Kia EV9 Review

The EV9 is a very clear statement of intent from Kia. The brand had already shown with the EV6 that it was serious about electric cars, but the EV9 moves things on by proving it can also play in the large, family-focused flagship space.

That's a tougher job than it sounds. It's one thing to build a stylish electric crossover with a strong battery and lots of gadgetry. It's quite another to build a full-size SUV that has to carry six or seven people, swallow all their luggage and still make sense as an EV in the real world.

The EV9 gets a lot right because Kia has been refreshingly clear about what this car is for. It's not a sporty, style-led alternative to a conventional SUV. It's a large, practical electric family car with a very squared-off body, a properly roomy cabin and a no-nonsense emphasis on passenger comfort and flexibility.

Its looks help too. The EV9 is one of the more distinctive big SUVs on sale, with angular surfacing and a bluff front end that make it stand apart from softer, more anonymous rivals. It looks futuristic without feeling forced.

Kia has also kept the engineering story simple. Every current EV9 uses the same 99.8kWh battery, which means your main decisions are trim, seating layout and whether you want the cheaper rear-wheel-drive Air or one of the more powerful all-wheel-drive versions. The separate EV9 GT now sits above the standard line-up and is best treated as its own review proposition rather than the version most buyers should be looking at.

For most buyers, the Kia EV9 GT-Line makes the strongest case. It gets the more powerful dual-motor all-wheel-drive setup, which suits a car of this size much better than the entry-level single-motor version, and it adds enough visual and equipment upgrades to make the EV9 feel properly special without the price climbing all the way to GT-Line S territory.

That said, the Air is far from a stripped-out base model. It has the longest official range in the line-up, a huge amount of standard equipment and enough performance to cope perfectly well with normal family duties. If value matters more than outright punch, it remains a very sensible choice.

GT-Line S is the one to buy if you particularly want the six-seat option, the swivel-chair layout or the richer luxury feel brought by the Meridian audio, extra glass roof and more indulgent second-row setup. But it's expensive enough that you really need to know you will use those extras.

The battery choice is simple because there's only one: the 99.8kWh pack. That's no bad thing, because it removes the usual smaller-battery compromise from a car designed for family long-distance work.

The current Kia EV9 range starts at £66,645 for the rear-wheel-drive Air. The all-wheel-drive GT-Line comes in at £74,645, while GT-Line S starts at £77,645 in seven-seat form and £78,645 as a six-seater.

That's serious money, and there's no point pretending otherwise. The EV9 costs far more than a Kia Sorento and substantially more than many combustion-engined seven-seat SUVs.

The issue is not whether the EV9 is expensive. It's. The more relevant question is whether it gives you enough in return. In many ways it does, because this is a genuinely large electric SUV with a useful third row, a large battery, strong charging speeds and a very long list of standard kit. There are simply not many direct alternatives offering the same blend.

It's also worth noting that Kia has pitched the EV9 more as a flagship than a bargain. That means it needs to be judged less against mainstream value heroes and more against the handful of large electric SUVs that can match its space and tech.

The Mercedes-Benz EQB is the most obvious more affordable electric seven-seater, but it's notably smaller and its third row is far less convincing. If you regularly need to carry seven, the Kia feels like the much more serious family tool.

The Volkswagen ID Buzz LWB is another strong alternative if you want maximum sense of space and a more lifestyle-led take on family EV motoring. It's charming and practical, but it does not feel as SUV-like or as overtly premium as the EV9.

Volvo’s EX90 is the luxury-badge alternative if you are willing to spend much more. It has a richer cabin and a stronger premium image, but the Kia fights back hard on standard equipment and value.

You could also consider the Hyundai Santa Fe or the Kia Sorento if you are not set on going fully electric. Both are far cheaper ways into a large family SUV with seven seats, though neither offers the silent, high-tech, EV-led experience that defines the EV9.

This is where the EV9 really starts to justify itself. Up front, it feels broad, open and easy to get comfortable in, while the elevated seating position gives you the commanding view buyers expect from a big SUV.

The second row is similarly generous. Legroom and headroom are both strong, there are plenty of USB-C ports, lots of useful storage and enough width for family use without everyone rubbing shoulders.

The third row is the real test in any seven-seat SUV, and the EV9 passes it more convincingly than most. There's enough headroom for adults to sit upright, and while legroom is still more limited than in the front two rows, it's good enough to make those seats genuinely useful rather than token additions.

Access to the rearmost seats is not perfect, because you still rely on the second row folding and moving forward, but once you are back there the space is better than in many rivals.

Boot capacity is the usual compromise point in a seven-seater, and the EV9 is no exception. With all seven seats in place, luggage room is reduced to 333 litres in the seven-seat version and 312 litres in the six-seater. That's enough for a few bags, but not seven people’s full holiday gear.

Fold the third row flat and capacity jumps to 828 litres, at which point the EV9 becomes properly useful. This is likely to be the configuration many owners use most of the time, with the rearmost seats deployed when needed.

There's also a front boot, though it's small, and the flat load floor at the back helps when sliding bulky items in and out. In practical terms, the EV9 feels like a car that has been designed by people who understand family compromises.

The Kia EV9 measures 5,010mm long, 1,980mm wide & 1,755mm high. GT-Line is fractionally longer and taller, but not enough to alter the ownership picture.

Those dimensions make it a very large car by any standard. It's longer than many traditional full-size SUVs, and in tight town centres or narrow multi-storey car parks you will absolutely be aware of its bulk.

