2024 Kia EV9 GT-Line evaluate

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There’s been lots of exercise within the mid-sized electrical SUV phase, however giant electrical SUVs – at the least these with out luxurious nameplates – are few and much between.

Not Supplied — 2024 Kia EV9 GT-Line Credit score: CarExpert

Enter the hulking 2024 Kia EV9, which measures simply over 5.0 metres lengthy – across the identical measurement as a Toyota LandCruiser 300 Collection – and is priced above $100,000 drive-away, even in base guise.

Whereas some manufacturers appear to wish to make their EVs both appear like blobs or simply facsimiles of their combustion-powered automobiles, Kia has taken a distinct route.

The EV9 appears to be like remarkably just like the idea that previewed it, with its squared-off strains and bulging fenders. Our tester’s matte blue exterior end makes it look much more like the unique idea.

This SUV has severe presence, and it’s bluff and imposing with out simply trying like a field on wheels.

If the design is a deal-breaker for you however you need an electrical three-row SUV proper now, you’re out of luck. You may get a significantly smaller Mercedes-Benz EQB, or a significantly costlier EQS SUV.

The Tesla Mannequin X is useless in Australia, and the EV9’s Ioniq-badged platform-mate isn’t due in Hyundai Australia showrooms till later this 12 months.

The Kia and its upcoming Hyundai sibling, previewed by the 2021 Seven idea, are the biggest autos on the Hyundai Motor Group’s E-GMP devoted electrical automobile (EV) structure.

They’re significantly bigger than platform-mates just like the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6 and Kia EV6.

How a lot does the Kia EV9 price?

There are three EV9s on provide.

2024 Kia EV9 pricing:

2024 Kia EV9 Air: $97,000
2024 Kia EV9 Earth: $106,500
2024 Kia EV9 GT-Line: $121,000

Costs exclude on-road prices

To see how the Kia EV9 compares with its rivals, use our comparability software.

The EV9 is an electrical counterpart of kinds to the Kia Telluride, a big three-row crossover, carefully associated to the Hyundai Palisade, which isn’t bought right here.

There’s no Telluride or Palisade that provides the sort of acceleration on provide with the EV9, and the electrical Kia – which is totally unrelated mechanically – additionally boasts some unique options.

Nevertheless, for comparability’s sake, the $121,000 earlier than on-roads worth of our GT-Line, which works out to be $140,200 drive-away, is simply over $41,000 greater than the costliest Hyundai Palisade.

What’s the Kia EV9 like on the within?

The Kia EV9’s inside is clear and trendy however, whereas it doesn’t really feel low cost, it isn’t what we’d name luxurious by way of supplies.

However, it manages to keep away from trying like every other Kia.

There’s numerous smooth-grained, soft-touch plastic, harking back to a Hyundai Ioniq 5. Whereas it’s nicer than a Kia EV6 with its onerous plastic sprint, there’s not a sea of leather-based and neat stitching particulars such as you would possibly count on in a $100,000+ SUV.

Cloth inserts will be discovered on the doorways, sprint and on the edges of the centre console within the GT-Line, and serve to interrupt up this plastic. There are additionally metal-look accents on the sprint, in addition to gloss gray trim.

Not like the opposite members of the EV9 vary, the GT-Line incorporates a black suede (as a substitute of gray cloth) headliner. There are additionally alloy pedals and sill plates.

Additionally bettering the atmosphere is the intensive ambient lighting, which lets you choose colors for 2 totally different zones for a quite Mercedes-Benz-like impact. The illuminated Kia brand on the steering wheel is a neat contact, too. Each of those options will be discovered on the mid-range Earth.

The entrance seats have a lovely two-tone remedy, distinctive mesh headrests, and have heating, air flow and, for the motive force solely, a superb therapeutic massage perform.

The GT-Line uniquely will get ‘Premium Rest’ seats with two-way energy leg rests, four-way energy lumbar and power-adjustable bolsters. Meaning they’re each snug whenever you’re driving, but additionally a delight whenever you’re enjoyable in your automobile ready for it to complete charging.

There’s a subtly patterned trim piece stretching throughout the sprint that accommodates touch-capacitive shortcut buttons for features just like the satellite tv for pc navigation. These are backlit when the automobile is on, and have haptic suggestions whenever you press them – although you’ll want to present them a agency press.

There’s nonetheless some conventional switchgear on the sprint, together with easy buttons for adjusting fan pace and temperature, and a metallic curler wheel for adjusting quantity. On the doorways, you’ll discover bodily switches for options just like the heated and ventilated seats.

