Hyundai Ioniq 5 N (2024) Review: A Family EV on Steroids

Many car companies person crazy-performance sub-brands that cater some to car engineers’ familial predisposition to amusement off, and customers for which mean acceleration and handling simply isn’t hairy enough. BMW has its M division, Range Rover has SVR, oregon Special Vehicle Operations, Hyundai has N.

The “N” seemingly refers to 2 things: the Namyang territory successful South Korea, location of Hyundai's Global Research & Development Center, wherever N was founded; and the Nürburgring successful Germany, wherever each the N models are tested astatine ridiculous velocity until, 1 presumes, their tires detonate successful clouds of shredded rubber.

Well, Hyundai has its archetypal electrical N model, the Ioniq 5 N. WIRED was mighty impressed with 2021’s vanilla Ioniq 5 and recovered it hard to fault. One disapproval we did person astatine the clip was that immoderate mightiness person expected the EV to beryllium a interaction sportier. The 5 N is present to code this flaw—perhaps to an excessive degree. It’s besides wide that Hyundai has developed this Ioniq 5 connected steroids with the intent that it beryllium what astir car obsessives telephone a “proper driver’s car,” whether you’re into electrical oregon not.

Audio Illusion

Apart from the max 641 bhp, zero to 62 mph successful a shocking 3.4 seconds, apical velocity of 162 mph, a contention mode that drops powerfulness conscionable capable to fto the N thigh the Nürburgring successful nether 8 minutes twice without overheating, and a frankly bewildering array of customizable options for tweaking astir each facet of the 5 N’s handling and performance, the astir instantly evident diagnostic present of a driver-focused attack is the N’s “e-Shift.”

With e-Shift engaged, the steering instrumentality paddles harvester with the car’s motors, regenerative braking system, and 10-speaker dependable setup (two outside, 8 inside) to simulate internal-combustion car cogwheel changes—not conscionable audibly, but physically too.

Fake motor sound roars passim the cabin, portion the motors and the regen braking manipulate torque absorption to simulate the momentary dips and changes successful thrust you get portion shifting gears. These “dips” are joined with a corresponding alteration successful fake noise, and harvester to nutrient an eerily convincing sensation of driving an ICE car. There’s adjacent accrued regen braking and amended acceleration astatine higher fake revs.

Of course, Hyundai is blatantly pulling a con present and trying to fool you. But arsenic with each illusions, if it works, adjacent though you cognize it’s implicit artifice, you conscionable don’t care. And I didn’t. In fact, I loved it. And this is from idiosyncratic who has until present detested—or possibly “loathed” is simply a amended word—fake motor noise.

How Hyundai has pulled disconnected this instrumentality is seemingly down to a full twelvemonth of bundle improvement positive extended simulation and way investigating conscionable for this feature. Tyrone Johnson, caller managing manager of Hyundai Motor Europe Technical Center, and antecedently 1 of the radical down the caller Ford Focus RS, confessed to maine that helium wasn’t instantly sold connected the concept.