KIA EV9
As Kia moves into uncharted territory with its upmarket seven-seat EV, we test its claims on a nine-country road trip
It’s not often you get a frisson of excitement at the prospect of a long drive in a Kia. But as we stand in Trieste airport, despite the rain lashing rivers across the stark concrete surroundings, our 800- mile trek through nine countries is an oddly alluring prospect.
There’s so much about this trip that’s intriguing. It’s through largely unfamiliar territory, for one – starting in Italy and zigzagging north to Germany. It’s an unusually long trip for an EV, which adds a tinge of uncertainty about the charging infrastructure. But mostly it’s because of the car itself. Kia has been on a roll recently, building on its base of reliable and affordable transport with an increasingly desirable line-up. It’s no longer odd to find a Kia on a car enthusiast’s wish list.
But the EV9 is not just a continuation of that trend – it’s a big step up, the sort of statement that would never have seemed possible from Kia even three or four years ago, but which it is now confidently marketing as ‘re-shaping the way we move’. But still, a £75k Kia? It’s some statement.
The styling is one of the EV9’s major USPs. Kias have been looking less and less anonymous ever since Peter Schreyer joined the design department from the VW Group in 2006, but the latest additions move the game on further. While Schreyer tightened things and gave Kias a hint of a personality, the newer cars shaped under Karim Habib have really upped the ante, none more so than the EV9 – never before have I been in a Kia and seen so many people do a double-take. And that isn’t just in car-mad Italy. As we make our way through Europe, people are constantly craning their necks as the EV9 drives past; not quite Ferrari-esque but not far off.
Is this the car, then, to really get the wider public excited about Kia? The hardware would make you think so. The EV9 is a multi-seat SUV that the Koreans insist can take on the likes of the Land Rover Discovery and BMW X5, those long-standing stalwarts of the upmarket school run. Why the awkward phrase ‘multi-seat’? Because the EV9 is available with a couple of seat options: most trim levels get seven as standard, starting with the base Air at £64,995, then the GT-Line (£73,245) and GT-Line S (£75,995). But the top-spec S also has a six-seat option (£76,995), with three rows of two seats and the possibility of rotating the middle row to create a sort of in-car living room. Only without the TV. Or a wet dog curled up in front of the fire.
It looks impressive on the we
