MOTORING REVIEW: Hyundai’s sublime Ioniq 9 has 600km electric range

Hyundai introduced its smallest electric car, the Inster, and its largest electric SUV, the Ioniq 9, this year. The latter is the Korean carmaker's first full-size, all-electric SUV and a seven-seater. 

The car blends elegance with the robustness of an SUV. It is higher, longer, and wider than its seven-seat sibling, the Santa Fe, and bigger than the Kia EV9, which shares a platform, drivetrain, and many interior fitments. It also has the longest wheelbase in the Ioniq line-up of 3,130mm. 

My car was in a lovely shade of green, which showed it off to perfection. It came with silver roof rails and sits on 20-inch aero wheels, maximised for efficiency. 

The futuristic-looking front is all about strength and style, with its small cube LED headlamps unique to the model, and the black accents around the wheel arches. The lights design continues at the rear and looks amazing at night, and the brake light goes along the top of the rear. The design front and back emphasises the vehicle's width and the flush surfaces, including flush door handles, all of which add to the car’s excellent drag coefficient of 0.26. Silver roof rails, privacy glass and 20-inch aero wheels are all standard. 

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The cabin features superb fit and finish, offering lounge-like comfort across all three rows with excellent head and legroom. The free-standing curved unit integrates the 12.3-inch cluster and the same-sized infotainment screen. They have a black background and very colourful graphics. I found both relatively easy to find my way around. Below are two rows of physical buttons, including ones for climate control. You can always programme the star button on the steering wheel to open the driver assist screen to turn off controls you don’t need, but you have to do this before you move off. Light floods into the cabin through a panoramic sunroof you can tilt open.

Front seats have power adjustments. The driver’s seat has two memory seat adjustments and a massage function. Middle seats provide big comfort for three adults, and this row has its own temperature control. The back two have easy access when you tilt and move the second row seats forward. In all, there are four ISOFIX child seat anchors.

With all seven seats in use, luggage space is a decent 338 litres, extending to 908 litres with the second row down and to a whopping van-like 2494 litres with the second and third row seats folded flat. You can set the big tailgate to the height you require. The vast and deep 88 litres of frunk space can store your charging cables or whatever you need to store here. 

The Ionic 9 has a digital centre mirror, a big front armrest between the front seats that includes two cupholders, three USB-C-type ports (six throughout the cabin), a wireless phone charger, and clever storage solutions inside the armrest that you can access from both the front and the second row by flipping the lid. There is enormous storage space below. You also have a big floor space for a computer or a bag in front of this armrest.  

My car also had a head-up display and a Bose sound system with 14 speakers. A camera on the steering wheel judges if the driver isn’t focused on the road ahead and gives an audible sound and a warning light on the instrument cluster. 

Other features are an excellent reversing camera and Surround View Monitor, which help when manoeuvring this big vehicle into a parking space. Not easy given the tight parking slots in many car parks that haven’t increased in size to accommodate today’s larger vehicles. 

A range of up to 620 km on a single charge is claimed. An all-wheel-drive version with a 600 km range will launch next year. You can ultra fast-charge from 10pc to 80pc in just 24 minutes or add 304kms in 15 minutes to get you home; or fast charge with a 50kW meter from 10-80pc in 1hr 49 minutes. You can use the V2V load ability to power up stuff like a computer or fridges in your house, should a power cut occur.  

I found this big car surprisingly easy to drive. It seems tuned for comfort rather than handling, and hardly any noise gets to the cabin. Visibility was excellent from every angle. The brilliant Blind Spot Monitor displays a live video feed of the blind spot on the digital instrument cluster when you indicate that you want to make a turn. You see the road behind on that side of your car on a small circular screen. 

The company is confident in its ability to compete with Chinese brands like BYD and MG and aims to be the leading brand for EVs in Ireland, with a 16pc increase in market share from 9.9pc to 11.5pc. 

Priced from €78,495.

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