How Well Does the Kia EV9 Handle Family Duty?

While more and more electric vehicles continue to hit the market, pickings are still slim for those looking for a three-row EV. Choices range from luxury models with lofty price tags to EVs with tiny, optional third rows  to a forthcoming electric minivan we’ve been waiting a while for. Enter the 2024 Kia EV9, the first mainstream electric three-row SUV. Its relatively affordable price tag should appeal to families on a budget, but how does it handle all of the other stuff that comes with family duty?

Related: How Usable Is the Kia EV9’s Third Row?

Cars.com purchased an EV9 for our long-term test fleet earlier this year, and many Editorial staffers have tested its family-hauling chops over the past several months. From car-seat installs to road trips to grocery runs to squeezing some tweens in the third row, the EV9 has seen some things and conquered some things …  but was not quite up to some other things.

What It Does Well

For starters, our editors praised its comfortable road manners.

“Unlike most other three-row SUVs, the EV9 has fantastic acceleration, including off-the-line acceleration,” said Cars.com Managing Editor Joe Bruzek. “I appreciate how the EV9 pairs its acceleration with soft, comfortable ride quality and isn’t trying to be a sporty or trucky option; I have no need for that in my three-row family SUV. One day, I drove the EV9 200 miles between a few different trips, and did so in complete comfort.”

The third row also surprised some editors with its roominess.

“My two sons, ages 12 and 10, have no complaints about room or comfort,” said Senior Research Editor Damon Bell. “In fact, both of them regularly choose to sit in the third-row seats instead of the second row. Par for the course for tweens, I guess. I asked my older son about the third row, and he said, ‘Spacewise, it isn’t a huge downgrade from the second row.’ That assessment will almost certainly change as the boys get older and taller; they won’t fit in the wayback as well, and I suspect the need for more head- and legroom will win out over their desire to be as far away from Mom and Dad as possible.”

The second row also got praise for how well it handles car seats.

“I loved how seamlessly my infant car seat fit in the captain’s chair of the EV9. It didn’t cut into front-seat passenger legroom at all,” said Copy Editor Corinne Vercoe. The EV9’s second row earned all-A grades in our Car Seat Check.

Lastly, the kids (and neighbors) think it looks cool, so you’ll likely get some parent points.

“Affectionately called ‘Bluey’ by my kids, the blue matte paint is a huge hit with them as well as onlookers,” Bruzek said. “While leaving the school pickup, I heard a kid say, ‘Look at that shiny car,’ and then the mother rightfully correcting him, ‘That’s not shiny; that’s matte.’ Yes, the color is a huge pain to live with because of its specific care instructions, but the reactions are nonstop when you have this large of a vehicle in such a standout color.”

Where It Falls Short

Most of the issues our editors had with the EV9 center on space, with some struggling to fit adults comfortably in the third row and others playing Tetris with packages and people to get everything to fit.

There’s just 10.4 cubic feet of space behind the third row, according to Cars.com cargo measurements, and a couple of editors found the area lacking. Vercoe’s stroller barely fit after being shoehorned in, and Senior Road Test Editor Mike Hanley wasn’t able to take the EV9 and his family of five on a camping trip because of the lack of cargo space.

“With bucket seats in the first two rows, I had to keep part of the third row up for my youngest son, but even with the other part of the third row folded, there just wasn’t a lot of room for luggage,” he said. “Our stay was going to be in a cabin at a summer camp, and we had to pack additional supplies like sleeping bags and camping chairs besides our normal luggage. My wife and I tried to think of ways to make it work, but in the end we abandoned the effort and took our personal minivan, a Honda Odyssey, instead.”

Another road-trip limitation was driving range. I took a couple of 100-to-150-mile trips in the EV9 with my family, but when it came time to drive 500-plus miles one way to rural Iowa for a wedding, I wasn’t comfortable enough with charger availability on the route. Hanley made a similar decision with his second family road trip of the summer.

“Our other planned trip was a long weekend to the Porcupine Mountains in Michigan’s western Upper Peninsula,” he said. “It was around 380 miles from our home, but we were going to be staying in a rented house, so we could pack a bit lighter than we had when staying at the summer camp cabin. While the EV9’s cargo space seemed workable for this trip, charger availability was a concern, with few DC fast chargers the Kia could work with in northern Wisconsin and Michigan’s U.P. Our EV9 has a portable charger you can plug into a household outlet, but I didn’t want to rely solely on this trickle charger to replenish the Kia’s big battery — so, again, it was back to the Odyssey for our trip.”

More From Cars.com:

• How Do Car Seats Fit in a 2024 Kia EV9?
• Testing the 2024 Kia EV9’s Range While Towing
• 2024 Kia EV9 Review: The First, Best and Only Semi-Affordable 3-Row Electric SUV
• Is the 2024 Rivian R1S Worth Almost $30,000 More Than Our 2024 Kia EV9?
• Shop for a 2024 Kia EV9

Will It Work for You?

Maybe. In the end, the EV9 was a family favorite with much of the Editorial staff in a lot of ways, but its limitations became obvious when road trips were thrown into the mix.  Although it worked well in most family use cases, for longer trips with lots of people and gear, it requires more planning in terms of use of space and charging.

“For my family, the only road trips the EV9 makes sense for are ones where we’re able to pack relatively light — and that are not far from public charging infrastructure,” Hanley said.

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