2024 Hyundai Ioniq 5 N: mighty impressive bid to turn EV into a driver’s car

It is, I think, the incongruity of it all that appeals most. Meet the Hyundai hatchback with more power than a McLaren F1. The Hyundai hatchback that, despite weighing over a tonne more than a McLaren F1, will still hit 62mph from rest in 3.4sec, just 0.2sec longer than it took me to hit 60mph in the F1 30 years ago, albeit without four-wheel drive, instant torque, launch control and having to change gear.

Were that all there was to it, I’d not be writing these words now. Truth is we’re used to EVs going very fast in straight lines; indeed the Tesla Model S P85D was accelerating just as rapidly a decade ago. What’s different here is that, for once, that’s not all this car does on the dynamic front.

You might consider some of the things it can do – fake engine noises, fake gearshifts, etc – as silly. If so just leave them turned off. Harder to dismiss is a chassis that controls two-and-a-bit tonnes better than any similarly proportioned electric SUV. And crossover SUV it is, in both size and shape even if it’s styled as a hatch. Its stance is astonishingly throttle- adjustable, turn in bizarrely incisive, yet it rides well, is incredibly spacious and quiet too.

Sure, I’d still rather have a conventional fast hatch with a proper engine, a real gearbox, an entire car’s less weight, decent range and which didn’t take hours to refill, but this is still a mighty impressive and vanishingly rare and sincere attempt to turn an EV into a proper driver’s car. And I appreciate that. AF

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Hyundai Ioniq 5 N

• Price £64,956
• Engine Front and rear electric motors, 89kWh battery
• Power 641bhp
• Torque 549lb ft
• Weight 2200kg
• Transmission Single-speed, four-wheel drive
• 0-60mph 3.4sec
• Top speed 161mph
• Range 278 miles (WLTP)
• Charging speed up to 239kW
• Verdict An EV that thinks it’s a GTI.