Is Kia’s $100K EV a game changer? Review

The Kia EV9 is the largest seven-seat electric SUV from a Top 10 car brand to go on sale in Australia.

Its futuristic looks inside and out are built on a brand-new, ground-up dedicated electric-car platform with the latest technology Kia has to offer.

With the EV9, Kia is targeting families of the future. Will they stomach the $100,000-plus price tag? We’re about to find out.

As forecast in the lead-up to the local showroom arrival of the Kia EV9, prices are close to or in excess of $100,000 before on-road costs such as registration, stamp duty and arbitrary dealer delivery fees are added.

The Kia EV9 line-up for Australia – which initially comprises three models – is listed below:

Dealers have been advised the first shipments of the Kia EV9 due to arrive in Australia will be the base-model Air and the flagship GT-Line.

There is a delay in the local arrival of the middle-of-the-range Earth model, which is due to follow in a few months.

The Kia EV9 is not the first seven-seat electric SUV sold in Australia; the Tesla Model X was available with seven seats before deliveries ceased locally in 2020, and the smaller Mercedes-Benz EQB, and larger EQS are both available with seven seats.

The price range of $97,000 to $121,000 plus on-road costs also makes the Kia EV9 the most expensive Kia sold in Australia to date.

The company says it has received interest from customers in wealthier postcodes who have not previously owned a Kia.

With only 100 examples of the Kia EV9 arriving nationally each month next year, Kia dealers estimate wait times will range from three to four months.

The Kia EV9 is bigger than a Kia Sorento inside and out – and not much smaller than a seven-seat Range Rover.

Translation: it’s huge. Which is what you need to accommodate seven occupants in comfort.

Access to the third row is different depending on which side of the car you’re accessing.

From the driver’s side, a single passenger seat tilts and lifts forward to create a large path. From the passenger’s side, the side and middle seat tilt and slide forward creating a slightly smaller path.

Once in the back, you need to negotiate with occupants in the second row to slide their seat forward if you’re an adult.

For those with young kids, there are four ISOFIX child seat anchor points – two in the outboard positions of the second row and two in the third row, a rarity in the class. There is also a top-tether point behind the middle second-row seating position to install an old-school child seat.

With the second and third rows of seats stowed, the Kia EV9 turns into a van with an almost-flat floor.

The second row can be lowered at the press of two buttons, while the third row can be lowered by pulling two fabric tabs.

There are air vents for all three rows of occupants – including in the roof for passengers in rows two and three.

There is a large centre console up front, and a massive tray between the front seats that extends all the way to the second row.

The wireless smartphone charger has a raised notch in the middle of the rubber pad so it can get closer to the rear charging surface of phones in bulky protective cases, or phones that have raised camera ‘islands’. It’s a simple, clever and effective solution.

Other handy touches: all four doors have one-touch auto-up power windows, and the driver and front passenger have extendable sun visors to block side glare.

While cargo space is modest when all seven seats are in position, the Kia EV9 has storage under the bonnet – though the size of the ‘frunk’ (front trunk) varies depending on whether the vehicle is rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive (the front electric motor and its ancillaries occupy a bit of room).

The infotainment system includes AM/FM and digital radio as well as Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and embedded navigation.

These are accessed via a horizontal 12.3-inch infotainment touchscreen which, positioned alongside a 5.0-inch display for the air-conditioning controls, and another 12.3-inch screen for the digital instrument cluster, creates the impression of one large curved display across more than half the dashboard.

The Air and Earth models have an eight-speaker audio system. The top-of-the-range GT-Line has a 14-speaker Meridian audio system.

The functionality is straightforward and, helpfully, there is a thumbwheel in the centre of the dash – and a thumbwheel on the steering wheel – for volume adjustment.

The Kia EV9 is in the process of being crash-tested by European NCAP, after which the results will be interpreted by Australasian NCAP.

The company has equipped the Kia EV9 with technology that would make it eligible for a five-star result – pending the outcome of crash tests and the validation of the collision-avoidance systems.

The Kia EV9 has a full suite of advanced safety technology:

As with many recent Hyundai and Kia cars, the speed-sign recognition system is triggered at 1km/h above the posted sign. But Kia has now introduced a mute option, so you can still see the speed sign warning flash without the chime.

Previously the system had to be disabled completely.

