Kia EV9 SUV 150kW Air 99.8kWh 5dr Auto Owner Review

Hi all,

Thought I would share my misery of having this car and see if anyone else has gone through this with this car/KIA UK and their leasing company. I hope not but I also hope that I am not just the unluckiest "owner" in the world on this car.

Right at the end of March 2024 we leased the KIA EV9 in Air trim through a business lease. The lease company is Santander.

First Issue - week of 15th April 2024 - Electronic Handbrake failure.

This was booked in and repaired by KIA under warranty on the 23rd April 2024. They had the car for a week.

Second Issue - 25th June 2024 - Battery Cell Failure.

The car was then dropped off with Hendy KIA Eastleigh on 28th June 2024. We had not been able to use or have access to the car since 25th June. Our local dealer informed us that it is roughly a 2 -3 week fix but that KIA UK are currently taking 3-3.5 months to actually collect the cars.

KIA UK tried to sort a courtesy car out for us and put Paul at West End Rentals (KIA) in touch with us to sort a courtesy car. Initially we were given a KIA EV6 which was a good car but not exactly like for like for what we needed - EV9 size car. We had the EV6 from 2nd July 2024 to 11th July 2024 when it was then replaced with a more suitable size car - a KIA Sorento PHEV. However, the battery charging system on the Sorento PHEV failed on 13th July 2024. We then had to take the courtesy car to Hendy KIA Eastleigh to have the courtesy car fixed. The Eastleigh branched loaned us their KIA Sorento Diesel whilst the car was fixed. However, this fault was a major one so the PHEV Sorento never came back to us.

KIA then put us in touch with Enterprise Eastleigh to replace the courtesy car. We stressed that the car needed to be a 7 seat SUV due to it being our main family car with three young children and a dog and also a big, already paid for UK family holiday coming up on the 26th July 2024 for a week. Without a car of the stated size, it would not have been possible to make the family holiday. We had our appointment to get the replacement vehicle from Enterprise on Monday 22nd July 2024 and when we got there, we were told they had a 5 seat Hyundai Tuscon for us. This, as you can imagine, was not acceptable in any way! They apologised but had to cancel the order.

Paul at West End Cars then managed to sort us out with a Sorento of theirs but again, was a diesel. We got the latest Sorento from Paul on Wednesday 24th July. Just in time to get the car ready for our family holiday on Friday 26th July.

The issue with the car being a diesel is that we got the EV9 to reduce the running costs with it being electric. We did not budget for the higher fueling costs that come with a Diesel car. I kept all of the fuel receipts.

The car was due back to us on Tuesday 29th October but there was a recall on the car which needed to be fixed. The car was then returned to us (Thursday 31st October) and was filthy inside and out. Not the best impression when you haven't been with the car for over 4 months and then it comes back filthy with charging cables loose next to the bag in the boot and empty plastic bottles in the car and just general filth and grime from the repair job.

I had to raise two claims, one with KIA UK and another with the lease company - Santander.

I contacted KIA UK, told them all of the above and asked for the fuel (receipts sent to them) to be refunded and a gesture of goodwill. They looked into it and came back with an offer of £260. I stated that I wanted more than this due to all of the above. Their reply was essentially 'take it or leave it'.

I then contacted our lease company and informed them of all of the the above. We are paying £941 per month and didn't have the car for 4 months. I asked for this period back (£3,764). They offered me £376.40 and again stated 'take it or leave it'. I have raised a complaint again and asked to speak to the governing body etc to take this further as it is completely unnaceptable but they are now no longer responding to my emails it seems.

Third Issue - 12v Battery - 30th December 2024.

We had been using the car daily since it was returned to us and even during that day. However, when I went to use the car that evening, it would not open. We called the RAC our via our car insurance the next morning and they managed to get the car open and charged the 12v battery up. They then left. 3 hours later it was fully dead again. I contacted our local dealer (Hendy KIA Eastleigh) and they sent someone out on 2nd January to start the car and take it back with them to be fixed.

A new 12v battery was fitted and I picked the car up yesterday (6th Janaury 2024) at 5pm. I went to take the car to work this morning and, yes you guessed it, the battery was dead again so it would not open or respond to anything. Hendy KIA Eastleigh are collecting the car at some point today to try and fix the issue and see why it is being drained even when the car is off.

I contacted the lease company again to see if we could just call it quits with the lease as we have "had it" for 9 months and have had 3 major faults on the car. They replied that they would not entertain this and that if I wanted to end the lease, they would want 50% of the remaining lease payments - £12,233. So it looks like I am stuck in this never ending fault cycle for another 26 months.

The car itself is great. I love the drive, the comfort and the overall size for our family. It is cheap to run too so it ticks all the boxes. It just keeps breaking.

Our local delaer - Hendy KIA Eastleigh, have been fantastic through this process to be fair to them. They have gone above and beyond to help me throughout. I just wanted to stress this.

Paul and team at West End Rentals - Not a bad word to say about them. Super helpful throughout.

KIA UK - an absolute disgrace and have put me off the brand.

Santander Business Lease - an absolute disgrace and I will make sure I never lease through them again.

Thanks for reading my rant and hopefully you don't experience the same issues we have.