This car doesn’t play by the rules
This is the new Hyundai Ionic 9 and it’s a little bit like Serena Williams. You see, it’s based on the Kia EV9. That’s its sister car, but it’s come along later and there’s a good chance it’s actually going to be better. Sorry about that, Venus, but you know it’s true. Anyway, we’re going to find out if that’s going to be the case in this video. I’m Matt Watson and you’re watching Car Wow. I used to be seen as a budget alternative to Japanese and European brands. 20 years ago, their bestselling car in Europe was the Get, which wasn’t exactly inspiring. Since then, it has pushed further up market with some hugely popular cars like the Tucson SUV. But Highendai hasn’t been afraid to make some bold decisions along the way, like the Ioni 5’s eye-catching design. It looks completely different than any other car on the road. And this theme continues with the new Ionic 9. Unlike most flagship cars, this isn’t a conventional electric SUV or a luxurious saloon. Instead, it’s a practical family car with up to seven seats. Just like its sister car, the Kia EV9. But despite sharing the same platform, there are some important differences between these two models, including the price. This new Ionic 9 costs from just under £65,000, which is about £1,000 less than the cheapest Kia EV9. But comparing cars whether I prefer the look of this or the Kia. The K is quite easy to like the look of. This is a bit more challenging but also more interesting. So the light design is really cool. So you got daytime running lights here with this pattern which is mimicked in this panel underneath this C3 perspect. It’s not grill obviously. It’s an electric car. And then you have your main headlights down here and you got matrix LED so they can blank out part of their beam. That’s kind of cool. And then underneath here all like the A dash safety stuff and sensors is hidden away. Slight concern over this because it’s transparent perspects. Is that going to get really scratched when you go to one of those quick car cleaning places and they they’re always using like dirty sponges and cloths. Could get a bit messy. That’d be interesting to see what happens actually. Anyway, moving down the side. Allo wheel starts at 19 in which is going to be too small. These are 21s and they look good. And there’s this weird feature here which is this panel there. And actually on lower spec versions they’re black. There’s something about this angle of the car sort of reminds me of another car and I think it’s the Genesis GV80 which interestingly is a bit of a copy of a Bentley Bentega. So this is a copy of a copy. What do you think it looks like? Let me know in the comments what car does it remind you of. Anyway, you got poppy out door handles like you get on many electric cars to reduce drag, make them more efficient. And then moving down the back, as you can see, it’s very, very long. This, you have this very interesting wraparound tail light design there. All that fully illuminates. And then there’s an extra light down here. A bit like a rain light on a Formula 1 car. That’s the only similarity to a Formula 1 car, by the way. Obviously, do you know what though? I find this angle of the car most challenging. Same with the Hyundai Santa Fe. The rear is just like, do I like it? Do I not? I’m not sure. The Ioni 9 is quite a striking looking car, but if you’re after something with a bit more of a conventional looking design with three rows of seats, you might want to check out the Peugeot E50008 or the Mercedes EQB, but none of them have quite the tech of this car. So, the interior is dominated by this long screen here. Now, the graphics are quite dark, but they are crisp. It’s reasonably responsive. There’s quite a few menus which can be a bit confusing like why do I need things like sports and voice memos? But you can move things around to where you want them. But I do find that it is a little bit confusing trying to get into the deeper menus. You get there in the end, but it is a bit of a faf. Then you got the main digital drivers display. It’s got a lot of information on it. You can cycle through different views and menus and lots of different information. And this particular car is fitted with a heads-up display as well, which is really useful when you’re driving. There’s some other tech as well, which I’ll talk about a bit later on. One of the things I really like about this car is the drive select switch here. It kind of feels a bit rude here on the steering column. Anyway, but everything’s right at your fingertips. So, drive, reverse, and the stop start button there as well. So, you’re not looking around for it. It’s really, really easy to drive. I like the fact that the build quality of the switches is really nice. So, these are things you use quite a lot, and they feel nicely