New Kia EV9 benchmarked against Volkswagen Touareg

The upcoming 2023 Kia EV9 will surpass even the Volkswagen Touareg when it comes to ride and handling, following a local chassis tuning program designed to tailor the all-new seven-seat electric SUV to Australia’s unique mix of roads, says Kia.

A team of Australian and Korean engineers spent weeks on Aussie roads developing a unique suspension tune for the big battery-powered SUV, in a bid to offer a point of difference from other large EVs – and justify its near-$100,000 starting price.

Recently completed ahead of the Kia EV9’s Australian release in October, the exercise marked Kia’s full return to Australian vehicle testing and development since roadblocks were imposed by COVID-19 pandemic.

As part of that process, Kia engineers benchmarked the award-winning, combustion-powered Volkswagen Touareg when developing the EV9’s local suspension and steering tune.

“The EV9 has had a pretty exhaustive program – it’s quite different in terms of [its Australian] tune compared to other markets. It’s quite unique and we reckon it’s pretty good,” Kia Australia’s chief ride and handling engineer Graeme Gambold told carsales.

“The benchmark competitor was an entrant that was smaller, but actually felt bigger than the EV9. It was the Volkswagen Touareg.”

Asked specifically why the Touareg was benchmarked even though it’s not an EV, Kia Australia product planning boss Roland Rivero explained it set a lofty target for large SUV performance on Australian roads.

“We’ve been able to get our hands on a whole host of competitors and some of them are on more sophisticated air suspension but felt as though they might have been targeting the North American market with that tune of suspension,” Rivero said.

“However, the Touareg felt right for our market and offered a really great suspension tune.”

Gambold added: “The Touareg is not an EV but it’s a big, heavy SUV. So that’s why we chose the Touareg – rather than drive nothing [else] and just evaluate the tune for what we feel.

“We had a couple of competitors but the Touareg was the one we felt was closest.”

Pre-production versions of the 2.6-tonne Kia EV9 presented mixed results when it came to ride and handling during our recent first drive in South Korea.

However, officials are adamant those teething issues have been addressed with production-spec Australian versions, which are said to be vastly different in their suspension and steering performance.

Kia says the EV9 will not only ferry seven passengers in comfort, but will boast a 2.5-tonne braked towing capacity in Australia.

“The EV9 is still quite unique. It drives nothing like an ICE [internal combustion engined] car and it has a big, heavy battery down low so it has the same drive dynamic as an EV6 with its low centre of gravity,” Gambold said.

“There’s a fair bit of mass to control on rough country Australian roads.”

The EV9 employs frequency selective damper technology first introduced on the smaller Kia EV6, as well as self-levelling rear suspension that offers a claimed 120kg worth of lifting force to “correct” the vehicle’s front/rear weight balance.

“The frequency-selective damper allows us to tighten up the body control without compromising the urban ride, so the dampers are much softer in town compared to bombing down a country lane,” Gambold said.

“The switch point is 8 hertz, so anything below 8 hertz the dampers are tight and anything above 8 hertz the dampers soften off. Hertz is measured by frequency changes – it’s a sophisticated system and it’s difficult to tune.

“The EV9 has a really confident and comfortable highway manner, and a relaxing touring tune. But then you get it on a winding road and it’s engaging.”

For everything you auto know about EVs, listen to carsales' Watts Under the Bonnet: the electric car podcast

Join the conversation at 

our Facebook page

Or email us at 

editor@carsales.com.au