This EV will make you grin from ear to ear—the 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 N

The front half of a white Ioniq 5 N in an alleyway
Enlarge / Different automakers have half-heartedly tuned their EVs, however Hyundai’s N model has gone all-out with the Ioniq 5, and the outcomes are spectacular.

Jonathan Gitlin

Hyundai’s transformation over the previous decade and a half has been one to look at. The automaker went on a hiring spree, luring design and engineering expertise away from the likes of BMW and Audi to develop its personal competency in these areas. It labored—few can rival the effectivity or charging pace of the present crop of Korean electrical automobiles, as an illustration. And Hyundai’s N division has proven it might flip prosaic underpinnings into efficiency automobiles that push all the fitting buttons. Each of these issues are on vivid show with the Ioniq 5 N.

The common Ioniq 5 has been on sale for some time now, lengthy sufficient to have simply acquired a facelift. It is certainly one of our favourite EVs, with styling that calls again to the angular hatchbacks of the Eighties and an 800 V powertrain that is simply best-in-class. Now, the corporate’s in-house tuners have had their approach with it, making use of classes discovered from rallying and touring automobile racing to up the enjoyable issue.

It isn’t precisely a novel strategy, even for EVs. Kia beat Hyundai to the punch with the EV6 GT; the automobile is fearsomely quick, however I discovered it much less compelling than the traditional model, which is cheaper, much less {powerful}, and extra environment friendly. Actually, I am on document as saying that when taking a look at EVs, the most cost effective, least-powerful model is nearly at all times the one to get.

Not on this case. The physique has further welds and adhesive to stiffen its shell, with new entrance and rear subframes and strengthened battery and motor mounts. The N even took mass out of the drive axles to scale back unsprung weight, just like its World Rally Championship contender.

The facility steering has been strengthened and given a faster ratio, and it has been comprehensively reprogrammed to ship extra suggestions to the motive force. As you may anticipate, there are all method of intelligent algorithms to manage how a lot energy will get put down at every axle or to every rear wheel, with numerous ranges of intervention for a driver to select from.

Nominal energy output is 601 hp (448 kW) and 545 lb-ft (739 Nm), with bursts of 641 hp (478 kW) and 568 lb-ft (770 Nm) for as much as 10 seconds out there with the push of one of many many buttons on the steering wheel. That is ample for a 0–60 mph time of three.3 seconds, with a chirp from the tires within the course of.

The pair of electrical motors are fed by an 84 kWh battery pack that can fast-charge from 10 to 80 p.c in 18 minutes. Nonetheless, identical to with efficiency variants of inside combustion automobiles, the mixture of massive wheels, sticky efficiency tires, and all these aerodynamic drag-inducing addenda means it will not be as environment friendly as the traditional model. Right here, that results in an EPA vary of simply 221 miles (355 km), though that is measured in Regular mode, not the way more environment friendly Eco setting.

You both get it otherwise you don’t

The Ioniq 5 N’s greatest social gathering trick known as N E-Shift, and it is sure to be divisive. It simulates an eight-speed paddle-shift transmission, altering throttle mapping and lift-off regen to duplicate every “gear,” and the impact is extraordinarily convincing.

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