New Hyundai Ioniq 9 2025 review: large EV impresses with its space and tech

Verdict

The new Hyundai Ioniq 9 offers its own eccentric spin on the full-sized family EV with impressive initial results. This is a big, spacious and flexible SUV with seating for up to seven, plus all the tech and safety kit you could ever want for. It also comes with a bigger battery pack than the closely-related Kia EV9, and therefore delivers a greater potential range of up to 385 miles. We’ll have our final say when we drive it in the UK, but if the price and specification is right, Hyundai will be onto a winner. 

If there was any doubt that Hyundai is a car company that should be taken seriously as a premium player, the fact we’re speaking about a new model that’ll start at the thick end of £70,000 and rival Volvo’s brand new flagship seven-seater EX90 SUV should say it all. The new Ioniq 9 joins a growing band of Hyundai EVs that have shed their price-leader image to become world-leading all-electric offerings. So how does the new model shape up?

Sitting on Hyundai’s E-GMP architecture, the new Ioniq 9’s raw figures are right up there with the industry leaders in Europe. All models feature a 110kWh battery pack mounted under the floor, paired to either a single rear-mounted motor, or a dual-motor set-up with one on each axle. 

Used - available now

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This is slightly larger than the battery packs you’ll find on key rivals such as the Kia EV9 and equal to the EX90’s, yielding a slightly better range of up to 385 miles on the single-motor variant. This is around 35 miles up on the Kia and matches the more expensive Volvo, although the figure drops to 329 miles when fitted with a 429bhp dual-motor set-up as driven here.

Hyundai’s on the leading edge when it comes to charging, too, because the 800V electronic architecture can support up to 350kW DC fast-charging. This means that despite the huge battery pack, it’ll still be able to top up from 10-80 per cent in 24 minutes, which is about as fast as charging gets on any new electric car on sale now. 

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On the road, the general consensus of the driving experience is one of supreme ease. This is a big car, yet even with its digital mirrors and rising beltline, it’s easy to place on the road. The steering is light yet accurate, and the throttle and braking calibration seem optimised for the car’s general size and performance. If you’re after ultimate driving capability in this class, the updated BMW iX is still a good distance ahead, but this is hardly a key priority at this level. The BMW is also strictly a five-seater. 

Despite our model’s Performance tag, this isn’t an ultra-fast car in the way some high-end EVs are, with a 0-62mph time of 4.9 seconds. But it’s not one that feels overly large or cumbersome, either, which is some feat given the body is more than five metres long. However, this might feel a little different on the single-motor variants, which do with just 214bhp. 

In any variant, the Ioniq 9 is definitely more of a family cruiser and comes with a spacious and modern cabin to match. Overall refinement is superb; wind noise is near non-existent, thanks to the aero-optimised wing mirrors and the use of acoustically insulated side windows. The electric powertrain is also completely silent.

There is a caveat to the luxury cruiser claim, however, and that’s the ride quality, which feels a little too firm, if not uncomfortable. As if only to manage the car’s near-2.5 tonne mass, the suspension doesn’t quite smother road bumps in the same way as an EX90. It’s never crashy, but even on the relatively smooth roads of our South Korean test route, it didn’t quite cosset passengers as we would have hoped. 

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To help offset this, the Ioniq 9’s interior is extremely versatile, with plenty of clever storage solutions that will easily swallow all the rigmarole of a young family. Up front, the car’s bespoke platform is on full display, because the dashboard is separated from the centre console, leaving a flat floor between the front seats. The dash has lots of storage, including a clever shelf above the glovebox, plus two central cubbies that can swallow phones or tablets and come with three USB-C charge points just above. 

The centre console also has a wireless phone charger and a relatively shallow central cubby that can also be opened from the second row. Yet the relatively shallow console space is for a very good reason, because there’s an additional sliding drawer that sits below which is also accessible from the middle row. It can also be slid back and forth by up to 190mm for maximum flexibility.

Hyundai will offer the Ioniq 9 with seven and six-seater configurations, with the second row always configured with a captain’s chairs layout. There’s enough room between them for kids to make their way to the third row without needing to move the seats, but they slide forward with the press of a single button for better access. Space in the second row is vast, with additional storage spaces, plus two more USB-C ports. The third row is a little tight, but can be opened up a little by sliding the second-row seats forward. 

The boot capacity is an impressive 610 litres with all three rows in place, and there’s a small underfloor storage area for the charging cables. Drop the third row and the volume jumps to 1,321-litres, and the second row also drops, unlocking a truly van-like level of space. 

So while the Ioniq 9 might share a similar footprint to its key rivals, its use of interior space is definitely best in class. This has been thanks to Hyundai’s designers pushing the windscreen forward as much as possible, bringing us neatly to the car’s somewhat eccentric exterior design. Hyundai’s decision to design its EVs in an eclectic manner is on full display here, with its design diverging from the Ioniqs 5 and 6 quite dramatically. 

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The key styling element that links them is the Pixel graphic that’s visible across the car’s nose and tail. The front light bar is purely for show, with the main headlights integrated into a black gloss panel across the lower bumper. Towards the back, the body tapers and ends in a sharp cut-off, with the leading edge lined in ice cube-like lighting elements. It might lack the Kia EV9’s more harmonious design, but you won’t miss it driving by – and nor will your neighbours. 

In terms of tech, the dual 12.3-inch screen set-up is one we’ve seen before from Hyundai and is easy to navigate, without feeling too simple. The driver’s display has a reasonable amount of personalisation, but doesn’t feature the clever blind-spot camera view that we find useful on other Hyundai models. 

This is likely due to the digital side-view camera, which feeds a clear and accurate image to two high-resolution screens mounted on the door cards. Whether you like them is personal taste, and while there are benefits such as good night vision and no worries about condensation on cold mornings, it can be difficult to gauge depth when merging into other lanes. 

The main touchscreen incorporates wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, but the embedded navigation system is also very good, and has accurate traffic information and easy-to-follow instructions. If, however, you’re after that cutting edge feel of a much larger screen, Hyundai is starting to lag behind rivals that offer brighter displays and more functionality. There’s plenty of physical buttons and controls, though, plus a chunky heads-up display. 

For now, the Ioniq 9 feels like an extremely polished and capable family EV that will be kind to your needs as a hauler and your tax bill. Putting the firm ride to one side, it’ll be a hard car to overlook if you’re in this part of the market. How long it holds that lead in this fast-moving space, however, is another question.