00:00This is the Kia EV9, 2,204 miles, three-row style SUV, all electric.
00:07It looks like a concept car, but here it is.
00:09You could buy it right now.
00:10I get to test drive it.
00:11I'm real excited about that.
00:13So let's jump in.
00:14I've got the Kia EV9 for just about a week, so I'm going to spend the weekend getting
00:21used to all the bells and whistles that come with this EV.
00:24Oh, look, shoot!
00:26I've been driving the Kia EV9 over the weekend, and I think the first thing that really stand
00:37out is just the design.
00:38It's that futuristic concept.
00:40You actually see it.
00:41It turns heads.
00:42It's different.
00:43You have those angular cutouts, aerodynamic design, and the color, it really pops.
00:48You have this almost blue, very shimmery tone, and that kind of goes with the futuristic
00:53look of the design.
00:55The starting MSRP for the 2,024 EV9 is $55,000.
00:59However, the model I'm driving is the GT-Line all-wheel drive and will run that price up
01:04to $74,000.
01:05Now, for that, you've got second-row captain's chairs like the passenger and driver seats,
01:10dual sunroofs, blind spot monitors, and more drive-assist features, including a head-up
01:16display in the windshield.
01:18For its price range, you get some really cool features that are usually found in luxury
01:24cars.
01:25For example, the heads-up display, you have the 360-degree parking system with the cameras,
01:30you have all the driver-assist modes, and a really nice sound system as well.
01:37The driving is really smooth.
01:38For a big-size SUV, it's pretty responsive.
01:42The regenerative braking system, it was kind of tight at the beginning when I first started
01:46driving that in New York, so every time you let go, you feel like it's slowing down already.
01:50It's kind of jarring, especially when the regen brakes are a little bit abrupt.
01:55While I was driving it, I mostly had it on eco mode.
01:58That's going to save a lot of your power, so it's going to give you longer range, but
02:03I noticed that if I switched to something like sports mode, that's when you get a lot
02:06more power, more responsiveness, not only in the brakes, but also in the acceleration.
02:11So you tap it lightly, and you feel it.
02:15So as far as sound goes, it's pretty quiet.
02:17Obviously, it's an EV, but much like other EVs, Teslas, they have that sort of hum to
02:22it.
02:23So as I'm driving, you'll hear it.
02:25That's probably the only thing.
02:26It's not as loud as some other EVs I tested, like the IONIQ 6, so it's a little bit more
02:31subdued, but it is still noticeable.
02:33331.
02:34That's something I'm not going to miss.
02:37The gas prices.
02:38Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
02:39Uh-oh.
02:40Look at that.
02:4120%.
02:42I have a range of 58 miles.
02:45So obviously, it tells you that and shows you where you could actually find the nearest
02:50charging station.
02:51So let's do this.
02:52Yeah, there you go.
02:53Okay.
02:54Keep your eyes peeled for an EV charging station, because it should be somewhere here.
03:01Left here.
03:02What?
03:03I need EV chargers.
03:05Where are your EV chargers?
03:06S***.
03:07EV chargers.
03:08Okay.
03:09There's EV geocharging stations.
03:10Yeah.
03:11Start.
03:12It's totally not in this box.
03:13It's totally not in this box.
03:15Okay.
03:16So let's go back.
03:17I don't notice this on CarPlay, but when I use Android Auto and use navigation with Google
03:22Maps, I could get the turn-by-turn directions in the heads-up display, which is nice, because
03:27obviously, I don't want to look down to the console here to find out where I'm going.
03:32But with CarPlay, unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be compatible with it, so I don't
03:36see any of that.
03:37Oh.
03:38The promised land.
03:39EV go.
03:40There we go.
03:41We made it.
03:4220% left.
03:43Okay.
03:44So this is going to be interesting.
03:45I'm going to back up.
03:46I'm going to use the backup camera here, which, using the backup cameras, kind of guides you,
03:52which is great.
03:53You could see if I'm going to hit something, which it looks like I will, so I'm going to
03:58move forward, line it up, and you could see, just like that, get it nice and straight.
04:10It's telling me, go this way, this way.
04:19I'm here at the charging station, so now I've got to pay to charge the EV9, so I'm using
04:23this app called ChargePoint.
04:25I signed up.
04:26The nice thing about the app, it actually shows you what are the rates.
04:29So for example, today, it is Tuesday, we're in the middle of the afternoon, 2 o'clock,
04:33so we're going to get a charge rate of 64 cents per kilowatt hour.
04:38That's the highest versus in the morning.
04:40From 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., it looks like it's less at 59 cents, and then the cheapest is
04:45going to be usually from midnight till 7 o'clock.
04:47That's pretty much universal from what I've been seeing so far, and it was just simple
04:56like that.
04:57It shows us remaining time, 34 minutes, like a phone.
05:01The last, like, after 50%, it just takes forever, it takes a longer time for it to charge.
05:06It's best to always charge your EV when it's a pretty low battery, but if you're around
05:1120%, you charge it for 30 minutes, you can get a huge gain, whereas if I charge it at
05:16around 60% and for the same amount of period, I'd imagine it probably still won't get past
05:2180%.
