There is a lot of choice with the Ioniq 9, with some versions having more power, all-wheel drive or a longer range.Mark Richardson/The Globe and Mail
Near the end of a 3,000-kilometre road trip in the Hyundai Ioniq 9, I met a woman driving a 2015 Nissan Leaf. Both our rides were entirely electric and the big Hyundai was considerably more technologically advanced than the older Nissan, but she had no desire to swap vehicles.
“We need to have a mindset that’s more about what we need, not just about what we want and can do,” said Shelley Serebrin, driving home from southern Ontario to Nanaimo, B.C. “We’ve got to live more harmoniously and together with nature – it’s for our own good.”
“But this Ioniq has a massaging seat for the driver,” I retorted.
She just smiled. “It feeds into our excessiveness,” she said. “Sorry, but no.”
Nissan Leaf owner Shelley Serebrin makes a stop while driving home from southern Ontario to Nanaimo, B.C.Mark Richardson/The Globe and Mail
This wasn’t a surprise. Her politics were announced on her Leaf’s Green Party bumper stickers, and she was totally correct. It was just me and my buddy Neil in the massive SUV and we had plenty of choice for seating with space left over.
All-electric vehicles still have a long way to go in rural Canada
Despite the size – the Ioniq 9 has the longest wheelbase of any production Hyundai at more than three metres – the Hyundai could always travel more than 500 kilometres on a single charge, which was enough to cope with the few public chargers in the remote Ontario woods we’d been visiting north of Nipigon and Geraldton. We drove as far as Nakina, so I could do research for a book I’m writing about the area.
The Ioniq 9 has a range of more than 500 kilometres, which is about 50 more than its Kia EV9 cousin.Mark Richardson/The Globe and Mail
It’s equipped with a NACS charge port, which means we could recharge at most Tesla Supercharger stations as well as at CCS chargers, and that made all the difference to our peace of mind. I wanted a vehicle with a significant driving range to avoid being stranded in the wilderness. (I’ll write separately in Globe Drive about the various real-world charging experiences we encountered.)
The test car was the most expensive and luxurious Ioniq 9 available: the Preferred AWD+ edition, which costs almost $84,000 before taxes. That’s a lot for a Hyundai, and it’s several thousand dollars pricier than the most expensive Kia EV9, with which it shares a platform. The battery is larger though, providing about 50 kilometres more range.
Hyundai offers a number of choices to better tailor the power and demands of the Ioniq 9 to what you actually need. All share the same 110.3 kilowatt-hour battery, but the base $60,000 edition is a rear-wheel-drive SUV with only a 160-kilowatt electric motor on the back axle. Spend an extra $5,000 and you can have all-wheel drive, with a choice of either a 70-kilowatt motor or a 160-kilowatt motor on the front axle, for the exact same money. Both of those will tow 5,000 pounds, though the smaller front motor will provide more range.
The Ioniq 9 is equipped with a NACS charge port, which means we could recharge at most Tesla Supercharger stations as well as at CCS chargers.Mark Richardson/The Globe and Mail
To make up for the smaller motor, that edition offers more standard equipment, such as a heated steering wheel and drive modes for mud and snow, but all those extra features are available with the two more costly Luxury packages.
The fully loaded test car added more comfortable seating in the second row, with reclining captain’s chairs for two people instead of a three-person bench, though they did not recline so fully as those in the front row.
I could even move the SUV into a parking space from outside using the key fob, though most people in North America will never need this. The head-up display was colourful and useful, and almost invisible through my polarized sunglasses.
The available technology was mind-blowing, but not without a learning curve and the occasional glitch. For example, I set the cruise control to constantly keep the car at 10 kilometres an hour above the posted speed limit – such a rebel – but the test car would only adjust its speed to do this when the limit was 70 kilometres an hour and faster, not reacting to slower limits, which made the feature effectively useless whenever we entered a town and needed to slow down from highway speeds.
The Ioniq 9 has an advanced Level 2 autonomous system, which allowed Mark Richardson to drive about six minutes at a time without having to touch the wheel.Mark Richardson/The Globe and Mail
The additional space and capacity of the Ioniq 9 may well be wanted by many owners who need to shuttle around up to seven people, or fit plenty of cargo into the vehicle. It can hold 2,462 litres of luggage with all the seats folded flat and, when they’re upright, the third row with its flat floor is not uncomfortable for two adults. A frunk under the hood holds at least an extra 52 litres, which is useful for carrying cables and adapters.
However, I think it was this luxurious and high-performing version that Shelley most objected to. You may well appreciate the all-wheel drive, and especially if you live in those remote northern woods, but do you really need the extra performance of the larger motor? Do you really need to accelerate from zero to 100 kilometres an hour in just 5.2 seconds, or is 6.7 seconds enough with the longer range, or 9.4 seconds with the rear-wheel drive? Are those 21-inch wheels just for bragging rights?
These are existential questions, of course, and if you have the money and you’re not harming anyone, why not indulge in the luxury of leatherette seats and a suede headliner? Either way, Hyundai wants to offer you the choice, and you won’t even need to use a drop of gasoline to do so.
There is plenty of space in the rear seats of the Ioniq 9. The fully loaded test car added more comfortable seating in the second row, with reclining captain’s chairs for two people instead of a three-person bench.Mark Richardson/The Globe and Mail
Tech specs
2026 Hyundai Ioniq 9
Base price / As tested: $59,999 / $81,499, plus $2,037 for freight and pre-delivery inspection, plus fees and tax
Motor / battery:
- Long range RWD: 160 kilowatt / 110.3 kilowatt-hours
- Long range AWD: 70 kilowatt front, 160 kilowatt rear / 110.3 kilowatt-hours
- Performance AWD: 160 kilowatt front, 160 kilowatt rear / 110.3 kilowatt-hours
Horsepower / torque (lb-ft):
- Long range RWD: 215 / 258
- Long range AWD: 303 / 446
- Performance AWD: 422 / 516
Drive: RWD and AWD
Power consumption (NRCan ratings, kilowatt-hours/100 kilometres): 17.0-21.2 (claimed) / 21.9 observed
Charging capacity: 800-volt, 350-kilowatt
Curb weight: 2,505 – 2,680 kilograms
Range (claimed and observed): 500-529 kilometres
Alternatives: Kia EV9, Tesla Model Y L, Volkswagen Buzz, Volvo EX90, VinFast VF 9
The Ioniq 9 has 2,462 litres of space with all the seats folded flat.Mark Richardson/The Globe and Mail