• last year
This car looks AWESOME. It's the 2024 Kia EV9 - it's a seven seat, fully electric vehicle from Kia. It launches in Australia in October. Pricing is yet to be announced, but here is everything we know so far.

More Kia content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/kia
More Kia EV9 content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/kia/ev9

Skip Ahead:
Intro: 00:00
Exterior: 00:45
Spec Options: 02:16
Charging: 04:30
Interior: 06:11
Practicality: 11:42
Verdict: 13:22

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#kia #ev9 #review
Transcript
00:00 G'day, I'm Paul. I have been so excited to see this in person. It is the Kia EV9. It
00:05 is a fully electric seven-seater, and I'm excited for that because there aren't many
00:10 vehicles like this on the market, certainly none this size that can actually transport
00:14 seven people. This is coming to Australia later this year. It goes on sale from around
00:19 October. Pricing is still yet to be announced. There's still actually quite a few details
00:23 that are yet to be announced, so today it's just a quick look at this pre-production car.
00:27 Today we're going to have a quick look at the Kia EV9, so if you do want to skip ahead
00:30 to other parts of this video, you can use the time codes on the screen, or if you are
00:34 on YouTube, you can scroll down and use the chapters below, and if you haven't done so
00:37 already, subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon so you can find out every single
00:42 time we look at a futuristic vehicle.
00:46 Now let's talk about exterior design. You've got seven colours that this will be sold with
00:51 in Australia. One of those is a matte colour as well. Actually, it looks pretty cool in
00:54 that matte colour too because it's just really out there. This, everything white looks great
00:59 with all the offsets, and I mean we always talk about futuristic electric vehicles, aerodynamics
01:05 and that sort of stuff. This has a coefficient of drag of 0.28, and that's really impressive
01:09 because it means it's able to cut through the air. It is a big and heavy vehicle at
01:12 around 2.7 tonnes, and you really want to make it as aerodynamic as possible because
01:17 you have like this exponential law, the bigger the vehicle is, the bigger the battery needs
01:21 to be to get more range, and then the bigger the battery is, the more energy it consumes.
01:25 You kind of just eat into it constantly, and they've kind of landed on this shape and size
01:29 with that coefficient of drag, which I think is a good sort of middle ground. Giant Kia
01:33 logo there on the front. You've got the body-coloured paintwork split up with these sections as
01:39 you move your way down. You've got these active shutters down the bottom as well, and they're
01:42 designed to either bring in more cooling or adjust the temperature levels of the battery
01:47 because with electric vehicles, you need to get them into their right temperature zone
01:51 as quickly as you can and then hold it there for efficiency, and that's the whole concept
01:54 of those.
01:56 Full LED headlights. I like this dual-column design with an LED running light around the
02:01 top there and an indicator built into there as well, so that is a really sort of cool-looking
02:06 setup. In terms of specs, we don't know them yet for Australia, but we do understand that
02:10 there will be two grades, and then they're also going to be available with three different
02:15 battery options. So the three options we're talking about are the standard, which is basically
02:19 160 kilowatts, 350 newton-metres with a single rear-wheel drive motor, and that'll do 0-100
02:25 in about 8.2 seconds with a driving range of just over 400 kilometres. I'm reading this
02:30 all off by phone here because there's a lot to get through. The long range, which is 150
02:35 kilowatts, so slightly smaller, 350 newton-metres, single motor rear-wheel drive as well, but
02:39 the 0-100 time has reduced the sacrificing a little bit, 9.4 seconds, and then 540 kilometres
02:45 of range. But then the top spec is the one that I think will be most interesting, 283
02:50 kilowatts of power, 600 newton-metres of torque, that's all wheel drive, so one motor on the
02:54 front, one motor on the rear, 0-100 in 6 seconds and a driving range of just under 500 kilometres.
