A Three-Row Family Hauler With the Legs of a Stretch Limo

DAN NEIL

2026 HYUNDAI IONIQ 9 PERFORMANCE CALLIGRAPHY

UPON SEEING the all-electric Hyundai Ioniq 9 SUV for the first time you cannot help but register its visual mass—a monolithic embiggenment brought about by the body-colored spats in the wheel wells; the blownglass curvatures of the hood, grille and rear hatch; the reduction of the beltline (lower) and shoulder line (upper) to mere graphics; the high sill under the side windows; and the tiny outside rearview mirrors.

We can assume the effect was deliberate.

The girthy tumescence on the outside thus conveys the Jonah-and-the-whale roominess inside, enclosing 163.4 cubic feet of passenger volume. Built on Hyundai Motor Group’s flexible EV architecture, the Ioniq 9 has the longest wheelbase (123.2 inches) of any of its platform siblings. Most of this dimensional treasure has been spent on the middlerow seats, allowing the three-row family hauler to claim best-in-class legroom and headroom.

In aspect and dimension, Hyundai’s new EV flagship is very much an East-meets-West affair. The Hyundai Motor Group—now the fourth largest in the U.S. in terms of volume—is also a player in the status van segment in the Asian Pacific, including Japan and China.

These tastes inform the Ioniq 9’s design, specifically in its focus on the mid-cabin lifestyle. Please note the second- row door shutlines. The Ioniq 9 is Johnny Longdoor.

Ease-of-access through the side doors is not everything but—as a parent who had to stuff child-safety seats the size of theater recliners through a door hole— it’s something. The optimum solution is minivan-like sliding side doors. The Ioniq 9’s generous door openings and swing angle of almost 90 degrees constitute the next best thing.

These doors open onto a large, airy and curiously vacant space, a faux-leather padded cell with a view. This seemingly unusable space makes sense when you recline the push-button climate- controlled captain’s chairs and deploy the power footrests. You up there!

Smell my feet!

If the Ioniq 9’s visual mass doesn’t get your attention, the Newtonian kind certainly will.

Our dual-motor Calligraphy tipped the scales at 6,008 pounds, with the 110-kWh battery pack accounting for roughly one quarter of the curb weight, by my estimate.

The base model, with a single 160kW rear motor (215 hp), is rated at 335 miles of range.

The Calligraphy—with dual motor AWD (422 hp and 516 lb-ft.); larger and more luscious wheels and tires; and lengthier equipment list—can only manage 311 miles of range, officially.

Range is less of an issue since Hyundai adopted the North American Charging Standard port, which allows Hyundai owners access to Tesla’s ubiquitous Supercharger stations. However, if they’re in a hurry, they may want to skip it. The 610V battery system will actually charge faster at a 350kW DC direct charger (10-80% capacity in 24 minutes) than at a Tesla V3 Supercharger (40 minutes).

Charging in the wild would be atypical, anyway. These vehicles will sleep in suburban garages and driveways, enjoying the luxury of home charging. Unless Mom is some sort of organ-transplant courier, the Ioniq 9’s range is more than sufficient.

One of the valid objections to EVs is that, because of their weight, they consume tires more quickly than ICE vehicles. This in turn produces excess particulate pollution as the rubber is atomized into the atmosphere.

We are united in our concern over the relationship between vehicle mass and particulate pollution. I know a few hundred thousand diesel pickups that need talking to.

I would only note that the trend lines in battery technology— lighter, smaller, more energy dense by weight and volume—are all quite favorable. A half decade from now, successors to the Ioniq 9 will weigh less, not more, than the ICE equivalents.

The Ioniq 9 door handles— flush-mounted, power-assisted— feel hefty and well anchored. Consumers hate a weak handshake. The triple--sealing door gaskets shut with a gratifying whuump— all except the power rear hatch, which closes with the soft whine of a stepper motor.

As is the case with most EVs, the absence of a gaspowered engine required extra effort to quell noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) that would otherwise step forward. The Ioniq 9’s NVH team crushed it, building in fullspectrum cabin refinement.

The ioniq 9 has a tall saddle. Once seated in the cushy leatherette-upholstered driver’s chair, you’ll have a look around. Where’d they put it? The Start button is on the gear selector, behind and to the lower right of the steering wheel. The selector itself toggles between Forward and Reverse.

The Park button is at the end of the wand. Paddle shifters behind said steering wheel adjust regenerative braking thresholds, from low to high. I found myself using the paddle shifters to adjust the regenerative braking threshold to get to onepedal driving mode. Most drivers probably won’t.

Floating just below the dash horizon, two 12.3-inch LCD screens abut to form the dramatic widescreen display, segregating driver’s information on the left from the touch screen on the right.

The embedded IT is reasonably current, lag-free and autodidactic, with a series of swipeable pages and tappable icons to access preferences and system settings.

From there your eyes will likely fix on the marbleized gray trim fascia in the dash. Do we love that? No, we do not.

Keep your head on a swivel. The Ioniq 9 is not especially long—199.2 inches, nose to tail—but its 123.2inch wheelbase means it’s a bit slow to come about, with a yacht-like turning diameter of 41 feet. It could use a bow thruster.

On open roads it gets smaller. Outward sightlines are quite good. The big van’s body motions are pleasantly constrained by the roughly 1,500 pounds below the floorboards acting as a mass damper.

In Sport mode, the Ioniq 9 will quietly spill its guts to the maximum, summoning a stout 700 Nm (516 lb-ft) to the breach, giving the posh, soft van a swift kick in the ass. OK, that works. According to Hyundai, the AWD Performance versions clock a 0-60 mph pass in 4.9 seconds. Even in the default Normal mode, the van’s driving demeanor is plenty frisky, if any three tons can be considered so.

For as big as it is, the Ioniq 9’s charm often comes down to small, thoughtful touches. Like other models in the Hyundai Motor Group, the Ioniq 9 features a superconvenient sliding center console with a padded elbow/ arm rest. The forward section hosts the inductive charger, with pixel-like LEDs indicating its status; the terrain and drive mode selector switches; and the fingerprint reader, which allows owners to bio-lock their vehicles.

All that charm adds up, though: $79,540, as tested.

Assembled in the faraway land of Georgia, the Ioniq 9 uses domestically supplied batteries, so it doesn’t incur import tariffs. It also qualifies for the $7,500 federal EV tax credit now hanging by a thread in Congress.

I don’t see the price getting any smaller, anytime soon.

The spacious and long Ioniq 9 boasts best-inclass legroom and headroom.