Green Car Reports Best Car To Buy 2024 finalist

The 2024 Kia EV9 is certainly one of this 12 months’s greats. However it begs the query: What took so lengthy?

SUVs are the household car of alternative, no less than thus far this century, whereas EVs characterize the know-how of alternative for a rising subset of the American public. But up till now, with the arrival of the 2024 Kia EV9, there hasn’t been a non-luxury electrical SUV that’s really family-sized for America, with a 3rd row that’s adult-sized and simple to entry (sorry, Mannequin Y).

What has arrived is a gaggle of sporty-looking crossovers that could be nice for {couples} or empty-nesters however aren’t completely formatted for households—just like the Ford Mustang Mach-E, our Finest Automotive To Purchase 2021, and even the Kia EV6, a finalist final 12 months. 

The EV9 is spacious, permitting sufficient flexibility to suit grandparents and youngster seats collectively, or to have grownups match within the third row whereas youngster seats are within the second row, as an illustration. Or flip the third row down and switch what’s already an ample 20 cubic toes within the farthest-back quadrant right into a flat-floor loading zone prepared for the big-box journey. There’s a frunk, too—ok to verify the purse and laptop computer bag are out of sight. 

2024 Kia EV9

2024 Kia EV9

2024 Kia EV9

2024 Kia EV9

It additionally presents a easy, quiet trip, with a delicate sophistication that’s an ideal match for the household mission, damping out all however essentially the most jarring bumps, and presenting on the highway with an impression of muted heft. It’s not one you’ll be craving to tackle canyon roads, but it surely’s assured.

The 2024 Kia EV9 is available in Mild, Wind, Land, and GT-Line trim ranges, and thus far Inexperienced Automotive Studies has solely pushed the top-spec GT-Line, providing up 379 hp and 516 lb-ft of torque in its all-wheel-drive format. That brings sturdy acceleration and it’s good for a 0-60 mph time of 4.5 seconds. However if you’d like single-motor rear-wheel-drive output, the numbers are far decrease, at 201 or 215 hp, and 258 lb-ft for each.

2024 Kia EV9

The 2 figures correspond to battery packs. Base Mild variations could be had with a smaller 76.1-kwh pack, whereas the remainder of the EV9 lineup will get a 99.8-kwh battery pack. 

Driving vary meets expectations, too. With the bigger pack, the EV9 goes as much as 304 miles, whereas the bottom model with the smaller pack will get a 223-mile EPA vary score. 

The nice vary numbers come because of quite a lot of work with the wind tunnel. Whereas its Telluride-meets-futuristic exterior seems crisp and sharp in some respects, it manages an amazing 0.28 coefficient of drag. 

Wallbox Quasar 2 with Kia EV9

The EV9 can also be the one electrical three-row SUV constructed on an 800-volt structure, allowing super-quick road-trip fast-charging of 10-80% in lower than 25 minutes, in line with Kia. All however the base Mild trim embrace a warmth pump (it’s elective with the longer-range Mild), which ought to assist preserve vary numbers from plummeting within the chilly.

Bidirectional charging comes commonplace within the EV9, too, and could be enabled for dwelling energy backup now or potential future vehicle-to-grid assist with a factory-supported Wallbox answer.

The EV9 may tow as much as 5,000 kilos. Off-roading isn’t out of the query both, because the EV9’s 7.8 inches of floor clearance and 18.5 inches of water-fording depth ought to give outdoorsy households what they should get out to the trailhead. 

2024 Kia EV9

It isn’t all honeymoon, however they’re minor gripes. We’re not thrilled with a number of the sprint supplies, which don’t match the value in feel and appear, and whereas the 12.3-inch gauge cluster flowing neatly into the 12.3-inch infotainment could be a superb have a look at first look, we nonetheless see the 5.0-inch display house bridging the 2 as a step backward in comparison with the EV6’s twin strip of actual buttons. 

The EV9 is on sale now in all 50 states. Preliminary U.S. deliveries of the EV9 are coming from South Korea, however that’s set to vary by mid-2024 with the arrival of U.S.-built EV9s coming from Kia’s meeting plant in West Level, Georgia. 

2024 Kia EV9

And that results in the ultimate level: The EV9 is anticipated at the moment to be eligible for no less than a number of the EV tax credit score. With 2024 Kia EV9 costs beginning at $56,395 and spanning as much as $75,395, your entire lineup matches beneath that credit score’s $80,000 ceiling—and beneath the beginning value of three different U.S.-built three-row electrical SUVs, the Rivian R1S, Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV, and upcoming Volvo EX90.

Don’t be concerned about why it took so lengthy. It is right here now.