03:00 They will also offer a boost feature through the Kia Connect store that basically increases
03:06 your torque output to 700 newton-metres and cuts down the 0-100 time to just over 5 seconds,
03:11 so I quite like that. We'll talk about battery specs in just a sec, but let's jump over
03:15 here to the wheels. So this is sitting on a set of 21-inch alloy wheels, it is a big
03:21 old wheel and tyre package. 45 profile tyres and aero elements here with piano black in
03:28 the centre to basically cut down the drag. But the interesting thing is here, just like
03:33 other Kia products, this is getting a local ride and handling tune, and in fact the guys
03:37 have been working on the local ride and handling tune for the EV9 for quite some time now,
03:42 and I'm hoping that means it actually rides and handles nicely because the problem is
03:45 when you get to a vehicle that weighs as much as this does, you then compromise handling
03:49 and ride, and you really do have to find the middle ground there where you can meet all
03:53 of those briefs, and I'm hoping that they've done a good job with this given the EV6 is
03:57 quite an impressive handling vehicle. Piano black there around the wheel arches, and then
04:03 up the top here you'll see digital mirrors. These are going to be offered on the top grade
04:07 specification and potentially offered as an option across the rest of the range. Look,
04:11 I'm not a huge fan of digital mirrors, I do need to spend some more time with them, but
04:15 it's good to see you don't have to have these if you don't want to. That means you've got
04:18 the lens up the front there, camera here on the side, and then an indicator built into
04:22 there. Down the bottom here you've got that piano black that continues down. These door
04:25 handles retract when you lock the vehicle. You've got privacy glass there, roof rails
04:30 up the top. Let's quickly touch on the battery specs. So depending on which grade you go
04:35 for, battery sizes vary. You've got one that's around the 70 kWh mark and then one that's
04:39 around the 90-95 kWh mark. You basically access the charging port behind here, just like the
04:45 EV6 that's on an electric sort of hood. You've got AC charging and DC charging. DC charging
04:51 is at 800 volts and up to 350 kW, although it will probably average around the 200 kW
04:57 mark, just like the EV6 does. And that's great for a vehicle like this because you've got
05:01 a big battery, you want to fill it as quickly as you can, and this is going to allow you
05:04 to do that. This also has vehicle to load, so using this top AC socket you can actually
05:09 power appliances inside the boot as well, which I'll show you in a second. There's also
05:12 a power outlet too that allows you to power appliances as well. So I love that they have
05:17 that feature. Comes in handy if you're going to go camping and that sort of stuff. This
05:20 has mild off-road ability, so if you do want to go camping with the kids you can run a
05:24 fridge or charge an iPad or do something else to keep them entertained while you're at it.
05:29 Come around to the back with me. Now I know that styling is entirely subjective, but I
05:33 love both the front and the rear of this vehicle. I think just from a design point of view it
05:37 looks sensational. Full LED taillights in there, big Kia logo again, and then more of
05:43 that piano black finish down the bottom there with an EV9 logo just here. This little camera
05:47 just here is for the rear vision camera, I'll show you that once we're inside the car. Then
05:52 a brake light integrated into there with a shark fin aerial up the top. And then in here
05:56 you have the wiper, so it's nice and hidden away there. Now let me know what you reckon
06:00 about the design of the EV9 in the comments section below. Do you reckon it looks good?
06:04 I'm keen to see what you think. Like I said, design is subjective, but I think this looks
06:09 absolutely sensational.
06:10 OK, so we are inside the EV9. This looks bloody awesome. So we'll start off with the key actually.
06:17 So you've got recycled materials on there, and I like this as well, the Kia lights up
06:21 when you press a button on there, which is pretty cool. So you've got lock, unlock, boot,
06:26 then you've got remote start, remote parking, and then a button there for the front as well,
06:30 which I'll show you a little bit later on. Now in terms of what is ahead of the driver,
06:35 I'll keep the more detailed stuff when we actually get the vehicle, but I'll just run
06:39 you through the high level items. So it's a new version of Kia's infotainment system,
06:44 and that means it is meant to be much quicker. It means it will also support wireless Apple
06:48 CarPlay finally, which they never really had with the top spec versions. So 12.3 inch display
06:53 over here, 12.3 inch display ahead of the driver as well. Then what they've done is
06:57 they've moved some of the temperature controls. So they used to be sort of down here, if you
07:00 think of sportage and stuff. They do actually have some physical controls here for fan and
07:04 temperature, but it now sits on this small sort of five inch display over here. The only
07:10 problem with that is while I'm sitting here in this sort of driver's position, I can't
07:13 see any of that. So I've got to actually look around the steering wheel to access any of
07:17 that, and I'll be curious to see what it's like when we do actually drive the car and
07:21 whether that becomes distracting. These are the screens for your wing mirrors, so I'll
07:25 show you what's going on around the side of the car there, and you can adjust those as
07:30 required. Over on the driver's side panel over here, you have controls for the massage,
07:34 seats heating and cooling, and seat memory along with steering wheel heating. Through
07:38 the centre here in terms of your storage, wireless phone charging, you've got some buttons
07:42 here for key functions, and next to these buttons you also have a fingerprint reader
07:46 to recall the different settings for the different drivers that you have in the car. Cup holders
07:51 with a little roller door there, stacks of storage down below here, and I opened this
07:55 up and thought, there is no storage there at all, but I will show you where that went
08:00 very soon. Down the front here, USB-C, USB-C plus a 12 volt outlet, and this is similar
08:07 to I think it was the Kona that we tested recently in terms of the layout. You can actually
08:10 switch between just charging and USB by pressing that, and then the 12 volt outlet has a little
08:16 cover on it as well, so all bases are covered there. Your air vents are built into this
08:20 centre section, and the glove box down here opens in a bit of an interesting way. So it
08:24 opens out and down, so slightly different to what we've seen previously, but it also
08:29 means the lip for that isn't really that big, so it's going to be a bit of a struggle to
08:33 stick larger items in there, so we'll see how that goes. Up the top here, you've got
08:37 some buttons here for the connected services, so there's an SOS button there, and then you've
08:41 got a tow mode as well if you do ever have to get the car towed. So I'm really impressed
08:46 with the way this looks, and the seats as well look unreal. They've done a great job
08:49 with that. Really nice and comfortable. Look at these extended headrests too. There's a
08:53 litany of adjustments as well. You can literally pull out this leg rest ahead of the driver
08:57 here, and you've got massage functions, everything, so that's all controlled on the side there.
