2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 N First Drive Review: Sweet Little Lies

The 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 N might be bigger than the hatchback it appears to be in pictures, but this car is a riot. Prodigiously brisk, surprisingly involving, and—get this—wholly unique from every other EV out there, this is an electric car every driving enthusiast should pay attention to.

Hyundai calls this vehicle an SUV and, without a doubt, it is much larger than the Lancia Delta Integrale it vaguely resembles. But in this high-performance N trim, where the car is lowered by half an inch and the fenders are 50 mm wider (and body-colored), who are we kidding? This is a hot hatch.

The new N's sport compact status is fronted by the presence of red and black trim pieces everywhere, 21-inch wheels, and enlarged grilles with active shutters (yes, electric motors need cooling too, especially given the sort of driving we're about to do). The rear reflectors look like checkered flags and the third brake light in the middle of the rear spoiler is triangular and very motorsport.

Inside, the steering wheel is new and plastered with a big, flat N logo to let you know you aren't driving just any ol' Hyundai. Bucket sport seats mounted 0.79 inches lower look appreciably cooler and hold you in place better than the chairs in the vanilla Ioniq and are partly trimmed in something Hyundai calls Eco Alcantara. Metal pedals have a checkered flag motif, too, and are joined by a pair of 12.3-inch screens rocking a whole slew of N-specific skins, gauges, and performance settings.

An electric motor at each axle draws power from a new 84-kWh battery that's more power-dense than the one in the regular Ioniq 5, spitting out a total of up to 641 horsepower and 568 lb-ft of torque.

One of the most common and frankly justified criticisms levied against electric cars is the notion that they all kind of drive the same. Smooth, planted, instant, mostly silent torque, and a slightly dull way of going about corners. With what Hyundai calls «N e-shift» turned on and some serious witchcraft in the handling department, the Ioniq 5 N does not have this problem.

With the gas car-mimicking tech activated, this fully electric vehicle effectively becomes the world's fastest Veloster N. The bassy,