Overview

This rather handsome-looking beast is the Kia EV9. It’s an all-new, seven-seat family SUV that was designed to shake up the electric car market – and it’s the freshest flagship model in Kia’s range, slotting above the Parkers multi-award-winning EV6 SUV.

Kia’s aim for the car was to make it attractive enough to drag buyers away from established premium SUVs such as the Land Rover Discovery, Mercedes EQS SUV and Tesla Model Y. Early impressions are promising, too. Kia has made it practical enough to tackle the Disco and technologically advanced enough to rival anything from Mercedes.

There is a price to pay for that, though. The most basic EV9 has a starting price of around £65,000, which seems like an awful lot of money to spend on a Kia upon first encounter. But the brand countered that argument artfully by cramming the car full of equipment. To put it into perspective, the cheapest EV9 has a comparable amount of equipment to the mid-range Land Rover Discovery, but the Kia is bigger and three grand cheaper.

The EV9 is available with a choice of two electric powertrains, both of which are fed by the same 99.8kWh battery pack. The cheapest ‘Air’ model has a single electric motor mounted on the rear axle, churning out 203hp and 350Nm of torque. It’s also the long-legged model in the line-up with a maximum WLTP range of 349 miles.

Above that, there’s the EV9 GT-Line. Along with some extra interior equipment and some 21-inch alloy wheels, it gains an extra electric motor on the front axle. That brings four-wheel drive and bumps the car’s power and torque figures up to 383hp and 700Nm respectively. The extra poke impacts range, however, with the car’s maximum WLTP figure falling to 313 miles (and we found its real-world range to be far lower).

There’s another trim level at the top of the range called the EV9 GT-Line S. It doesn’t get any extra performance, but it does come with the sort of standard equipment that’s normally reserved for premium SUVs. Extras include a sunroof for the first and second rows, a head-up display and a Meridian audio system which, for those playing car spec sheet bingo, is the same company that supplies Land Rover with its stereos.

Granted, the GT-Line S model will set you back just over £77,000. But when you compare it to the six-figure sum you’ll spend on a comparably equipped Range Rover, it starts to make a lot more sense. The question is, is the EV9’s bold styling and healthy standard specification enough to drag buyers away from the established range of luxury SUVs?

Over the next few pages, we’ll answer that question. We’ll assess the EV9’s practicality, interior technology, comfort, safety, driving experience and running costs before offering our final verdict on the car. Click through to the next page to learn more.