It is still a process to mute this function – which can deliver false positives after detecting speed signs on the back of buses or near freeway off-ramps – but in the Kia EV9 drivers can create a shortcut via the favourites button on the steering wheel, which brings up the relevant menu right away.

Also from our notebook: the digital side mirrors on the top-of-the-range Kia EV9 GT-Line provide less vision than conventional convex side mirrors, and the digital display was particularly unnerving when making a U-turn because its blind spot was greater.

In this scenario you do more physical head-checks than normal, but then the thick roof pillars get in the way. Please be careful if you choose the GT-Line, for now it’s not available without digital side mirrors.

Service intervals are 12 months/15,000km (whichever comes first).

The cost of routine maintenance under Kia’s capped-price servicing program is $706 (3 years, 45,000km), $1351 (5 years, 75,000km), $1997 (7 years, 105,000km).

The Kia EV9 was not listed on our favourite insurance website when we applied for a quote with the major provider this week, but the data is due online shortly.

We sampled the Air and GT-Line on the Kia EV9 media preview drive – in a mix of winding hills and freeway conditions – and found energy consumption of both models to be a touch higher than the claims. We will conduct more thorough analysis of energy consumption when the Kia EV9 comes through the Drive garage for a week-long test.

Because of its size – and battery capacity – the Kia EV9 is also the heaviest passenger vehicle ever sold by the company locally, ranging in weight from 2312kg to 2636kg, putting it in Toyota LandCruiser territory.

So while the steering feels light – and makes the car almost feel agile – it can start to get unwieldy if you push too hard in corners.

This is definitely a vehicle that needs to take it easy into tight corners and roundabouts, particularly in the wet.

The suspension on the base-model Air on 19-inch Nexen tyres felt slight busier and less comfortable than the top-of-the-range GT-Line on 21-inch Continental tyres.

Normally, the opposite would be true. Big wheels with low-profile tyres are usually sharper over bumps, but that’s not the case with the Kia EV9 GT-Line, which also has a unique suspension tune to help iron out the bumps.

While the performance of the Kia EV9 Air is fair for the class (0–100km/h in 8.2 seconds is as fast or faster than most petrol or diesel family SUVs), the acceleration of the Kia EV9 GT-Line is next level.

Although the power and torque outputs are the same on the middle-of-the-range Earth and the top-of-the-range GT-Line – due to their matching dual electric motors and all-wheel drive – Kia has unlocked some extra boost when the GT-Line is in Sport mode.

That’s why the Earth has a 0–100km/h claim of 6.0 seconds (as quick as a Volkswagen Golf GTI) and the GT-Line has a 0–100km/h claim of 5.3 seconds (as quick as a Holden Commodore V8).

To test the claim we hooked up our VBox timing equipment to a Kia EV9 GT-Line and recorded a string of four 5.3-second times, which is remarkable for an SUV that’s not a fast Porsche or BMW.

Other observations: the Kia EV9 GT-Line is smooth, quiet and comfortable to drive. There is good visibility all around, with one notable exception.

The digital side mirrors are not as good as conventional convex side mirrors, especially when making a U-turn or when changing lanes.

With conventional convex mirrors, you can move your head to see different corners of the lens. With the digital display, you’re provided with a narrower view.

So while they might look fancy and futuristic, they are too clever for their own good. And I would opt for a model variant of the Kia EV9 range with conventional convex side mirrors.

Although it wasn’t available at the media preview drive, we suspect the middle-of-the-range Kia EV9 Earth model – with dual electric motors and brisk performance – could be the smart choice.

The Kia EV9 is a compelling proposition for large families looking for an electric car of the future – provided the budget stretches that far.

We would exercise caution if considering the top-of-the-range Kia EV9 GT-Line variant because the digital side mirrors offer less of a view of the traffic around you. Be especially careful to do extra head checks when making a U-turn.

The middle-of-the-range Kia EV9 Earth has almost the same performance as the GT-Line – and helpfully, it comes with conventional convex side mirrors – but it misses some features that appeal to buyers with a taste for luxury.

For me, the perfect Kia EV9 doesn’t exist yet. It would be a GT-Line without digital side mirrors, or the Earth but with the twin sunroofs and the 14-speaker audio system.

In the meantime, we suspect the pick of the bunch could be the one example we are yet to test: the Kia EV9 Earth.

Whichever one you choose, we encourage you to take it on a decent test drive and, if possible, on familiar roads.