Kia EV9 Review 2024

The all-electric, seven-seater Kia EV9 is the largest vehicle in the brand’s UK line-up and, sitting above the Kia Sorento – which has seven seats, but is not available as an electric car – is its new flagship SUV. Read on for our full Kia EV9 review.

If you want to haul seven people around with a fully electric powertrain in something that isn’t merely an electrified van, there’s the Mercedes EQB and… er, until the Volvo EX90 breaks cover, that’s pretty much it.

So now that the Kia EV9 is here, how does its practicality, price and performance stack up against the vanguard of seven-seater vans?

The stylish Volkswagen ID.Buzz properly painted in retro, two-tone Combi colours excepted, the Kia EV9 is far better looking than any van. It nicely combines a gently rufty-tufty, roof-railed image with modern detailing such as intelligent LED lighting, aero wheel covers and electrically propelled flush door handles.

On board, it’s positively cavernous. Seven seats are standard fare, with a six-seat format available on the top-of-the-range variant.

In this guise, the second row seats swivel through both 90 and 180 degrees, the former handy for installing nippers in child seats, the latter for lounging while recharging.

The third row seats are good for proper headroom and legroom – a surprising rarity in the world of seven-seater SUVs – assisted by the second row bench fitted in seven-seat format versions sliding forward and backwards.

As ever with seven-seaters, loadspace is quite restricted with all the seats in place – it’s limited to just 300 litres. But both the third and second rows may be folded flat via loadspace sidewall-mounted controls, offering as much as a whopping, van-like 2318 litres.

Boasting a high proportion of sustainable eco-friendly materials, the cabin quality is not to be sniffed at, but it would undoubtedly feel slightly more premium if it wasn’t so unremittingly mid-grey in colour. 

A 12.3-inch digital cockpit and equally sized central touchscreen are fitted as standard throughout the range, and they’re separated by a smaller, 5.3-inch panel dedicated to the car’s climate control system.

This would be a better idea if it was not almost entirely hidden by the steering wheel rim. However, there’s also handful of proper switches to control temperature, fan speed and the like.

The Kia EV9 is offered in a choice of Air, GT-Line or GT-Line S specifications in the UK, with Air featuring rear-wheel drive, and both GT-Line versions equipped with all-wheel drive. A seven-seat format is standard across the range, with the posh, six-seat alternative available on GT-Line S trim cars. 

Standard equipment levels are pleasingly high in even the least expensive Air grade, and include LED lights throughout, a power tailgate, three-zone climate control, electric and heated everything, a new digital key and fingerprint recognition, wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay connectivity and wireless smartphone charging.

But then, with even this cheapest car in the range costing £65,025, you’d expect plenty of toys.

The Kia EV9’s rear- and all-wheel-drive powertrains produce 203PS and 383PS respectively. The former oozes smoothly to 62mph in – by EV standards - a leisurely 9.4 seconds, while the dual-motor variant dispatches the sprint in a heady 5.3 seconds.

There is, of course, a price to pay for this; the quoted range of the car drops from the single motor variant’s 349 miles to 313, although this is still a pretty healthy range for such a big machine.

One of only a few EVs on sale with 800-volt charging capability, the Kia EV9 can harness high DC power to recharge the battery from 10% to 80% in only 24 minutes.

Out on the road, the emphasis is on ride comfort. Largely this is successful, the suspension only giving away the weight of a car that tips the scales at over 2600kg with an occasional thump over the roughest patches of road.

The steering is light and the car does roll somewhat through bends. Although selecting Sport from the drive modes does beef up the steering a little, it’s very artificial in feel and doesn’t encourage you to try and hustle this huge car through corners any more quickly.

As a motorway cruiser, the Kia EV9 proves a smooth, pleasingly quiet place to be, with well damped road noise and wind noise becoming increasingly dominant due to that boxy shape.

With no direct rivals to compare it to other than a Mercedes with very cramped third-row accommodation, the two-tone Volkswagen ID.Buzz and a bunch of vans with relatively dreadful range between charges, the Kia EV9 has to win over those requiring a seven-seat EV SUV on merit alone.

We think it does a pretty good job of that in the practicality, comfort and range stakes. But it’ll be interesting to see how its steep pricing – from £65,025 to an eye-watering £78,775 - stacks up against the array of rivals which, inevitably, will shortly be with us.

Take the outrageous acceleration capabilities of the all-wheel-drive Kia EV9 out of the equation, stick with the rear-wheel-drive, single motor Air version on smaller 19-inch wheels, and you’ll discover what this seven-seater EV SUV is all about.

This is a car for wafting down the motorway in relaxed, quiet comfort; the suspension only occasionally gives away the weight of a car tipping the scales at more than 2600kg with a thump over the roughest patches of road.

