2024 Kia EV9 first look: Everything you need to know about this 7 seat electric SUV!

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