Ioniq becomes iconic

Published on 9 January, 2022

Overview

It has been quite a few weeks since I have had to pull into a garage to fuel up a test car, although when filling my wife’s small hatchback the price rises have become really noticeable. Hopefully the peak has come, and prices start to go down. Excuse the pun, but it fuels the argument for electric vehicles which are still relatively cheap to keep charged up if you have a wallbox like mine in your drive or garage.

I have been enjoying a run of four full electric vehicles: the Volvo XC40 before Christmas, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 over the festive (if you could actually call it that) period, a massively specced BMW iX at the moment and tomorrow I pick up the Ford Mustang Mach-E SUV.

That’s a fair cross section of some of the larger more premium SUV electric vehicles on the market outside the Mercedes and Volkswagen/Audi powerhouses and the Tesla disrupter marque. None of them are cheap and the four range in price from the Hyundai Ioniq 5 Premium 58KW at €44,495 to the BMW iX M-Sport with every possible trimming at around €114k. The Ford and Volvos are in the €50-70k range depending on ability and spec.

These are all massive brands with their own very positive attributes however it is the least expensive model which is already gaining most of the plaudits with my colleagues across the Liffey making it the Irish Times Car of the Year while declaring the Ioniq 5 is “a rare car from a mainstream car maker that so dramatically pushes back the styling envelope” (and) “it’s a rarer still car that advances the technology of the segment so significantly”. More internationally it has been named as the 2022 German Car of the Year (GCOTY) with the mid-sized CUV seeing off competition such as the Audi E-Tron GT and the Porsche 911 GT3.

Jens Meiners, the initiator and jury member of the GCOTY, declared the “Hyundai Ioniq 5 is not just a standout electric car. To us, it’s this year’s top model. Ioniq 5’s unique combination of design, efficiency, and driving pleasure helped the car earn above-average scores across all criteria without showing any weak spots. In our eyes, Ioniq 5’s operating concept and battery technology are ground-breaking. And although it is the 2022 ‘German Car of the Year’, Ioniq 5 definitely has global appeal”.

Back in September my Irish Independent colleague Eddie Cunningham was ahead of the pack when he declared the Ioniq 5 had something “few cars have these days – real emotional appeal”. And he finished his review by declaring, in response to the question ‘Would he buy it?’, “With an unrestrained yes, I would. Watch out Tesla and VW and others: Hyundai is coming at you.”

Meanwhile in the UK, AutoXpress named the Ioniq 5 its car of the year calling it a “supremely talented all-electric family car that’s hard to fault” and “one of the best cars you can buy”.

I was keen to give the above summary as many years ago I got a bit of good-natured flak for making the Hyundai i10 the Sunday Independent Car of the Year for two years in succession. I also persuaded my future wife to twice pay the full price for successive i10s. Neither decision is regretted.

Taking a car out over the holiday period gives a chance to live with it for that bit longer so it almost becomes part of your life. This included going up the Dublin mountains on Christmas morning for a two-hour walk in absolutely torrential rainfall. Getting back to the warmth of the Ioniq 5 was absolutely bliss and the infotainment system gave the option of having the sounds of a crackling fire played to you.

While we were driving the smaller 58kWh battery Premium Ioniq 5 with a range of around 350km most of the orders for this year will be for the 73kWh Premium Plus (510km range) model at €53,495 (after grants). There is also an AWD version at €65k. The whole range starts at €37,995 which is about the level of the much, much smaller Hyundai Kona EV version.

The Ioniq 5 makes the most use of an exceptionally long wheelbase in a body that sits in length between the firm’s Tucson and Santa Fe. It’s built on their new Electric Global Modular Platform platform with limousine-like space inside set off by a flat floor and lounge seats. The height in the back is far better than cars like its Kia EV6 sister which have gone for a more coupe-like rear. There is a wonderful openness about the quality cabin which does give the impression that you are driving something very modern. However I still get annoyed that neither Kia or Hyundai put grab handles above the driver’s door.

There’s a massive display across two 12.3 inch screens. Luggage space is adequate with an extra “Frunk” under the bonnet giving space for the charging cables and smaller items. The battery technology on board is massively impressive. There’s a heat pump to help the range and with a fast charger it will give you around 200km in 18 minutes or 100km in less than five minutes. The 168bhp test model had a useful 8.5 seconds for the dash to 100kmh, the 73kWh (214bhp) battery version makes it more than a second faster while the AWD model with its twin motors (301bhp) will do it in 5.2 seconds.

There’s an awful lot of on-board tech and safety features, some of it bordering on the intrusive at times, but you always felt that you were cocooned in a very confident and comfortable car with great ground clearance. It suits my rather more relaxed driving style these days. I got used to the Ioniq 5 very quickly and the admiring glances from the public, but better than all the reviews I have quoted above was when my wife, without prompting, said how much she liked the car and thought it very special and really good looking. The five-year warranty is always a good selling point too.

Hyundai has a massive winner on their hands with the Ioniq 5; their Tucson was the biggest seller in the country last year, and now this family-sized, super cool, well priced, futuristic EV takes the Korean company’s success to an all-new level.

These days it isn’t just me saying it.

Trend to automatics is gaining momentum

The final figures for car sales last year showed it was an almost even split between automatic and “stick” shifts. The trend to automatic will keep on growing until manually changing gears will become a rarity. Apparently it takes the first five driving lessons to master the clutch. I’m sure people’s confidence and road awareness will be so much better if those early lessons aren’t taken up by awful stalling and grinding of gears.