Review: 641bhp Hyundai Ioniq 6 N | The best new electric driver’s car? | Autocar
The Hyundai Ionic 5N has been with us for almost two years now and it’s really a bit of a landmark for electric cars. It’s the EV to convince the EV skeptics. It has really convincing dynamics, simulated engine sounds. It’s really struck a cord. So now it’s time for phase two. This is the INX 6N. Fundamentally, this is mechanically similar to an Ionic 5N. So, it’s got the same 84 kWh battery and 641 BHP dual electric motors, but it is phase 2. It is evolved from there. So, they start with a normal IonX 6. This is already the facelifted version, which is yet to come out. So, it’s got these slightly slimmer headlights. They’ve really gone to town on it with deeper front splitter, wider wheel arches, and bespoke wheels. So, it’s it’s a different tire size and wheel size to the Ioni 5N. Still 20in um but bespoke PL tires. And the other area where they’ve really evolved the formula is with the suspension. So, this is still pretty early drive. This is still a prototype and customer deliveries in the UK aren’t expected until first quarter of 26. In terms of suspension, it is quite evolved compared to Ink 5N. So, the all the pickup points or the geometry is different. They’ve got some new bushes in the subframe and the suspension that are supposed to increase the lateral stiffness but maintain enough ride comfort. Like the 5N, it has adaptive dampers, but they are now from a different supplier, so they should be a lot better. It’s got some pretty serious arrow, some proper Escort Cossworth vibes with this swan neck wing with the pickup points on the top, so it it maintains enough air flow underneath. Uh around the back, it’s lost the light bar from the normal 6N. And if we go into the boot, it has another cool feature. First of all, pretty big boot. I don’t have a liter figure, but I imagine it’s the same as a a a normal six, but you can see these bright orange bars, a proper strut brace across the rear seats. You can still fold the rear seats down um and load things through, but obviously those bars block your access. This is clearly a car to take to the racetrack rather than IKEA. Let’s quickly sit in the back. There’s not a great deal to see here. It’s the typical sort of EV saloon thing where you’ve got loads of knee room, but quite a high floor, so the seating position isn’t the most comfortable. Headroom’s a bit tight, but it’s it’s a nice enough place to be. I could stay here for reasonably long time. [Music] So, IonX 6N on the road. Now, if you’ve driven a 5N, this will feel quite familiar, just the environment, the the character of the controls, but it is different and mostly improved in a couple of ways. First thing that strikes you is the driving position. It’s it’s much lower. They are the same seats as the 5N, but it’s much lower. This feels like a proper saloon. You feel much more in touch with the car. Feel what it’s doing. It’s a much more natural driving position for a sporting car. So, that’s very good. It’s still not like a sort of M3 where you’re really on the floor, but this feels right. This feels natural. The rest of the interior is largely sort of standard facelift IonX 6. Uh, these camera mirrors are available on a normal INX 6, but won’t actually come to the production 6N. Otherwise, it’s typical H Highendai interior, which is really, really good. Uh, cuz you get lots of buttons. Some people don’t like that you have the window switches in the center here, but as someone who drives a ’90s BMW, I quite like that. It’s a really practical center console as well, cuz you have this nice slot for your phone, or you can put it there if you want to charge it. Lots of buttons, sensible infotainment, which brings us to the many, many menus. So like previous N models and BMW M cars where it sort of came from I think there is lots to configure. So first of all there’s lots of buttons on the steering wheel. Got your normal drive mode switch which gets you eco normal and sport. Uh there’s an N mode that gets you straight into the angry mode and if you press it again go to a custom mode that you can customize to your liking. NGB, N grin boost is basically sort of maximum attack short-term mode and then you got your other N button which turns on the engine sounds and then you go to the screen and you can really get lost in this for an hour. There’s a couple of most of this is similar to the 5N. There’s a couple of new things. So there’s an end drift optimizer. Uh, we’re not going to try that today because we’re on the road, but from the looks of it, you can basically get your drift to order, see how much angle and wheel spin you want, which I am really keen to try out when we get this on a track. Um, and there’s a track manager where it sort of