America’s love affair with big three-row SUVs is nothing new. What’s less appreciated is how well electrification fits that formula. Ditch the traditional engine, transmission tunnel, or driveshaft, and space can be used for what you really want—for your family, your pet and every piece of luggage they might insist on bringing.
The Hyundai Ioniq 9 leans hard into that advantage. Built on Hyundai’s Electric-Global Modular Platform (E-GMP), its flat floor and six- or seven-seat layouts make it a proper lounge on wheels. The numbers back it up, too: Its 123.2-inch wheelbase is longer than the current-gen gas Palisade (114.2 inches) and even longer than the Cadillac Escalade (121.0 inches).
Gallery: 2026 Hyundai Ioniq 9
Roadtripping in it is absurdly easy. It gets access to the Tesla Supercharger network, the country’s largest and most reliable charging system. Add in a smooth, quiet ride, Bose surround audio and a cavernous interior festooned with tech and you’ve got an EV that feels purposely built to keep you happy and comfortable on most roads.
So, if anyone is still telling you that gas SUVs are better roadtrippers for your family, you’re being lied to. The Ioniq 9 is here and it makes that case better than few other cars out there. We’ve already done a full review—which you can read here—but to learn more about its long-distance strengths, continue reading.
[Full Disclosure: Hyundai loaned me an Ioniq 9 for one week in Brooklyn. It arrived fully charged, and I returned it likewise.]
As a bachelor living in New York City, I didn’t exactly put the Ioniq 9 through a family or soccer mom test. But I did the next best thing: I took three of my friends and drove upstate New York. I’ve never seen them as relaxed or as excited in any other press car I’ve brought home.
These are powertrain-agnostic, non-car people who care about one thing: getting from point A to point B. Yet a few things had them grinning the entire trip: the buttery ride quality, the plush second-row captain’s chairs, the smooth electric powertrain and the Bose speakers turning the cabin into a concert hall on wheels.
The creature comforts are truly great, but they don’t mean much if the EV underneath isn’t sorted. Luckily, the Ioniq 9 nails the basics. So, let’s start with those first.
Range And Charging
The Ioniq 9 gets two things very right: range and charging speeds.
About 200 miles into my drive to upstate New York, I wasn’t even worried about plugging in. Interstate 87 has a decent frequency of Tesla Superchargers and the Ioniq 9 is equipped with a factory-fitted North American Charging Standard (NACS) port, opening up access to 20,000+ Superchargers nationwide.
Under the skin, the Ioniq 9 shares its platform with its corporate cousin, the Kia EV9. But Hyundai has given it a bigger 110-kilowatt-hour battery, compared to Kia’s 99.8 kWh pack. That extra capacity translates into 300 miles of EPA-rated range on every trim—the base S stretches to 335 miles, the SE and SEL hit 320 miles, while the Limited (my test car) and Calligraphy are rated at 311 miles.
Its 800-volt architecture helps it charge from 10% to 80% in about 24 minutes on a 350-kilowatt DC fast charger—that’s plenty quick given the SUV’s large 110 kWh battery pack. Most new public fast-charging stations can deliver that much power, including Electrify America, EVGo, ChargePoint Express Plus and even Ionna.
During my week-long testing, I stuck to Tesla Superchargers simply because they were easier to find and use with the Tesla app.
While the majority of Superchargers are still capped at 250 kW, the new V4 units can hit 325 kW. The Ioniq 9 went from 30% to 80% in 25 minutes using one of these stalls. The charging speed was slower than what I expected, topping out at 126 kW, but it held that speed even past 70% percent before tapering near 80%—which is a pretty flat charging curve that helps you save time.
Utility Mode Rocks
Hyundai's newer EVs come with Utility Mode that taps the main high-voltage battery to run the infotainment, climate control, cabin lights, or even external appliances. The feature isn’t unique to Hyundai—Tesla and Rivian have been offering it for years, but it’s a great thing that more cars are coming with it as standard.
Turning it on from the infotainment screen shuts the drive unit down while everything else keeps humming—which is useful if you’re parked for hours or camping. In gas cars, if you kill the engine, you’re stuck with the small 12-volt battery, which will drain fast and might even die.
Dropping the second and third rows opens up 86.9 cubic feet of space, more than enough to toss in an air mattress or a surfboard (or both). Drive it to a campsite and you’ve got a panoramic roof for stargazing.
I used it for something far less romantic: I used it as my office for half a day during a 98-degree Fahrenheit heatwave (felt like 104°F with humidity). It sipped just 2% of the battery during that time—the Ioniq 9’s 110 kWh battery is larger than average packs.
It also gets vehicle-to-load (V2L) capability, with a built-in 15 amp, 125 volt outlet in the trunk plus a 12 volt socket. That means you can power a coffee machine, induction stove, or whatever gear you throw in the back—all using battery power.
About Those Seats
The seats give the Ioniq 9 a lot of personality. The S, SE, and SEL trims come with a second-row bench, giving the Ioniq 9 a seven-seat layout. Step up to the Limited or Calligraphy trims and you get captain’s chairs. If you’re not regularly hauling more than six people, they’re absolutely worth it.
The sweet spot is the right-side captain’s chair behind the front passenger seat. With a set of buttons on the front seat backrest, you can slide that seat fully forward, opening up limo-like space in the second row. The captain’s chairs are kitted out with armrests, powered leg rests, and heated and ventilated cushions. They also get almost pillow-like headrests with side support.
