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New Kia EV9: Is Korea’s Range Rover rival worth £65,000?
Does Kia’s flagship 7-seat electric SUV live up to its premium billing? Jonny jumps behind the wheel to find out.
Little more than a decade ago the idea of a luxury Kia would have been scoffed at by many. Times have changed, though, and the Korean marque has proven it can tackle the automotive world’s hottest contenders, head on.
It looks like Kia’s new EV9 is set on perpetuating that success story. Jonny is immediately positive about the SUV as he soaks in its eccentric, boxy lines. Drawing comparisons to similarly confident designs (including Nissan’s Juke and Ford’s electric F150 pick-up), the LBS host admits he’s partial to bold styling – and evidently the public are too, with both examples citing strong sales.
But, according to Jonny, practicality and “knowing its audience” are the Kia’s two biggest calling cards. Sure, at 5 metres long the EV9 could give some of our top 5 most challenging cars to park a run for their money in the size stakes, but every last millimetre has been put to good use. With an 800-litre boot in five-seater configuration (or 330 litres with all seven in situ), the EV9 humiliates the likes of BMW’s iX when it comes to luggage capacity.
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Then there’s the small matter of performance and range. At 2.6 tonnes, the EV9 was never going to light the heather on fire in either department. However, a quoted 349-mile range is respectable (albeit that Jonny sees a lesser, real-world figure of around 260 miles in cold weather), and a circa five second 0-60 mph sprint is more than adequate for such a practical machine. More impressive is the EV9’s ability to soak up imperfections in the tarmac – even on the largest 21-inch alloys. Plus, refinement and ergonomics, which seem to rank just as highly in Jonny’s book.
So, it’s a practical, well-equipped, refined, and powerful 7-seat luxury SUV, but what’s not so great about the EV9? Find out if the LBS show host has any gripes and whether he’d buy one over an Audi, BMW, or Range Rover, in the video above.