Last week at the Los Angeles Auto Show, the most impressive seats I sat in weren’t in a sports car or a super-luxury sedan, but in an electric three-row crossover. Kia debuted the new EV9 GT at the show, a 501-horsepower performance version of its excellent family hauler, and the seats in all three rows are simply awesome.
Kia’s press release doesn’t say a lot about the GT’s seats, only calling them “deeply bolstered sport seats” that have Alcantara inserts and the GT logo embossed in them. The GT seemingly is only offered with Dark Gray and Black “simulated leather” upholstery that has neon green accents, and while I do love that pop of neon, I think overall the color scheme is too dour. Still, the EV9 GT’s front seats are a new design that look really cool, reminiscent of the Recaro buckets from the ’80s, and they provide a lot more support than the ones in a standard EV9, at least from what I could glean sitting in a static one.
Compared to a normal EV9, the GT’s chunky front buckets have thicker bolsters that extend further out both on the upper and lower sections, with wider bolstering even around your shoulder area. They feel really snug and comfortable, certainly enough for the kind of cornering that EV9 GT drivers will likely do, and that Alcantara suede will definitely keep your butt from sliding around in the seat. Instead of the regular EV9’s mesh headrests the GT gets more substantial adjustable headrests. The seatbacks have a unique design as well that are akin to a hardshell sport seat, with a ton more suede and a vertical ambient lighting strip that runs along your spine. Best of all, not only should the GT’s front seats have a massage function, but they retain the EV9’s Relaxation Mode in which they recline super far back and have powered legrests that extend out.
It’s a similar story with the second-row captain’s chairs. While not as big of a departure from the normal EV9’s units, they do have thicker bolstering that makes a difference, especially on the seat base, plus that same Relaxation Mode. It doesn’t seem like the third-row seats have any additional padding or bolstering, but Kia didn’t skimp out on the upholstery, giving way-back passengers the same faux leather and Alcantara treatment on the rest of the seats.
There are a lot of performance-minded crossovers out there, but aside from the most expensive high-end models, it’s rare to see automakers put sportier seats in these things. The Kia EV9 GT certainly isn’t in the same class as something like a Lamborghini Urus or Range Rover Sport SV, and it isn’t meant to be a track rat of an SUV, which makes it even cooler that the designers actually gave it these well-bolstered buckets.
