Overview
EVERYTHING’S going up. Sticker shock for new cars is getting as overwhelming as the shock motorists are getting slapped with when refuelling at the bowser.
Despite a competitive new-car market, car prices are still moving up and brands are stretching out their model range from light cars through to SUVs and 4WDs.
Into this, Hyundai, once the maker of ‘cheap and cheerful’ cars, has launched its most expensive model – ever – and it’s neither a 4WD nor a luxury saloon. It’s a, umm, SUV. I think. Perhaps it’s a people mover.
Whatever, the Ioniq 9 is now the biggest electric model from Hyundai and also the most expensive with a Euro-beating $119,750 (plus costs) starter in its single-variant Calligraphy grade.
If you want the six-seat version – which inserts two swivelling captain seats in the second row instead of a bench – then add $2000 to that and if you want the digital (camera) side viewers (previously known as mirrors), add another $3000. That’s $124,750 plus on-road costs. In addition, any other paint colour (except white) will set you back up to $1000.
That’s the bad news out of the way because the rest of the big Ioniq 9 – the follow-up to the Ioniq 5, 5N, and 6 – is very impressive in its role at anything starting from a commuter to a long-distance tourer to a shopping trolley, big family bus and even a cargo hauler.
The Ioniq 9 has a five-star ANCAP rating with the main points being the 84 per cent adult occupant; 86 per cent child occupant; and 85 per cent for the safety assist category.
Included in its safety inventory are 10 airbags (including head airbags through to the third row); autonomous emergency braking (AEB) including bicycle, motorcycle, pedestrian and intersection monitor; adaptive cruise with stop and go; blind spot monitor with side cameras; rear cross-traffic alert; 36-degree cameras; lane keeping, assist and following; driver attention warning; road sign recognition; active pop-up bonnet (for pedestrian safety);
The view monitor side cameras, also fitted to some other Hyundai and Kia models, is a great safety feature that is triggered by the indicator switch and shows views to the rear down the side of the vehicle, picking up pedestrians, other vehicles and obstacles including curbs, low fences and walls.
There’s also connected car safety features including eCall. The car gets breakdown help thanks to the complimentary five-year Bluelink subscription.
It is very practical and really doesn’t become all things to all owners. Even moving from dropping kids off at school to taking the bicycles to a trail in the hills is as simple as opening the (electric) side doors or tailgate and loading.
So in effect, it’s more than one car. It will do the things most wagons, sedans, utes and vans can do, and probably add in some light off-road work thanks to its all-wheel drive layout.
As an EV it will steer clear of those nasty people bowsers and will go as far as 600km on a charge, says Hyundai, while cossetting occupants in Bose audio sound, on massaging and heated seats (front) and in relative silence because of clever acoustic glass, active noise cancelling, lots of sound deadening and all the inherent smoothness and hushed operation of the electric motors.
The Ioniq 9 has a five-year, unlimited warranty but if you keep the car serviced at a Hyundai dealer, that goes to seven years. The battery has an eight-year, 160,000km warranty.
Hyundai also offers roadside assistance for life, again if the car is serviced at Hyundai.
Ownership costs are also reduced as it gets a long service interval of 24 months or 30,000km (whichever comes first) which costs $668 for two years (one service) and $1361 for four years.
Driving Impressions
The Ioniq 9 is big, physically a large chamfered rectangle that shares some lines with the Santa Fe and Palisade, but has sufficient identity to make it stand out on the road.
Those dimensions – 5m long, 2m wide and 1.8m high – and the wide 12.5m turning circle require driver patience and acute selective powers to find a suitable parking bay, including your home garage.
You also need to become cognisant of narrow roads, congested traffic and narrow laneways.
The weight – a hefty 2744kg – also affects handling. While the ride is comfortable on smooth and straight roads, the Ioniq 9 isn’t a vehicle to be hustled through the bends.
It has plenty of grip but driver exuberance will induce body roll through the bends and possibly a few words of complaint from the occupants.
It also tends to ride firmly on irregular bitumen roads, but not to the point of being too uncomfortable.
In all other respects, the Ioniq 9 drives so smoothly and quietly that it’s got to be one of the most relaxed driver cars on the market.
The cabin is open, clean, bright (pastel colours everywhere) and has controls that are logical, well placed and thankfully minimal touchscreen commands, with Hyundai including manual buttons for high-frequency functions such as HVAC.
Like a loungeroom, the seating room is spacious and the driving position is excellent with a wide view through the glass that is enhanced by the 360-degree camera and side-view monitors.
I’m not overly sure about the rear-view ‘mirrors”. These digital cameras relay the background via wide monitors at the bottom of the windscreen pillars. It’s effective, clear and the image in poor light conditions is very good, but conventional mirrors are smaller, lighter, take up less space and lack complexity. And mirrors don’t add $3000 to the price of the car.
The Ioniq 9 carries over Hyundai’s wide-screen monitors, with two 12.3-inch glass screens side-by-side for driver (right) and infotainment (centre) functions. As mentioned, the high-frequency buttons are manual while diving into the screen will produce other controls.
Standard is a Bose audio with 14 speakers, with Apple Carplay (wireless) and Android Auto (wired) and Bluelink connected services access and over-the-air software updates. There’s also five USB fast-charge outlets and a wireless charging pad.
I’m not putting Bose down but the Ioniq 9’s sticker price could suggest that it has a more upmarket sound system, such as Harman Kardon or Bowers and Wilkins.
This is the first Hyundai model in Australia with ‘Digital Key 2’, a smartphone-operated system that can remotely access and switch on functions including door locks.
Getting all this around is a powerplant of two electric motors, each 157kW (so 314kW in total) with a meaty 700Nm that makes small work of the car’s near-2.8 tonnes.
Disregard the figures. On the road the Ioniq 9 shrugs off its mass by being very rapid, able to sprint to 100km/h from rest in a smart 5.2 seconds to reach a very smooth and almost imperceptible 100km/h cruising speed.
Hyundai claims 600km as a range (test was showing 582km) which is pretty pain free and makes for a decent trip. The 110kWh battery can charge from 10 per cent to 80 per cent in a claimed 24 minutes (350DC charger) or 49 minutes (50DC).
The electric boot lid opens for 338 litres of cargo (third seat up) or 908 litres (second row collapsed) to a total of 2410 litres with rows two and three down. There’s no spare wheel with Hyundai supplying a tyre repair kit.
Overall and given a deep wallet, the Ioniq 9 Calligraphy really is a good thing.