Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “Kia EV9 review: third row’s the charm”.
So one of the most popular type of vehicle on the road today is the three row SUV, but weirdly enough, it’s been super difficult to find one. That’S all electric and affordable the rivan r1s and the Tesla Model X both sell for over $ 80,000. That’S not affordable and the Tesla Model y has an optional third row, but it’s super tiny. So where are all the decently sized decently priced all electric three row: family haulers? Well, here’s one, the Kia ev9 starting price $ 54,900.
It’S big! It’S boxy! It’S blue! The electric three row SUV has arrived, let’s get into it, so the first thing you notice about the ev9 is its hugeness. This is a big boy. The Kia logo is gigantic, the lights are double stacked. The entire face of the vehicle is just Broad. It’S roughly the same dimensions as the kellu ride, which is its most popular model, but in fact it’s actually a couple inches longer.
It’S 1097 in Long 70, in tall 77 in wide it’s one of the biggest electric vehicles to come out so far, but the ev9 secret weapon is the wheelbase, because there’s no engine the wheels are actually farther apart than usual, which creates a much roomier interior with 42 in of rear leg room, the ev9 tops the Cadillac Escalade Range, Rover, P400 and Mercedes eqs and there’s more shoulder room and leg room than the Tesla Model X. I have never driven an electric vehicle this big before and if you know me you know, I have a problem with big SUVs, statistically they’re, more dangerous than smaller cars. They cost too much money and they’re less efficient than smaller Vehicles. They also carry around a lot of extra battery weight.
The EV 9’s battery alone weighs over 1,000 lb, I’m not trying to nitpick just something to consider if you’re thinking about an e, but the fact that no one has gone after the fullsize SUV with an EV before is just so strange to me. The Toyota Highlander the Honda Pilot, the Chevy Taho. These are very popular vehicles that makes the ev9 the first mainstream three row: electric SUV to hit the market and that’s a big deal. Let’S talk pricing. The base model starts at around $ 55,000, which is not cheap, but it’s not luxury either. It’S certainly less expensive than some other EVS, but way more expensive than gas equivalent like the Kone Telly ride.
This model is the top-of-the-line dual motor all-wheel drive, GT line, which starts at $ 73,000, but most ev9 will probably fall somewhere in the middle $ 60,000 range. The ev9 is not eligible for the $ 7,500 Federal EV tax credit, but it is available for Less ease. Heia has said that it’s moving ev9 production to the US, so it could qualify at some point in the future, but the price could be an obstacle, as I’m sure you’ve noticed. Eevee demand is in a weird place right now. The early adopters have adopted we’re in this more price, conscious phase where people are just sort of shopping around for the right deal. The av9 could help a lot of families convert from gas to electric, but the price could actually convince a lot of others to just wait it out.
But you know what forget all that let’s drive so the ev9 has about 300 M of range or around 440 km, and that’s thanks to the 99 Kow hour battery pack. That’S in the floor of the vehicle. This one gets about 379 horsepower and about 515 lb feet of torque and of course it’s quick. It’S got that instant electric acceleration that you would expect.
So it drives great. You know it’s big, but it doesn’t feel big when you’re driving it and I think that’s thanks to the short overhangs which give you a better visibility of the road. You know you’re up high but you’re, not up too high. I don’t feel like I’m towering over the road, like I do in some Su. The start button is on the gear stock, which also has a twist end for your gear, selector and then parking is at the end. There’S one long piece of glass for all of your touch screens. There’S a 5-in instrument, cluster small section here for HVAC, and then you got your 12.3 in central display. It’S got Wireless carplay at Android, auto the rear seats are spacious and comfortable.
I’M 6’1, I feel like I fit in here pretty nicely. The seats all have power. Folding, there’s a cool foldout center tray, there’s USBC ports all over the place. Everything feels very premium and nice and not cheap or plasticky.
Then there’s this light of buttons in the center dash, I’m not the biggest fan of haptic feedback. I think it looks better than it actually feels and even then you have to take your eyes away from the road to see where your fingers jabbing, the two-tone leather seats, are heated and ventilated. There’S a built-in massage function for those long trips, but that’s only available on the top of the line model. Oh and the rear seats fold down for extra storage, you’ve got extra storage under the trunk for storing various equipment. The handles are retractable, they’ll come out when you unlock the vehicle or if you have the fob in your pocket, they’ll just come out automatically. It’S got a frunk, it’s not huge, but it’s big enough for a backpack. The efficiency is pretty good for a vehicle of this size, I’m getting about 2.1 kwatt hours per mile, and thanks to the 800v system, charging is going to be a breeze. When you’re hooked up to a DC fast charger, you can go from 10 to 80 %.
In about 24 minutes, so there’s a lot of weird design elements on This SUV like these running lights, that are kind of in these weird L shapes the headlights and the tail lights both make. These kind of, like bizarre zigzag, shapes I’ve, never really seen anything like that before and the wheels are. These four spoke wheels, which is really just unusual. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that before either now I don’t have a crystal ball, but the ev9 seems like it’s going to be a real winner for Kia. I mean just anecdotally from talking to the parents in my town, they’ve been waiting for a car like this to come around to help them make the switch from gas to electric and Kia could really use a winner. The Brand’s reputation has taken a major hit after a bunch of car.
Thieves have been stealing a lot of older models thanks to a design flaw. Would I get an ev9? Definitely not it’s too big and too expensive for my family, but if I had a few extra kids and a little bit more more money, I could see this big boxy SUV working. For me. It works that .