Now, we are huge fans of our Rivian R1S, it’s really a go nearly anywhere do nearly anything SUV from a strong up and coming EV brand. But not everyone may be willing to go to a relatively unknown brand. So who do we have from a traditional manufacturer in the 3-row EV space? Actually it’s still pretty slim pickings, but luckily the one on the market at the moment, the Kia EV9, is a damn good one.
Kia has certainly made a name for itself in the 3-row crossover segment these past 5 or so years with the Telluride. A certified automotive grand slam from launch, the Telly catapulted Kia’s car shopper consideration (and transaction prices!) overnight. They were commanding anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000 OVER sticker price for years, even before chip shortages were a thing. The Telluride has the right mix of rugged design, terrific interior and cargo space for a fairly tidy footprint, and their brand hallmark of a boatload of available features. All priced alongside typical mainstream competition.
The EV9, while not directly an electric Telluride, kind of is. Exterior dimensions are all within an inch of each other save for the wheelbase where the EV9 is some 8″ longer. Inside the EV9 provides 3-rows of seating, just like Telluride, but where the Telluride provides 3 seatbelts in the “way back” the EV9 offers just 2, same as the R1S. Max seating in the EV9 is 7 in certain trims, and just 6 for the top spec GT Line that we tested. At least Kia does offer captains chairs in the 2nd row, something Rivian has yet to do. Oddly, other countries are able to spec their GT Line with the 2nd row bench to retain 7 seat capacity, but it isn’t offered here in the States this time. The 2nd row seats on our GT Line tester were also power operated with extendable leg rests, a bit overkill perhaps, especially if your kids are still in car seats.
One area where the 3rd row comes up a little tight is if you have a rear facing car seat installed in the 2nd row. With my driving position, 6 feet tall, and with our daughter’s Clek seat, it requires the 2nd row to be all the way back in its track position. This crunches on 3rd row leg room, leaving it really only for younger kids. Older kids and adults would have a hard time squeezing in behind for any significant duration. In all other cases, the 2nd row has so much fore-aft travel that 3 adults could easily sit stacked 1st row/2nd row/3rd row.
EV9 also comes up a hair smaller in cargo space, with just 20 cubic feet behind the 3rd row vs 21 in the Telluride. But don’t get me wrong, it’s still good space, it’s just that the body of the EV9 tapers toward the rear and in the upper section more than the Telluride for better aerodynamics presumably, hence the reduction in shoulder area width and overall room. That 20 cubic feet is more than the 17 found behind the 3rd row in the R1S, but the Rivian mitigates that with a sizable 11 cubic feet in its front trunk while the Kia can basically hold its own charging cable and maybe an owners manual up there.
That said, the Rivian R1S pricing starts ($76,000) at about where the Kia EV9 tops out. The EV9 starts in the mid $50,000 point, and at least at time of testing, is being offered with some significant dealer discounting (upwards of some 10% off) and combined with hefty lease cash offers to provide further separation. Maybe the “sticker shock” of a $78,000 Kia like our tester should be taken with a bit of a grain of salt as nearly no shopper is paying anything close to that it seems.
The EV9 comes out with terrific power, 379 horsepower and up to 516 lb-ft of torque. No, that’s not 1,000 horsepower or the claimed 11,500 lb-ft of some EV suvs (ahem GMC Hummer) out there, but this can get a dual motor (all-wheel drive) EV9 to 60 miles power hour in under 5 seconds. That’s honestly more than any family hauler truly needs. That’s much quicker than Kia’s own Telluride (closer to 7 seconds), if not quite an Earth scorching sub 3-seconds like the recently announced updated Rivian R1S quad motor. The sound from the electric motors themselves in the EV9 are also quite muted on acceleration and any braking/regenerative braking compared to the R1S.
Kia’s EPA ranges on the EV9 may not knock your socks off, with the GT Line posting a 270 mile range, but owners are reporting much higher numbers in the real world, up over 300 on full charges! Our time in the EV9 also saw efficiency numbers of over 3 miles per kWh, which is nearly 50% better than we typically did with our R1S. The EV9 weighs a good 1,300 pounds less than an R1S so that definitely helps! EV9 basically has one battery pack offered at 99.8 kWh, they do offer a smaller one, 76.1 kWh, but only on the base Light rear wheel drive trim. That’s still short of the 400 mile range that some EVs are now offering, but again, typically at a significant price premium, and many of those may not be able to charge as quickly as the EV9 can, 10% up to 80% in just 24 minutes with a 350 kW charger! Efficient power and quick charges are just as significant, if not more so, than range in and of itself.
In daily living, the EV9 also sits a good bit lower than the R1S. Sure that means things like off-road ground clearance may be impacted, but the EV9 doesn’t present itself as Rubicon conquering. It’s very much built for on-road usage and consequently it’s a bit easier to jump in and out of multiple times a day versus the R1S where you’d always be climbing up into it. That on-road focused suspension also rides quite nicely even with the rather large 21″ wheels on the GT Line and without an air suspension like many EVs use. Where the R1S offers up a massive fixed glass roof, the EV9 comes with two sunroofs, one that opens over the front seats and one fixed panel over the rear seats with a powered shade. We did appreciate the shaded elements, especially on hot sunny days. Also liked the EV9’s built in rear door sun shades.
Where Rivian has gone the route of its own dedicated software and large touchscreen for nearly all controls, the EV9 skews back towards traditional automotive. There’s wireless support for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, some hard physical controls for cabin temperature and fan speed and thankfully manual controls for air vent direction. Sometimes traditional things just make sense! Also like that the EV9 has a head up display. While Kia has been offering up blind spot view camera feeds for some time, it was interesting to see that Rivian has now updated its vehicles to implement the same feature, see, traditional OEMs can sometimes offer up good features first!
EV9 and R1S are competitors in that they’re both well-sized EVs that offer sizable 3rd rows and still have cargo space intact, but they’re very different in execution. In traditional car vernacular, I’d say the R1S is like an “SUV” of the older body on frame ilk where it’s more rugged and off-road capable, but rides a bit rougher (at least in Gen 1 guise) and is a bit less efficient. But at the same time I’d argue R1S is also sportier with a punch more power available (at considerable cost though) and handling is a bit sharper, despite its additional mass and ride height.
Kia’s EV9 is akin to the crossover, focused mostly on smooth power and daily comfort and efficiency with good all-weather capability. EV9’s sales launch is a bit mellower than the Telluride, people aren’t beating down the dealers doors to get them, but I think the overall impact it has on the industry may end up being even bigger as more people see the value, and once Kia figures out the balance between pricing and discounting needed.
