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Kia K9 luxury flagship launched

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The K9 shows just what Kia can do in its march towards ever-higher quality and better design.
CarsGuide team
3 May 2012
2 min read
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The good news for Kia is that it looks every bit as good as stablemate Hyundai’s luxury-bid Equus and Genesis sedans.

The bad news for us is that – unlike the Genesis, which is being built in right-hand drive and on the roadmap for Australia – we’re unlikely to get the K9 here. There’s no right-hand drive program and no plan for one.

So why the interest? Because the K9 shows just what Kia can do in its march towards ever-higher quality and better design. Designer Peter Schreyer has given the Kia K9 a sleek profile with a flowing line over the elongated bonnet and through the swept-back A-pillar.

It looks like it’s been polished in a wind tunnel, and the 5090mm body promises a fairly slick 0.27 coefficient of drag. The interior is tasteful, dignified and could pass for a German product -- not surprisingly, given Schreyer’s Audi history and continuing influence at Kia.

Where the Hyundai sibling gets a V8, the K9 carries a 213kW 3.8-litre V6 petrol engine, with a more powerful direct-injected 245kW 3.8-litre V6 to follow towards the end of the year. The K9’s rear wheels will be driven as standard via Kia’s all-new eight-speed automatic transmission, with the joystick controlling a shift-by-wire system.

Four driving modes -- Eco, Normal, Sport and Snow – let you toggle through choices of suspension set-up, steering, engine and transmission response to suit the conditions. Kia claims a 50/50 front-to-rear weight ratio, and the K9 will keep it in line with electronically-controlled air suspension with five-link front and rear system.

Kia is using the K9 to roll out a list of upmarket technology that could well trickle down into other models, including camera-based around-view monitor, adaptive LED headlights and lane departure and blind-spot warning systems.

With all that on board, the Germans and Swedes might soon start benchmarking Koreas cars.
 

CarsGuide team
The CarsGuide team of car experts is made up of a diverse array of journalists, with combined experience that well and truly exceeds a century.  We live with the cars we test, weaving them into our family lives to highlight any strenghts and weaknesses to help you make the right choice when buying a new or used car.  We also specialise in adventure to help you get off the beaten track and into the great outdoors, along with utes and commercial vehicles, performance cars and motorsport to cover all ends of the automotive spectrum.  Tune in for our weekly podcast to get to know the personalities behind the team, or click on a byline to learn more about any of our authors. 
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