At lower speeds, this is more noticeable, especially across larger potholes. But the smaller wheels fitted to the Kia EV9 Air take the edge off compared to the 21-inch alloys of the Kia EV9 GT-Line and Kia EV9 GT-Line S.

Having not driven the car with a full complement of passengers, we can’t comment on the efficacy of the self-levelling rear dampers, but with seven adults on board they would seem like a particularly good idea.

The steering is light and the car does roll somewhat through the bends. Though selecting Sport from the drive modes does beef up the steering a little, it’s very artificial in feel and doesn’t encourage you to try and hustle this huge car through corners any more quickly.

Soft suspension and lots of mass means that it can take time to settle from sudden manoeuvres. But with smoother inputs, the Kia EV9 reveals itself to be well-balanced, predictable and fairly grippy.

The brakes feel up to the task of bringing that significant mass to a halt, and the paddles behind the wheel allow the driver to adjust the level of regenerative braking on the fly – even unto the point of one pedal driving.

The Kia EV9’s sheer size is going to make some parts of the urban jungle difficult to navigate, let alone park in, no matter how light and easy the steering may be. The bonnet line is tall and it’s a struggle to spot quite where it ends on the far side.

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 variation in the screen colour palette, they don’t change the drive noticeably.

You’re unlikely to be venturing further off-road than wet gymkhana grass too, so the Mud, Sand and Snow ‘Terrain Modes’ accompanying all-wheel-drive models are unlikely to be taxed too often.

So much binging and bonging accompanies the driver aids that, at the car’s official media launch, a Kia employee was on hand to wade through sub-menus and switch them all off before they had a chance to drive us mad.

A driver attention monitor which bleats at you if it thinks you’re taking your eyes off the road for too long? An alarm that chimes in if you go 1mph over the speed limit? No thanks.

At least the over-solicitous lane keeping assistant can be deactivated by a simple stab of a steering wheel-mounted button. 

The Kia EV9 is available with either rear-wheel drive on the Air grade, or all-wheel drive on the GT-Line and GT-Line S grades. All versions are equipped with a 99.8kWh battery pack.

The Kia EV9 RWD Air is powered by a single motor on the rear axle, producing 203PS and 350Nm of torque. This propels it from 0-62mph in 9.4 seconds, and on to a top speed of 1143mph.

The Kia EV9 AWD GT-Line and Kia EV9 GT-Line S models are powered by dual 192PS electric motors, one on each axle. These produce a maximum combined power output of 383PS and maximum torque of 700Nm. This equips the AWD Kia EV9 with 0-62mph acceleration in an amusing 5.3 seconds, and a top speed of 124mph.

It would be interesting if there was a Kia EV9 with a power and torque output somewhere between these two extremes.

While the AWD version is more than quick enough for a seven-seat SUV rightly engineered with an emphasis more on ride than handling, the RWD version is almost exactly half as powerful and, with over 2600kg to shift, really won’t be hurried.

The Kia EV9 has a five-star Euro NCAP rating and impressive levels of active and passive safety kit. 

As standard, all versions are equipped with 360-degree surround view monitor, blind-spot view monitor, Blind-spot Collision Avoidance Assist (BCA) with Rear-Cross Traffic Alert (RCTA) and navigation-based smart cruise control with stop-and-go functionality.

There’s also Forward Collision Avoidance Assist (FCA) City/Pedestrian/Cyclist /Junction, Turning Multi-Collision Braking System (MCB), Highway Driving Assist 2 with Hands-on Detection (HDA2 with HoD), Intelligent Speed Limit Assist (ISLA), Manual Speed Limit Assist (MSLA), Lane Follow Assist 2 (LFA2), Lane Keep Assist (LKA), Parking Collision-Avoidance Assist (PCA) and Remote Smart Park Assist 2.0 (RSPA 2.0).

Further safety and driver assistance systems include impact-sensing auto door unlocking, nine airbags across all three rows, Isofix child seat top tethers and anchor fixings (second and third rows), rear occupant alert, Hill-start Assist Control (HAC), Anti-lock Braking System (ABS), Downhill Brake Control, Dynamic Brake Control (DBC), Electronic Stability Control (ESC), Vehicle Stability Management (VSM), Trailer Stability Assist (TSA) and Tyre Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS).

The Kia EV9 puts to the sword the notion that EVs don’t make good towing cars; all-wheel drive examples offer a maximum braked towing capacity of 2500kg, whilst rear-wheel drive models are capable of towing braked loads of up to 900kg.

