Hyundai Ioniq 5 review – is an EV the best premium SUV in India? | OVERDRIVE

Thinking that will India electrics to buy us as its fans. Its also got 631 kilometers off range and is locally assembled, so it should be a good deal as well. This is down to the rupees 45.95 lakh asking price. So, even though the ionic is very closely related to the Kia ev6, with the same egmp architecture, Hyundai has been able to position this car within a gap in the EV segment, using just a simple rear motor setup and a smaller 72.6 kilowatt battery pack. Now the first thing that you need to know about the ionic 5 is that its quite a bit larger than what it looks like on screen or in photos. Now this crossoverish hatchback mismatch kind of shaped. This very funky look hides the fact that this is longer and wider than the Tucson, if not as tall. But yes, the Hyundai ionic 5 is really quite a large car foreign Music. Immediately, though, is this Neo retro styling. It takes inspiration from the Hyundai Pony from 1975, the first Korean developed car. You see this in the double barrel, light design enhanced here in a deep set cluster with the seamless black band, but its the detailing that lifts it. The pixelated LED drls and the hidden striations for the full width lighting being the most prominent. The look is also specially clean. There are no visible radar sensors and the flaps in the bumper only open on the move for cooling, the battery and ventilation.

Now its very clear of the benefits that Hyundai has been able to achieve using this EV only egmp architecture, for example – you dont see this very often in EVS for some reason, but theres a proper front trunk or a fruit or whatever you want to call it. Its 57 liters, so you can actually use it for more than just your chargers and that continues when you move to the side as well. Of course, you have these really large 20 inch wheels. Weve never seen Wheels like this in a Hyundai before, but theyre there and again to go with the rest of the car styling its got this really striking Aero inspired design. It looks really nice and premium, but the main draw again of this EV architecture. Is this really long, wheelbase its 3000 mm long, which makes it 100 mm longer than even the full size, Hyundai Palisade and even longer than some really large SUVs? And then, of course, you have these really sharp cuts and creases that have become quite common in Hyundais, especially since the Tucson and then the usual EV touches like this pop out door handle the boot is a large 537 liters. Its got a flat of slightly high lip, but a square and useful space. As with many EVS, you dont get a spare wheel with the motor being packed underneath the modern theme has more retro nodes. When you see the rear, the angular C pillar is another direct link to the pony, while the 8 Bit style panel, which houses the hidden tail lamps, is again a fun touch.

The clean angular look continues with the windscreen and bootlet so overall, despite ground clearance growing to a laden 163 mm for India. The ionic 5 is striking with its Square squat proportions now, while the ionic 5 looks quite funky and almost sci fi ish from the outside. On the inside theres, quite a bit of thought, thats gone into it and, to be honest, this to start with is quite a premium interior about the most that weve seen from Hyundai so far, its very close, if not quite up there, with some German Rivals and It starts with a general layout which is really quite thoughtful, its a bit different with this asymmetrical section here and these panels, just so its simple, but really quite thoughtfully done, and then you have this switch gear here, which again feels really quite nice to use theres Hard buttons for most controls, except for these AC vents, but at least the panel is large, so thats helpful. And then you have this steering wheel, which again is a bit different from regular Hyundai, but has capacitive buttons, these paddles for the region modes. And these really quite Hefty, really nice to use stocks for the indicators for the wipers and even the gearly was almost a mercedes style sort of stock mounted. Here it functions in a slightly offbeat manner like the rest of the car, but India. It works really well same with these two 12.3 inch screens. They have completely new graphics, which are an upgrade over what youve seen in say, something like the Tucson, but with a lot of easy, specific functions which well get into eventually Music.

