Kia EV9 review: One of the first, and best, seven-seat EVs on the market

A big, bold, seven-seat EV with smart styling, a spacious interior, good range and fast charging, the Kia EV9 ticks a lot of practicality boxes. At £65,000 it’s expensive for a Kia, but the company has one of the best EV platforms around, and even with some extras added the EV9 is still significantly more affordable than rivals from Volvo and Range Rover. The Kia’s interior materials can’t quite match those up-market rivals, and its vast dimensions make it feel very big on the road, but it delivers plenty of bang for your buck.

The EV9 also rides well, with comfortable seats, lots of kit fitted as standard, and has enough space for full-size adults across all three rows, plus there’s a big boot that becomes positively cavernous when the rearmost seats are folded flat.

I spent two days driving the Kia EV9 in the South of France. The driving routes between Nice and St Tropez included two and city roads, narrow country lanes, quicker roads and sections of French motorway.

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Independent rating: 7/10

Kia’s biggest and most expensive car to date is also one of the first seven-seat EVs to hit the market, and one of a precious few capable of comfortably accommodating full-sized adults in every row. The EV9 has an equally large, 99.8 kWh battery and is available with one motor and rear-wheel-drive or two motors and all-wheel-drive.

As is almost always the case, the single-motor variant with less power is the pick of the bunch, since it provides the most range at the lowest price. Kia claims up to 349 miles of range and the EV9 benefits from the same fast-charging technology as other members of the Kia, Hyundai and Genesis family. This means a charge rate of up to 210 kW and a 10 to 80 percent fill in as little as 20 minutes. Kia says up to 154 miles of range can be added in 15 minutes.

The single-motor car has 200 bhp and accelerates to 62 mph in 9.4 seconds, while the dundalk-motor version has 378 bhp and is noticeably quicker, reaching 62 mph in just 5.3 seconds. The extra power is welcome, especially in such a big car, but the dual-motor EV9’s range falls to 313 miles.

The EV9’s interior is massive. It’s available as either a seven-seater in the usual 2+3+2 configuration, or as a six-seater with two individual chairs in the second row. Even the third row is plenty large enough for full-size adults, unlike some of the Kia’s rivals.

The seats are comfortable, the cabin is flooded with light, and all the major controls are shared with other members of the Kia family. This means the interior doesn’t quite have the luxury to match a Range Rover or the new Volvo EX90, but the Kia is a good £20,000 cheaper. We like how Kia uses lots of physical controls with the EV9, instead of sticking everything on the touchscreen.

The EV9 is easy to drive, but its vast proportions can never quite be forgotten, especially on narrower roads or when trying to park; at 1,980 mm it’s wider than a full-size Range Rover. The boot has a capacity of 33 litres, even with all seven seats in place, or 828 litres if you fold down the third row. A further 90 litres is available under the bonnet, but that falls to 52 litres for the dual-motor version.

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The EV9 has broadly the same infotainment system as other Kia, Genesis and Hyundai cars. The driver display and touchscreen both measure 12.3 inches and sit beside each other in a single dashboard panel. The centre console is home to a set of physical controls for the cabin temperature, and above these is a row of touch-sensitive shortcuts for quickly getting to the car’s navigation and media systems.

The side of the touchscreen closest to the steering wheel houses a set of touch-sensitive climate controls, but we found these were too obscured by the steering wheel to be convenient. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are both available as standard, plus wireless phone charging, heated and ventilated front seats, six USB-C ports, dual-zone climate, LED lights and much more. A 14-speaker sound system by Meridian Audio is available as an optional extra.

At £65,000 to £77,000 the EV9 might sound expensive for a Kia, but the South Korean company has repeatedly proved how it’s capable of delivering at ever-higher prices. The EV9 is an awful lot of car for the money, and as a full-size, seven-seat EV it has few rivals to speak of.

It doesn’t quite have the interior quality of a Volvo or Range Rover, but those brands command significantly more money. As well as size, the EV9 offers plenty of range and very fast charging capabilities; the powerful dual-motor variant is also properly rapid for a car of this size, but such performance isn’t for everyone. As ever, home charging can be extremely cheap while public chargers are often much more expensive – something that’s even more apparent when filling a fast-charging, big battery car like the EV9.

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The Kia EV9 can charge its battery at up to 210 kW, which makes it quicker to refill than a fair few other EVs. A top-up from 10 to 80 percent can take as little as 20 minutes at a high-speed public charger, or a fill from a wallbox at home takes between 10 and 11 hours.

The EV9’s £65,000 price tag sounds expensive for a Kia, but relatively good value for a big, plush seven-seat EV. It’s much more affordable than six-figure alternatives like the Volvo EX90 or upcoming electric Range Rover, but the Kia’s interior isn’t quite as luxurious.

Kia covers its EV batteries with an eight-year warranty. If the battery fails or its maximum capacity falls below 70 percent within that time, it will be repaired or replaced for free.

I love how the EV9 looks, especially in blue, and while the interior has plenty of space for seven plus luggage, you’re always very aware of those massive dimensions while driving.