First Drive: Is Kia’s EV9 GT a showcase of electric car performance?

Electric vehicles can often bring a lot more performance than your typical petrol or diesel car. While it’s not a hard-and-fast rule, the instant delivery of an EV’s torque means that they can rocket off the line quickly, yet the packaging of motors and batteries means that this performance can often be placed into rather unassuming vehicles.

Take the Kia EV9 GT that we’ve got here. It’s a large, spacious and family-focused SUV which just so happens to have more power than a supercar from the early 2000s. Is it a combination worth checking out? We’ve been putting the EV9 GT to the test to find out.

The EV9 has been around for a little while now, acting as Kia’s flagship electric SUV. It is, in no uncertain terms, an absolutely massive vehicle and if you’ve seen one already, it’s likely that you’ll have noticed how much space it takes up on the road.

The GT aims to add some extra dynamic character to the EV9’s setup. As with other Kia GT cars, the EV9 benefits from revisions to its suspension, motors and design to make it a little more focused.

The EV9 GT adopts a dual-motor setup to provide four-wheel-drive, and those motors produce an impressive 501bhp. Combine that with 740Nm of torque and you get a car that’ll go from 0-60mph in just 4.3 seconds and carry on to a top speed of 136mph. It’s not bad for a model that weighs – wait for it – just over 2.7 tonnes. It is almost unbelievably heavy.

Kia says that you can get up to 316 miles from a single charge of the EV9’s large battery, but in our experience, that figure is closer to the 250-mile mark. Luckily, a speedy charge rating of 210kW means that you can take the EV9 GT from 10 to 80 per cent charge in around 24 minutes if you’re attached to a suitably speedy charger.

For the most part, the GT feels like a regular EV9 drive. It is large, commanding and rather unwieldy if you’re driving down a narrow lane. That said, you get a lovely high view of the road ahead and because of the car’s boxy design, it’s a little easier to park than you might expect. Loads of cameras and sensors help out in this area, too.

However, make no bones about it – the EV9 GT is a quick car. Give it some open road and it’ll get up to the speed limit in no time at all, and it does so in a rather unflustered way, too. The only issue is that weight; come into a corner with a little bit of pace and there’s no way of avoiding just how much this large SUV tips the scales at. Hyundai has also included the Ioniq 5N’s clever virtual gearshift system which recreates the feel of a paddle-controlled gearbox. It works well in practice and adds some engagement which wouldn’t otherwise be there.

Like the standard EV9, the GT is large, brash and hard to miss. There are some neon-coloured touches in spots such as the brake calipers, while little aero touches are dotted here and there. It’s not a huge rebrand, mind you, and only those really in the know will pick it out against the standard car.

However, that does mean that the GT can offer some understated performance with few other drivers aware of what is lurking underneath this car’s rather practical proportions.

The EV9’s huge footprint means that there’s loads of room on offer inside. It’s available in six- and seven-seater configurations, and there’s plenty of legroom for all those aboard, regardless of which setup you opt for. In the GT, you’ve got plenty of Alcantara-trimmed elements for a sportier feel, while the front seats have extra bolstering to hug you in when you’re moving a little more quickly.

Boot space is more than plentiful. Even with all seats in place, you’ve got a hatchback-rivalling 333 litres to use up, while a van-like 2,318 litres is there if you fold down both middle and rear rows flat. A 52-litre ‘frunk’ under the bonnet of the car means you’ve got somewhere to store the charging cables, too.

It’s probably time to acknowledge the elephant in the room – the EV9 GT’s price. Our test car came in at a whopping £82,845, putting it among the upper echelon of cars in terms of price. Much of that cost is going into the dual-motor setup and performance upgrades, but you do get the sense that Kia might be pushing things a little too far.

Still, you get loads of equipment for your money, including 21-inch alloy wheels, a 12.3-inch driver display and touchscreen, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and an upgraded 14-speaker Meridian sound system. That said, you’ll find much of this on the standard EV9, too.

Verdict

It’s difficult to tie the EV9 GT down. On the one hand, with its massive performance, it’s a fitting flagship for the line-up. A range-topping car should offer the top level of speed and acceleration, and in this sense, the EV9 GT does the job.

But it’s in conflict with what the EV9 is designed to be – a spacious, comfortable and useful SUV. Considering this, we believe that it’s the regular car, which is cheaper, more refined and a lot less expensive, would be the far better choice.

• Model as tested: Kia EV9 GT
• Price: £82,845
• Engine: Dual electric motors
• Power: 501bhp
• Torque: 740Nm
• Max speed: 136mph
• 0-60mph: 4.3 seconds
• MPG: NA
• Emissions: 0g/km
• Range: 316 miles
• Maximum charge speed: 210kW