Over five metres long and all but two metres wide, the Kia EV9’s sheer size is going to make some parts of the urban jungle awkward to navigate, let alone park in, no matter how light and easy the steering may be.

However, the upside of this is a wheelbase of 3100mm, which adds up to a cabin voluminous enough to seat seven in more comfort than anywhere else bar a van with windows.

The front seats are comfortable and supportive, and should guarantee a fine driving position, but for one small annoyance – their reach-adjustable headrests.

For all their pillowy softness, they’re intrusive, even when set in the rearmost position. To the best of our knowledge nobody drives with their head in contact with the headrest, and here you’ll have to work rather hard to ensure that’s not the case, reclining the seat back more than is ergonomically satisfactory given the rather small reach adjustment to the steering.

The 60:40 split/folding second-row bench seat for three is standard issue across the model range. The seat backs recline, and the whole bench will slide through a range of 140mm to ensure those in the 50:50 split/folding third tier have enough knee room.

Indeed, there is so much legroom in the second row that the bench could slide fully forward and even the knees of tall passengers would still clear the front seatback.

An option in the range-topping Kia EV9 GT-Line S trim level, the second row two-seat variant is properly thought out.

Not only can the second tier seats be rotated through 180 degrees and a small table top slid from the back of the front-seat console to create a poker school environment while you wait for your Kia EV9 to recharge, but they also swivel through 90 degrees to face the door opening, making clipping the young into a car seat a doddle.

It makes us wonder why this sort of seating arrangement isn’t more common.

We’ve lost count of the number of seven-seat SUVs in which the third-row seats mean limited headroom and legroom, but in the Kia EV9 that’s not the case. While you still have to clamber past the second row seat back to gain access, there’s stacks of head and legroom once you’re installed, especially since the seat bench ahead can be slid forward.

Both third and second-row seats have an auto folding function which can be operated by a cluster of switches on the loadspace sidewall. This means that with the touch of a button or two, you can increase the available loadspace from a vertically-oriented 300 litres – par for the course in seven-seat cars – to 2318 litres with all second and third row seats folded flat.

Doing the same in the Kia EV9 GT-Line S six-seater wins you 2393 litres.

There’s also a 90-litre frunk under the bonnet of the rear-wheel-drive version, but on all-wheel-drive variants the front motor steals a deal of this, reducing it to 52 litres.

Storage is something of a mixed bag, the projecting console between the front seats housing two vast cup holders beneath a non-premium, plastic roll-top desk-type lid, a wireless charging tray and a small cubby hole under the central armrest. There’s also a coffin-shaped bin on the floor underneath.

Those in the front have access to a USB-C port and charger, and both second and third seating tiers boast two USB-C ports apiece.

This is an interesting interior, but more for its composition than its looks.

Kia has defined a design sustainability strategy to integrate more eco-friendly materials into its cars. Animal-based leathers are out, continuous innovation with new, bio-based materials is in, and there are ten sustainability ‘must haves’ in its vehicle interiors.

So there’s no leather in here whatsoever. Those cushioned headrests are made from ‘biopolyurethane’ plant fibres.

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 repurposing castaway fishing nets. The yarn and felt throughout are made from 100% recycled PET (polythene terephthalate), and even the switches and trim are finished in bio paint.

On the whole, this all works remarkably well; the seat upholstery, for instance, feels every bit as cosseting as real leather and will, perhaps, wipe clean even more readily.

However, some of the surfaces do feel rather tough to the touch, and, although all is very tidily built, we think it’s a shame that the whole is presented in a mid-grey tone that simply doesn’t look particularly premium in a machine this expensive.

Even extending the smart two-tone upholstery finish of the Kia EV9 GT-Line S variant we drove to the dashboard and door panels would visually lift the interior at a stroke.

Kia’s new ccNC infotainment system features a wide panoramic screen featuring twin 12.3-inch displays – driver’s instruments and a central touchscreen – either side of a smaller, 5.3-inch touchscreen dedicated to climate control functions.

This would be a better idea were it not almost entirely hidden by the steering wheel rim. Thankfully, there are also handful of proper switches on offer for the control of temperature, fan speed and the like.

As well as physical buttons on the steering wheel, the dashboard features a seamlessly integrated panel beneath the main touchscreen which reveals additional, back-lit shortcut buttons when the car is switched on, and provides haptic feedback when pressed.

It’s a fine idea, as long as you don’t inadvertently rest a finger on them while steadying your hand to use the touchscreen above.

The infotainment system offers a pretty comprehensive range of features as standard, including Bluetooth multi-connection enabling occupants to connect two mobile devices at once, wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay functionality, and an EV route planner.

What this means is that when the battery charge isn’t sufficient to reach your destination, the navigation system recommends the location and duration of charging stops.

