Kia EV9

1.9% from Kia

€20/25k deposit, 36x €800pm and still have maybe €35k balloon.

Did Dun Laoghaire to Belmullet in the EV9 a few weeks ago. Getting between 23kWh/100km and 25kWh/100km.

Not bad for a fridge on wheels

Is it bigger than a Rangerover?

Watched the video earlier - you'll have to start doing Malin head to Mizen head as your coast to coast any more 🤔. When you can do Belmullet to Dun Laoghaire on a single charge and still have 100km left in the tank, it's not the challenge it once was :)

The car we ordered arrived at the dealer today, quick!

My Mrs had an XC90 for a bit, I didn’t like driving it at all, was constantly aware of the size. Although the 450 hp was nice. Our XC60 was a much nicer size.

Am looking forward to seeing an EV9, still haven’t seen one in real life.

Fully agree this is a very big car compared to the family car norm to date

Ive had an smax for years amd find it grand except it can be a tight squeeze in a few older underground car parks. The EV9 is 60mm wider than the smax so would make it a lot more difficult to park in tight spaces.

My wife hates parking the smax so Id be thinking she'd flatly refuse to drive the EV9. Its all relative I suppose as its comparable in width to a RR, Disco, X5, Touraeg and only sligjtly wider than an iX, Q7. However anyone used to driving a std crossover might find it fairly daunting especially in urban driving

Pretty much fills that car space. Wondering how easy to access car if another EV9 was parked in adjacent spot?

Yeah the ride height is not on a Range level at all. You can actually sit fairly low down with the adjustable options too.

I’d say they’ll be doing well to shift 400 of them in Ireland in 2024 so the odds of being parked next to another one apart from on a Kia forecourt are probably slim! :)

Fine bus to have for the holidays. Have KIA Ireland many of these registered ? Might be a bit of value in some high spec 232 demo models in a few months time.

A good idea to do one, I think I’d have to seriously motivate myself to do it more though!

Some of the favourites this year in no particular order…

Lexus RS450h+ - just a lovely thing to get around in

Ioniq 6 - mad looking but really efficient

VW MultiVan - very practical and spacious

VW ID.7 - overhangs are a little weird but lovely interior

Nissan X-Trail - major step up from the last and actually quite a premium feel

BMW i7 - the only way to be driven around ;)

RR Sport - don’t think you’d need the full fat RR anymore

Audi RS3 - a hoot to drive and can do the weekly shop!

Polestar 3 - lovely inside but haven’t driven

Probably would add the EV9 to the list to be honest, when you look how far Kia have come, in a relatively short space of time etc

Would agree because that black wheel arch surround on the grey one makes the what Im sure are 20"+ wheels look tiny IMO

The latest pricing on the Volvo EX90 is €122,000, starting.

the top spec EV9 feels like a bargain if you’re shopping both. €40k is a lot of sugar to help swallow any badge problems!

Planning to view this in a showroom. Still think it’s an absurd an amount of money for a Kia.

But still curious….

Your probably looking at around 250 to 300km on the motorway here then during Winter especially if your using it as intended. Nobby probably being a bit generous with 350km in his latest video. Diesel 7 seater probably makes more sense all things considered.

Just A Word Of Warning Guys, There’s A Huge Design Fault With Kia’s EV9 Front Row Headrests..!! 

If anyone is thinking of purchasing the new Kia EV9, there’s a problem with the front row Headrests, they are protruding a massive 180-200mm (7-8 inches) forward from the front face of the seat, forcing your sitting posture into a Forward Head position.

I collected our EV9 in the first week of January 2024 and took it for a 140km drive. When I sat back into the seat throughout the trip, I couldn’t get my head into a comfortable neutral position as the headrest just will not adjust backwards. After that one journey, I suffered excruciating neck and shoulder pain, I’ve spent the last 2 weeks on pain relief and physio.

I contacted Kia about this Design Fault and sent photos of the headrest protruding forward 180-200mm and forcing me into a Forward Head position, see below. I asked Kia if they were going to redesign the headrest but Customer Service got back today and said that since I had taken the EV9 for a test drive, I should have noticed the problem before I purchased the vehicle, Kia have said they won’t be designing a neutral Headrest for people with good posture..!! 

So, if you have good posture and you sit with your head in the correct neutral position while driving, I strongly advise you, Do Not Purchase the Kia EV9. The Headrest is designed only for people that suffer with a Forward Head condition, Please Be Warned..!!

Would you not consider buying 2 new replacement front headrests from some other Kia model ? Obviously ones that suit your posture, physically fit a Kia EV9 seat and are a reasonable colour match to your upholstery. I’m presuming here that the headrests are removable like most cars.

The EV9's headrests have the same 3 ratchet movement as the EV6, but the EV9's three options are 180mm, 190mm and 200mm forward from the front face of the seat. Headrests in the EV6 don't protrude as far forward.

It's an option that we may have to explore if a satisfactory solution is not found..!!

I would ask for an incident number , when you report this to Kia Ireland, this gives you confirmation, the issue has been logged on their system. You will also need names of those you have dealt with, and I would ask for staff numbers ie an id number. An incident number is important

Once you have these, or indeed a record of those who decine to provide same, mention that you will escalate directly of board of directors for KIA.

You will be amazed at how quickly you will get a meaningful response

I doubt if KIA will do anything for you and you’ll need to find your own solution or workaround. I’ve seen several motoring journalists reviews of the EV9 and none of them mentioned any discomfort with the headrests. Nobby on cars had use of one for about 2 weeks over Christmas.

I got a very decent trade in offer for a 2.5 year old KIA Sorento PHEV of €44k but price of the EV9 didn’t move but it’s all about cost to change anyway and not how they write it on the sales quote.

Although when I went next door to get a trade-in for an ID4 they offered €45k trade-in so they could probably do better. They didn’t really push hard on the sale as they had very little stock allocation this year. I’m sure it will be different when stock is more readily available.

Yeah, I had added a few extra bits to the id4 and was going to come in at closer to €50k so would have had to put in almost €5k. Still thinking about it, wanted to see what the Enyaq price drops were going to be but don’t think they have released updated pricing for the newer models.

Id say we will just keep the Kia Sorento now though, we don’t need the 7 seats but they are handy to have and the boot is massive when not using them. Hybrid is super cheap to run and after arriving to Donegal in it last night was just saying to the wife it was great not having to wait somewhere for 30mins to charge the i4.