Hyundai Ioniq 5 review, test drive

There are electrical automobiles and there are electrical automobiles. And so they aren’t all the identical. There’s the Hyundai Kona EV and there’s the Hyundai Ioniq 5 they usually aren’t the identical both. If you happen to put your hand on the badge, you wouldn’t suppose they each belong to the identical father or mother. In reality, you wouldn’t even suppose they share an electrical powertrain! The Kona EV was designed initially with an IC engine and therefore appears to be like like simply one other petrol (or diesel) SUV. What offers you a small clue that it isn’t one is the blanked-out grille and all of the EV information and information that pops up on the show screens once you begin the automobile. However there’s no getting away from the Kona’s IC engine roots, which is obvious within the general stance and form. That’s true of many different EVs within the Indian market, together with the bestselling Nexon EV.

So, what’s an EV alleged to appear like? Effectively, radically totally different and futuristic, for starters; EVs are the long run, in any case. And giving us a great have a look at the long run is the Ioniq 5, which you’ll immediately inform is not any extraordinary automobile. That’s as a result of the Ioniq 5 is ‘born electrical,’ a time period that could be very a lot part of the EV lexicon lately and stands for precisely what it suggests – automobiles which were conceived to be pushed purely by battery energy and by no means with a traditional Inside Combustion (IC) engine.

Styling is futuristic, but paying homage to ’80s hatchbacks.

The Ioniq 5 is Hyundai’s first ‘born electrical’ EV, a brand new breed that’s free from the packaging and design constraints of a lump of a transmission and driveline underneath the ground, a good greater lump of an engine underneath the nostril, and a gasoline tank underneath the rear seat. It’s constructed on a bespoke platform, or ‘skateboard’, that’s been optimised for value, house effectivity and, after all, electrification. And this skateboard is the Hyundai Group’s E-GMP (Electrical International Modular Platform) constructed round a battery pack, electrical motors and allied elements, with sufficient flexibility to spawn a variety of physique types.

The Ioniq 5 would be the first of six all-new EVs that Hyundai will convey to India within the subsequent 5 years. Slated for a mid-2022 launch, the Ioniq 5 will lead the Korean auto main’s ‘top-down’ strategy into India. Nonetheless, the Ioniq 5 gained’t be low-cost. It will likely be launched as an import, and although it’s an EV, it gained’t get any customs responsibility concessions. We estimate the Ioniq 5 to value between Rs 45 lakh-60 lakh, relying on the battery dimension and general specs, that are but to be determined.

C-pillar impressed by Lancia Delta?

Wanting Ahead

For a automobile that doesn’t should be designed across the rigid place of an engine and gearbox, the Ioniq 5, at first look, appears to be like fairly typical, nearly disappointingly so. Gape at it a bit longer and the distinctive design mixture of this bespoke EV begins to soak by. The angular proportions give it the silhouette of a Nineteen Eighties hatch and the C-pillar has a contact of the Lancia Delta in it, nevertheless it’s the futuristic particulars that seize your consideration. The physique is replete with ultra-sharp cuts and creases, and the spotlight is the Z-shaped slash on the flanks, which has a folded-paper impact. Flush door handles, the clamshell bonnet and 20-inch alloy wheels that appear like they’ve been designed in a wind tunnel look very futuristic, nevertheless it’s the high-tech LED matrix gentle clusters which might be its most modern characteristic. The lights have a pixel theme that’s carried all through the automobile, and the rear, particularly, has a full-width matrix strip with a collection of sci-fi trying sq. pixel lights. The good bit is the Daytime Working Lamp gentle bar on the highest fringe of the entrance bumper, which you don’t discover till it’s illuminated. The Ioniq 5’s distinctive lighting signature is what actually makes it stand out and reveals the world what the way forward for motoring appears to be like like.

Dashboard a slim panel with screens hooked up onto it. Exhausting buttons not finished away with but.

 

The exceptionally lengthy 3,000mm wheelbase and quick overhangs are additionally clues that the Ioniq 5 shouldn’t be a traditional crossover. Stretching the wheelbase as a lot as doable is a high precedence when designing a ‘born electrical’ automobile on a skateboard as a result of it’s inside the wheelbase that the battery pack is positioned. Therefore, an extended wheelbase means an even bigger battery, which in flip means an extended vary. Elongating the wheelbase has different benefits too – it frees up extra space inside the cabin and offers designers extra room to play with.

