You won’t have failed to notice the Hyundai Ioniq 5 - it’s one of the most distinctive new cars on the road. With styling somewhere between a vision of the future and a retro 1980s throwback, and imposing size, it may be some time before the crossover, launched in 2021, loses its impact.
Behind the styling though is one of the best electric cars you can buy. It offers plenty of range and quick charging speeds, it’s as spacious as it is stylish, and it performs well too. With used prices representing a useful saving over a new car too, you might find it much more accessible than you expected.
The Ioniq 5 is similar under the skin to the Kia EV6 and Genesis GV60, each of which offers different styling inside and out and a subtly different driving experience, but all are otherwise similar on range and performance. The big-selling Tesla Model Y is well worth a look too, less stylish but backed up by the excellent Tesla Supercharger network.
We’ve little hesitation in recommending the Hyundai Ioniq 5. Between its style, utility, performance and range, it’s one of the best all-rounders available in the EV market, and if the prices that Hyundai charge for a new one seem a little steep, relatively strong depreciation means that getting into one that’s just a year or two old could save you five or ten grand, making it even more tempting.
It’s the Ioniq 5’s styling that’ll catch your attention first though. Hyundai will tell you it’s inspired by some of its earliest models like the Pony, but that probably does it a disservice. 1980s silhouette aside it’s bang up to date in terms of its details, and the only real surprise is how big the car is in the metal - from pictures, you’d swear it was no bigger than a VW Golf.
That size and the flat floor afforded by the batteries do benefit interior space though, as it’s hugely roomy and the 527-litre boot is big too. The cabin design is crisp and modern, with a wide dual-screen layout in all models, and ambient lighting in most. Visibility is good but the one oversight is that there’s no wiper for the rear screen, so it quickly becomes opaque in poor weather.
The Ioniq 5 comes in either single (rear) motor or dual-motor (all-wheel drive) formats, with varying power outputs and a couple of battery sizes. All perform well and are naturally very refined, but unlike the mechanically similar Kia EV6, Hyundai has prioritised comfort over handling. We’d suggest going for 19-inch wheels to do the same - the larger 20-inch units cut down on range, taking around 20 miles off an otherwise impressive 315 miles in rear-motor, 77.4kWh form.
The Kia EV6 and Genesis GV60 are effectively the same car underneath and are equally easy to recommend, so go for whichever best suits your style. The Tesla Model Y is the car to beat thanks to its strong performance and the convenience of Tesla’s Supercharger network (and it’s a global best-seller too), while the Nissan Ariya and Skoda Enyaq iV are worthy alternatives.
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If having the maximum possible range isn’t the be-all and end-all for your next EV purchase, then there’s a lot to be said for seeking out an Ioniq 5 with the smaller 58kWh battery pack. Its claimed 238-mile range still isn’t bad (though expect less in the real world), but the smaller pack also means less time to top up the battery - around 43 minutes at a 50kW public charger for a 10-80 per cent top up, rather than just over an hour.
Still, it’s nice having some extra range in hand, and the larger battery models also get more performance. Spec-wise, Hyundai recently ditched the old entry-level SE Connect trim so Premium is now the entry point - though even on older cars, we’d go for Premium to begin with thanks to its higher equipment levels.
The Hyundai Ioniq 5 is currently offered in three trim levels, but they’re far from the austere products you might have seen from Hyundai a decade or two ago. All are very well equipped and only get more so as you go up the range - with the top Namsan Edition absolutely packed with gadgets, and coming as standard with a useful heat pump (optional on the other trims, so you may find used Ioniq 5s without it), an efficient way of keeping the battery pack at its optimal temperature, and efficiently heating the cabin too.
The Hyundai Ioniq 5’s dimensions are:
The Hyundai Ioniq 5’s boot size is:
As with other electric cars on the market, under the current VED or ‘road tax’ system, you won’t have to pay a penny for the Ioniq 5. Even if the government does eventually introduce a charge, it’s still likely to be a lot cheaper than a combustion-powered car.
As a fairly large, expensive, and relatively high performance model, you’ll likely pay more to insure the Hyundai Ioniq 5 than you might a combustion family car of similar size. The range currently starts at group 29 (out of 50) for the 170PS, 58kWh car in Premium trim, and goes up to group 40 for a top-spec Namsan Edition with the most powerful motor and largest battery pack. That’s actually a touch cheaper than the equivalent Kia EV6, but a lot more than the groups 21-31 of a similarly-sized hybrid Nissan X-Trail.
Read our full Hyundai Ioniq 5 review