These are all tactile, as are the metallic switches on the steering wheel.

Talking of the steering wheel, the illuminated Kia brand is a neat contact.

Whereas the switches for fan pace and temperature are simple to entry and use, the local weather management display itself isn’t. It sits between the infotainment touchscreen and digital instrument cluster, which implies it’s blocked by the steering wheel… except you’ve got a really, very totally different seating place to me.

The digital instrument cluster has neat graphics however there’s no map view such as you’ll discover in numerous European autos. It’s possible you’ll not take a look at all of it that a lot, although, as there’s a superb head-up show.

The infotainment system is superb, aside from the peculiar absence of wi-fi connectivity – at the least for now – for Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. Each properly replenish the 12.3-inch display.

Response instances are fast and menus are intuitive. All that must be fastened is the annoying person profile display that seems whenever you begin the automobile and which takes too lengthy to go away.

We additionally famous a few fascinating messages. When cleansing the windscreen, a message appeared on the touchscreen advising the scent of the washer fluid was robotically prevented from getting into the cabin, whereas on one other event the display suggested us the rear air-conditioning had been turned off because the automobile (accurately) didn’t detect any rear-seat occupants.

When it comes to storage, there’s an expansive shelf beneath the centre console which helps make up for the pretty small centre console bin below the centre armrest subsequent to the wi-fi charging pad.

There are two cupholders within the centre console which will be retracted to type a extra open storage cavity, or hid beneath a curler cowl.

The second-row ground is flat, and the ambient lighting carries by means of to the again. There are USB-C shops on the entrance seatbacks and air vents within the B-pillars, whereas there’s an unusually voluminous but darkish storage space on the rear of the centre console.

There’s loads of room in each course, and the second-row bench is snug. There’s a fold-down centre armrest with cupholders, plus handbook sunblinds.

Automobiles on devoted EV platforms are sometimes touted as providing packaging superior to combustion-powered autos.

Maybe that’s why I used to be anticipating an enormous third row, which the EV9 doesn’t have. A Palisade or Grand Cherokee L is arguably extra snug again right here for adults.

You may make it work, although. The third-row occupants of the EV9 might want to ask their buddies within the second row to scooch their seat ahead a bit. It’s attainable to have adults sit in each the second and third rows, offered they’re not NBA gamers.

With the second row in its common place, I couldn’t sit within the third row with out my knees being pressed firmly towards the second row seatbacks, and I’m 180cm tall.

Headroom is nice, nevertheless, owing to the automobile’s boxy form.

When it comes to facilities, there are two cupholders and one USB-C outlet on both facet, plus air vents. There are top-tether factors for all second and third row seats, plus 4 ISOFIX anchor factors throughout these rows.

Boot area is common. You’ll be able to match a big suitcase and a carry-on with the third row up, with the area measuring 333L. Dropping the third row, which is completed by pulling the straps on the seatbacks, will increase area to 828L.

You’ll be able to drop the second row seats with the press of a button, additional rising cargo area to 2318L.

Within the boot, you’ll discover a 250V 16A outlet – useful if you wish to, for instance, cost a laptop computer – in addition to a 12V 180W outlet, and switches to drop the second-row seats. Not like different EV9s, the GT-Line additionally options an exterior vehicle-to-load (V2L) outlet.

As with most EVs, there’s no spare tyre. As an alternative, all you get is a tyre mobility package.

Underneath the bonnet, there’s an illuminated 52L storage compartment. That’s down on the 90L within the rear-wheel drive Air, with the presence of a entrance electrical motor necessitating a smaller compartment. It’s additionally rated to hold solely 20kg, as a substitute of 40kg, and goes with out an adjunct web.

What’s below the bonnet?

The GT-Line shares its dual-motor all-wheel drive powertrain with the mid-range Air, although Kia claims a 0.7-second faster 0-100km/h time.

To see how the EV9 compares with its rivals, use our comparability software.

How does the Kia EV9 drive?

Kia engineers needs to be recommended for making a automobile on large 21-inch wheels experience this nicely with out adaptive or air suspension.

We’ve pushed some Hyundai Motor Group merchandise on bigger wheels that may have a stiff really feel over bumps and ruts, and but have a floaty really feel to their suspension.

Not so the EV9. As you experience over bumps and ruts, there are simply muffled thumps with no impression harshness, whereas the automobile additionally feels properly tied down. Pockmarked roads are dispatched with no drama.

