Kia EV9 GT

KIA’S GT range hasn't quite had the same consistency as sister company Hyundai's more focused N models, but that’s steadily changing, as the EV9 GT joins the existing EV6 GT — and will soon be accompanied by GT versions of the EV3 supermini, EV4 family hatch and EV5 crossover.

- Antony Ingram

The EV9 GT is, as you'd infer from Kia’s naming strategy, the largest of the GT models, and it’s been a long time coming, having first appeared at the Los Angeles Auto Show in 2024. It also has the feel of Kia's engineers being let loose a little. The brand isn’t expecting to sell huge numbers of this £82k performance SUV, but it has the parts and the engineering knowledge, so why not?

What you're getting, then, is Kia's practical five-metre long, six or seven-seater with a dual-motor drivetrain putting out 501bhp and 740Nm of torque. These are pretty mighty outputs for what’s now the most expensive Kia ever (and remember, the firm's range starts at less than £17k with the Picanto), albeit offset by a similarly mighty 2,718kg kerbweight — or nearly three times the Picanto’s 947kg figure. Load up the EV9 GT with people and stuff and you're rolling around at nearly 3.3 tonnes.

As such, while Kia claims the GT has a 0-62mph time of 4.6 seconds, what is clearly still a very quick car doesn't have the accelerative slam you expect of 500bhp. That’s despite the all-wheel-drive setup, with Electronic Dynamic Torque Vectoring Control (eDTVC) and an electronic limited-slip differential (e-LSD) ensuring the GT has absolutely no trouble putting its power down, even in the damp conditions of our drive near Frankfurt, Germany, and on the winter tyres that are mandated there at this time of year.