niro, the EV6, the Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6 – the Korean electric revolution is no fluke. It’s putting the wind up the big European ‘premium’ players, and now it’s beaten them to the punch with one of the only fully-electric seven-seaters you can buy.
Is this an SUV that can go off-road?
Not really, although the twin-motor version is of course four-wheel drive and there’s a button on the steering wheel for choosing Mud, Snow and Sand modes. Think of this more as a seven-seater minivan, masquerading as a square-jawed, muscle-bound, go-anywhere land-conqueror. At over five metres long, and riding on 21-inch rims, it’s certainly got some presence.
What are the battery options and how far’s the range?
Don’t hold out for an entry-level ‘small battery’ version: all UK-bound EV9s get a whopper of a 99.8kWh battery rooted into the floor. The twin-motor GT-line S we tested, which develops a heady 380bhp and sprints from 0-62mph in a worryingly rapid 5.3 seconds, delivers claimed range of 318 miles.
If you’re happy to tack four seconds onto your 0-62mph time (and your many passengers may well thank you for it) and drop down to 20-inch rims, then the rear-drive version will stretch range closer to 350 miles. Healthy numbers for something that appears at first to have the aerodynamic properties of a medium-sized leisure centre, and a similar ballpark of weight. Welcome to a 2.6-tonne Kia, folks.
Presume it has all the latest driver aids and tech?
The EV9 is inundated with gadgets: self-parking, a driverless ‘crawl’ mode so it can be summoned in and out of tight spaces without opening the doors, and autonomous lane-changing in the motorway. It’s also festooned with bonging driver aids which may grind your teeth into dust before the first finance payment is due. Be warned.
There’s also a dizzying standard equipment list. The idea is you only have to choose the colour – don’t worry about ticking options boxes.
Okay, any surprises along the way?
Kia’s very keen this enormous 4×4 has an eco-conscience beyond zero local emissions. So the interior is made largely of recycled or sustainably sourced materials. There’s no leather, the plastics are either recycled or fashioned from crops, and even the paint on the trim has been concocted using fewer nasty chemicals.
Our choice from the range
KIA
282kW GT-Line 99.8kWh AWD 5dr Auto
£72,440
What's the verdict?
“The Kia EV9 leaves you asking yourself – while you might like a car with a posher badge – do you genuinely need one?”
The EV9 is a very rounded bit of kit. “No it ain’t – looks pretty square to me actually”, etc etc. Ho-ho. The point is that Kia’s flagship product feels like a worthy range-topper not simply because it offers a lot of metal, chair and equipment for the money.
It’s actually a properly well-thought out product – one that feels tough enough for everyday family life, feature-stuffed enough to be futureproof, and packing enough range and performance to justify a price that would’ve seemed laughable for a Kia – or any Korean car – a decade ago.
We’ll try another EV9 in the UK soon to see if the ride settles on our challenging roads, how the range copes with a brisk British winter, and keep egging on Kia – and all manufacturers – to find more less intrusive ways of integrating the safety and assistance tech that the law requires into their cars. So the very gadgets designed to keep us less distracted and safer don’t have the opposite effect…
But for now, the handsome and commodious EV9 looks like it’s got a big slice of the market to itself, and deserves to own it for the time being. It leaves you asking yourself the seventy-five grand question: while you might like a car with a posher badge, when this offering is so well-resolved, do you genuinely need one?
Volkswagen ID. Buzz
Volvo XC90
£37,125 – £81,870
Mercedes-Benz EQB
Continue reading: Driving
Driving
What is it like to drive?
Though the EV9 looks futuristic and is stacked with technology, it’s not an unconventional car to operate. It starts by pressing a button on the drive selector stalk which sprouts from the steering column. Twist the end forwards for Drive or backwards for reverse.
It has a steering wheel (albeit a slightly squared-off one) rather than a yoke. On the reverse, two paddleshifters which adjust the regen braking, from an infinite coast to one-pedal driving. There’s an ‘auto’ function which aims to judge the amount of regen you need by measuring the distance to the car in front. But it’s not as clever as Mercedes’ version, and we preferred to modulate the brakes ourselves.
