Is the 2026 Kia EV9 the BEST 3-Row ELECTRIC SUV On the Market TODAY? Land Review & Test Drive

The Kia EV9 is one of the best-selling third-row electric SUVs. My name is Christopher. And my name is Kyra. And come along for the ride as we show you the ins and outs of this electric vehicle. Welcome to Cars Unlocked. Now Chris, this is the 2026 Kia EV9 Land Package. It's probably going to break the bank, isn't it? The MSRP in Canada is about $68,176. Hefty price tag, but let's see what you get. Most of the exterior features were kept quite similar to the 2025 model. It does seem similar, but on the front end, like I love what's going on with the front end here. We have LED headlights here, Kyra. And then it's hard to show you guys today, but at nighttime, there is a full kind of light-up accent across the front bumper. And then down below, these are all of our parking sensors, which are going to help you when parking with your family. This one's got a decent little frunk in here. It's not as big as I would like, but you do got room for probably a carry-on bag. Maybe a little bit of space under here. Kyra, this is your first time in the Kia EV9. Now for all those returning subscribers or anybody new here, why don't you tell them where they can check you out. Hi everybody. Once again, I am Kyra. You can find me on Instagram at Kyra.WhiteHouse or on my podcast, Instagram at Sip It Spill Podcast. We upload every Monday on Spotify. We actually met at a car show and I said, Kyra, why don't you come and film a car with us? And here we are. Now, a lot of people might not be familiar with driving an EV. What's it like? Tell me about it. I'm super excited. We have this thing on the road. This one is an all-wheel drive dual motor. So it's like a 99 lithium ion battery, 370 horsepower and 516 pounds feet of torque. So I'm going to stop and I'm going to do a little launch here. And this is why we love driving these things because a lot of electric cars have some good front end torque. Are you ready? Oh yeah. On three. One, two, three. You can feel it. Yeah. I like they, they really punch and that's a hundred right there. So hopefully we can get a timer up on the screen and see what that was, the zero to a hundred, but it certainly takes off like a rocket. That is not something I was expecting from an EV. Really? If you drive this on a full charge, you're going to get about 455 kilometers per one charge. So pretty much like you can go on a long road trip just on one charge. That's about 300 miles. Like think about it. When was the last time? A lot of people have range anxiety, but when was the last time you've driven anywhere above 455 kilometers? That's 455 kilometers ago, right? Like it's a pretty long drive. Like that's got to be driving for like five, six hours, depending on what kind of driving you're doing. Now checking out the side profile, there's a few things I want to show you. You can see right away, like this is a family hauler. So it does have your tinted windows. Not sure what you think of this kind of piano trim gloss here, but it might be a little hard to keep clean. It's going to be sitting on these 20 inch, you do have the covers and then they're alloys right there. So there's alloys all throughout the outside. And then you have this kind of plastic cover insert. A lot of the electric vehicles are doing that nowadays. Now the embedded handles offer a much more sleek feel. Just with a double click of the fob, your mirror and your handle come out. Now checking out the back, there is LED taillights on the back. You have those parking sensors as well. There's a camera right above the license plate. Now this one is the land package Kira, so it should have that little approach open, but we haven't, it hasn't been working really in our tests. So I'm not sure about that, but we are just going to use the fob here and open that up. Pretty please? Open sesame? Yeah. You mentioned road trips. For all the family people out there or anybody with large friend groups, what are the safety features like? Obviously this one being a family hauler, you got eight standard airbags throughout the vehicle. This one, you're going to come with all the other safety features. So things like blind spot monitor is going to show up. You have your lane assist as you deviate from the lane here, which I'm going to show you here. Like as I kind of pull through this lane, it's going to warn me and I feel the wheel vibrating now and it's telling me like, Hey, you're, you're going over the line. There is a high beam assistant. When you turn on your high beams, as it senses a car passing by you, it will turn the high beams automatically off, which I think is a great feature to have. You also have intelligent cruise control, so you can kind of set the distance you want to be from the car in front of you. The cool thing is like, I'm going to show you this here. See how it's slowing down like that? I'm not even hitting the brake. I'm just letting go of the gas and it really decelerates the car. That's kind of like the e-pedal that they have in a lot of electric vehicles, which helps maximize the battery economy and the range. As we're driving these new cars, we do see a lot of different trims and finishes, which you prefer matte black finish or a glossy paint. Honestly, that would depend on what kind of car it is for the exterior. Would you prefer roof rails or no roof rails? That's a tough one. I think