In today’s highly connected world, everyone enjoys a good dose of Hallyu or Korean Cultural Wave that’s sweeping over the world: K-pop, K-drama, Korean cuisine, the amazing beauty and skin care regimens and products endorsed by very youthful, beautiful (and handsome) Korean film stars, and spicy cuisine.

Korean automotive brands like KIA have become a key ingredient to the allure of Hallyu, as new models often make a cameo on the latest K-dramas, Korean feature films and music videos. This in turn has sprinkled a dose of sexy on the once humdrum Korean automotive industry.

The KIA EV9 is a splendid example of this. From the staid, affordable, sensible and cost-effective alternative to the mainstream legacy brands a few decades prior, the EV9 is KIA’s electric flagship that stands for cutting-edge design, futuristic electric vehicle technology, world-class vehicle dynamics, all packaged into a sexy, unique and resolutely modern Korean star.

The EV9 is built atop the Electric Global Modular Platform (E-GMP) sharing its basic architecture with the smaller EV6, parent company Hyundai’s Ioniq 5, 6, and 9 plus the group’s luxury sub-brand Genesis’ GV60.

The EV9 features the brand’s ‘Opposites United’ design philosophy with a ‘Digital Tiger Face’ front fascia, vertical headlights and taillights.

Kia said the EV9 was “formed from a polygonal design language” with the side has triangular fender structures and geometric wheel arches. And despite all this PR jargon, the design works, projecting a modern, digitalized version of KIA that can still trace its heritage to previous models.

I got to try the GT Line AWD variant for a week. The GT-Line packs a 99.8kw/h battery that promises a range of 512km. It delivers a total of 384hp but more importantly, 700 Newton-Meters of all-wheel drive torque from its dual-motor setup.

Amazingly, I actually find the 512 km range believable, if not quite pessimistic. I was able to reach my destination in Tagaytay using only 6% of battery charge, covering a distance of just over 70 kilometers, keeping it at a steady 80-85kmh. That’s just under 6kwh of electric charge consumed, taking into consideration all the elevation changes which generally consumes a whole lot more energy.

Maximizing efficiency does sound boring, and requires a huge amount of discipline as the easily-accessible 700 Newton-Meters of torque just makes the temptation to open the taps fully so very attractive, especially when a pesky Land Cruiser or Patrol tries to bully you out of the way. It’s impressive and very reassuring to know that the EV9 can actually deliver on its promise.

Inside, the 6-seat GT-Line variant allows its 2nd row seats to rotate 180 degrees, the front seats have a rest and recline function while parked, and the seat massager automatically activates if you’ve been driving long durations on the road. And the massage actually really worked well to soothe my poor overworked lower back. The first two seat rows also offer heated and ventilated functions.

As the driver, you’re greeted with two 12.3-inch displays for the driver and infotainment, plus a smaller 5 inch screen for the HVAC controls in-between the two larger ones. You also get heated and ventilated two-tone greyish blue and grey perforated and plush leather seats for the first two rows, dual sunroofs, a 14-speaker Meridian surround sound system,

blind spot view monitor with blind spot collision avoidance assist,

forward/side/rear parking collision avoidance assist, remote smart parking assist, a 360-degree camera, and digital sideview mirrors.

The digital sideview mirrors are essentially cameras with an in-board screen mounted on the door sidings. It took a few days to get used to it, and I still prefer traditional sideview mirrors, but this does help lower the EV9’s drag co-efficient to a low (for an SUV) 0.28.Impressive given the huge frontal area and the EV9’s overall enormous dimensions: 5,015 mm in length, 1,980 mm in width, and 1,780 mm in height. There’s also a 3D sculpted underbody cover to help ease airflow and improve efficiency.

On the road, aside from its efficiency, the EV9 is surprisingly very engaging to drive. It might be too big for an ideal everyday electric vehicle but if you do regular out of town drives, the EV9 is perfect especially when with a group.

Its long 3.1 meter wheelbase (a huge 10+ feet long!) gives it supreme comfort, confidence and refinement on the road.

And yet, despite the smooth comfort-oriented ride, (even with the massive 21-inch wheels and 285/45R21 Continental tires) there’s amazing body control, and smooth, albeit slightly slow transition when cornering, the weight moving across the four corners carefully yet predictably and consistently so.

The EV9 has excellent, safe and reassuring driving characteristics. It obviously won’t be your first nor even second choice for a proper b-road blast, but when family in friends are on-board with you as the designated driver, you can still have fun while everyone else snoozes in comfort.

Of course, as to be expected, the steering is light, just a wee bit sanitized and overly-eager to self center, but it’s also predictable and accurate, improving in feel and heft as you wind in more lock. The brakes are also a gem, providing strong, progressive stopping power even before the regenerative braking is taken into account.

It’s not perfect of course. The size makes it difficult in traffic, the long wheelbase gives it poor break-over angle and I do wish the 180mm ride height was better to help give it more flood wading depth than its current 495mm, which is something we’re all conscious about these days. Surprisingly it only requires a modest 6.2 meter turning radius so making u-turns isn’t as hard as expected.

But typical well-heeled EV9 owners will have other vehicles in their fleet to handle other concerns, as evidenced by its considerable 5.888 Million price tag. But it does what it’s supposed to do swimmingly well: carry passengers in absolute comfort, refinement and style.

Amazing style, impressive driving dynamics, unbelievable (for its size and 2,648kg weight) efficiency and ingenious versatility, the EV9 leads the automotive Hallyu to conquer the world.