First review - You want a Hyundai Ioniq 5! No Skoda Enyaq or Volkswagen ID.4

What is striking about the Hyundai Ioniq 5?

Unlike the existing Hyundai Ioniq – a somewhat gray meat-nor-fish car to look at – the retro-hip Ioniq 5 is sharply drawn. With its angular lines and blocky LED headlights and taillights, it looks like it's driven right out of the science fiction movie Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. As if they didn't start drawing at Hyundai themselves, but took a forty-year-old design by the Dutch futurologists Robbert and Rudolf Das.

What's good about the Hyunda Ioniq 5?

The Hyundai Ioniq 5 is 4.6 meters long and has a wheelbase of exactly 3 meters. This means that you have nothing to complain about in the interior about the space. What is special is that you can put the front seats in a lounge position. Then the backrest drops to almost horizontal and a support for your legs comes up. In the second row you do not have that luxury, but you benefit from a limousine amount of legroom. The trunk of the Ioniq 5 is smaller than that of the Volkswagen ID.4 (527 versus 543 litres), but unlike the German, the Korean is equipped with a 57-litre 'frunk' (24 liters for the AWD).

During the introduction of the Ioniq 5 in Spain, Hyundai gave us the version with four-wheel drive and a 73 kWh battery. It is 305 hp and 605 Nm strong, flies to 100 km/h in just over 5 seconds and - like all Ioniq 5 variants - reaches a limited top of 185 km/h. If you put it on the scale ready for use, the needle will pop to 2095 kilos in one go. But on the way you feel almost nothing of that weight.

The Ioniq 5 steers lightly and accurately. Because the battery pack is low in the chassis, the Hyundai has a favorable center of gravity, which gives it the handling of a large hatchback rather than that of an oversized crossover. You can seriously blow a pot with it. In Normal and Sport there is always and everywhere that instant torque from the electric motors to launch you quickly out of corners. In Eco mode, the response to the power pedal is deliberately slow and heavy.

It does not matter which version you order, you always have the pleasure of an 800 Volt charging system. And that pays off if you look for a 350 kW fast charger (the one from Ionity, for example). The Ioniq 5 then charges almost twice as fast as the Volkswagen ID.4 (220 kW versus 125 kW), reaching a battery level of 80 percent after just 18 minutes. That means drinking if you have ordered a cup of gas station coffee.

What could be done better with the Hyundai Ioniq 5?

The driver's seat cannot be lowered far enough. We found it a challenge to find a comfortable seating position. The steering wheel is adjustable in length and height, but the seat remains fiddly. You sit unpleasantly 'on the buck'. An annoying side effect is that the upper steering edge - depending on the chosen seating position - blocks part of the digital meters.

Don't worry, you might think, you still have the head-up display that you augmented realityleads in the right direction. But unfortunately, the navigation instructions projected into the windshield are sketchy and sometimes downright confusing. Brief is a word that in any case does not apply to the multimedia system of the Ioniq 5. The interface looks beautiful and can be operated quickly. Hyundai only seems to have gone a bit loose with the structure. There are so many icons and menus.

When will the Hyundai Ioniq 5 come and what will it cost?

The first copies of the Hyundai Ioniq 5 are already at the dealer. There are two rear-wheel drive versions. For 43,500 euros you get the entry-level model with 170 hp / 350 Nm and a 58 kWh battery (range: 384 kilometers). If you transfer at least 46,500 euros to the Hyundai dealer, a 217 hp / 350 Nm strong variant with 73 kWh battery will be delivered (range: 481 kilometers). The Ioniq 5 with AWD that we tested costs 54,500 euros and comes up to 460 kilometers away.

What do I think of the Hyundai Ioniq 5?

Kudos to Hyundai, which has drawn a real head turner with the Ioniq 5. Don't be fooled by the retro appearance of the ID.4 competitor, under his coach there is innovative technology that is really useful to you as an electric driver. At the right charging station, you can recharge the Ioniq 5 to an 80 percent battery level in 18 minutes. Add to that the fact that the Hyundai offers a lot of space, steers wonderfully and is thoroughly refined, and you have an EV that sets the new standard in its segment.