damped and expensive. And overall, the interior quality is pretty blooming good. The steering wheel feels nice. These materials feel nice. This is soft like leatherrett. The sponge underneath the armrest is just so deep. And on here, it’s only when you go lower down that things get a little bit like brittle, but it never feels cheap. The only thing that I think is a bit weird is the dash design. I quite like this stepped effect, but this coating on here sort of has a sticky feel to it. I wonder as it ages if it’s going to start peeling off. I mean, I don’t know, might not. One thing I do like though is that they haven’t buried the climate control into the infotainment system. It’s all easily accessible here through this panel. So you can just set the temperature dead easy and press away to increase the fan speed. I’d rather have an actual click click physical button, but this panel is still better than having to do it through there. Some of the things you need to know, the steering wheel adjustment. Yeah, it moves up, down, in and out, but I feel like it needs to come out a little bit further for my ideal driving position. Seats themselves are really comfy and highly adjustable as well, which is good. You got plenty of cubby spaces as well, and they’re really big. So, underneath this armrest, look, we got this little tray here with a very fat USB cable. And more on that in a bit. And look at all this space under here, which actually goes under this part as well. Then we have two cup holders there. They’re deep enough so even thin bottles won’t rattle about too much. And they can hold bigger bottles as well. Speaking of which, the door bins are large. You probably noticed this. Not particularly on brand. Sorry, Hindi. And down here you have another storage tray as well. You got your USBs there. three USBC’s and I like the action for the 12vt socket the way it’s under this cover like that. The glove box is a decent enough size goes back quite far and we have a big vanity mirror which is illuminated and this particular car is fitted with the panoramic sunroof. The blind actually retracts reasonably quickly and the roof opens though it doesn’t open quite as far as I’d like it to. You think it should go further but it doesn’t appear to. Minor grumble overall though really really nice interior. Now, if you’re wondering how this compares to the interior of the Kia EV9, they’re very similar, but there are differences. Here’s a look at the EV9’s interior, but if you want a more in-depth look at it, you can just watch my video by clicking on the pop out banner there or scanning the QR code on screen. Now, one thing I’m not sure of, though, is this. What is that? Now, at first, I thought it might be a speaker behind there, but I don’t think it is. It’s just a trim piece. Why even add it? If you’re wondering what this little nubb in is there, that’s got the little sensors in which monitor your eyes to make sure you’re paying attention and not like looking at the screen. The middle row on this car is really, really spacious. This one has the upgraded six-seater option. Costs this much extra. Check this out. Right, so with the seats all the way back, I’ve got this much knee room and loads of foot space. Even if I pull it all the way forward, look, I can still get away with some level of comfort. And I really like this as well. Look, seats recline very far. You can do a lot of miles in the middle row in this car, especially in this configuration. And you have like the armrests and everything. Look. Oh, lovely. And being a six-seater version, it’s really easy to get into the back because you can just go through this gap here. Now, there are some other things I want to show you. So, here on this control panel, you can see that I’ve got seat heating on these seats and seat cooling and climate control as well. We also have a big drawer in here, which is handy. Plus, there’s a USBC there and a USBC there. And if you’re sat in this seat and you need more leg room, you can press a button here to move the front passenger seat forward. Also, we’ve got some big door bins. We got two cup holders here. Got the same level of quality here in the back as in the front, which is good. You got huge rear windows. And look, despite being huge, they still go all the way down. Plus, we have the ever handy sun shades as well. There’s some pockets on the seat bags. And you can access this central cubby here from the back if you want. Now, let’s get into the very back. I’m not going to walk through that bit cuz that’s cheating. So, I’m going to do it this way to show you the mechanism. Right. Press a button on here. Folds that forward. And now I can slide that part forward. I’m just going to climb in. Shut that door behind me. Right. I’m going to move this one out of the way so you can see what’s happening. Right. Yo. Oh. Right. Clearly doesn’t have a memory on it. So, what you’d need is someone to get into the front. Jack, could you just jump into the front? I do find that these seats sit quite high the floor, so you do have decent under thigh support for being in the third row. So, Jack Oh, no, sorry. I know I said front. I meant in front of me. The middle. Yeah, we’ll get there in the end. Right. Get in the middle. How tall are you? 62. 