Now the heavy use of white materials, many of which are from recycled waste, is calming, but it will take some cleaning. The white themed instrumentation merges quite nicely with this, though the EV specific Graphics are detailed, giving you a great idea of just how far you can go with the battery levels. The range readout usefully also changes with the climate use and regen level. Having said that, the small region readout in the instrumentation could have been larger, but what really uplifts this Ambience are. These really smart touches that Hyundai has done its a playful thing, so it really works. For example, there is no h logo here on this horn pad its just four dots, which is Morse code for the letter, H very thoughtfully done, and then, of course, this two spoke steering wheel that I mentioned really well made. You have these dry mode switches again. Quite in quite a sporty manner on the steering wheel and it does not stop there – you get these aside from the usual lumbar adjustment and the powered adjustments you also get. These leg rests on the seats if you can see so there is that added degree of comfort and then with the EV architecture. Of course, theres immense practicality. The no pockets are large, as you can see its a step through floor theres, no Central tunnel at all. To speak of, and it doesnt stop there, as you can see, you can actually slide this Central tunnel back and forth, which is and just walk through or maybe put something if you want to theres this, its not just a glove box, its literally a glove drawer And as youve come to expect from human right, this is backed up by a really long set of features.

The highlights are: Dual Zone: air conditioning with very detailed climate control functions, powered front seats with heating and cooling that recline nearly flat for use when charging heated and power reclining rear seats. The sounds of nature, wireless charging, Auto headlamps and wipers. Eight speaker, Bose audio OTA, updates, Blue Link and heated outer mirrors. Some misses are that Android, auto and apple carplay still only wired and there are no type c charge ports, but really, if youre spending close to 50 lakhs on a car, the back seat really has to be quite important and again with that 3000 mm wheelbase, the Ionic 5 delivers here in Spades as well. For example, theres immense space like the front its a fully flat floor, thats, barely a hump because its a skateboard architecture, a lot of knee room and legroom. You can put your feet underneath the front seats, and this is really quite uncommon. A lot of EVS that we drive with their compromise flaws with which holds the battery pack. You dont have under thigh support, but with this always being designed as an EV, that problem does not exist, so it really is quite a comfortable bench here and considering the weight. Three people will easily fit here and it doesnt stop there. You can slide it forward. Like this slide, it back and also recline to quite a comfortable angle. You can do it for both this plate and this plate and then to go with that.

You have these two USB ports, which are fine and fair enough. You have a AC vent here and this a sun shade. So yes, in the back seat, you will be really quite comfortable and of course you have this moon roof. It doesnt open, sadly, but it of course has a shade, so yeah in terms of rear seat, Comfort to the ionic 5 really does deliver and then just to make things easier. There are these buttons here on the C set somewhere like what you see in the Tucson, where you can control the functions of these seats right from your driver or anyone else in the car can very easily access these functions to control these. So its really quite handy and useful to have that there is a level 2 Adas which, if the Tucson is anything to go by, should be quite useful in our conditions, you get. Six airbags by 8 would have been ideal. All four disc brakes, 360 degree cameras with the blind view, monitors TPMS and Hill start Music. Now the first thing that you notice, when you start driving the ionic 5, is again another benefit of this EV. Only architecture thats the sheer amount of visibility that you have its larger than the Tucson like I mentioned before, but on the road it doesnt quite ever feel like that feels quite compact. On these narrow go on roads that were driving on. It feels Compact and thats mainly down to the great visibility that you have.

The sill is quite low, its not it doesnt have to fit an engine, which is why the sill is quite low and you can see the edges of the Bonnet, which means that looking out is very easy. You know how to place the car quite easily, so thats the first benefit, and then you also notice the levels of nvh theyre, really quite impressive, even for an EV theres, really not too much tire noise or wind noise, which you would otherwise notice quite a bit. Considering that theres no engine sound anything to distract you so its a really quiet experience, which is quite soothing, you have this slight drone, which just tells you of the kind of progress that youre making the ioniq 5 uses a 72.6 kilowatt hour. Liquid cooled lithium ion battery pack that powers a rear, mounted electric motor. Another version of the ionic 5 that you get in India is the single motor rear wheel, drive variant. It makes 217 PS and 350 Newton meter, which is safe, half of the cost for similarly priced icy SUVs. So in that sense, but of course, this being an Eevee that sensor performance is slightly enhanced because of how easily accessible the torque is, which means that the ionic 5 in any of the modes, the Eco, normal or even the spot mode. It feels quite brisk. It feels Alert in just the way an EV should an another great trait is that even at very high speeds that speeds where you would usually expect EVS to sort of dull down the performance it doesnt, so even lets say 80 or 100.

