The Kia EV9 doesn’t have any rivals right now, which is crazy. While there are other three-row EVs, they are all made to carry small groups of people. In this way, the Kia EV9 pretty much controls the market for three-row EVs. It shows that the Korean name is ahead of its time. The EV9 is one of many you can get, too. It’s a great car.
Like the EV6, the EV9 is built on Hyundai Motor’s E-GMP electric car technology. The EV9 is bigger inside and has a longer length than the very popular Kia Telluride, even though they have similar sizes. Since it’s an electric car (EV), it makes sense that it costs more. The base model costs $54,900, and the most expensive one, the GT-Line sample, costs $79,390. Kia currently imports EV9s from Korea, but the company plans to start making them in the US this summer. EV9s should be able to get some of the $7,500 government tax credit for EVs.
What hits you right away is the grace. In fact, most EVs are smooth and quiet, but the EV9 is especially tuned and quiet. The front and back motors of the GT-Line work together to make 379 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque. Kia says it takes only 4.5 seconds to go from 0 to 60 mph, which is surprisingly fast for such a small car. However, the power delivery is so well-tuned that it never feels scary. There is only a faint whine when the car speeds up—no headrest hitting histrionics.
I had the chance to drive a Toyota Grand Highlander Hybrid Max right before I drove the EV9. That car has a great hybrid motor, but the Kia shows how much better things are when cars like this don’t have internal combustion engines. The EV9, on the other hand, feels like a real luxury car because it speeds up smoothly and runs almost silently.
All long-range EV9 models come with a 99.8 kWh battery pack, and Kia says the GT-Line can go 270 miles on EPA gas. It got 2.7 miles per kWh on a short trip on the highway and 3.1 miles per kWh on a longer trip with a mix of city and highway traffic, but I didn’t scientifically test its range. Both of these were taken on a 45-degree, dry, cloudy day, and they show that you should be able to meet or beat the stated range numbers. The fact that the EV9 is big and heavy (more than 5,800 pounds when tried) makes it even more efficient.
Together with the other cars in the E-GMP line, the EV9 has an 800-volt electrical system that lets it charge very quickly. At a busy Electrify America station, I was able to make about 160 kW with only a small amount of battery pre-heating. The charge level was about 40%. Kia says the highest charge is 210 kW, which is a lot more than other electric SUVs on the market.
The EV9 is generally a very comfy car, even though it drives like an SUV. Even though it’s a tiny complaint, the car needs a little more damping. When you hit a big bump, it takes a while for the body to settle down. Even though the low center of gravity of electric cars is thought to make them easier to handle, this huge thing weighs almost three tons. All of these are pretty good, though, and they don’t really apply to the people the EV9 is meant for. If you’re coming from an internal combustion three-row, this will not let you down.
Customers will love how well the EV9 fits their bodies. The doors have controls for the heated and cooled seats. Kia’s infotainment system is simple and easy to use and is a big step up from previous models. There are physical buttons for basic climate controls and a separate screen between the gauge cluster and infotainment display for making more changes to the HVAC. And there are steering wheel buttons instead of the trendy haptic touchpads that never work. Everything makes sense and is very simple.
I really like how Kia uses paddle shifters to change the settings for lift-accelerator recovery. With the paddles, you can easily change how much recovery happens when you slow down the accelerator. When they’re not hidden in a menu, it’s much easier for me to switch between the lowest regen and full coast.
The EV9 has a few other problems. The seat can be moved in too many ways for me ever to be truly comfy. That being said, our mileage may vary. The car is definitely pricey, no matter how you look at it.
The Telluride basically continues where the base price left off. People have certain assumptions about a car’s price, no matter what kind of engine it has. For instance, the GT-Line’s internal materials don’t feel bad or cheap, but they also don’t feel very beautiful for $75,000.
In most ways, the EV9 is the best. It is a car that sets a high bar for all other cars in the same category and lets Kia dominate a market that should be competitive. Also, real rivals are currently very far away. The Hyundai Ioniq 7, which is very much the same, won’t be out until later this year, and Toyota’s electric three-row won’t be out until 2025. Luxury cars like the Volvo EX90 and Lucid Gravity will cost more than the Kia when they come out, even though they won’t be out for a few months yet.
There’s no hiding the fact that Kia is being let go by every other carmaker right now. Their electric three-rows need to be very good and arrive quickly.
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