A Quick Control Screen can be accessed by swiping down from the top of the display, enabling users to access frequently used features at a single touch.

Kia EV9 customers benefit from Kia Connect services free of charge for seven years. This includes on-line navigation, as well as real-time information on traffic, parking, charging points, weather forecasts, online POI search and speed camera information.

Kia Connect also includes a smartphone app which lets users access a range of these same functions via their phone, as well as remote control functions such as cabin pre-conditioning and vehicle charging control.

At the time of writing, prices for the Kia EV9 start at £65,025 for the Air trim level car with rear-wheel drive.

A jump to £73,275 buys you the all-wheel-drive Kia EV9 GT-Line version, and a further step up to £76,025 puts you within range of the top-spec, all-wheel-drive Kia EV9 GT-Line S model.

Operating on the basis that less is more, if you want the posh six-seat layout in your Kia EV9 GT-Line, you’ll pay a slightly daunting £77,750.

Looking at vans with windows as an alternative, both the Peugeot e-Rifter and Citroen e-SpaceTourer, for £28,746 and £29,687 respectively, tick the seven-seat box, but trail almost out of sight when it comes to range, comfort and even prestige.

More realistically, the forthcoming Volvo EX90 will doubtless stand toe-to-toe with the Kia EV9 in every category, and that’s going to cost somewhere north of £96,000.

All versions of the Kia EV9 are equipped with a 99.8kWh battery pack.

In the case of the single motor, rear-wheel-drive Kia EV9 Air grade version on 19-inch wheels, Kia claims a driving range of up to 349 miles on the WLTP combined cycle, and up to 480 miles on the city cycle. 

For the twin motor, all-wheel-drive Kia EV9 GT-Line and Kia EV9 GT-Line S variants on 21-inch wheels, the maximum quoted WLTP range falls to 313 miles on the combined cycle, and 415 miles on the city cycle.

The Kia EV9’s 210kW rapid-charging capabilities mean that just 15 minutes plugged into a high-powered charger can provide up to 155 miles of driving range, and a recharge of the battery from 10% to 80% in only 24 minutes. 

As with all pure-electric cars, the Kia EV9 is currently road tax exempt. This will change in April 2025, however, when all EVs registered since April 2017 will be taxed at £165 per annum.

The car is covered by Kia’s seven-year, 100,000-mile warranty, and an eight-year, 100,000-mile warranty covering the battery pack and electric motors. A significant benefit, this warranty is transferable to subsequent owners at no charge.

Standard equipment on all Kia EV9 trim levels includes three-screen dashboard layout, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay support, wireless phone charger, Kia Connect telematics, heated and ventilated front seats and outer second-row seats, electric folding adjustable and heated door mirrors with integrated LED indicator lights.

Add to these rain-sensing front wipers, electronic rear-view mirror, LED headlamps and rear lamps, LED daytime running lights, LED foglights, rear privacy glass, second-row manual window blinds, dual-zone air conditioning, heated steering wheel, smart power tailgate, 60:40 split-folding second row seating and 50:50 split-fold third row.

There’s also ambient lighting, six USB-C chargers, three-pin socket in boot, V2L system, navigation-based smart cruise control, Highway Driving Assist 2, front and rear parking sensors, Blind-Spot Collision Avoidance Assist (BCCA) with Rear-Cross Traffic Assist (RCTA), blind-spot view monitor, 360-degree surround view monitor and nine airbags.

The entry-level Kia EV9 Air model features 19-inch alloy wheels, standard EV9 body styling, gloss black door mirrors and door trim, black side sill trim, low-profile roof rails and body-coloured flush door handles.

There’s also a manually adjustable tilt and telescope steering column, single-tone Bio PU seats (the cabin is 100% leather-free), power-adjustable front seats and an eight-speaker audio system.

Opt for the Kia EV9 GT-Line and you’ll get 21-inch alloy wheels, GT-Line exterior styling, two-tone ‘GT-Line’ Bio PU upholstery, LED headlamps with ‘small cube’ design and adaptive driving beam, ‘bridge-type’ roof rails, and an electric tilt and telescope adjustable steering column.

Buyers also benefit from a driver power-adjustable memory seat and front passenger power seat, driver and front passenger premium relaxation seats, driver massage seat, black headlining, aluminium pedals and remote Smart Park Assist 2.0 (RSPA 2.0).

The top-of-the-line Kia EV9 GT-Line S adds 21-inch alloy wheels, front sunroof with tilting and sliding functions, second row sunroof with sliding blind, head-up display and a 14-speaker Meridian Premium Sound System.

The GT-Line S is also available in either the standard seven-seat layout, or an exclusive six-seat interior.