If you want to make an overtake, the ionic 5 still has enough performance on tap to give you that overtake without any, you know dip. So, in that sense the performance really does match up to the price, and you will never quite notice or feel that you are in an in a slow car or feel out gun by anything on the road so, whether its on the highway or in the city, The ionic 5 will do the job for you. The ionic 5 doesnt alter outputs with Drive modes instead, just changing pedal response and steering feel now. If anything, we would have liked, maybe the sport mode to be a bit more aggressive. It could have tightened up the steering a bit more giving you just that added bit of performance like say some other EVS around this price range do, but in the ionic 5, even in the spot mode, the performance is there. You feel that slight sense of urgency, but its never quite enhanced significantly over the normal or the Eco Mode foreign. You will also be pleasantly surprised by the ionic 5s right Comfort. Despite these large low profile 20 inch wheels. The EV feels pliant over our rules. Theres only a change of the firmness that you usually find in electric vehicles, but this only becomes a hindrance over very rough surfaces, the ionic stays flat and poised at higher speeds, with again a plushness that is quite comfortable. This is matched with a competent handling character with that sense of balance that you usually find in rear driven cars.

Yes, there is some rule if you take a corner too quickly, but in regular driving. The ionic 5 feels confident with the low slung weight being well managed. The steering is thoughtfully judged too, with a good balance between directness and heft. Now you get quite a few regen modes with the ionic 5 and these again alter the Driving Experience. So, for example, in the coasting mode, you will find that the ionic 5 will move along without too much resistance. It feels like you are freewheeling completely, which isnt quite similar to an IC, but as you keep going through the region modes, you notice that the resistance builds. There is a bit more heft to the pedal, the accelerator pedal and thats generally, a slightly different feeling coming from the car. So, depending on what you like, for example, we found that in these narrow Goan roads, so the level two or the level 3 modes felt the closest to what you would feel in an internal combustion, car and yeah. It works perfectly and also a really good point here with the ionic. Five is the way this region is merged with the physical breaks, the friction breaks so, for example, when youre coming to a stop, you realize that the switch over from Regen to the friction brakes is very natural theres. None of that delay or that dissonance that you notice, sometimes in some easy Music now another region more, that you dont see very often is an auto region more than the ionic 5 has.

So what this will do is it will keep changing the region levels constantly. Varying, depending on how youre driving say, if youre in the city and itll give you more region, if youre out on the highway, it will automatically reduce the region. Now you also get a one pedal driving mode, which Hyundai calls the eye mode and yeah. This genuinely is a one pedal driving mode, as you can see its come to a complete halt, and then you start off again so yeah. This should be quite useful in traffic conditions if you can get used to driving in this mode, although even a higher region mode should be fine. Music, uniquely the auto region function, uses the radar to judge region levels which we found Works intuitively enough to not distract from the Driving Experience. Now, when you want to charge the ionic 5, you can do it at up to 350 kilowatts, which is really fast, considering its 800 volt architecture but, of course, in reality, its very difficult to find such a fast charger in India for that matter, even globally. So, in a more attainable, 50 kilowatt charger, you can charge it in about 57 minutes, which is still not bad at all. Yeah. The flap opens like this, and an 11 kilowatt are charging with the bundled AC charger will take about 6 hours 55 minutes now. Another great function is the vehicle to load feature which will give back 3.3 kilowatts, so you can power, say laptops and so on with an adapter you plug that in and you can use the ionic 5 to power a lot of gadgets.

The ionic 5 is a clear step forward for Hyundai. In many respects it is expensive but Hyundai India has been able to create a package that feels good value. This is down to the clear Step Up. You notice in refinement, build and driving character over its lesser products pair that, with a long features list practical cabin, usefully long range, the ionic 5 isnt, just a competent EV. It has enough to offer to be an option among the larger premium SUV segment.