Quiet competence on the road

In some ways, driving the new Hyundai EV is similar to driving other EVs of its size. The differences only emerge as road miles accumulate. In Normal mode, acceleration is almost jumpy, delivering a lot of power with just a little pressure—a trait also found in its gasoline models. But it’s easily learnable, and we adapted quickly.

The Long Range model’s 77.4-kilowatt-hour battery pack powers two motors in the AWD version, EPA-rated at 256 miles: 121 kilowatts (165 horsepower) in the rear, 54 kW (74 hp) in the front, for a total of 235 kW (320 hp) and 446 pound-feet of torque. This model has a quoted 0-to-62-mph acceleration time of 5.1 seconds, slightly faster than a comparable Volkswagen ID.4 model, if not in Tesla territory.

Single-motor Long Range models have a more powerful motor in the rear, at 165 kW (225 hp), rated at 303 miles—meaning the Ioniq 5 is a rear-wheel-drive car like the Ford Mach-E and VW ID.4. Upcoming 2WD models of the Nissan, Subaru, and Toyota EVs power the front wheels. The smaller Standard Range battery comes solely with RWD.

The Ioniq 5 pioneers a new and more advanced version of one-pedal driving, called i-Pedal. To activate it, the driver pulls back on the left paddle through three levels of stronger regenerative braking (1, 2, and 3), with the fourth pull producing a beep and an “i-Pedal” alert on the dash. Regrettably, this one-pedal driving doesn’t persist through a power cycle, meaning the driver has to pull back on the paddle every time the car is switched on.

On our rainy test day, with temperatures in the 50s and 60s Fahrenheit, the small SUV happily climbed 5,000 feet up into the Cuyamaca Mountains along winding two-lane country roads. After that first surge of power, the accelerator is more linear. With a bit of experience learning i-Pedal’s deceleration curve (it’s not the most aggressive regen we’ve used), we rarely touched the brakes.

Sport mode is the fun one, though it lowered indicated range by roughly 3 percent. It’s more immediately punchy, the regen felt considerably more aggressive, and the instruments acquired a red color scheme. It was useful uphill, at the cost of using more energy, but seemed like overkill coming down. The sludgy Eco mode showed a 3-percent range boost, and we ignored it.

Ride on the 20-inch low-rolling-resistance tires was decent, though they transmitted considerable road noise and surface irregularities on aged California roads whose asphalt surface had worn down to the aggregate. (We’d be curious to see how the 19-inch wheel-tire combination on lower-trim models compares.) Overall, though, it was as much a tribute to the car’s excellent noise suppression as it was a knock against the tires.

The Ioniq 5 holds the road well, and we found the car could corner at considerably higher speeds than those recommended on tight mountain curves. Like any EV, it’s a heavy car—4,460 to 4,660 pounds—and on curves the tires worked hard to hold the car on line. It might also need one more round of suspension tuning. Most cornering was flat, but on bobbly curves where road surfaces changed midway through, the body motion seemed a bit undamped. European reviewers suggest the Ioniq 5’s sibling, the Kia EV6 that shares the same underpinnings, is sportier and more composed—but we can’t assess that for several more months.

Full-featured halo model

The Ioniq 5 represents Hyundai’s most advanced-technology model. As such, it offers pretty much every advanced-tech and active-safety feature the company has in its arsenal. The top-level Limited trim includes 20-inch alloy wheels, a full-cabin glass roof, a head-up display with augmented reality information, automated lane-changing on signaling, a Bose premium audio system, and more.

The base SE model includes 19-inch wheels, a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster and a central 12.3-inch touchscreen display, and Hyundai’s SmartSense suite of safety features. Those include forward-collision warning and automatic emergency braking, blind-spot collision avoidance, and adaptive cruise control down to 0 mph.

Thus far, neither the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration nor the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has rated the Ioniq 5 for crash safety and other features. Hyundai is targeting an IIHS Top Safety Pick+ rating, given the suite of standard advanced safety systems, as well as a top 5-star safety rating in European NCAP testing.

More efficient than VW’s ID.4

With a drive that climbed to 5,000 feet, it was initially hard to get a sense of the Ioniq 5’s energy efficiency. A brief Michigan drive in a prototype Ioniq 5 a few weeks earlier had shown a recorded efficiency of more than 4.0 miles per kilowatt-hour, an impressive number—and one verified by another reporter at a different event.

In the San Diego test, efficiency was predictably low on the way up, showing just 2.0 mi/kWh. But it regained most of the extra energy expended on the way back down. Over a total of 158 miles, we averaged 3.1 mi/kWh (or 322 Wh per mile). That’s better than the Volkswagen ID.4 AWD we tested in September, which averaged 2.7 to 3.1 mi/kWh on different sections of the drive route.

On a pure range-efficiency basis, the Tesla Model Y still bests the Ioniq 5. The EPA rates the AWD Model Y Long Range (with a 75-kWh battery) at 326 miles. That’s 4.34 mi/kWh, or about 30 percent better than the Ioniq 5’s 256 miles from 77.4 kWh, or 3.31 mi/kWh. As always, your range will vary with driving style, weather, temperature, terrain, and many other factors.

The last stop on our test drive was a stop for fast-charging at an Electrify America site less than a mile from the Mexican border. Apparently we hadn’t driven hard enough to heat up the battery; our test car showed a maximum charge rate of 127 kW. Other Ioniq 5s that spent more time in Sport mode showed rates up to 227 kWh—something only Tesla, among competitors, can equal.

We were disappointed to learn the Ioniq 5 will not include Plug And Charge at launch. Will it be added in future? Hyundai execs were noncommittal.

Strong contender

Overall, the 2022 Hyundai Ioniq 5 represents an impressive new EV. It’s more energy-efficient than the Volkswagen ID.4, though less so than the Tesla Model Y. Its controls are easier to understand (a Hyundai strong point) and it looks good inside and out. It’s far from inexpensive, but the Kona Electric remains in the lineup at a base price several thousand dollars lower.

Our biggest question about the Ioniq 5 is whether Hyundai can bring enough to North America to satisfy growing demand for compact electric crossovers. For lucky car shoppers in 20 or so states, however, it’s a compelling new EV competitor.