Drive Notes: 2024 Kia EV9 GT-Line

Before decamping to California, I parted ways with a 2024 Kia EV9 GT-Line.

The experience was illuminating.

The GT-Line packs a 99.8-kWh battery pack. Listed range is 270 miles, but it was at 280 when dropped at my home -- and it wasn't at 100 percent. That's a good start.

Here are some pros and cons I picked up on over the past week.

Pros

• For such a big boy, the EV9 drives with ease. It's well put together and well-mannered on road, though there are some imperfections, as you'll see below.
• There's plenty of thrust when the accelerator is depressed.
• The seating materials are damn nice.
• I like the clean dash design. Using the haptic-touch controls are another manner.
• There's a lot of storage space upfront, and the third row isn't a penalty box.
• Wind and road noise are well damped.
• Moving certain controls to the door is smart, though it takes some getting used to.
• Kia's infotainment remains pretty good.
• This is a comfortable, mostly well-executed package.

Cons

• There was some slow-speed creakiness from the driveline, most noticeable when entering and exiting a car wash. It was so bad I was worried I scraped a wheel.
• I don't understand why, if you have regeneration set to max for one-pedal driving, changing drive modes resets it. Annoying.
• There are some "buttons" of text on the center of the dash. Press those for climate, audio, et cetera. Unfortunately, the latency was a little slow.
• Sometimes, I selected "drive" when I wanted "reverse" and vice-versa. This is a bit of a "me" problem, since the Bimmer I'd just tested had a shifter set up just the opposite, but it's still jarring.
• Getting into the third row is easy. Getting out is not. Not for a large adult.
• There's not really a "frunk" though there is some storage space for the charging cable.
• Sometimes I wanted to access the a passenger door or the tailgate while the car was on, and I had to walk around and manually unlock it. Made loading things a pain.
• With the third-row seats up, the rear cargo area is narrow -- though still wide enough to accommodate a rollaboard -- and not totally flat.

If you're wondering about charging, I hit up a ChargePoint with 89 miles of range remaining. A little over three hours and $6.12 later, I had 132 miles. The screen showed 15 hours of charging time when I plugged in, and, predictably, 12 when I disconnected.

I mostly enjoyed driving the EV9 -- and I think it's usefulness as a large three-row SUV with decent range will help move EVs forward. That said, some minor details annoy.

Still, this is a strong effort from Kia.

[Images © 2024 Tim Healey/TTAC.com]

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