Comparison test: Kia EV9 wins German debut

A German car magazine compares three premium SUVs, with surprising results: Neither Mercedes nor Audi wins – Kia is ahead.

Cologne/Munich – The global car market is more competitive than ever and German premium car manufacturers are facing fierce global competition that is shaking their dominance. The current comparative test shows that the technological leadership of domestic car companies can no longer be taken for granted.

In the high-end SUV segment, there has been a model available for purchase since 2023 which, on the one hand, has won prestigious awards and, on the other hand, has also received many approvals from professional journalists in terms of utility value and price-performance ratio: Kia EV9. Even the important media from the car mecca Germany shows a more positive response.

Kia wins against Mercedes and Audi in the SUV comparison

The crossover from the brand, which together with Hyundai is one of the largest car companies in the world, beat two German competitors in a comparison test by a German business magazine. In the 8/2024 issue of Auto Zeitung There is a comparison of the Kia EV9 with an electric SUV Mercedes EQS SUV und Audi Q8 e-tron. Surprisingly, it is not the representative of Germany who is ahead in the overall rankings.

Neither the luxury SUV from Mercedes-Benz nor the powerful Audi Q8 e-tron can win points in various categories. The fact that the Kia EV9 finally has the upper hand is not only because the Kia SUV costs thousands of euros less.

In particular, the SUV comparison compares all-wheel drive versions:

• EV9 AWD
• Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV 450 4Matic
• Audi Q8 55 e-tron Quattro

The Kia EV9 beats the German competition in terms of space and charging technology

The three test candidates are about five meters tall. When it comes to trunk volume, Kia has the most capacity: with the seats down, seven seats offer a maximum volume of 2318 liters. That’s more than the competition and emphasizes its suitability as a family car. Years ago, Kia was able to compete with well-known car manufacturers in countries like Germany, mainly due to its pricing policy. A trade journal comparison makes it clear that these times are over. The electric drive of three types of SUV is used as an example:

The electric Audi Q8 leads the field with 300 kW (408 hp), followed by the Kia with 283 kW (385 hp) and the Mercedes with 265 kW (360 hp). The latter has the largest storage unit with 118 kWh, followed by Audi with 106 kWh and Kia with only 96 kWh. Surprisingly, despite its size, the Mercedes EQS SUV used the least electricity in the test (26.4 kWh per 100 km), followed by the Kia with 28.7 kWh, while the Audi needed more than 30 kWh. In terms of power output, all three crossovers are rated at 170 kW (Audi) to 210 kW (Kia).

Gate Electric car– Habari.net points out that the Kia EV9’s innovative 800-volt technology probably offers the highest charging average of its three rivals. The test meanwhile praised the braking behavior of the three cars, even though they all weigh more than 2.5 tonnes.

SUV test: Kia beats Mercedes in price-performance ratio

Further evidence that Kia is not only popular because of its allegedly low price: in the “body” and “driving dynamics” sections, the South Korean model does better, while the Mercedes SUV does better in “Body” and ” Driving Dynamics”. ” the “Engine/transmission” and “driving comfort” sections light up. It is worth noting that Audi does not win a single category in the SUV comparison in the overall ranking, the Ingolstadt company comes in last place with the Q8 e-tron. This will also be the case if you leave the price category.

The EV9 from Kia has won this mark by a long way and in the end even surpassed Mercedes: Because the Stuttgart company charges more than 138,000 euros for the EQS in the test and the “only” Kia crossover costs more than 82,000 euros, it wins. The foreigner still finds Mercedes in comparison to the German SUV. Audi (price below 94,500 euros) finally ends up in third place with 3233 points out of 5000, while Mercedes at least gets second place with 3317 points. So the victory goes to Korea because the Kia EV9 collected a total of 3353 points.

How does a trade journal rate results? Kia’s victory is a mixture of surprise and well-deserved success and it depends on the volume Auto Zeitung on the best price performance ratio. Mercedes is also convincing, but very expensive: for an additional payment of 56,000 euros, customers receive “the best electric car”. Audi, which was strengthened at the end of 2022, has caught up, but cannot match the two competitors.

SUV comparison: “Mercedes is in a completely different league internally than Kia”.

Users on the Internet rate the results of the comparison test as follows: