Video by Leah Carroll. Words by Donal Byrne.
With its bigger cars, Hyundai has tended to concentrate on spaciousness, comfort, light and as much advanced tech as the budget will allow.
It's new all-electric family SUV - the Ioniq 9 - now repeats the formula at a quite advanced level to try to create a desirability factor for the modern tech-savvy family.
Just not every family, though. With a price tag of €78,495, it might be a car a lot of families might like to have, but whose budgets may well be the ultimate barrier.
For those who can afford it, the Ioniq 9 does deliver rather a lot. It’s a big vehicle and stands at five metres long, 1.8 metres tall and 1.9 metres wide. That means it won’t be the easiest car to fit into a tight parking spot. It’s also a reminder that the American market is a prime and lucrative one for companies like Hyundai and for cars like the Ioniq 9.
There are seven seats on the first edition of the car in Ireland (a six-seat version will come next year). With its flat floor, the car manages to accommodate everyone in considerable comfort thanks to several seating configurations, especially in the row behind the driver.
Despite the sloping roofline towards the rear - something that significantly reduces drag and improves consumption - the rear headroom is still generous. So too is the room for the final third row of seats, and with all three rows of seats up, there is still a boot capacity of 620 litres.
This is a very clever solution to the problem other manufacturers have with a third row of seats, but with little or no boot space as a result.
The panoramic roof may be the ultimate fun factor for many people, and particularly for their children.
There are two 12.3 panoramic screens for driving and infotainment functions, and as with previous Hyundai cars, they look a lot more sophisticated than the single large screen we see in so many other cars these days. These ones are more subtle and pleasing to the eye.
Add in the ChatGPT AI voice recognition programme and you can choose your radio, media, phone contacts, navigation and even a calculator function on the move.
The navigation system even anticipates what you will encounter on a journey, such as roundabouts, curves and speed limits and there is auto-adjusting braking to optimise energy recovery. There are also two USB-C ports for all three rows of seats.
Exploring all the functions takes time, but thankfully, Hyundai has retained physical buttons for things like the climate control system.
The battery is a pretty massive 110 kWh unit that produces 217 horsepower. Hyundai has a claimed range of up to 620 kilometres for the car, but the usual caveats on claimed ranges apply until we see how it performs in real-world conditions. Its fast-charge capacity will get it from 10% to 80% in 24 minutes.
Our limited first drive suggested the Ioniq 9 is smooth and refined, with impressive noise reduction features. There is considerable battery weight, so it takes a little time to get up to speed.
Its shape may, like the Ioniq 5, be a little divisive, with that sawn-off rear end giving it something on an old Volvo estate profile and the sloping roof towards the back may strike some as a little odd. But that’s the price to be paid for better aerodynamic efficiency.
The Ioniq 9 is closely related to its Korean cousin, the Kia EV 9, which comes in slightly cheaper at €77,500, but Hyundai are keen to point out that the entry-level Kia doesn’t have features such as the Ioniq’s panoramic roof and the AI voice command system.