I would go with, with roof rails mostly because I'm the kind of girl where I would rather have and not need rather than need and not have. I like that. Yes. You definitely want to have the mom. Well, welcome to the channel. You guys are going to get to know Kira throughout the video. What do you think of the back? The back is not as spacious as I would usually prefer, especially for a family hauler. However, you do have your quick release back seats to add more trunk space. Yeah. One thing I've noticed about any family size SUV, minivan is going to give you a much more space. I like how you do have your charging equipment in this nice little bag and look at this. It Velcros right on, so it's not going to be sliding around back there and you do have a little more space for hidden storage as well. And of course, if you need more trunk space, you have two buttons right here, two quick presses and your trunk space doubles. So we have 120 volt power outlet. If you want to blow up any inflatables while you're at the beach, charge your phone. And if you want to open the trunk from the inside, there is a little hidden button right there. If you get kidnapped, I don't know who you are. Now if you guys are new to the channel, we like to kind of show you the space of the back with a little dead body test. So for dead bodies, if you're using the third row, I'm thinking two Kira, maybe. What do you think? If we fold the seats down? I'm not sure. I'm thinking four. If you line them up lengthwise for dead bodies, cars unlocked, confirmed, I will find you to close. And of course, you just have a lovely little button up here and she comes down like magic. While jumping on the inside here, this one does have this full leather seat. Now it's not a true leather, it's an artificial leather. When you go up to the higher package, you get the real leather, but there's a lot going on here. 10 way power adjustable driver's seat. The seats are heated and ventilated. You also have this fingerprint scanner right on the wheel here, which is going to help you recognize the key. I haven't registered my fingerprint. Now this is a true smart car. Tell me about everything that I'm looking at right now. Yeah. So right in the infotainment, we have two 12 inch displays. This one's going to be for like your radio and your navigation. You have wireless Apple CarPlay and Android auto. You see these kind of captive buttons here. So the buttons are right embedded into the dash for your home screen, your maps. We have digital temperature control down below. Nice big volume knob, which I like. Let's turn it up. What do you think? Doesn't sound too bad. Does not sound too bad. And the sound is definitely like everywhere in the car. It's not just focused in one set area. Yeah. This one being the land, it doesn't come with the upgraded sound system like you would get in the GT lines, but it doesn't, didn't sound too bad at all while we've been listening to it. Exactly. And with 12 speakers, it will definitely reach everywhere in the car. Now, what I love about this vehicle, it is a true seven seater. You have three seats in the middle, two seats in the back, and of course your driver and your passenger. Now, typically cars like this, it's not that easy to get into the back seat, but with the press of a button, you have plenty of space to squeeze yourself into the back. I am five foot three, five foot seven with the heels, but my knees are not tucked all the way up to my chest. That's probably how you'd be sitting. Is that too tight? It's a little snug. It is a little snug on the knees, but your back bench passengers are not forgotten. We have cup holders on either side, plenty of storage for whatever belongings they'll need when you're on the road, as well as two C port chargers on either side and their very own speaker as well. I mean, Kira, I don't think this is for people like me. Really? If I was 13 or 14 years old, I feel like I'd be fine back here. So it's good for families, but me back here for a long time, like my knees are hitting the seat. How do you feel? Yeah, I'm a little bit smaller as well, and I am currently feeling a little bit cramped. If you have a family dog, small children that don't need a car seat, this would be amazing for them. But no, not for, not for full grown people. The top models do come with the captain chairs in the front, so there's no middle here, which would give you a little more space, but this one being the bench, it's like right up to my knees. The other thing I love about back here is there's a ton of USBs, like there's USBs in each door. There's a lot of USBs in the front, so your family can charge your devices. Even back here, there's a USB for each of your passengers in the back. And we have our temperature controls, so your passengers can control the temperature right back here if they want to be in control of the heating. Exactly. However, if you do have older model devices that do not have these Seaport plugins, you're kind of out of luck with that. Yeah, it's a USB-C, so if you use those USBs, yeah, you might need an adapter. All right, now if you do want to escape, there is that button right there, so it's a little easier for the passengers to get out, and we're good to go. Or a great way for your younger siblings to torment your older ones. So before we unlock the inside of this thing and check out the inside, this is the reminder for y'all to subscribe, so if you're new to the channel, hit that subscribe button. If you're returning, we appreciate you. Give us a thumbs up. Special thanks to our friends at Cardinal Kia for letting us show you this Kia EV9. They're your go-to in the Niagara region for anything Kia related. We're going to link them in the description below their website if you guys need to contact them. Now, your key fob is the master key of your Kia EV9. Right up here, you have your lock button, your unlock button. It takes two clicks to make the mirrors and the door handles come out. And of course, press and hold for your panic button, press and hold for your trunk. And then on the other side, you press and hold for your remote start, and press and hold for your front. There you go. Can't even tell it started. How do you feel comfort-wise? Like, I feel the seat is nice and large and comfortable. It is like a hug from a car seat, and I'm loving the soft leather feel. And of course, driving this car is very, very smooth. You have really nice suspension, quite a comfortable car. You have tons of leg room up in front for your passengers, and of course, your levers for adjusting. Yeah, there's a full gap in between here. Obviously, we got your purse here, but it's a perfect little purse pocket. The other cool thing, there is two sunroofs as well. So you have one all the way to the back, and then this one is going to open up to the environment, and there's ventilation all in the back. So lots of airflow, like I definitely feel the air coming on very quickly. Feels like a very open car, like I don't feel like I'm just traveling in a tin can. That's the thing. It doesn't feel like a Kia, right? Yeah, exactly. In terms of the second row, would you prefer the middle bench or the captain chairs? I would definitely prefer the captain chairs. It does take away a seat if it doesn't have a third one in the very back bench, but it allows for a lot more leg room, and it just keeps all of your passengers nice and comfortable. Your digital cluster, would you prefer this to be digital, or would you prefer this to be analog, your speedometer and tachometer? I would honestly prefer it to be analog. So much can go wrong with the screens. I'm still having a little bit of trouble trusting it all, and I've seen way too many instances of it glitching, of it getting bonked the wrong way and getting broken, so I would definitely just prefer the analog, so I know it'll work all the time whenever I need it to. To access your charger, there's a little button there. It is power, so that's good, and you just plug in and you're good to go. The other thing about the charging, like even if you need to charge it, if you're at a level three fast charger, Kia advertises that it will charge to full in 25 minutes if you're at a fast charger. On the wheel, we have paddle shifters as well. They went with, like this is the shifter here, so it's a little different. We have our start button right on the shifter, and then this is kind of our park neutral. You can see I can put it in park, and I can turn the car on and off with the little button there, and then just toggle it to put it in drive or reverse. There's also Bluetooth controls right on the wheel. We do have all of our lane keeping controls, so it has the intelligent cruise control. It'll keep you a safe distance from the car in front of you, and let's toggle through this screen a little bit here. You can see all different things in terms of your range, your digital speedometer, speed sign detection as well right on the wheel. There's all of our charging, so a lot to love in this car. One of my favorite features that I love, Kia, have you ever been going through these screens? We get comments on the channel all the time, how to do this, how to do that. The cool thing is in this car, you can just search the setup or the thing you want to do, so if you want to search like lift gate or whatever you want, it's going to search here for you, and I spelt it wrong, and it will pull up whatever setting you're looking for. You can see here, these are all my power lift gate settings, and I can set everything up, and I can just quickly search for a feature instead of having to go through the settings and find everything. Now while normally the higher models of the EV9 do come with the full bird's eye view of the car, with this one, the Land only has the front and back cameras. The other good thing about the safety for your family, there's all different drive modes. There's a sport mode, there's a normal mode, there's an economy mode, if you do have that range anxiety or your battery's deteriorating, you can use the eco mode, and then there's a few different terrain modes, so there's a snow mode, there's a mud mode, and a sand mode if you're on the beach or on a dirt road, you can use the sand mode, so a lot of different things to love here, my friend. Thanks for coming along with us while we showed you the ins and outs of the Kia EV9. As always, folks, if you're new to the channel, be sure to hit that subscribe button, put all your questions in the comments below, special thanks to Cardinal Kia for giving us the EV9 to test drive, and as always, if you guys want to see more of Kira, check out her socials. You can find me on Instagram through my modeling page, kira.whitehouse, or my podcast at Sip and Spill Podcast. Kira, this is your first time in the Kiwi EV9, now, what did I say? Kiwi. Here we go.