• Excellent quality throughout
• Easy-to-use infotainment screen
• Quiet and refined on the move

How is the quality and layout?

Quality is impressive, with a genuinely premium look and feel. The materials are upmarket, and they’ve been nailed together with absolute precision. Unlike its glitzier rivals, the EV9’s cabin isn’t overly styled or dominated by its technology. It’s an incredibly relaxing place to be. Mercedes could learn some lessons from Kia here.

The cabin is very logical. Most of the interior functions have been moved onto the infotainment system but, unlike Volkswagen, you get physical buttons for common functions such as the climate controls and heated seats. Plus, the steering wheel controls are proper buttons rather than touch pads which makes them a doddle to use.

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You also get a row of shortcut buttons built into the dashboard pad. They’re a great idea on paper, but they’re the only part of the Kia’s cabin that has been executed poorly. They look like touch-sensitive pads, but they’re actually physical buttons – and they’re quite difficult to push. You need to poke them in exactly the right place with quite a lot of pressure to make them work properly.

Infotainment and technology

The EV9’s cabin is structured around its enormous infotainment panel. It consists of three screens – a 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster on the right, a 12.3-inch touchscreen on the left and a dinky 5.3-inch screen in the middle to handle the climate controls.

The setup looks great – it’s a little more understated than Mercedes’ system, but it’s far less intimidating to use. Kia’s menus are logically organised and packed with huge icons, which makes it easy to hit the function you want on a rough road.

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The only downside we can see is that the climate control panel is partially obscured by the steering wheel. You need to peer around the wheel to adjust the airflow direction, which makes the panel tricky to operate without being scorned by the driver monitoring system.

Other handy bits of tech include a wireless smartphone charger in the centre console and wireless support for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, all of which work seamlessly.

Comfort

The Kia EV9’s seats are excellent. They’re not quite as comfortable as the seats fitted to a Range Rover, but they’re not far behind which is staggering considering the difference in price. They’re also incredibly configurable. The seats fitted to GT-Line cars and above even have adjustable calf supports.

You can basically turn the front seats into La-Z-Boys. That’s great for taking the strain out of long journeys, especially when you team it with Kia’s semi-autonomous driving mode. The rears are equally comfortable, although they’re not the most supportive and the faux leather is quite slippery. Your passengers might slide around a little if you enter a roundabout with too much enthusiasm.

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The EV9 is also incredibly quiet. Both road and wind noise is well suppressed, which is surprising considering the car’s enormous wheels and brick-faced styling. Obviously, there’s no noise from the powertrain, either.