Design driven: Hyundai Ioniq 9

When Car Design News drove the Ioniq 5 N a while back it was the immense, borderline uncomfortable speed that caught our eyes (or more accurately, mashed them back into our sockets).

The Ioniq 9 is by no means as fast but when viewed in terms of sheer size and comfort, it is equally potent. Indeed, at 5,060mm long and 1,980mm wide this electric full-size SUV is substantial, just a touch smaller than a BMW X7 on both counts. It is only slightly lower to the ground too (1,790mm tall) but the design team has been able to mask its proportions somewhat. With a relatively short bonnet and minimal front overhang, teamed with an expansive streamliner roofline and stout, muscular rear, it cuts something of a unique figure that requires a double take. Is this a new, supersized estate car? A minivan? Some form of land yacht?

Viewed from the turret of our hotel room in Eastern France, it looks entirely unrelated to its other SUV neighbours. Rather than cutting through school run traffic, the Ioniq 9 is designed to cut through the air with extreme efficiency — all while carrying up to seven passengers in plush comfort of course. On CDN's journey, it has the task of transporting one weary journalist, a holdall, and a six-pack of French beer holstered safely on one of the rear seats. Not quite the customer brief presented to design bosses in Namyang, we are sure. 

'Our' test model came in a fetching Almost-British-Racing-Green metallic paint, which felt fitting upon arriving at our destination in leafy England some time later. Viewed front on, the face is defined mainly by a large gloss black section that separates the lower mask and main headlamps. Vertical fog lamps flank either side of the bumper, of course sporting the pixel design that is mirrored in the main horizontal bar. This writer has been somewhat critical of horizontal lightbars, but this bucks the trend as it is fairly chunky and split into three sections, with defined corners that create the 'eyes' of the car. For such an aero-focussed car, this is quite an upright, square-jawed front end. 

The blend of sharp angles, smooth surfaces and pixel lighting seems to pull together elements of the Ioniq 5 and 6. The upward cut in the rear window is paired with more gentle surfacing below on the rear quarter panel, for example. 

At the rear, pixel lighting is celebrated in an archway that wraps around the rear hatch and also at the centre of the bumper. The Ioniq 9 branding is substantial but does not look quite as loud in person. Anecdotally, the design of the rear seemed to split opinion. The multispoke wheels have grown on us, but the chunkier five-spoke set-up seems more fitting. 

Large, proper door mirrors present a clear picture of the road behind and instil confidence when making lane switches or reversing its substantial frame into tight spots. Although the overhead camera view and array of sensors do much of the heavy lifting in the latter scenario. 

Moving inside, the cabin is vast and does a good job of creating the ‘third living space’ feel. This was handy at various points in our journey, weirdly not during the day-long road trip, but about 15 minutes from home. Using a slower charger, which did drag on somewhat, we flattened the seats to create a kingsize bed, room enough to chill out with our dog quite comfortably. The panoramic sunroof was also particularly welcome while waiting to board the shuttle. That reminds me: Hey Siri, play “ASMR Rain on Ioniq 9 Roof.” 

Storage is plentiful and often cavernous throughout the interior. The centre console is particularly useful and housing all manner of refreshments and snacks. But there is still plenty of open space, and the front of the cabin is designed to allow the driver to slide across if they need to access through the passenger side door. The crushed velvet-style finish on the IP was not to this writer's taste — a little too 'Live, Laugh Love' — but does not necessarily clash with the rest of the finishing. 

The main display through which many vehicle, comfort and entertainment controls are located is responsive and well organised. A strong anchor point helps to steady the hand while navigating menus, and buttons mounted on the steering wheel make light work of disabling intrusive driver assistance functions. The head-up display (HUD) remains one of the more useful additions to vehicle UX, and in the Ioniq 9 was empowering when travelling at higher speeds on German A-roads. 

The adaptive cruise control is a real issue, however. Even at its most tailgaity setting, the system seems to flinch at the mere whisper of a car in the distance. In all seriousness, this began to feel quite dangerous at times, the brakes stabbing on unexpectedly and often during the process of overtaking said car-in-distance. It does not need to be explained that braking into the fast lane on German roads is a bad idea. We turned it off unless roads were completely clear. 

The main goal of this car is not exactly clear. That's not a criticism; it seems to do a range of jobs really quite well

In terms of driving dynamics, the car is stable and quiet, with an impressive absence of wind noise. The powertrain gets you up to speed quickly enough but does not have the neck-snapping acceleration of other EVs. Read this slowly: that is a good thing. Particularly for passengers. It is not slow though and will still worry other sporty SUVs. As much as the Ioniq 9 did well in Europe, it does feel a little unwieldly on narrower UK roads at times — and this is coming from someone that drives a full-size SUV daily. 

Super fast charging courtesy of an 800V architecture brings the car much closer to the "splash and dash" experience of which ICE drivers are familiar. 

This is the closest we have come to beating range anxiety over a long trip, but that is mostly down to the extensive and excellently maintained network of chargers across Europe. Not once was a station out of use, blocked or slower than advertised. The car must also take some credit: its 110.3 kWh battery offers up to 385 miles based on the WLTP figures, while a 10 to 80% recharge can be done in 24 minutes at a 350 kW DC ultra-fast charger. (It will cost you, though.)  

The main goal of a car like this is not exactly clear. That is not a criticism, but more that it seems to do a range of jobs really quite adeptly. Family hauler; long distance cruiser; wedding car park poser; airport dasher. All handled with aplomb. From this very specific experience, it does seem more like a super-sized grand tourer than an SUV, capable of eating up the miles and using a squirt of power to hit decent speeds for a couple of hours at a time. 

At the time of writing, the Ioniq 9 retails for £63,495 in the UK, with a special deal of £599 +VAT (£718) per month. Reasonable competitors at either end of the price range could include the top end Skoda Enyaq in VRS form (£51,960) a bit smaller than the Ioniq 9; or the Volvo EX90 (£82,660), which is about the same size but in a more conventional SUV silhouette. 

Next up for Hyundai is the production version of the Concept 3 'aero hatch', which will nicely round out the deliberately-varied Ioniq line-up. Like the Ioniq 9, it will be a very different shape and footprint to the rest of the bunch, all part of the brand's 'chess piece' strategy. Devised several years back now, this envisioned a broad range of vehicles based on a similar platform. In his most recent Car Design Review profile, Simon Loasby put it this way: "We don’t make big and small versions of the same thing." Can't argue with that.