Hyundai Ioniq 9 (2025 - ) Electric review

It would take more space than we have here to do a blow-by-blow spec comparison with the closely related Kia EV9 and see which offers better value in kit terms. But in both cases you – literally – get a lot of car for your money and the Ioniq 9 pushes Hyundai more premium than it’s ever gone before. The car delivers in terms of design, features and quality, but can the brand when this money could get you a more prestigious badge? That will be a personal choice but the expense with the Ioniq 9 doesn’t stop with the purchase or monthly finance or lease rates. A big car needs a big battery, which means higher charging costs whether you plug in at home or while out and about. True, domestic charging costs a lot less. But in a car this big the battery capacity is double the typical weekly electricity consumption of what Ofgem considers a medium-sized house. So, even with a cheap tariff, your home energy bill could suffer if you cover a lot of miles. Which is as it always was – big cars always cost more to run, simple as.

Electric cars are mechanically simpler than petrol, diesel or hybrid equivalents given there are fewer moving parts to maintain in the powertrain. So that bodes well for reliability, ditto the strong reputation of Hyundai and Kia, with whom the Ioniq 9 shares much of its tech. True, the electronics controlling it all are fearsomely complex. But both brands generally do well on dependability surveys.

Well, the sheer size of the thing means anything you hit this side of an articulated lorry is going to come off worse. Which isn’t very charitable but does give you a certain sense of security. Thankfully there’s an incredible array of safety tech and sensors to stop that happening, which is just as well because visibility isn’t great due to some huge blindspots up front. All but the base trim level get the full suite of safety aids, these including the nifty blindspot monitor projecting rear-facing camera views into the instrument cluster when you put your indicator on. We’ve seen this on various Hyundais and Kias before but it’s genuinely neat. A point deducted for the cacophony of bongs, chimes and other warning sounds the Ioniq makes as you drive around, the point of them completely lost for the fact you don’t actually know what they’re meant to be alerting you to. Leaving just the (considerable) irritation.

Sheer size clearly counts in the Ioniq 9’s favour when it comes to comfort, helped by the stylish design of the cabin and the quality with which it’s been put together. It’s definitely worth going up a trim grade to Ultimate if you can, for the fact this scores extra lumbar adjustment for the front seats, ventilation for these and the second row, Active Noise Cancelling, a panoramic glass roof and more, all of which delivers a real sense of luxury. All Ioniq 9s feature three-row seating, the standard configuration being a regular sliding bench seat in the middle for three and two separate folding ones in the back. At a squeeze these are even viable for full-size passengers, not just kids. Even with these deployed there’s a half-decent boot as well, which isn’t a given on all seven-seat SUVs. Power folding makes it easy to configure the seating to your required configuration, too. If you fancy something a bit different the top of the range Calligraphy is also available in a six-seat arrangement, with two armchair style recliners in the middle row which you can slide around as required. The neat central storage binnacle between the front seats can also slide back for access from the back seats as well. All-in-all it’s a vast, flexible and very luxurious place to spend time. The long-wheelbase and weight also means it flattens out bumps in the road, the smooth and silent electric drive helping it feel very refined.

If you’re buying an Ioniq 9 with interior space as your number one priority the base trim level is sufficient for family bus duties, and imposing enough to justify the added expense over other seven-seat electric SUVs like the Peugeot e-5008. It also includes some luxuries like three-zone climate and a neat wool/leather upholstery mix. But there’s a huge step up in perceived poshness if you go up a grade to Ultimate, this adding full leather, ambient lighting on the inside with fancy LED exterior lighting front and back, a thumping Bose stereo system and the additional safety tech like Rear Cross Collision Avoidance Assist and surround view cameras you’ll come to depend on when manoeuvring the Ioniq 9 in a tight spot. Which is to say pretty much anywhere you care to take it, given the size. These systems get even more sophisticated on the top of the range Calligraphy, which also gets softer Nappa leather and that option of the limo-like six-seater configuration if you think your kids deserve the upgrade from mum and dad taxi to full-on chauffeured luxury. The standard seven-seat format is probably more useful, though.

All Ioniq 9’s get the same battery and the fast charging capabilities we’ve come to enjoy across Hyundai’s Ioniq range. Which you’ll be glad of, given how many kWh it swallows to top it up. Power output on the base model single-motor rear-wheel drive model looks relatively modest on paper, the all-wheel drive Long Range and Performance models offering a more serious upgrade in pace even if they can’t quite match the likes of the (much more expensive) Volvo EX90. Not that we had any complaints about the 472 horsepower of our flagship Calligraphy model, the off-the-line acceleration brisk enough to have heads thwacking into all six of the seats in the sportier modes but sufficiently smooth and effortless when driven with more restraint. Handling for such a big car is also impressive. As ever, Hyundai’s clever configurable regeneration is easy to operate via the paddles if you want to control it yourself. Or slick when you leave it to its own devices. Range varies slightly according to model but Hyundai’s best-case claim of 370 miles or so looks very optimistic against the efficiency we scored in a suitably varied mix of driving over the period we had it. But in a vehicle this big and heavy that’s to be expected.