6’2. So, let’s see if you can get comfy in front of me. You need to have an okay amount of knee room. Happy that you go, I don’t know, 100 miles. Yeah, that’s okay. I’m full upright at the moment. Go on then. Get a bit of recline on. Get yourself comfy. Look at that. I’m fine here. And there’s a little cutout underneath this seat so I can slide my toes underneath it to get really comfy. It’s very, very good. I’ve got two cup holders here. Decent size window. And look, we have air vents back here as well. The headroom is amazing, too. So roomy, so spacious. Really, really useful family car. Yes, Matt. Why are they holding the headliner up with buttons? These things here. So, here in the back and in the front there’s these little things here and it says on it acoustic control. There’s a little microphones in there and they use the noise cancellation system. So, as you’re driving along it picks up like the noise, the ambient noise and then plays an opposite noise through the speakers to cancel it out. So, the car should be nice and quiet. You can get the Ionic 9 with hands-free tailgate opening. So, as long as you have the key in your pocket, if you get close to the boot like that, wait for a minute or flash it indicators and then the boot will open. It’s quite handy if you got hands full of shopping or luggage or whatever. Anyway, the boot capacity with all seven seats in place is 338 L, which is about the same as an Hyundai i20 hatchback. It’s not bad considering you can carry seven people with that much room. Let’s see what it actually means in terms of what you can carry. because it’s quite a square shape. I think that’s going to be all right. Now, obviously with this third row in place, you don’t have a load cover. So, four four easily fit. You could probably mount another two up there like that. But Oh, yeah. Look, you can That’s good. Look. Oh. Oh, wait, wait, wait. Bear with me. Look, this has six seats. So, there’s a suitcase for every seat. Brilliant. It will shut. Calling it now. Yes. Brilliant. Now, you might think that’s impressive, but if you want an even more impressive boot capacity with all seats in place in a big sevenseater or six-seater MPV, you need to check out my video review of the VW ID Buzz. You can do that by clicking on the pop-up banner up there or scanning the QR code on screen. Now, there’s also a link in the description of this video. I’m going to get these out. Bear with me. I mentioned the load cover. It’s actually neatly stored under there, but you’re only going to use that when you fold down these seats, which you can do dead easy by just pressing these buttons. And now you have over 900 L of luggage space. Look at that. Now, I could put all of these in there. I’m not going to bore you with it. Now, look, they’d easily fit in there, but I’m not going to do that. Instead, I’m going to fold down the middle row once again. Press a button. These just flip straight down like that. Yeah, there are gaps. Can you see? So, like things might get a little bit trapped, but it’s not too much of a problem. Very, very practical car there. So, you got some other features in the boot such as 12 V socket there. You got some tie down points. You have that switch there which will hold this boot at a certain height. So, if you have to open it in like load garages, you can set the height lower. What’s this? This is a release for something. What do you reckon that’s for? Let me know in the comments. Anyway, let’s just check out the front boot. See if it’s got one. Most cars have like a cable pull to open the front boot, but this one, look, it’s a button. It’s electric. Double press it. There we go. It’s open. Let’s see what kind of space we got under here, if any at all. Look, there we go. There is some. It’s always good to have a play separate than your boots to hold your charging cables. That’s 52 L of space. If you go for the rear drive only version, this is the dual motor. You actually have 88 L of space. And that brings me on to five annoying things about the Ionic 9. This is a high-tech car, and you have thought that Highendai would have figured out the problem of warning pedestrians when it’s reversing in a better way than they actually have. Put the car into drive and that is a noise you get when the car’s moving forwards. It’s not too loud. It’s fine. But when you put it into reverse, it gets louder because it’s only