Hyundai Ioniq 5 N: the best electric vehicle I’ve driven

The first Hyundai to cost over $100,000 may be the greatest value proposition of all time. It’s nothing short of revelatory. But there is one problem.

Hyundai Ioniq 5 N: the most interesting and most involving electric car the world has thus far seen.

Stephen Corby

3 min read

9:11AMMarch 20, 2024.

Updated 2:30PMMarch 20, 2024

The Weekend Australian Magazine

There are two ways of looking at the radical new Ioniq 5 N – the first Hyundai ever to cost north of $100,000. Modern cars, sometimes called EVs, no longer need gearboxes or rev counters, yet Hyundai has decided to give its sportiest electric offering both, albeit in synthetic form (the car feels like it’s changing gears, but it has none, and it tells you what revs you’re doing, although the numbers are entirely ersatz and the redline might as well be 600,000rpm as 6000.)

On one hand, history will perhaps see this as an attempt to drag modernity backwards – the equivalent of taking one of the world’s earliest cars and fitting it with a saddle, reins and the sickly scent of horse shit to make it appeal to old-school purists who missed getting wet when it rained. In the future, motoring historians (a class of people who sound like dangerous bores to be avoided at all costs) might laugh at the lunacy of the Ioniq 5 N, at how it broke new ground by trying to reintroduce outmoded technologies.

On the other hand, it could well set the example that every sports-car maker follows, because it is not unfair to argue that what has been missing from performance EVs thus far is the kind of driver involvement you get from shifting gears, rev-ramming into a redline and down-shifting rapidly as you approach a sharp bend. Joys that seemed to be going the way of conversation and eye contact in the new world.

Aside from all that racy tech, Hyundai also describes this N model as a “corner rascal”, claims that it can combine a supple real-world ride with track-ready adjustable suspension and points out that it produces a whopping 48 per cent more power from its battery than the (already rapid) Ioniq 5.

The Ioniq 5 N can hit 100km/h in 3.4 seconds.

However, it looks like a very angry electric razor being rear-ended by a door stop, which is a shame...

Despite costing $111,000 (and remember, this is a car with a Hyundai badge), it had taken more than 120 orders before it went on sale. Most of those people have now taken delivery, and if you listen carefully you can probably hear them screaming in fear.

This absurdly exciting EV makes 478kW and 770Nm in boosted mode – a Lamborghini Huracan, with a V10 engine, has 471kW and 601Nm – and can hit 100km/h in 3.4 seconds. The Ioniq 5 N does not look like a Lamborghini, however. It looks like a very angry electric razor being rear-ended by a door stop, which is a shame.

In terms of bang for your buck, it might just be the greatest value proposition of all time. It is certainly, thanks to the fake gearbox, both the most interesting and most involving electric car the world has thus far seen.

It is also quite fantastic to drive, even on public roads, where the ride really is surprisingly supple for something so serious, and on the track, where its ridiculous power can be at least partly accessed. Hit the silly sounding N Grin Boost button at the top of the straight, as I did, and your cheeks quickly kiss each other at the back of your head as you get a 10-second burst of max boost and the Ioniq hits 200km/h in stomach-churningly short order.

The ability to change gears, to engage with the driving experience in such an old-school way, feels revelatory in an electric car and the whole thing would seem very supercar-like if it weren’t for how high the driving position is. The sense that you’re driving something that feels like a family sedan but accelerates like a rocket ship is quite weird.

It’s still surprisingly fantastic and playful to drive at silly speeds around corners, and feels more genuinely like a track weapon than I thought would be possible for an EV.

Inside the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N.

I’m happy to say that it is far and away the best, and most fun, electric vehicle I’ve driven so far.

And then, sadly, we come to the strange N Active Sounds that the Ioniq 5 N pumps out through no less than eight interior speakers and, embarrassingly, two exterior ones as well. Yes, you can turn the noises off and drive in silent electric mode, but that kind of defeats the purpose of the eight-speed N E-Shift (which you can also disable), so you must choose between the almost bearable “Ignition” setting (it does pop and bang loudly during downshifts) and two other choices that produce the worst fake noises ever heard outside of porn. “Supersonic” is meant to emulate a fighter jet, but it does not, it emulates a robot sucking ball-bearings through a straw and then farting them out explosively. “Evolution” sounds like a blender doing something unspeakable with an electric toothbrush.

Hyundai claims the Ioniq 5 N can go 448km off a single charge and that’s exactly as believable as the fuel-economy figures Lamborghini claims for its cars – you’ll never get near either number if you drive it in the manner it’s intended for.

I’m not sure I could buy this car – I can’t forgive the existence of those stupid sounds, even if I could choose never to hear them again – but I’m happy to say that it is far and away the best, and most fun, electric vehicle I’ve driven so far.