Hyundai Ioniq 9 prototype review

Hyundai goes big with a seven-seat electric flagship that majors on practicality and long-distance refinement

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Hyundai’s American proving ground in the Mojave Desert, where we've had an early taste of the new Hyundai Ioniq 9, is all about big: big skies, big temperatures and, erm, big tacos at the canteen.

You could fit the entirety of LAX airport within the boundary of its high-speed oval, the mercury reliably tops 40deg C in summer and there's mile after punishing mile of test track where the Korean firm can easily subject each of its new models to the most extreme and arduous conditions they will face in customers’ hands. 

This top-secret facility, best imagined as a sort of Millbrook Proving Ground on steroids, is where Hyundai's engineers are in the final stages of development of the new flagship of the Ioniq EV range – which, with a kerb weight of around 2700kg, nearly 400 miles of range and well over 400bhp in its most potent form, is also a big old thing to wrap your head around.

Based on the same E-GMP platform as Hyundai’s other Ioniq EVs and closely related to the same-sized Kia EV9, the Ioniq 9 will go on sale in mid-2025 with a choice of single- and dual-motor powertrains, either six or seven seats and a whopping 110.3kWh battery in its floorpan - larger than that of any EV currently on sale in the UK.

Prices are expected to range from around £65,000 to nearer £80,000 for the range-topper, giving the Ioniq 9 a slight price advantage over its Kia cousin and a massive one over the Volvo EX90, which currently starts at nearly £100,000. 

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INTERIOR

Hyundai Ioniq 9 prototype drive 2024 02

Let’s get the obvious out of the way: this is a massive car and thus it's cabin feels extremely capacious - but importantly, it's not overwhelmingly cavernous, because the tapered rear section creates a sort of tunnelling effect in the back. And not at the expense of natural light and airiness, thanks to the huge glass area of the tailgate.

We were able to evaluate space in all three rows and the boot (each remarkably generous), stroke all the visible textiles (suitably upmarket and durable), try the optional swivelling middle-row seats (fun if slightly gimmicky) and get well acquainted with the driving position (commanding and driver-centric).

Camouflage wrapping precluded any attempt to tap all the physical buttons and play around with the touchscreen, but the Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6 give a pretty good idea of what to expect there. So you can count on the touchscreen to host logically arranged and graphically appealing interfaces, the buttons to be sensibly placed and reassuringly tactile and for the driver aids to be intrusive and noisome but easily configurable. 

ENGINES & PERFORMANCE

Our steed for this early test was the range-topping Performance AWD variant, with a motor on each axle combining to give a healthy 429bhp and a claimed acceleration figure that would humble even a hot hatchback of half its size and weight.

Naturally, there's no flavour of Ioniq 9 that will pair especially well with a tight, winding B-road, so the fact that our test drive was restricted to a high-speed bowl and demanding test track means we haven’t got a particularly representative dynamic impression of this school-running family bus - even accounting for those lofty on-paper performance figures. 

But for what it’s worth, it's agreeably swift rather than sickeningly rapid off the mark and accelerates in a predictable and comfortable manner, having little tendency to squat and dive under hard braking or throttle applications.

The efficiency-minded single-motor car might feel comparitively lethargic, with just 215bhp on hand to move around two-and-a-half tonnes, but these things tend to pale into insignifance in the harsh light of reality, so it's unlikely to feel anywhere near frustratingly slow as you swan around the suburbs. 

In any case, perhaps you would be more likely to plump for the lower-powered car on the basis that it's projected to cost around £15,000 less than the Performance AWD - or because it will average 3.5mpkWh compared with the range-topper's unimpressive 2.8mpkWh.

RIDE & HANDLING

With multi-link suspension at each end backed by twin-valve dampers, the Ioniq 9 has been set up – as you would expect – more for rolling refinement than dynamic engagement, and for sure the results are reassuringly cushy rather than crashy.

We were denied the opportunity to veer off-circuit into the barren, punishing desert to really test its composure, but the few imperfections we did encounter were dispatched smoothly and serenely.

Impressive isolation through the floor and chassis means you only very subtly feel bumps passing under the car, and the combination of foam in the tyres and an active sound management function means you can barely hear them either.

This is generally a pretty quiet car at all speeds, although wind roar did naturally pick up once we passed the high side of 100mph around the bowl - not that you should ever attempt to attain such outrageous pace on a UK road.

Meddlesome laws of physics mean the Ioniq 9’s dynamic limits are quite easily found in hard cornering, with some pitch and roll in the most demanding of turns as the weight moves around all four corners of the chassis, but it seems generally unflappable and as manoeuvrable as you can reasonably expect of a car of this ilk. 

You might wonder whether such a merits the addition of a steering rear axle, à la Range Rover, but it might only be in a multi-storey car park where you would really wish for a tighter turning circle.

VERDICT

The market for big seven-seat EVs is still in its nascence – indeed, there are just three currently on offer – and early impressions suggest the Ioniq 9 is efficient, usefully packaged and comfortable enough to win over family buyers and make the most of its head start.

We will need to try it in more flavours, uncamouflaged and away from the watchful gaze of Hyundai's dynamics engineers before delivering a conclusive verdict, but the on-paper stats and our limited experience suggest that the Ioniq 9 could be a convincing step into the EV era for big families who cover big miles.

 

Felix Page

Felix Page
Title: Deputy editor

Felix is Autocar's deputy editor, responsible for leading the brand's agenda-shaping coverage across all facets of the global automotive industry - both in print and online.

He has interviewed the most powerful and widely respected people in motoring, covered the reveals and launches of today's most important cars, and broken some of the biggest automotive stories of the last few years.