got one speaker and it’s in the front. So if the car’s reversing and the people behind it, they need to be able to hear it. So they just amp up the volume. Just fit another speaker at the back. Here’s another thing where they could have just added a bit more tech, especially when you consider this particular car I’ve got here is £80,000. So the wireless charging pad there, it’s great. It’s got these grippers and it can charge reasonably quickly as well. Problem with that is that your phone does get hot and they haven’t fitted any cooling like so many other manufacturers do. Why not? The optional digital door mirrors are 1,000 extra. Don’t bother with them and I’ll explain why now. You see, they may reduce the drag of the car by.1 CD, but that’s not going to add that much range. And they’re nowhere near as good as normal traditional door mirrors. First off, you don’t really have any depth perception when you’re using a camera compared to a normal mirror. Also, the way they work is that they have a zoomedin image. You don’t actually move the camera around. And so, what it does is just move around that zoomed in image when you’re pressing the button to actually look about and angle the mirror. It’s a bit like a Ring doorbell. So, with a normal mirror, you’ll be able to like angle it all the way out here, but I’m probably lost from that image now. And then there’s the fact that when you’re reversing next to a curb, with a normal mirror, you can angle them all the way down to clearly see your rear alloy wheel. So, you don’t curb them. With this, it sort of zooms out to give you the full zoomed out image, but you can’t really see the rear wheels. That’s going to be no good for parking. Like I said, don’t bother with them. This is one long car. It’s over 5 m in length. As a result, the turning circle isn’t great. It’s 12.5 m, which is worse than these competitors. Now, in other markets, you can get rear axle steering, which will make the turning circle probably about 1 m less. For some reason though, you can’t get it in the United Kingdom. Thanks, High and Die. Oh, this is a practical family car. So, we got Ice Fix on the front passenger seat. Wait a minute. There’s none. However, it’s not all bad because you do have four other ISOIX locations in this car. So, let’s try them out. And that brings to five good things about this car. So, this is the first. Look at this. So, we’ve got Isopix here on these middle seats. And if you have the middle bench, you have the same two in the middle row. As you can see, it’s very easy to get a big rearfacing seat in to the car cuz you got big doors. But let’s try in the back row. Can I get it in? It’s not terrible. Actually, that wasn’t too bad at all. Right. I fix easy to find. Really easy to find. This is about as easy as it gets. That’s impressive. And if I give it a bit of that 360. Look at that. Look, that is doable. Impressive. You can use this car’s battery to either power or charge lots of different things. For instance, you have a normal 3 pin socket here in the boot. So, a full 240 volt. So, my ammy in there, my Citroen Ammy. Look, it says it’s charging. And it says it’s charging over there. Yes, this little Citroen is like a poundite. this Hyundai just leeching its resources. That’s not all though. These two USBC ports there can output up to 100 W, which is incredible. So, you can charge stuff like laptops. You hear that? It’s charging. In fact, this computer’s own wall charger only does 60 W. And then there’s this. See this drawer here? You put your mobile phone in there, right? shut it and press this button here and it turns on UV lights in there which will disinfect your phone. The front seats have a special waiting to charge feature. If I press this button here, the steering wheel will move up out of the way. The seat will recline and this little pad will lift up to cushion your calves. I now feel like I’m about to undergo therapy. If someone or something blocks your view in the rear view mirror, don’t worry. You can get this car with a special camera which looks out the back so you can still see in the mirror. Also, you can get the car with some blind spot cameras. So, when you indicate, it’ll show you what’s in your blind spot. Hello, it’s actually me. Want an electric car that’s good for towing? Well, look no further than the Ionic 9. It can tow 2.5 tons, which is as much as any EV can tow. The only other cars that can tow as much as this is the Kia EV9 and the BMW iX. The UK government has just announced £650 million in grants to cut the cost of an electric car. As of now, manufacturers are busy applying for grants to get you up to 3,750 quid off an electric car. And the good news is this will also apply to leasing, which means you could save money on your monthly rentals. And if you’re lucky enough to work for an employer