That said, the size is also the reason the EV9 is so useful. The cabin would not be this spacious and the third row would not be this viable without the big footprint. So while the EV9 can feel daunting at first, its dimensions are central to its appeal rather than an unfortunate side effect.

The EV9 uses Kia’s triple panoramic display arrangement, combining a 12.3-inch instrument display, a 12.3-inch central touchscreen and a 5.3-inch climate display between them. Visually it looks smart and suitably flagship-grade, even if that smaller climate screen is not as useful from the driver’s seat as it should be.

The main infotainment system is good rather than flawless. It covers the expected bases with built-in navigation, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, while the general layout is easy enough to understand. The weak point is that it can feel a little slow to react at times, particularly compared with the crispest systems in the class.

Kia does at least offset that with proper physical climate controls, which remain much easier to use than touchscreen-only alternatives. In a family car that may be carrying children, distractions and general chaos, that matters more than flashy graphics.

An electronic rear-view mirror comes as standard and will divide opinion. Some drivers will appreciate the uninterrupted camera view behind, while others will prefer the depth perception of a normal mirror. Thankfully, the EV9 gives you both.

Digital side mirrors are also available, though as with most systems of this type they will not suit everyone. The conventional mirrors are still likely to be the easiest to live with day to day.

Kia has made a genuine effort to lift the EV9’s cabin above the finish of some of its other models, and in many areas it succeeds. The faux-leather dashboard wrap, soft-touch headlining and improved trim variety help create a more premium ambience than you get in an EV6 or Niro EV.

It's not perfect, though. There are still harder plastics in places, and you are occasionally reminded that this is a very expensive Kia rather than a car from an established luxury brand.

That said, the broader impression is still good. The EV9 feels solidly screwed together, the key touchpoints are pleasant enough and the cabin has enough visual drama to make it feel special.

Air already feels well finished, GT-Line adds more visual flair and GT-Line S brings the most convincing premium atmosphere, particularly if you want to lean harder into the EV9’s luxury-family-car brief.

All current EV9 models use the same 99.8kWh battery. The rear-wheel-drive Air produces 203PS and 350Nm, taking 0-62mph in 9.4 seconds. Official range is up to 349 miles.

The all-wheel-drive GT-Line and GT-Line S use twin motors to deliver 383PS and 700Nm. That cuts the 0-62mph time to 5.3 seconds and gives the big Kia genuinely brisk real-world performance. Official range is 316 miles for GT-Line and 313 miles for GT-Line S.

In the real world, something around the high-200s is realistic in the dual-motor cars if conditions are mixed, which remains impressive for a vehicle this large and heavy.

The EV9’s size is obvious, but it's not intimidating once you get used to it. The steering is light, visibility is decent and the camera and sensor systems do a lot of the heavy lifting when you are parking or manoeuvring.

Ride comfort is generally very good. The EV9 is softer and more forgiving than some of Kia’s other EVs, and that suits the brief perfectly. It smooths over poor surfaces better than you might expect, even if large potholes still make their presence felt.

Body control is respectable too. The battery mounted low in the floor helps keep the centre of gravity down, which means the EV9 feels more composed in corners than its height and mass might suggest. No one is going to call it nimble, but it never feels clumsy.

Refinement is one of the EV9’s stronger suits. Wind noise is well suppressed, tyre roar is low for such a large SUV and the general sense of calm in the cabin makes it an excellent long-distance cruiser.

The Air is likely to be the more relaxed choice, while the all-wheel-drive versions make more sense if you frequently carry a full load or want stronger overtaking punch.

The Kia EV9 has a five-star Euro NCAP safety rating, which is exactly what you would hope for in a large family SUV. It also comes with an extensive spread of standard safety equipment.

Navigation-based smart cruise control, Highway Driving Assist 2, blind-spot assistance, 360-degree cameras, front and rear parking sensors and nine airbags all feature across the range. That means even the entry-level car does not feel compromised on safety.

The EV9 also benefits from the sort of visibility and seating position that make it naturally reassuring to drive, which is not something every large SUV can claim.

The EV9’s 800V architecture is a major plus. Kia says it can recover up to 154 miles of range in 15 minutes and charge from 10 to 80 per cent in around 24 minutes on a suitably powerful DC charger.

That matters because the battery is large enough that home charging from a 7kW wallbox takes time. A full charge can take roughly 14 hours, so the EV9 works best if you can regularly leave it plugged in overnight or use a faster domestic setup where possible.

The flip side is that once you are on the road, the EV9 is one of the easier large EVs to manage because the charging hardware is strong enough to keep stops relatively short.

Kia’s seven-year or 100,000-mile warranty remains one of the EV9’s biggest selling points. It adds a lot of reassurance to a car that's both expensive and technically complex.

Kia also has a solid reliability reputation more broadly, and its recent EVs have generally established a good record. That does not guarantee an entirely trouble-free experience, but the EV9 is backed by one of the better ownership stories in the class.

Insurance is predictably expensive. The entry-level Air sits in group 45, while the more powerful versions rise to group 50.

That puts the EV9 at the costly end of the scale, which should come as no surprise given its size, value and performance. Buyers will want to price this carefully before committing.

After year one, the Kia EV9 pays the standard annual EV VED rate, currently £200.

Because every current EV9 sits above the £50,000 Expensive Car Supplement threshold for EVs, the whole range also attracts the additional annual charge from years two to six. At current rates, that adds £440 a year, taking the total annual bill to £640 during that period.