2024 Kia EV9 does not disappoint the second time around | Reviews
Exclusive-to-Canada Terrain mode adds even more capability to this all-electric, all-world three-row family hauler
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My second drive of the 2024 Kia EV9 was very different from my first. Back in early summer I was part of a small group of international automotive journalists who travelled to South Korea for the first drive event of the all-electric, three-row SUV. The route took us from the congested streets of Seoul, a mega-city of nearly 10 million souls, to a coastal town via a major highway dotted with speed cameras and go-slow zones. Needless to say, I never had a chance to stretch the legs of this zero-emission family hauler.
That all changed last week when I spent the day in the dual-motor (AWD), GT-Line EV9 under a cloudless blue desert sky in Arizona. This drive started in the tony Phoenix suburb of Scottsdale and headed south-east deep into the Sonoran Desert along highways where the slow lanes were zipping along at 120 km/h, and then onto dusty desert trails where uneven and slippery terrain proved a challenging testing ground for the all-electric SUV.
And while this second drive was unlike the first, my impression of the Kia EV9 was the same. Following the Korea trip I wrote, “(d)espite being a very heavy vehicle — tipping the scales unladen at 2,550 kg (5,622 lbs.) — and utilizing Kia’s largest ever lithium-ion battery pack — a 99.8 kWh power source — the EV9 belies that heft with a surprisingly light and agile driving experience.”
Kia EV9’s Terrain Mode for Canadians only
That certainly reflects my opinion following the desert drive, an opinion informed after cruising in the EV9 at speeds cresting 140 km/h on table-top smooth highways, and after using the Terrain mode settings while navigating the desert scrub. Those modes, which are not available on U.S. EV9s but are on Canadian models, include Snow, Mud and Sand, and when engaged the latter really provided some firm grip and sure-footed handling of the big and heavy SUV. Once the asphalt turned to dust and sand, I didn’t engage the Sand mode just to get a sense of how the EV9 performed with no Terrain setting and, not surprisingly, we experienced the occasional wheel spin and tail-happy slide. Dialing up the Sand mode, that all went away, and I felt more than comfortable pushing down on the accelerator a little harder to coax the Ocean Blue rig through the surreal landscape of majestic Saguaro cactus and impossibly balanced boulder formations. Our lunch destination was well off the beaten path in the literal middle of nowhere and included a wood-fired oven trailer towed there from Scottsdale by a Kia EV9, and a coffee machine plugged into an EV9 and utilizing the vehicle’s vehicle to load (V2L) energy exchange system.
2024 Kia EV9 pricing and trims
Canadian customers have three EV9 models to choose from, and each with a very attractive price in terms of value-for-money. The rear-wheel drive EV9 Light starts at $59,995; the better equipped RWD Wind comes in at $62,995; the all-wheel drive Land starts at $64,995; the Land AWD Premium rings in at $74,995; and the top-of-the-line Land AWD GT-Line, like the one I drove in Arizona, starts at $78,995. Even more impressive is the number of Kia firsts to roll out on what is without doubt the automaker’s bona fide flagship, EV or otherwise. These include: fourth generation battery technology, connected car navigation cockpit, a new user interface, steering wheel emblem lighting, driver relaxation seat with ergo motion, column mounted shift by wire, ECU over the air updates, dedicated 5-inch HVAC display touch screen, fingerprint module for custom driver settings, digital lighting grille, hidden type touch buttons, remote smart park assist 2 and extendable centre rear console.
EV9’s efficiency as good as its capability
On that first drive in South Korea I didn’t get a good opportunity to track the efficiency of the EV9, but that wasn’t the case in Arizona. During my time behind the wheel, we covered 306 kilometres after starting with a 99 per cent charged battery showing a range of 460 km. At the conclusion of the drive, the battery range was 32 per cent, so we used 67 per cent to cover just over 300 km. As I’ve written, ad nauseum, as much as the automotive world fixates on an EV’s range, the true metric of an electric vehicle’s performance related to its powertrain is efficiency of that battery pack, which is represented as kWh/100 km. The EV9’s rating was a very impressive 20 kWh/100 km, meaning to travel 100 kilometres, 20 kWh of the long-range battery’s 99.8 kWh capacity was required. That number is somewhere in the middle of most EVs I’ve tested, but considering this is a large SUV that can hold either six or seven people, that is excellent efficiency. And particularly considering the speed we travelled at and the use of the Sand mode during desert running.
Kia engineers have managed that efficiency by creating a surprisingly slippery body style for the EV9. Despite its boxy and blunt nose design, this SUV has the exact same drag coefficient of 0.28 as the Kia EV6 sport sedan. Clever air flow channels on the lower front fascia and automatic shutters below the grille move the air the EV9 is cutting into in a very efficient manner, and uses some of that circulating air to cool the battery and motors of electric powertrain system. And aiding that kWh/100 km number in the dual-motor model is a clever engineering trick that sees the front axle decouple under certain driving conditions to allow for a so-called ‘coasting’ mode, which Kia says creates up to eight per cent in range saving.
Final thoughts
Looking back at my final thoughts from that South Korean first drive of the 2024 Kia EV9 I wrote, “This is a very solid and family friendly all-electric vehicle, with first-rate charging capability, state-of-the-art onboard technology and surprisingly nimble handling characteristics.” This second time around hasn’t changed that impression, and after experiencing the benefits of the Terrain Mode and getting real-world efficiency numbers for this all-electric SUV, the Kia EV9 is my front-runner for the 2024 vehicle of the year.
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