that has an EV salary sacrifice scheme, the saving comes on top of any tax savings. So, it’s a win-win. There’s Iionic 9ines come with a 106 kWh battery pack, but there are three motor options to choose from which affect your total range. The entry- level car with a single 218 horsepower motor has the longest range at 385 mi. Dual motor all-wheel drive cars with 307 horsepower can manage up to 376 mi. And this 427 horsepower performance model can do 372 mi. And later in this video, I’ll find out how close this topsp spec Ioni 9 can actually get to this claimed range. So, expect a big, heavy electric SUV like this to feel sporty to drive. And you know what? This thing does not disappoint because it’s not sporty to drive. However, if you think of it as being in a relationship, don’t set your expectations too high and that way you won’t be disappointed. And when you take this car for what it really is, a big heavy electric SUV, it actually corners well enough, it steers well enough, it’s fine. And now I’m getting the lane keeping assist cutting in. So once again, instead of digging down into menu here, I can just press and hold the adaptive cruise control steering icon to turn that feature off as well. Brilliant. And now I can carry on talking to you about this car without being interrupted by drivers aids. Now I can get back to the expectations because you do expect a car like this to be a comfy cruiser and indeed it delivers in that respect. So the suspension is comfortable. Sometimes with electric cars they can be a bit jiggly over bumps. This one really isn’t and it deals with bigger bumps extremely well. Now, it doesn’t glide down the road in the same way that a BMW iX does on its air suspension, but like for like spec match one of these to an IX, and the EX is way more expensive. I tell you what does impress though, the noise levels. This car has that noise cancelling technology I’ve told you about. So, when you’re cruising at speed, it’s reasonably quiet. Also, you’ve got laminated glass to reduce wind noise. Plus, I actually found special insulation in the wings. I’ve never seen it on a car before. Maybe I just never noticed, but there’s big panels in the wings, which are obviously there to soak up tire noise and wind noise, but it works. What I’m less impressed with, though, is the efficiency. So, this car is averaging 2.5 m per kowatt hour. When you multiply that up by the battery’s capacity, you’re looking at a real world range of around 270 mi. This particular version is supposed to do 370 mi. So, that’s about 75% of what Highendai claims, which isn’t brilliant. What is brilliant though is the control you have over the regen braking. So you can use these paddles. They’re not for shifting gears cuz there are no gears, but you can alter the amount of regen. So you can actually turn it off so the car just coasts when you lift off the accelerator. Feels like it’s just going to roll forever. Or you can just add in regen to four different levels. And the fourth level is I pedal. So I pedal means that you got full one pedal driving. So you can actually bring the car to complete standstill just by lifting off the accelerator. it’ll give you that much regen braking. That gives you loads of control over driving the car at low speed, especially in town, and you don’t actually have to touch the brake at all unless it’s an emergency. Then there’s the other thing you can do, which is go completely the other way and put it into auto mode. Now, what it does is use the standard fit adaptive cruise control technology to use the regen braking to keep your safe distance from the car in front. So, if I lift off the accelerator now, it notices I’m getting closer to the car in front. It’s regen braking pretty strongly, but as that car starts to pull away, it’s going to reduce the regen braking and let it coast more. All very, very clever. Not sure why it’s not helping with the um efficiency, though. And you might be thinking, that’s all on a good mat. But big car like this, it’s going to be a bit cumbersome to navigate around a busy city or town street. But it’s not as bad as you might think. Visibility is really good forward, at the sides, and even out the back. And of course, you got the backup of all the technology and the camera systems as well to help you out. You know what? Overall, I find this is a very, very pleasant, nice, relaxing car to drive, and I like it. It just allows you to get about fussfree. Now, let’s check out the performance. So, I’m going to launch it from naugh to 60 and time it in three different modes. So, I’m going to start off in eco mode. See if it makes a difference what mode I’m in. So, we’ve got two electric motors cuz this is the range topping version. Four-wheel drive and a combined 427 horsepower. Let’s do it. Launching it. 3 2 1. [Music] That doesn’t feel like 427 horsepower. 