Hyundai Ioniq 5 N 2024 review: on road and track

The first big breakthrough for making fast EVs genuinely satisfying to drive was the release of the Porsche Taycan. The second breakthrough is the new Hyundai Ioniq 5 N.

It’s a grand statement, but so’s the car: the seriously heady Ioniq 5 N is the magnum opus of Albert Biermann, N division’s controlling brain since its inception.

A $111,000 (before on-road costs), all-electric, high-performance Hyundai would have been unthinkable a decade ago, when the brand’s Golf GTI-hunting i30 N was still a rumour.

It might have a cult following, but Hyundai’s N performance brand is still fledgling enough that a convincing leap to the fully-electric era, dictated mainly by the sweeping impact of European emissions regulations on the world car industry, was far from assured.

And yet, driven first in South Korea by Chasing Cars correspondent Iain Curry and second on Australian roads – and Sydney Motorsport Park – by yours truly confirms that Hyundai is well ahead of most car manufacturers on the road to making EVs drive properly.

Tesla might lead the EV industry in sales, software and charging – all of which are meaningful and crucially important – but the well-executed Ioniq 5 N is way ahead of any Model 3 or Model Y for driver engagement and fun-factor.

With 478kW on tap from the dual-motor AWD configuration and an easy sub-4.0 second 0-100km/h time there is no shortage of power – as with most fast electric cars. To concentrate on such numbers would be to miss the point.

Unlike Tesla, which has leant hard into minimalism, both in terms of styling and the driving persona of its vehicles – even supposedly sporty ones – Hyundai has followed Porsche in going the other way.

Like the reigning best EV on the market for drivers – the Porsche Taycan – the Ioniq 5 N basically tries to imitate the dynamics of super-sorted combustion vehicles. In fact, meticulous Hyundai has gone much further than Porsche in some areas.

Biermann, who headed a crack team of engineers in developing the Ioniq 5 N despite being opaquely ‘retired’ for some years, rammed through a major decision that has been pivotal in making the Ioniq 5 N more rewarding (and easier) to drive quickly on road and track.

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