05:23So here's the main dashboard of the EV9, and once you pair your phone, you've got to go
05:28through the Bluetooth settings, pair your phone.
05:31Once you do that, it'll automatically know if it's an iPhone or Android, and then for
05:34an Android, right now I have it connected with the Pixel 8 Pro, so I just tap on Android
05:38Auto, and basically, it gives me nearly everything that's on my Android phone here in the dashboard.
05:45So you have apps, most of your apps, you can customize the apps on your phone.
05:50Obviously, they want to make sure that you're not distracted, so as far as texting, it'll
05:55be disabled as you're moving, and I like how you have this two-panel interface where you
06:00have, you know, one side, for example, navigation, and the other side, the other app.
06:04The other thing I like about the EV9 is that there's a lot of customization.
06:08So as far as the interior space, the lights, you could change all that up.
06:12So here, if I go to Vehicle, I go to Lights, at night, there's the light patterns.
06:20They have a really nice effect.
06:22The cool thing is that you could select the different patterns that you like.
06:24So if you want something that has a different type of design, you could do that.
06:30So these small touches that make this car really personable.
06:33It's done charging at 80%.
06:36It's showing us 289 miles range.
06:39So now what we're going to do here is we're going to drive down to the beach, see how
06:43far it gets, and also what the percentage is once we arrive there.
06:49So while I'm driving here, I want to show you guys Lane Assist.
06:52It's one of the features here with EV9.
06:54So when you have it enabled, it'll actually be able to detect the lane you're in and keep
06:59you in that lane.
07:00So technically, it's going to move the steering wheel.
07:03Even if the road starts to bend, it'll actually start moving, rotating.
07:07I kind of like it, but I could see how some people who are not used to it, especially
07:11first-timers, it can feel a little bit jarring because sometimes there are moments where
07:17you feel the steering wheel kind of moving abruptly.
07:20So you have this tendency of actually trying to take control back of the wheel.
07:25Let's see here.
07:28There's another really cool feature here.
07:29You have the lane change cameras.
07:32So as you're switching lanes, it'll show you a preview of your blind spot.
07:38That's a feature you're not going to see in many cars.
07:40I could still rely on the side mirror here for that, but you have the convenience of
07:45seeing your blind spot directly in the dash.
07:49Now we're hitting congestion here, and a feature that I think is useful with EVs, especially
07:54the EV9 here, is Dynamic Cruise Control with Lane Assist.
07:58So right now, as you can see, the car is accelerating and also applying a brake.
08:02So I set the cruise control for 29 miles per hour.
08:06There's a distance I could set, too, between the next car in front of me.
08:09I have it at three.
08:10So it's a little bit farther away versus one, which would be very close to the car.
08:14So the nice thing about this assist feature is that it'll do everything for you.
08:19Not only move the steering wheel, it'll apply the brake and also the acceleration.
08:24It's good, but again, it's more of an assistant.
08:27It's not full automation because it lacks our perception, because I could tell already
08:32in the front, way down there, it's already, okay, so here's a perfect example.
08:36What's it going to do?
08:37What's it going to do?
08:38Good.
08:39If you saw the screen here, it knew that a vehicle on the right lane was coming into
08:43my lane and applied the brake.
08:45So that's a really good safety feature right there.
08:49Okay.
08:50Now that we're good, the other thing I want to point out is the heads-up display.
08:54In the windshield, I could see pretty much what I see down here in the console.
08:59So it has my speed limit, tells me also what speed limit is of the road I'm in, the driver
09:06assist features on, and even the navigation, which is great.
09:10So I don't have to move my eyes towards the middle here where I have the main navigation
09:15system.
09:16I could just lean on that for everything and it's not as distracting.
09:20We're 17 miles in after 30 minutes and given the stop and go nature of the traffic and
09:24the congestion, and we also have the air conditioner running, it's only dropped by percent.
09:30So that's pretty impressive in my book.
09:44So we're about to head into Sandy Hook Beach.
09:47It's the northernmost beach in New Jersey.
09:57Okay.
09:59We finally arrived at our destination here at Sandy Hook.
10:03And with the EV9, we traveled 32.3 miles and we're down to 71%.
10:09So that's 9% down since we first started, kind of equates to roughly around 3.5 miles
10:15per 1%, which isn't too bad.
10:17And as we test out more EVs on the same route, I'll be interested to see the different efficiencies
10:21and how they compare to the EV9.
10:24I don't think there's a better EV that packs as much utility as the EV9.
10:29There's plenty of safety, comfort, and assistant features.
10:32Plus it's certain to draw attention with its slick design that's unlike anything else on
10:36the road.
10:37I know it's pricey, but worth it if you have the money to spend.
10:43And that's it with the Kia EV9.
10:45I definitely enjoyed driving this.
10:46A lot of cool features, a lot of cool tech inside from the way it looks, the way it drives.
10:51And I got to stress those safety features definitely make it a satisfying experience.
10:56What do you guys think?
10:57Let me know in the comments below.
10:59Don't forget to follow us on social at Tom's Guide.
11:02I'm John B. and I'll see you in my next video.
11:15Bye.
11:16Bye.
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