8.97 seconds to 60. Right, let’s up the ante and go into normal mode. Should be faster this time. I hope it is. Otherwise, Oh, look. I’ve just noticed this. And you put the car into reverse. The lights here, the four little dots go red. So, 3 2 1. That’s much stronger. Much stronger. 4.96 seconds. Mhm. That’s quick for a big car. It’s got really good traction and lots of performance. There is a bit of a delay when you first put your foot down. It doesn’t feel like really snappy. It’s a buildup of power. Let’s try in sport. Ready? Here we go. 3 2 1 pickup seems sharper. Have you got a quicker time though? Yeah, ever so slightly. Or is it the same? 4.93. Can’t remember. It was so long ago. It’s about the same. I think the pickup when you just floor it when you’re moving seems sharper in sport mode than normal. So, it’s a bit more aggressive. The throttle mapping. What was the thing I was going to do? I’ve forgotten that. This thing I thought I need to show you and I’ve just forgotten it. Why is it? Oh, well, if you pop into my head, I’ll tell you. A few moments later. Oh, I know what I meant to tell you. So, we’ve got some other driving modes. I haven’t tested them because they’re actually for off-roading. Snow, mud, and sand. I’m not going to be taking this car in snow, mud, or sand, I don’t think. Anyway, that was what I needed to tell you. I’m not going mud after all. Right. Breaking from 60 mph. Needs to be under 40 m. Really does on a dry day like today. If we can get close to 35, that would be good. Let’s find out. It is heavy this thing, though. Here we go. Coming in hot right now. What we got? Wow, that’s good. 34 m. I’m pleased with that. The car should be pleased with it. High and I should be pleased with it. You should be pleased with it. Everyone rejoice. [Music] So then, what’s my final verdict on the new High and Die Ionic 9? Should you avoid it, consider it, short list it, or just go right ahead and buy it? Well, I reckon that if you’re after a large, familyfriendly electric SUV, you should shortlist the Ionic
Shop EV deals with Carwow: https://bit.ly/EV-Deals-2809
This is the new Hyundai Ioniq 9!
Given that Hyundai and Kia are sister companies, it’s no surprise that the Ioniq 9 shares a lot of part with Kia’s 7-seat SUV, the EV9. The question is, exactly how much is different between the two cars? And is one a better choice than the other? Let’s take a closer look.
For starters, the Hyundai Ioniq 9 certainly has a pretty striking design! Up front, there are distinctive, unique patterned DRLs that stretch across the front of the car, as well as a pair of Matrix LED headlights. There’s also a large Perspex screen across the centre of the front end to conceal all the safety systems and sensors. The side view of the Ioniq 9 is pretty minimalist, although there is a set of pop-out door handles, while the back end offers the most striking view of this car! There are huge, wrap-around tail lights that cover the sides and top of the rear end. There’s also a small brake light at the bottom of the rear end – mimicking the brake lights found on F1 cars!
On the inside, the dash is dominated by a large wrap-around screen that contains both the infotainment system and digital dials. There are lots of menus within the system, but it’s generally ok to use, and the digital dials offer a good amount of customisation. There’s also a separate panel for the climate controls, and while they may not be physical buttons, it’s a better option than them being built into the infotainment screen. The rest of the dash has a unique stepped design, and the seats are pretty comfortable, too. The build quality is generally pretty good, and there’s also a decent amount of storage.
All editions of the Ioniq 9 come with a 106kWh battery pack. There are then three motor options to choose from. The entry-level car has a single 218hp motor that offers 385 miles of range. There are then two dual motor options to choose from – a 307hp set-up that offers 376 miles of range, and the top-of-the-range performance edition that can produce 426hp and 372 miles of range.
So is the Ioniq 9 the best 7-seat car you can buy in 2025? Or should you choose an alternative instead? You’ll need to stick with Mat and find out for yourself!
Mat’s Hyundai Ioniq 9 choice: https://bit.ly/Mats-Ioniq-9-Choice
Change your car with Carwow: https://bit.ly/Change-Your-Car-2807
Kia EV9 review: https://bit.ly/Kia-EV9-Review-2807
VW ID Buzz review: https://bit.ly/VW-ID-Buzz-Review-2807
Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:23 History
01:04 Price
01:48 Design
03:37 Interior
07:04 Back Seats
08:23 Third Row Seats
10:12 Boot
13:08 Annoying Features
15:20 Good Features
18:33 Battery, Range & Motors
19:16 Driving Tech
22:14 Town Driving
22:38 0-60mph
24:38 Brake Test
25:14 Verdict