It will get slightly extra terse on an unsealed highway, nevertheless it’s nonetheless snug. There’s little if any penalty on experience consolation exacted by the 21s in contrast with the 19-inch wheels on the bottom Air.

For one thing that weighs over two and a half tons and rides a 3100mm wheelbase, the EV9 can also be impressively nimble.

It appears to shrink round you, as a drive alongside a winding mountain highway proved. The steering has a pleasant, progressive weighting to it, even when it mightn’t be the final phrase in highway really feel, and you’ll throw this massive bus into tight corners with out issues going pear-shaped.

However the place the EV9’s outsized dimensions are painfully obvious is in a car parking zone. That lengthy wheelbase makes this automobile a ache to park, even when the steering is sufficiently mild. The turning circle is 12.4m.

There’s an automatic parking system that may determine and manoeuvre into each parallel and perpendicular spots. You may as well have it find a spot and get out of the automobile, holding down a button on the important thing fob to observe it manoeuvre into the spot. It’s a neat celebration trick, even when it’s not all that helpful.

The GT-Line is correctly fast, doing the 0-100km/h sprint in 5.3 seconds. That’s speedy for one thing this massive and heavy, and but Kia nonetheless plans to launch an nearly actually faster GT mannequin!

There’s quick torque on faucet in typical EV trend, and the EV9 will get its energy to the bottom easily and effortlessly.

You’ll be able to activate a pretend propulsion sound, which was cool for about 10 minutes. I then turned it off and by no means activated it once more.

As an alternative, I simply loved the nearly imperceptible whir of the electrical motors. The cabin is quiet, with wind and tyre noise nicely suppressed.

There’s slightly tyre roar on coarse-chip roads, however not a lot you could’t simply have a dialog together with your passengers.

The GT-Line will get three further drive modes, with Snow, Mud and Sand becoming a member of Eco, Regular, Sport and My Drive Mode.

In Kia trend, the lane-keep help and lane centring are quite over-eager, however they know what they’re doing; even curvy off-ramps aren’t any drawback for the latter.

The Freeway Driving Help, which mixes the adaptive cruise and lane centring programs, makes the freeway commute nearly senseless.

As with different current Hyundai Motor Group merchandise, there’s an annoying overspeed alert that gained’t shut up. It bings when it detects a brand new pace restrict, it dings when you exceed it even solely barely, and is simply an all-round ache within the behind. It additionally defaults to on, so it’s important to manually flip it off every time.

Kia’s useful star shortcut buttons will be programmed to take you to the motive force help programs menu so you’ll be able to flip off this method (you’ll be able to flip off the sounds and hold the pace signal readout energetic).

I went to program the star button to take me there, and located the earlier driver had already achieved it. Clearly I’m not the one one who finds this method annoying.

The motive force consideration monitoring system precisely identifies whether or not you’re paying consideration, although I discovered it chided me a few instances for not trying forward after I was merely trying down on the digital instrument cluster.

Kia’s Blind Spot View Monitor is a superb concept, with digicam footage of your blind spot showing within the instrument cluster whenever you point out along with the standard indicator lights within the exterior mirrors.

There’s a digital rear-view mirror, permitting you to drag a tab under the mirror to change it to displaying digicam footage of what’s behind you. That’s useful when you have a automobile loaded up with folks and their belongings.

The digital digicam mirrors are much less helpful. Certain, they’re a terrific dialog starter, however I’m struggling to think about one benefit they maintain over typical mirrors.

While you go to alter lanes, useful tips seem, so there’s that. However absolutely there aren’t any effectivity good points right here, given they stick out simply as a lot as common mirrors and don’t notably look any extra aerodynamic.

Sadly, when you get the GT-Line, you’re caught with them.

On a blast by means of the mountains, I noticed power consumption of round 33kWh per 100km. Over a loop comprising inner-city, suburban and freeway driving, we recorded consumption of 20.8kWh/100km, and this elevated barely to 22.2kWh/100km over the course of per week.

That’s near the official WLTP declare of twenty-two.8kWh/100km.

With 100 per cent cost, the EV9 GT-Line displayed vary of 552km, although the official WLTP declare is 505km.

You’ll be able to modify the extent of regenerative braking utilizing the paddle shifters, although you’ll have to have interaction i-Pedal – Kia’s one-pedal driving mode – every time you begin the automobile. Once more, that is achieved through the paddles.

i-Pedal will deliver the automobile to a cease, nevertheless it’s not among the many extra aggressive one-pedal programs on the market.

Lastly, we now have to reward the adaptive LED headlights which not solely look nice, however work beautifully by casting mild far and large with out dazzling oncoming motorists.