It isn’t overcome with gimmicks either. There are driving modes (Normal, Eco, Sport and an individual mix ’n’ match My Drive), but apart from lethargic throttle response in Eco and some variance in the screen colour palette they don’t change the drive noticeably.
The steering goes from elastic in Normal mode to downright twangy in Sport, and never loses a sense of synthetic, almost steer-by-wire disconnection. But it’s not a deal-breaker. You’re unlikely to be venturing further off-road than a school playing field too, so the Mud, Sand and Snow ‘Terrain Modes’ are largely a marketing ploy.
Does it feel big and clumsy?
It’s certainly a sizeable ol’ bus, and feels it: the bonnet line is tall and it’s a struggle to spot quite where it ends on the far side. The EV9 feels its five metres in length and two-metre width. Perhaps not in the USA, but if you’re a European buyer, particularly one dwelling in a diminutive British market town, get used to using up some of your charge reserves searching in vain for a useable parking space, or going out of your way to avoid a pinch-point in a narrow street. The EV9 is spacious and capacious, but it’s a downright huge car.
But there are lots of driver assists to help with that?
Countless indeed, all squabbling over how best to help with their incessant bings and bongs. There’s a driver attention monitor which bleats at you if it thinks you’re taking your eyes off the road for too long, likely while jabbing at the touchscreen to turn the ridiculously over-eager lane-keep assist off.
Meanwhile there’s an alarm that chimes in if you go 1mph over the speed limit. Honourable, but annoying in daily driving, particularly if the system misidentifies a 30mph zone as still under a 20mph limit, and merrily bing-bongs away as you legitimately raise your speed.
Kia will argue that all of the above can be deactivated in one of the million touchscreen sub-menus, and that much of this tech is a necessity mandated by lawmakers, rather than an in-house decision to nanny every driver. But the manufacturers that’ll come out on top will be the ones who calibrate the most foolproof systems, and make the process of deactivating them less obtuse.
Because folks, this isn’t a self-driving car, and neither is a Tesla, or any current or future model coming to a road near you in the medium-term future.
What’s it like for a human to drive, besides a bit of a squeeze in a village?
Quiet and sure-footed, but not especially memorable. There’s frankly too much performance: the fact the twin-motor version can match a Honda Civic Type R from 0-62mph surely renders a 600bhp+ GT version inbound soon totally redundant. But despite its kerbweight the EV9 never feels wanting for potency, and controls its mass well as it accelerates and decelerates.
Just occasionally, the assured ride will struggle to catch the car’s bulk as it absorbs an impact, and you’ll get a slight bounce as the EV9 settles back down into the cruise. We’ll investigate further with a UK test soon. Ideally with some juvenile adjudicators on board. Mind you, riding on 21-inch rims, the EV9 doesn’t thunk or thud over potholes as badly as TG’s long-term test Range Rover.
How far will it go on a charge in the real world?
We’ve only tested one version (the AWD GT-line S) so far, on a very temperate Mediterranean island. Tough job, etc. Against a claim of 315 miles, a 100 per cent charge got the car’s display promising 292 miles after a relaxed day of urban driving.
This then stabilised around the 260-mile mark when driving on more open roads. We’ll report back once we’ve driven an EV9 in milder UK conditions, but there’s little reason to suspect it’ll have the sort of battery-gazumping freefall of the Toyota bZ4X-typo thingy when it gets a little chilly.
Previous: Overview
Continue reading: Interior
Interior
What is it like on the inside?
Hear that echo? It’s big inside the EV9. This is a proper seven (or six) seater, i.e. you can indeed fit adults in the rearmost row, where they’ll enjoy their own device charging socket and cupholders. Space is adequate once you’re back there, but access is tricky as usual for a three-row SUV, despite the enormous rear door openings. Naturally, a low-door, sliding door MPV would be easier to board in a tight car park. But no-one buys those any more. Remember the Kia Carens? Sedona? Exactly.
Are the seats heavy and hard to move?
On the GT-line S at least, it’s no hardship, because everything is multi-motorised, folding and sliding with a single button press. They’re not exactly speedy, but none of the equivalents from the likes of Land Rover, BMW or Mercedes are either.
