Rented a Kia EV9 for mountain roadtrip. Eye opening.

[RajD]

We were in Vail the last week and I rented a Kia EV9 from Turo - Land AWD version. 7 seater. I was coming from a Gravity GT 7 seater. Thought I would share my experience and comparison, as I was considering the EV9 before I leased the gravity, but never got around to test driving it. I read about how featured it was even if it wasn’t as powerful, And at just about 30,000 less than the gravity GT, a small part of me wondered if the Gravity was worth the additional cost. I no longer wonder this anymore.

Range: Kia rated range was 280 miles. But with bad weather and ““ snow mode“, it dropped to low to mid 200s. Fortunately Vail was within this range and starting at 97% charge we made it to the hotel with roughly 75 miles of range remaining.

Cabin noise: much noisier with much more road noise than our Lucid, which has the comfort convenience package. I now know why Kia offers an Intercom button for the driver to third row. On the highway, I couldn’t even hear our kids in the second row!

Driving: tremendous wind buffeting in the Kia. I think the poor aerodynamics were maybe one reason?

Handling/Acceleration: understandably weaker acceleration but also the handling was actually really poor. We felt every single bump, and the seats were simply not in the same class at all. My wife was quite unhappy with the comfort of driving even on the highway. Maybe we needed to adjust our seats more than we did? I think we are just really spoiled by the ride quality of lucid.

In ‘snow mode’ with accumulating snow and some ice on the highway, I was freaking out trying to drive the Kia with my family in it. Car felt very unsteady and on multiple occasions lane switching led to sliding and loss of traction and thankfully, I was able to recover. This was a major red flag and something I have yet to ever feel in the gravity with stability control on.

Steering: The steering ratio is not optimal - felt almost like a Cadillac where we had to turn the wheel over 360° to make a right turn whereas our gravity would only require a 180° turn. Dynamic handling and variable steering ratio really pay off here for Gravity.

Interior: There were some things that were very good and better than Lucid. Cupholders and charging options in the car were better in the Kia, they also have standard 110 outlet in the back, though I didn’t see any in the main cabin area. With the seats folded down in the back row, there was tons of space for our luggage, although the gravity has more. Obviously the frunk is minuscule and really not usable in the Kia.

The location of the windshield wiper controls, and the fact that you have to hit an on off button are pretty ridiculous. I also noticed that the car would not lock automatically unless I had remembered to turn off the car from the inside. Another remnant of ICE vehicles that Kia has not corrected.

Software: very stable had no erroneous alerts or intrusive ADAS features. Appropriately warning of lane departure and oncoming traffic were appreciated and appropriate, and I was fairly impressed with how all of that functioned.

The native navigation is terrible, but was somewhat useful for finding charging stations. We did use CarPlay once we figured out how to use it. The touch sensitive buttons on the dash right below the main screen are a huge design flaw, as any attempt to select anything on that screen invariably leads to one of those dash buttons inadvertently being hit by your palm which then takes you to a different menu. I have no idea how they made that design mistake.

Charging: very easy at EVGo or Chargepoint. Hit max 150kW at each one but only briefly.

Overall, it was a successful trip but I was so glad to get home and drive the Gravity. Now when I hear ‘totally different class of vehicle’ I get it. That being said, I also see why ev9 has been relatively popular, and I don’t understand why their sales are dropping. It seems to serve an important segment with a load of features at a great price point.

 

[jrreno]

We rented an EV9 before buying our Gravity. With 6 passengers it simply did not have enough storage space. The Gravity 7 passenger would have accommodated 6 passengers and luggage even without the spacious frunk. Its why we have a Gravity. And as you point out driving and comfort are in a whole other class above.

 

[9point81]

We have an EV9 as well and while most aspects are not in the same league as Gravity, it is still a very nice vehicle for the money. We have the GT trim, so we get less miles and in winter on highway, we've seen the range drop into the upper 100s. It's one of the many reasons we road trip with the Gravity now. Still glad to have it tho as it's a good option for most but those of us who want more....well everything, Gravity is the better fit!

 

[gaskiller]

We were in Vail the last week and I rented a Kia EV9 from Turo - Land AWD version. 7 seater. I was coming from a Gravity GT 7 seater. Thought I would share my experience and comparison, as I was considering the EV9 before I leased the gravity, but never got around to test driving it. I read about how featured it was even if it wasn’t as powerful, And at just about 30,000 less than the gravity GT, a small part of me wondered if the Gravity was worth the additional cost. I no longer wonder this anymore.

Range: Kia rated range was 280 miles. But with bad weather and ““ snow mode“, it dropped to low to mid 200s. Fortunately Vail was within this range and starting at 97% charge we made it to the hotel with roughly 75 miles of range remaining.

Cabin noise: much noisier with much more road noise than our Lucid, which has the comfort convenience package. I now know why Kia offers an Intercom button for the driver to third row. On the highway, I couldn’t even hear our kids in the second row!

Driving: tremendous wind buffeting in the Kia. I think the poor aerodynamics were maybe one reason?

Handling/Acceleration: understandably weaker acceleration but also the handling was actually really poor. We felt every single bump, and the seats were simply not in the same class at all. My wife was quite unhappy with the comfort of driving even on the highway. Maybe we needed to adjust our seats more than we did? I think we are just really spoiled by the ride quality of lucid.

In ‘snow mode’ with accumulating snow and some ice on the highway, I was freaking out trying to drive the Kia with my family in it. Car felt very unsteady and on multiple occasions lane switching led to sliding and loss of traction and thankfully, I was able to recover. This was a major red flag and something I have yet to ever feel in the gravity with stability control on.

Steering: The steering ratio is not optimal - felt almost like a Cadillac where we had to turn the wheel over 360° to make a right turn whereas our gravity would only require a 180° turn. Dynamic handling and variable steering ratio really pay off here for Gravity.

Interior: There were some things that were very good and better than Lucid. Cupholders and charging options in the car were better in the Kia, they also have standard 110 outlet in the back, though I didn’t see any in the main cabin area. With the seats folded down in the back row, there was tons of space for our luggage, although the gravity has more. Obviously the frunk is minuscule and really not usable in the Kia.

The location of the windshield wiper controls, and the fact that you have to hit an on off button are pretty ridiculous. I also noticed that the car would not lock automatically unless I had remembered to turn off the car from the inside. Another remnant of ICE vehicles that Kia has not corrected.

Software: very stable had no erroneous alerts or intrusive ADAS features. Appropriately warning of lane departure and oncoming traffic were appreciated and appropriate, and I was fairly impressed with how all of that functioned.

The native navigation is terrible, but was somewhat useful for finding charging stations. We did use CarPlay once we figured out how to use it. The touch sensitive buttons on the dash right below the main screen are a huge design flaw, as any attempt to select anything on that screen invariably leads to one of those dash buttons inadvertently being hit by your palm which then takes you to a different menu. I have no idea how they made that design mistake.

Charging: very easy at EVGo or Chargepoint. Hit max 150kW at each one but only briefly.

Overall, it was a successful trip but I was so glad to get home and drive the Gravity. Now when I hear ‘totally different class of vehicle’ I get it. That being said, I also see why ev9 has been relatively popular, and I don’t understand why their sales are dropping. It seems to serve an important segment with a load of features at a great price point.

Hyundai/Kia EVs are mediocre…..there is a reason they are cheaper than Lucid.