Solid Family EV - Gets the Big Things Right but Fumbles the Small Ones
The i9 nails the things that matter most for a family EV: space, comfort, ride quality, range and charging performance all deliver. The third row is usable by actual adults, the car drives and handles better than expected for a vehicle of this size. The controls are fairly straightforward, nothing feels too buried in menus or requires a manual to figure out. The charging speeds and range are as advertised.
The tech and convenience features, however, are rough around the edges. The system doesn't recognize which phone or digital key is approaching and load that person's profile automatically. In a household with multiple drivers, having to switch the profile gets old fast. The built in navigation system is a weak point, Hyundai should have licensed the Google Maps API rather than building their own Nav system. We use CarPlay pretty much 100% of the time, but if you are navigating to a charger via CarPlay rather than the native nav system, the battery won't precondition for fast charging along the way. The self presenting door handles are a miss too, and the lack of a walk away auto lock is an even bigger miss. You can't even hit the lock button from inside before stepping out, instead you're required to press the closed door handle to lock it. For a vehicle at this price point, it's a strange omission. There is no pet mode built-in, another major oversight and one that seems easy to fix via an OTA update. There's also no option to have the middle row seats return to a default position when passengers exit, you're stuck manually readjusting them every time. This undercuts the the otherwise excellent second/third row usability. The frunk is too small to be genuinely useful for storage and the key fob is the worst design on the market right now, it is clunky in hand and seemingly designed without much thought for everyday use.
Verified Owner