Any eco credentials inside?
That’s what Kia’s banking on as a big EV9 selling point. Like Polestar and its wholesale lifetime emissions register, Kia’s figured out there’s very little point indeed in eradicating tailpipe emissions if building the car in the first place is as Attenborough-friendly as a Brazilian beef ranch.
So, the interior is fashioned from clever bits and pieces. Those cushioned headrests? A ‘biopolyurethane’ plant fibres foam party. There’s no leather in here whatsoever. The dashboard, centre console, and pillar trim use plastics sourced from corn extract, sugar cane and sawdust rather than oil. The headliner and sun visors employ recycled fabrics, with the floor carpets following Fiat’s lead in repurposing castaway fishing nets. Better stuffed with your kids’ crumbs than throttling a dolphin, eh?
Paint has been formulated using fewer of those scary-sounding concoctions that sound like the ingredients for industrial bleach, and the stitching holding everything else together was once a plastic drinks bottle. So was the soundproofing.
Of course there’s a disconnect here: a cabin crafted from ocean waste resting on a half-tonne of lithium, copper and rare-earth metals. Meanwhile the likes of Bentley and Rolls-Royce are quick to argue their luxuriant hides come from cattle already earmarked for steak tartare, so they’re tidying up a waste product. But fundamentally, the EV9 is a step in a more sustainable direction for large SUVs. It looks right, smells right, cossets your backside and ought to wipe clean.
What if I don’t need seven seats?
The £77k GT-line S model stiffs the three-wide middle row and goes for the full bizzniss jet experience, featuring four reclining armchairs with built-in footrest squabs. The perforated headrests cradle your head like a pillow. A quick charging nap just became an appealing option.
Be aware that if you don’t want the La-Z Boy experience, you can have the six-seater with swivelling chairs that spin around for a conference on the go, and can be turned to face the door opening when stationary. Three different configurations for one family car shows how versatile the flat-floored EV9 is – taking advantage of its battery-powered platform.
How practical is the EV9?
Well the huge bonnet only conceals a small front boot: go to the bother of lifting it open and you’ll only reveal a small 52-litre area that’ll just about hold the charging cable. In the RWD models this is expanded to 90 litres because of the absent front motor.
At the other end, with all seven seats up you’ve got just over 300 litres of boot space – plenty of height but not much length. Ask the auto-fold to do its thing and within about ten seconds there’s a vast 828-litre space available, and in van mode with only the front two seats upright, the EV9 offers almost 2,400 litres of tip-run potential.
Inside you’ll find deep door bins, a large glovebox and a large centre console with various slide-out cubbies. Kia’s taken advantage of the flat floor to create a space that feels versatile and is actually more commodious than vantastic VW’s ID Buzz, despite their similar setup underneath.
Is the tech easy to use?
The 12.3-inch main touchscreen is familiar from various Kias. However there’s an own goal next door, as Kia has chosen to supplement the physical temperature controls with a climate control screen almost entirely obscured by the steering wheel. There’s loads of space for more buttons in here and they’d have been very welcome in a machine which is intended as stress-free family transport.
The EV9 also contains the proverbial kitchen sinkful of driver aids. Some, like the matronly lane keep ‘assist’ are easy enough to pacify, with a button on the wheel. Others, like the driver attention monitor – which beeps crossly when you look both ways at a junction, or the speed limit assist, which merrily chirps away if you’re 1kmh over the last speed limit sign it detected – require a tedious voyage into the touchscreen.
Side rant: much of this tech is mandated and it’s not Kia’s fault as such, but if they’re not well calibrated, we’ll switch them off, defeating the point entirely. And we’ll switch them off by looking away from the road and jabbing at a screen. As a result, cars with annoying driver assists and an over-reliance on touchscreens are demonstrably less safe than cars that don’t have them at all…
Previous: Driving
Continue reading: Buying
Buying
What should I be paying?
Prices for the EV9 will commence at £65,000 for its ‘Air’ entry-level model, with a single rear motor outputting 197bhp. As standard it’s served with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, wireless phone charging, heated and cooled front seats, heated outermost middle seats and dual-zone climate control.
There’s also standard tinted glass, built-in window blinds, a heated steering wheel, electric tailgate (with two speed settings, for no apparent reason) many cameras, even more driver assists, LED lights and nine airbags.
Move up to the £73k GT-line and along with your 379bhp dual-motor drivetrain, you’re treated to 21-inch wheels (up from 20s), electrically-adjustable front seats and steering column, seat massage (Bentley-good, but for the driver alone) and Kia’s uncanny remote parking aid which lets you control the car at very low speed from the key. While it’s locked. With no-one inside.
So if you accidentally buy the enormous EV9 without checking it’ll fit on your driveway, you can disembark the whole family then send it into your parking space without wondering how you’ll get the doors open. It’s a creaky process, but an impressive one.
Top of the line is GT-line S, which upgrades the hi-fi to a 14-speaker Meridian system, and gets you a great big sunroof that the children will like but mummy and daddy will groan at for forcing the air-con to work harder, eating into the range. Once you selected GT-line S for £75,995, you have the £1,000 option of deleting the middle bench for those two individual captain’s chairs, in case you’re filming an episode of The Apprentice inside.
And if I’m going down the finance route?
Sorry. At the time of writing Kia hasn’t revealed its finalised monthly payments for the EV9. We’re bullishly promised these will be seriously competitive. ‘Competitive with what exactly’ is a good question, mind you, because the full-EV seven-seater market is a sparse one. Soon there’ll be the Volvo EX90, which will cost around £100,000.
Immediately the Kia is a good old-fashioned Korean bargain. But the Mercedes EQB is also electric and many-seated and it costs about £60,000. Then again, it has a maximum claimed range of barely 250 miles and it’s far more cramped than the Kia, with less extensive levels of standard kit.
Of course, there’s also the left-field likes of the Citroen e-Berlingo: about as versatile as a car comes… only with half the real-world range you’d want to make best use of it. So the EV9 really does seem to have carved out its own niche, and there’s no sign of a ‘e-Galaxy’ or e-Zafira’ from the old suspects of big value family haulers to challenge it.
Step into the world of automotive excellence with Bermaz Auto Berhad (BAuto), your trusted distributor of KIA, Peugeot, and Mazda! Mark your calendars for an exhilarating Pre-Owned Carnival at select BAuto branches on November 25th and 26th. This is your golden ticket to delve into a curated collection of pre-owned ...
The new Urban Cruiser is bigger and better than the model it replaces, but does that mean we would choose it over other competent rivals? Let's compare the Toyota with rivals from Kia and Haval. The Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid is an important product for the Japanese marque, not only ...
A smaller, cheaper electric SUV based on Kia’s flagship EV9 is due out next year. Ahead of its launch, the Kia EV3 was spotted testing in South Korea, giving us a good look at the new EV’s actual size. Kia introduced the EV3 concept last week at the 2023 ...
Companies Hyundai Motor Co Carparts.Com Inc Kia Corp WASHINGTON, Nov 20 (Reuters) – U.S. auto safety regulators said Monday they had opened a probe into 16 separate recalls issued by Hyundai (005380.KS) and Kia (000270.KS) covering 6.4 million vehicles relating to brake fluid leaks that could result in fires. ...
Despite concerns over a cooling EV market, Hyundai and Kia are “very bullish” as demand for their electric vehicles remains strong. Over the past few months, I’m sure you’ve read headlines like “Automakers overestimated EV demand,” but some believe they are right on track. This includes Hyundai, Kia, and ...
LOS ANGELES, Nov 17 (Reuters) – Hyundai Motor (005380.KS) and Kia (000270.KS) see strong U.S. demand for electric vehicles (EVs), senior executives at the South Korean automakers told Reuters ahead of the Los Angeles Auto Show. The comments run against industry fears that inflation and higher interest rates will ...
Kia EV9 interior (Source: Kia) The LA Auto Show is in town, and we got a chance to hop in the EV9 and see how big this three-row EV really is. It turns out, from the inside, it was smaller than expected. This isn’t a full review, first drive, ...
