Kia's EV9 is the best electric seven-seater on the market

Thursday, 14 December 2023

The Kia EV9 is one of three seven-seater electric SUVs in New Zealand, the other two coming from Mercedes-Benz.

Admittedly, it’s a niche within a niche, but there are very few three-row electric SUVs at the moment. There’s the Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV and EQB, Kia’s EV9… and that’s about it. Tesla doesn’t have a seven-seater in New Zealand, Hyundai’s Ioniq 7 is still a while away yet, and neither BMW nor Audi have anything in the segment. Same goes for Jaguar Land Rover.

The EQS SUV is, as you might expect, expensive with a starting price of $196,500, while the EQB in seven-seater configuration asks just over $103,000. That leaves the EV9, also kicking off at just over $100k. Which is good because that’s what I’ve been driving, and it’s the best seven-seater EV on the market so far.

For less than $140k you get a fully digital dash, cameras in place of wing mirrors, and lots of eco-friendly materials in the cabin.

To be fair, this is the GT-Line variant, the most expensive EV9, and appropriately specced to the nines. Cameras in place of wing mirrors, every safety system you can think of and then some, seat heating and ventilation for the first and second row of seats, a premium Meridian audio system, and plenty of oomph from its dual-motor powertrain.

The EV9 has plenty of safety tech, although some of it can become annoying.

Everything in the cabin feels extremely premium, with plenty of eco-materials and some of the softest headrests I’ve felt in a long time. Second-row passengers have lots of room and comfy seats, while adults will fit in the third row well enough if those in the second scoot the seats forward a bit. It probably won’t surprise you to learn there is plenty of boot space – 312L with the third row folded and 2318L with both rows down.

Kia has done away with its trick dual-function bar of buttons found on the likes of the Sportage and EV6, which I really liked, replacing it with four air-con toggles and half a dozen buttons that look like haptic touchpads but aren’t. These look quite good, but I’d prefer them to actually be touch-based – sometimes it takes quite a stab to get them to function.

Going camping? The EV9’s gargantuan boot, healthy driving range and ventilated seats make it the perfect vehicle for the trip.

Which you might be doing a lot, as while the EV9 is brimming with safety tech, some of it edges into annoying territory. The two biggest culprits are the speed limit warning chime, which goes off if you’re barely over the detected limit (and gets it wrong fairly often), and the driver attention monitor, which pings you if you look away from the road for more than about half a second.

Granted, they’re both there to keep you safe, and the latter gets more of a pass because the head-up display is absolutely massive and displays most of what you need anyway, but I still found myself diving into the settings menus to turn them off every time I set off. And you have to do it every time, because the settings don’t stick when you switch the vehicle off.

Second-row occupants are plenty comfortable, with heated and ventilated seats in the GT-Line and a sunroof.

But when you’ve set everything up and you’re on the move, the EV9 is a genuinely brilliant luxo-barge. I took it to Uretiti Campsite for a weekend, about 130km each way, and it handled the windy, road cone-ridden route easily.

The steel-spring suspension is extremely pliant without being wallowy, allowing surprisingly good handling. Not that you’d be throwing the EV9 around too much, the kids might decorate the back of the seats with their lunches. Much better to hit cruise control and let the car do most (but not all) of the driving.

In its currently three-strong seven-seater-electric-SUV niche, the EV9 is an easy choice.

On that, Kia’s lane-keep assist is very good at keeping the car within the lines, and has lane-change functionality now as well to automatically perform the arduous task of tilting the steering wheel a bit. But seriously, it’s a nice addition and it’s cool seeing small bits of autonomy filter into new vehicles. We’re still a far cry from full self-driving, despite what Elon Musk says, but slow and steady wins the race.

The steering is responsive and well-weighted, and you really feel the 700Nm of torque. It’s a lovely car to drive, hiding its 2.6-tonne mass well and quiet on the move.

But more incredible was the range readout, which was comfortably over 600km when I picked the vehicle up. Kia rates the distance of the GT-Line’s battery at 515km, so this might be the first time I’ve had an electric vehicle that has underestimated its range claim. Average energy usage ended up a hair over 20kWh/100km, after plenty of motorway driving.

These buttons aren’t touch, and I kind of wish they were.

More than 2000 litres of space is available with the third row folded.

This third air-conditioning touchscreen is a fantastic touch.

Another benefit of electric power is a fully functional wall socket in the boot.

Cameras in place of wing mirrors virtually eliminate blind spots.

The digital dash is clear and easy to read, while that little bump in the middle is the driver attention monitor.

I am less of a fan of the camera wing mirrors, they take quite a bit of getting used to and while they virtually eliminate blind spots, I found them quite tricky to judge distances with while reversing. Plus, like the Hyundai Ioniq 6 which has similar units, they don’t work well at all in low-light situations.

I’d be very interested to see how the lesser EV9s fare. Particularly the mid-spec, $116k Earth model, as it gets the same dual-motor powertrain and 99.8kWh battery as the GT-Line but does away with some of the kit, like the camera mirrors, electronic steering adjustment, the Meridian stereo, and the heated/ventilated second row.

Weirdly, it offers less range, probably due to a slightly less aerodynamic body, but if the range claim is as understated as the GT-Line, I wouldn’t be too worried. Plus, 492km is heaps anyway.

So, can you go without that Mercedes badge for your electric seven-seater? Yes, absolutely. Despite not being perfect, the GT-Line offers massive luxury and value for $60k less than the EQS SUV. It’s almost a no-brainer.

Of course, it ultimately depends on which you like the look of more, but you know where I stand. Go for the cool, boxy, sci-fi-looking one. Or hold off for a bit and see where Hyundai’s even more wild Ioniq 7 (based on the EV9) lands in terms of pricing and kit.

Bonus images