Kia EV9 GT (2025 – ) Electric review

If you’re number crunching against a top-spec regular EV9 the step up to the GT doesn’t look all that bad, especially given the extra performance and features. This assumes you’re happy paying premium money for what was once considered a budget brand, of course. True, you literally get a lot of car for your money. And Kia’s modern design language and build quality delivers. But it remains a very expensive choice, and quite a bit more pricey than the Hyundai Ioniq 9 with which it shares much of its tech. True, it’s cheaper than equivalent premium seven-seat electric SUVs like the Volvo EX90. But it can’t compete on brand image, even looking as good as it does. Running costs will meanwhile depend very much on your circumstances, and if you can charge at home will be much cheaper than an equivalently powerful petrol or hybrid alternative from more familiar premium brands. That big battery also  charges quickly but guzzles a lot of power, and on longer journeys could end up costing you when plugged into expensive public chargers.

Kia and partner brand Hyundai share much in the way of tech, and both have a proven track record with electric cars. Faith in this engineering means Kia is happy to offer the EV9 GT with a seven-year warranty just as it does the rest of its cars, beating the related Ioniq 9 and potentially lasting well into the second ownership cycle for those buying second-hand.

Certainly, no complaints about the amount of technology keeping you safe on the EV9 GT, Kia loading it up with all the assistance features you could wish for as standard. Which is good news for a car likely to be used as a family wagon. And one so large you’re going to need every one of those cameras, sensors and monitors to avoid scraping it. Particular favourites include the projected blindspot camera views in the instruments when you put an indicator on and essential 360 parking monitoring. We have to deduct a point for the irritation factor of the mis-called speed limit alerts and emergency braking alarms. Maybe the black boxes were just as intimidated by the size of the EV9 as we were!

While the EV9 GT’s size can be a liability in crowded car parks and narrow suburban streets it’s very much a positive when it comes to comfort on bigger roads, with no compromise in practicality over the standard car. This side of a minibus you’re not going to find a better way of carrying a lot of people, with even the third row of seats as comfortable for adults as they are kids. Our test car had the six-seat arrangement, with two recliners in the middle instead of the more conventional bench on the seven-seat version. This means limo-like comfort for those in row two but limits options for family drivers, so doesn’t look much more than amusing novelty. Boot space is vast with the third row folded away, though a little shallow for full-on family SUV duties. In seven-seat mode it’s still decent enough for a small weekly shop but not for the annual family holiday. On the road there seem few sacrifices in comfort for the extra performance and sporty handling, the GT getting sophisticated suspension that adjusts according to which of the driver modes you’re in. This keeps the EV9 flat through corners with none of the wallowing you might expect of a top-heavy SUV, the sheer weight of it basically flattening the bumps (or anything else) on any given road surface.

The engineering upgrades making this a GT over the regular EV9 are genuinely extensive and impressive, if likely lost on all but the most enthusiastic of drivers. You don’t have to understand how they all work to appreciate how much sharper it is to drive as a result, though. Of more relevance for one-upmanship at school drop-off are the bits you can see, these including neon coloured brake calipers within the redesigned 21-inch wheels, more aggressive sculpting and extra intakes on the bumpers and a fancier lighting signature. On the inside you get sportier front seats with contrast stitching and various GT-branded bits, including the prominent lime green hot key on the steering wheel for selecting the sportiest combination of the various systems. Even ambient lighting and these colourful trim elements couldn’t lift the rather dark and broody ambience on our test car, the design appealing even if the materials can’t quite match the premium levels of the Volvo EX90 you might be tempted to stretch the monthly budget for. It’s a very different vibe but if you’re after an electric seven-seater a long-wheelbase VW ID.Buzz is a lot more fun to be in, and perhaps more versatile as well. But each to theirs. No complaints about Kia’s crisp, logical interface through the paired screens serving driver information and infotainment, though. Saying that we were less sold on the ‘haptic’ shortcuts on the dashboard, which more often than not required multiple jabs to wake up.

With a fraction over 500 horsepower the GT builds on the existing twin-motor EV9, with more power at the rear in an effort to contrive a more dynamic driving style. Which it genuinely does, though you need a lot of road to appreciate it, the GT rewarding assertive throttle inputs with a very clever distribution of power, all contained by supremely effective suspension and brakes. A vehicle this big is never going to handle like a hot-hatch but the EV9 GT can cover ground with a surprising sense of agility, the silent-but-deadly power delivery of the electric motors made that little more involving with the ‘virtual gear shifting’ feature carried over from the EV6 GT. In this setting the paddles behind the wheel usually used for adjusting regenerative braking act as shifters for a simulated manual gearbox, the ‘revs’ building through the speakers for a surprisingly convincing and entertaining simulation of a combustion-engined vehicle. Which you can, of course, switch off entirely if you think it’s all a bit silly. Dial it back to the more mellow driving modes and the EV9 GT drives like a more conventional electric SUV, with smooth and silent acceleration, excellent refinement and claimed range of just over 300 miles between charges. Previous experience of the regular EV9 suggests that’s an optimistic target, especially if you’re ‘enjoying’ the GT as intended. But Kia’s charging at least means you won’t need to plug in for long before resuming the fun.