Up front, both seats offer eight-way power adjustment with lumbar support, which goes a long way toward keeping posture in check on longer drives. And if you slide the second row just a touch, the third row opens up into legitimately usable space.
It doesn’t feel cramped, and Hyundai didn’t skimp on the details back there either: dedicated AC vents, powered recline, bottle holders, dome lights and dual 100-watt USB-C ports.
Because it has a flat floor and nothing obstructing lateral movement, moving around in the second and third rows is easy, especially if you’re petite like me.
Small Details Make Big A Difference
In big cars, the little things matter the most. I’m not convinced every automaker gets that.
The Volkswagen ID. Buzz, for all its charm as a people-mover, skips bottle holders for the second row. Owners can buy a second-row center console, but it’s more of a general storage rack than a true cupholder setup. The Ioniq 9 gets 11 bottle holders: four in the first row, four in the second row and three in the third row.
It also gets a highly modular center console which slides all the way forward, or halfway back—about 7.5 inches—extending the access to both first and second-row passengers. Because there is no transmission tunnel running through the middle of the car, Hyundai has used that space smartly.
The console has a wide armrest that can open from both ends, has generous storage capacity, two large bottle holders, a wireless charging pad and climate settings for the second and third row passengers. That's a lot of functionality packed into a small, movable unit.
Plush Ride Quality
Despite weighing 6,000 pounds, the Ioniq 9 is surprisingly effortless to drive. Light steering, large side mirrors and a 360-degree camera make threading it through narrow streets far less intimidating than its size suggests.
The ride quality is where it really shines. The suspension absorbs road imperfections with poise, eagerly swallowing everything from small bumps to big potholes. There’s some inevitable lateral movement with an SUV this large. It dives a bit under braking and squats on acceleration, but none of that makes you feel unsettled. The dampers do a commendable job of keeping it all under control.
Hyundai credits that composure to self-leveling dampers and hydro bushings. The self-leveling dampers maintain the correct ride height regardless of the load, while the hydro bushings absorb vibrations more effectively than solid rubber. They’re basically fluid-filled mounts between the suspension and chassis.
Together, they give the Ioniq 9 an almost luxury-car-like ride, making smaller imperfections far less bothersome.
And Hyundai has gone to great lengths to keep the outside world, well, outside. The Ioniq 9 rides on 21-inch Hankook Ion Evo SUV tires (285/45), each wearing a big “EV Soundabsorber” badge. Hankook has a whole breakdown of the technology behind the tires. In simple terms though, there’s foam lining the inner walls and a series of tread and groove designs aimed at killing road noise. After a week behind the wheel, it’s hard to argue—it just works.
Add to that acoustic glass, triple door seals and active noise cancellation and the cabin feels genuinely quiet. Enough that even at 70 miles per hour, you won’t have to raise your voice to talk to the third-row passenger.
It’s Halfway Software-Defined
Hyundai’s software game isn’t at Tesla or Rivian levels yet, but the Ioniq 9 makes it clear the automaker is stepping up.
The 12.3-inch central infotainment screen felt responsive, though not as snappy as a Model Y. But it displays EV-specific data in great detail, better than probably most other automakers.
You get battery health monitoring, efficiency history and a breakdown of energy use split between the drivetrain, electronics, climate control and battery care. It even shows, in real time, how many kilowatts each system is drawing, which can help if you’re obsessive about efficiency like I am.
Hyundai is also improving the software in small ways. One example is that you can electrically fold or raise the second and third-row seats straight from the screen. It sounds minor, but it requires tight software-hardware integration. If someone is trying to load a large item in the back and you need to drop the seats without leaving the driver’s seat, this feature will come in surprisingly handy.
And unlike General Motors, Hyundai isn’t ditching wireless Apple CarPlay or Android Auto anytime soon. Despite the tech-heavy cabin, manual buttons and knobs are still plenty. Key functions, including drive and terrain modes, volume, and climate controls, still get proper physical buttons and dials. Again, a small thing, but it makes a big difference in keeping your eyes on the road instead of buried in menus.
Granted, none of this comes cheap. My press loaner carried a sticker of $71,250, which could be a dealbreaker for plenty of buyers. The base S trim costs $59,000. With the $7,500 federal tax credit, that starts to look like a more reasonable proposition.
Hyundai is also sweetening the deal until Sept. 30, when the federal tax credits expire. It’s offering $5,000 cash discounts across all trims on purchase. And lease options starting at $419 per month for 36 months with $4,999 due at signing. That’s not a bargain by any measure, either, but it does let you skip the steep purchase price and still land one of the best three-row electric SUVs on sale right now.
However, the price isn’t the Ioniq 9’s strength. I don’t think Hyundai intends it to be that way either. The Ioniq 9 feels more like a blueprint. It’s proof of how much capability you can pack into a three-row electric SUV without mechanical or design compromises. It’s proof that electrification is the way to go for family SUVs.
Remember that this blueprint will only get better as battery tech evolves and costs come down. So, this is just the beginning and the Ioniq 9 is easily one of the most convincing three-row electric SUVs yet.
Have a tip? Contact the author: suvrat.kothari@insideevs.com