09:02 I am impressed by the way this looks, and you can see what it's like on the road, because
09:08 there is so much room in here, it feels really nice and airy. And you've got these two big
09:11 glass roofs as well to keep everyone nice and happy, and this is where that digital
09:17 mirror display is as well.
09:19 OK, second row. Now this is the cool thing about this car. It sits on a 3.1 metre wheelbase,
09:25 so it is huge. The biggest advantage of a 3.1 metre wheelbase is legroom, especially
09:30 here in the second row. Have a look at this. It is just acres of legroom. Tow room is not
09:35 too bad. Headroom is really good as well. Now I mentioned before, that space, where
09:40 did it disappear to? Well, it's right here. Have a look. That goes all the way in, so
09:44 I think kids are going to have lots of crap to store, and I think it's a great idea to
09:48 have most of your storage space down here, so that's really good. USB-C ports here, plus
09:53 some buttons here to move that second row seat out of the way. Map pockets there. Air
09:58 vents are up the top here, and this is also where you're going to find climate controls
10:01 for the third zone. Over on the door you have heating and cooling for the two outboard seats.
10:07 You've got these privacy blinds, a centre armrest here with two cup holders. You've
10:12 got ISOFIX points on these two outboard seats, plus the two third row seats, and then you
10:17 have top tether for all of the seats as well, so this is definitely going to be a family
10:23 machine. What about the window? It doesn't go all the way down. Let's have a little look.
10:29 Look at that. Very impressive. Auto up and down as well.
10:32 Now, getting into the third row. I quite like this system. So you've got a button up the
10:35 top, button down the bottom here. You push that, and it leaps out of the way, and then
10:39 you climb on in. So far, so good. Let's have a look at what legroom is like. Not very good.
10:47 I can't actually put that down at all. So, Sean, can I get you to move that row out of
10:52 the way a little bit? So if you go forwards with that to about... Yeah, that'll do. And
10:58 then I'll bring this back, and if you can do the same over on this side. Yeah, that'll
11:04 do. All right, so when it is like that, I can sort of fit here, but my knees are squashed
11:10 up against that seat. I can sort of go spread leg to actually fit in there, but it kind
11:16 of reduces the amount of room you have here in the second row quite substantially. So
11:21 hopefully this means the boot size is actually pretty big, and you'll be able to store things
11:26 in there. But you do have other features here, such as cup holders, USB-C. You've also got
11:32 an ability to recline the third row as well electrically, which is pretty good, and then
11:37 air vents up the top here with some lights as well. But let's have a look at the boot.
11:42 We'll see how much room there is back there. Now, before I show you the boot, join me down
11:45 here for a second, Sean. So a big benefit of EVs is that you have a flat floor for the
11:50 battery. It helps with aerodynamics. But the interesting thing they've done here, because
11:54 this is such a big vehicle and it has the potential of having people here in the third
11:59 row rather with luggage as well, they actually have height adjustable suspension at the rear.
12:03 So if you are loading the vehicle up, once you start driving it will then start levelling
12:08 itself. So you do have a flat vehicle there, which I think is going to be very helpful
12:13 when it comes to actually making sure this thing isn't sagging when you load it up to
12:16 go away for a trip. Now, what does all that mean for boot space? Let's open it up. So
12:20 powered tailgate. Okay, so there is actually a decent amount of space here. We don't have
12:28 exact figures yet, but it's over 300 litres here behind the third row. You can see those
12:32 two top tethers there as well. In terms of storage beneath the cargo floor, you've got
12:37 spot there for the cargo blind, tyre repair kit as well, but not a huge amount of room
12:42 outside of that. You do actually have a front boot too. It's not enormous, but it is bigger
12:46 than what we've seen on EV6. This is where you're going to find the other power outlet
12:50 for your vehicle to load. Over on that side you have a 12 volt outlet plus another button
12:54 to get out of the boot if you need to. You can then drop the third row using buttons
12:59 as well. So press those and that then disappears out of the way, which is pretty handy. We
13:06 don't have exact figures for the amount of room you have, but as you can see with the
13:09 third row down, it is a big old space. Then when you drop the second row as well, it is
13:13 an absolutely enormous space. So pretty impressed with that.
13:22 So Kia EV9, it's been your first look at this here in Australia. Let me know what you reckon
13:26 in the comments section below. How much do you reckon it'll cost? How much are you willing
13:30 to pay for it? And do you think it's missing anything that you wished it had? And I'm also
13:35 keen to know what you reckon about the design as well. Apparently they've had thousands
13:38 of expressions of interest to date and they'll only be getting around 400 for the rest of
13:42 this year. So that's going to be an interesting situation. Let me know in the comments section
13:46 below what you reckon about this. Now if you did enjoy this video, please make sure you
13:49 like it and you share it with your mates. And if you haven't done so already, subscribe
13:52 to our channel and press the bell icon as well, so you can find it every single time
13:55 we publish these. But until next time, take it easy.

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