Generally speaking, we like both the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and its mechanical twin, the Kia EV6. Starting at a little over $40,000, the Ioniq 5 offers up to 303 miles of range, can be had in either rear-wheel or all-wheel drive and just looks downright cool. We wish you could get it in actual fun colors, but that’s not the end of the world. Plus, there’s an N version coming that makes 600 horsepower and will hit 60 mph in a claimed 3.4 seconds. We’re absolutely not going to complain about that.
After our first drive of the Kia EV6 GT, though, we did have some concerns about the Ioniq 5 N. The EV6 GT makes 576 hp and has a similar 3.4-second zero-to-60 time, so it would stand to reason that its high-performance Hyundai sibling would drive similarly. Unfortunately, at the time, we found it a little underwhelming if you’re looking for anything other than straight-line speed. At the time we wrote:
The EV6 GT doesn’t exactly embarrass itself, but it never feels settled or planted. On top of that, the Goodyear Eagle F1 tires scream their guts out at the slightest whiff of aggressive turn-in or throttle application. Kind of like the Kia Stinger, the EV6 GT is a quick, powerful grand-ish touring machine, but not a sports car. …
The bottom line is that Kia built something exciting: The quickest and most powerful production car in the brand’s history. But it’s not in the sort of package you might expect. The EV6 GT isn’t a bad car – far from it – but it’s not good enough to justify the range and price sacrifices that the horsepower demands.
That doesn’t exactly set the stage for the kind of driver’s car that we’ve come to expect from Hyundai’s N division. Plus, there’s all the electric gimmickry that Hyundai promised the Ioniq 5 N would have, such as fake exhaust notes and a mode that would simulate the shifts of a dual-clutch transmission. Thankfully, it’s going to be something you can turn off, but still, we had our concerns.
It’ll probably be a while before we get to drive the Ioniq 5 N, but recently, Top Gear (the magazine side of the business, not the possibly not-canceled TV show) got the chance to drive a pre-production version, and let’s just say it doesn’t sound like we had anything to worry about. As an EV, it’s obviously still a heavy car, it reportedly feels lighter than it actually is. And most importantly, it sounds like it’s just an absolute blast to drive. Even the fake DCT mode sounds like it’s fun enough to be more than a gimmick. Plus, it really will drift.
It’s probably not going to chase down a Porsche 911 GT3 RS on the race track, but it sounds like the Ioniq 5 N is a car that you actually should take to the track. And anytime someone finishes off a review saying, “This car has some genuine agility but, best of all, a proper sense of humor,” yeah, we’re going to get excited. Price and range are still possible Achilles’ heels, but for now, we’re just counting the days until we get a chance to hop behind the wheel ourselves.