Two 12.3-inch screens sharp and straightforward to learn.

That is instantly apparent the second you slide into the Ioniq 5’s cabin. Behind the wheel, it’s extra like an workplace seat than a cockpit as a result of the standard centre console has been finished away with. This frees up house forward of the entrance seats which might in any other case have been taken up by the air-con blower unit, which has been moved to underneath the bonnet, the place an engine usually sits. This relocation of the HVAC system is feasible solely in a ‘born electrical’ EV and is an efficient instance of the packaging advantages this bespoke structure presents. With no centre console, the entrance seats might be moved ahead to launch extra space within the rear. Not surprisingly, the rear seat is extraordinarily beneficiant, with greater than sufficient room even for six-footers, and the fully flat flooring makes sitting three abreast fairly handy too. The flat flooring has different benefits as nicely. It permits the console between the entrance seats to slip a great 140mm. So when you want a bit extra legroom for the center passenger behind, you may slide it ahead. However, if these behind need quick access to the pair of charging factors behind the console, it may be slid again.

The lacking conventional centre console frees up house forward of the entrance seats.

There are additionally, nonetheless, disadvantages of the E-GMP, which have extra to do with the slab of lithium sitting underneath the ground. The battery pack pushes the ground up and forces you to sit down in a barely knees-up place. It’s not uncomfortable however on lengthy drives you’ll miss an absence of under-thigh help. The seats themselves are fairly skinny however you don’t really feel an absence of cushioning, and the sunshine, eco-friendly materials that adorn the remainder of the seats have a minimalist attraction to them, which is in step with the automobile’s ‘save-the-world’ ethos.

There’s a great deal of room within the rear and flat flooring makes seating three simple.

The dashboard is an easy and pancake-slim panel with a pair of 12.3-inch screens sitting on the highest and a separate contact delicate management panel for the air-con housed beneath. The touchscreens are tremendous sharp, simple to learn even in broad daylight and provide you with all the information you want. They’re a contact gradual to reply however a tweak in software program ought to type them out. The outer fringe of the touchscreen panel is magnetic so you may connect toll tickets, parking receipts or photos of your partner, your favorite automobile (not a Kona EV, then!) or no matter you want.

On A Cost

The Ioniq 5 comes with a alternative of two battery packs. The bottom mannequin will get a 54kWh pack that’s good for 383km within the official check cycle, while a 72kWh battery stretches vary to a claimed 481km. The E-GMP has a superfast 800V charging functionality which, technically, can absolutely cost the battery in 18 minutes! However, in India, the place most chargers have a 25kW or 50kW output at greatest, it is going to be some time earlier than the Ioniq 5’s fast-charging functionality can be utilized to the fullest.

Impressively fast, with 306hp, and it disguises its weight fairly nicely.

There are a number of energy outputs as nicely; the bottom variant places out 170hp and is rear-wheel-drive solely. It’s possible that Hyundai will convey the top-spec variant that produces a extra energetic 306hp and is a 4×4 as nicely with two motors (one for every axle). It’s this top-spec variant I briefly drove and, expectedly, it was impressively fast straight off the bat. We count on EVs to dart ahead the moment you prod the accelerator and the Ioniq 5 does simply that, like a rabbit prodded with an electrical rod. It disguises its 2,100kg kerb weight quite nicely, be it in the best way it accelerates or handles. Going from 0 to 100kph in a claimed 5.2sec makes it faster than anything for the cash, and the easy and noiseless manner this automobile lunges ahead is an added bonus. Like most EVs, the Ioniq too runs out of volts on the high finish, and past 130kph, efficiency drops off fairly sharply. It’s quick and easy for many overtaking duties and a flex of the best foot is met with a satisfying lunge to the horizon, however what’s additionally apparent is that the Ioniq 5 shouldn’t be a sporty, efficiency automobile and actually feels fairly the opposite.

The battery pack ties it down properly and the steering is fast and correct, however the general dynamics gained’t tempt you to hunt out a twisty highway or toss the automobile right into a nook. What you get is an extremely plush experience, a really relaxed and hushed driving expertise, which, together with the spacious cabin, marks the Ioniq out as presumably probably the most snug EV you should purchase. Sure, it is going to be costly, however what you’re shopping for is a chunk of the long run and proper now, there’s no automobile as far forward into the long run because the Ioniq 5.