What do you get?

There are three trim ranges within the EV9 vary, with the GT-Line sitting on the prime for now.

EV9 Air highlights:

Automobile to Load (V2L) inside socket
Battery conditioning with warmth pump
Eco, Regular, Sport and customized drive modes
19-inch alloy wheels in Kumho/Nexen 255/60 R19 tyres
Tyre stress monitoring
Tyre mobility package
Electrochromic rear-view mirror
Rain-sensing wipers
Computerized high-beam
Computerized LED headlights
Keyless entry and begin
Distant begin
Seven seats
Leatherette upholstery
8-way power-adjustable entrance seats with 2-way energy lumbar
Sliding and reclining second-row seats
Energy-folding second row
60:40 break up/fold second-row seats
50:50 break up/fold third-row seats
Reclining third-row seats
Heated steering wheel
Heated entrance seats
Ventilated entrance seats
12.3-inch touchscreen infotainment system
Kia Join Telematics
Satellite tv for pc navigation
Wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
5.0-inch local weather display
12.3-inch digital instrument cluster
8-speaker sound system
Tri-zone local weather management
DAB digital radio
Fingerprint authentication
Wi-fi telephone charger
6 x USB-C shops (two for every row)
2 x 12V shops (one up entrance, one within the boot)
9 x cupholders

EV9 Earth:

Terrain Mode Choose (Snow, Mud, Sand modes)
64-colour ambient lighting
Gloss Black wheel arch extensions

EV9 GT-Line:

Automobile to Load (V2L) exterior adaptor
Lively Sound Design (synthetic propulsion sound)
21-inch alloy wheels in Continental 285/45 R21 tyres
Digital Aspect Mirrors
Digital rear-view mirror
Matrix LED headlights
Twin sunroofs
Rear privateness glass
Gloss Black window surrounds
Distant Good Park Help 2
Two-tone leatherette upholstery
‘Premium Rest’ entrance seats with two-way energy leg rests
Driver’s reminiscence
Heated and ventilated outboard second-row seats
Black suede headliner
Augmented actuality head-up show
14-speaker Meridian sound system
Illuminated steering wheel brand
Alloy pedals
‘GT-Line Cloth’ sprint, door and centre console trim
Debossed, backlit touch-capacitive controls

Is the Kia EV9 secure?

The Kia EV9 has but to be examined by ANCAP or Euro NCAP.

Customary security gear throughout the vary contains:

Autonomous emergency braking
Adaptive cruise management with cease/go
Blind-spot help
Lane-keep help
Lane Following Help (lane centring)
Freeway Drive Help 2 with Lane Change Help
Rear cross-traffic help
Protected exit help
Clever pace restrict help
Driver consideration monitoring
Main automobile departure alert
Rear occupant alert (sensor-based)
Entrance and rear parking sensors
Reversing digicam
Twin entrance airbags
First- and second-row facet airbags
Entrance centre airbag
Curtain airbags for all three rows

EV9 Earth provides:

Parking Collision Avoidance Help – Reverse
Encompass-view digicam with 3D mode
Blind Spot View Monitor

The GT-Line additionally options facet and ahead variations for the Parking Collision Avoidance Help.

How a lot does the Kia EV9 price to run?

The Kia EV9 is backed by a seven-year, unlimited-kilometre automobile guarantee, with a seven-year, 150,000km guarantee for high-voltage elements just like the battery and electrical motors.

Kia gives a selection of three-, five- and seven-year pre-paid service plans. These are priced at $706, $1351 and $1997, respectively.

CarExpert’s Tackle the Kia EV9

The EV9 is the biggest automobile Kia has ever bought right here and the costliest.

It’s additionally arguably probably the most spectacular automobile ever from the Korean model, which has produced some genuinely interesting, aspirational autos just like the Stinger, K9 and EV6.

From its show-stopping appears to be like to its spectacular expertise, the Kia EV9 feels extra like an idea automobile than your typical three-row SUV.

And but it’s not simply flash. There’s loads of real substance right here, from the surprisingly snug experience to the agile dynamics and the lengthy checklist of security gear.

Our gripes are few, however embody a quite small third row and overbearing security assists.

Nevertheless, whereas the EV9 has primarily no direct rivals, there’s nonetheless no getting round that lofty price ticket.

The excellent news is cheaper EV9s are equally spectacular. Even the entry-level Air, regardless of being slower and missing among the GT-Line’s devices, is nicely price taking a look at if you wish to transfer to an electrical SUV.