Would you pay £83,000 for a Kia, or should you buy a Mercedes and keep the change?

I’ve been thinking about the Kia EV9 GT a lot since I spent a week with it as my daily driver. It’s a funny ol’ SUV, sitting as the crown jewel of Kia’s electric car range on account of its massive size, prodigious power and an eye-watering price tag of £83,000.

Yes, you read that correctly and no, I’m not joking. It’s the most expensive Kia on sale, and it’s also one of the most expensive seven-seater cars you can buy – full stop. The uber-posh Audi Q9, BMW X7 and Mercedes GLS cost more – but they all have big, posh engines under the bonnet and a big, posh badge on the front. There are others, too, but you get the point.

It got me thinking, though. I quite like the Kia, and even at £75,000 through Carwow’s deals I couldn’t fork out that much money for one. Not when there are some rather lovely alternatives which are perfectly suited to family life for less, including a few that I’ve driven recently.

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The Audi A6 Avant e-tron, for example. No, it isn’t an SUV, but does that really matter? At no point during my week with the Kia did I need to take it off road…and even if I did, I reckon it would get stuck almost immediately on account of its sporty tyres, deep bumpers and immense weight.

I did find the EV9 GT to be pleasant on the motorway, but the A6 Avant e-tron is not only quieter and more comfortable, it beats the Kia for distance. I saw a real-world range of 332 miles in the Audi compared to just 240 miles in the EV9 GT.

Fair enough, the Audi isn’t the most spacious electric estate around and it can’t match the Kia for practicality, but for my purposes it’s just the right size. I quite like the sleek styling, too.

You could buy one for just under £60,000 through Carwow in the S-Line e-tron Performance spec I drove. I’d absolutely choose the Audi over the Kia, though the three-year, 60,000-mile warranty is disappointing.

Estates aren’t in vogue right now, and if you’re dead-set on an SUV, may I perhaps interest you in a Mercedes GLC Electric? For just £73,000 you can find yourself behind the wheel of a full-fat, range-topping GLC 400 Premier Edition.

Granted, you’ll have to get over the challenging looks first. I try not to humanise cars too much, but I’m pretty sure the Merc’s frowning headlights and gopping grille look identical to the dropped-jaw and bewildered eyes I had when I first saw it. The Kia isn’t exactly pretty, but the GLC Electric is more challenging to take in.

The range-topping GLC’s cabin is pretty shocking, too, with a whopping 39.1-inch widescreen that makes up the bulk of the dashboard. I found it a bit overwhelming at first, but the software is actually easier to navigate than the Kia’s, and the graphics are really very slick.

It’s spacious inside, and with almost 600 litres of cargo capacity across the front and rear boots I never wished for more. The Mercedes is way more comfortable than the EV9 GT and offers far more range – even if we only saw 280 miles between charges – but the kicker here is the performance. It’s actually faster than the ‘sporty’ Kia, so it ticks all the boxes here.

Considering the top-rung GLC comes in at £2,000 less than the EV9 GT, I can get over the styling and pick the Mercedes.

That isn’t an option for those of you in genuine need of seven seats, however, as the GLC only comes as a five-seater. This is where the Peugeot E-5008 comes in, and it’s actually one of my favourite electric SUVs on sale.

For starters I’m a big fan of the sharp, chiselled styling, which makes the big Peugeot look more expensive than it is. It’s a little bloated from side on, but the two-tone colour schemes help hide its size.

The E-5008’s interior is nicer to look at than in the EV9 GT, too. Material quality isn’t quite as premium in the Peugeot, but ample use of fabric upholstery and the futuristic design do a lot of heavy lifting. I also like the ‘i-Cockpit’ cabin layout with a high-set screen and small steering wheel, which is much less bus-like than the Kia.

Granted the Kia is more spacious inside, but how often do you really need to fill the car with people? If the answer is ‘all the time’ then you’re better off going for a Kia PV5 Passenger or Volkswagen ID Buzz, anyway.

Like the Mercedes, the Peugeot is more comfortable than the EV9 GT. It’s easier to drive in town, but nowhere near as fast – even in range-topping Dual Motor guise. Again, does that really matter in a family hauler? You’re far better off buying a Long Range version which can go up to 414 miles on a charge.

At that point, in posh GT Premium trim it’ll cost you under £45,000, or in other words a near-£30,000 saving over the Kia. I mean, it’s a no-brainer, isn’t it?

I like the Kia EV9 GT, I really do. I like the way it looks, the cabin is funky, it’s full of kit and it’s pretty fun to drive, but it just doesn’t make sense to me. Not for that much money, not with a Kia badge on the bonnet and not with such capable alternatives to choose from.

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