detects if you’re near a circuit, we’re vaguely near Silverston. And then obviously you can configure everything about your custom drive mode. Right, let’s uh try and put that into practice. uh see what it drives like on the road. The other thing is the suspension. In a lot of cars with adaptive dampers, including the 5N, you can’t really use the sport or let alone the sport plus settings in the UK cuz the roads are just too bumpy. This just feels like a step up in the quality of damping. When you leave it in normal or comfort mode, it is really really quite pliant. Like it’s it’s got a sporting edge. You can feel the contours of the road, but that’s you kind of want that in a sporty car, but you drive on a bumpy British B- road and it’s just composed and it’s on a long distance trip. If you’re just going somewhere, it it really is quite comfortable while still retaining pretty good body control. Obviously, it is a two and a bit ton car. There are limits to what you can do. So if you’re if it’s if you’re going over a really big crest, you can just feel the the mass wanting to continue skyward, but that that’s that’s pretty pretty acceptable. You can even just dial it into sport mode and it gets a bit firmer, a bit more direct, but the the ride comfort just is maintained and and you don’t feel like you’re getting bounced off the road, which you do in a lot of cars. Even those people say that this is a slightly more serious, more grown-up car than the the five. And I can sort of feel that. I think you you’d have to be on a track or a drive road to really explore all the handling. And I’m sure if you are, it will still drift for days or until the tires pop. But I think the the sort of gently playful feeling of the Ink 5N on the road has gone a little bit. it. There’s still plenty of power going to the back and you can put it in yes sport mode and sporty diff mode. It’ll move around, but it feels a little bit more snappy. It It’s not as inviting to to play with the balance like the 5. You still have the simulated engine noises. And I love that hy put it on a button on the steering wheel. So, whenever I’ve driven one of these or a 5N, I just switch between having it on or off cuz I can’t really decide whether I like it best with it or without it. It’s still a really convincing system. It’s It’s more than just a gimmick because it’s still really in-depth. You can run into the You can run into the limiter or if you try and accelerate from a high gear at low speed, it just it just won’t go. They’ve evolved the sound a bit. Whereas on the 5N, it was made to sound a bit like an i30N with a DCT. This doesn’t seem to be modeled on anything in particular. I think it sounds most like a video game V6. It’s quite nice. Equally, I like it without it. I like the um the instant power and response of an EV. And the nice thing is you can have both whatever however your mood takes you. So, sum up, this is an II5N, but better if you’re a keen driver. the shock effect of, oh my god, Hyundai has made a a sporty car, has made a an EV that’s actually fun, has kind of gone, but it doesn’t detract from the abilities of this car. And look, if you want ultimate fun, I don’t think this is beating an M3, let alone something like a an M2 with a manual gearbox or a Cayman or whatever. But this is not that kind of car. This is a very dualpurpose car. You’re going to buy this as your daily drive. You might get it on a company car scheme where having no emission and therefore low company car tax is really important. Hyundai hasn’t said yet how much this is going to cost, but 5N is around £65,000. This is likely to be a little bit more, but probably not that much. As a kind of doit all car, I think this is really compelling. It’s as a daily driver, it’s going to be really comfortable. It doesn’t have the longest range of any EV because it’s not super efficient, but it does charge really quickly and has definitely a usable range. I’m sure you could get 200 miles out of it on a good day here and now. I think this is really quite a compelling electric super. Thanks for joining us. If you’d like to see more videos about old cars, new cars, EVs, petrol cars, make sure to subscribe and we’ll see you next week.
This is the new Hyundai Ioniq 6 N, the follow-up to the firm’s breathtaking, five-star 5 N performance EV.
The 6 N is lower, longer, sleeker, and gets mostly the same hardware underneath: four-wheel drive to put some 641bhp to the roads.
The Ioniq 6 N has been given a wider track than the regular Ioniq 6, plus design addenda to improve its aerodynamics.
But how does this new sports saloon drive? Join Illya Verpraet as he takes to UK roads in a late-stage prototype of Hyundai’s new performance EV.
And for more on all things N from Autocar, join us at www.autocar.co.uk
