Almost Perfect
If Nintendo had a love child with the VW Rabbit and it was christened by Jony Ive, it would be the Ioniq5. It is such a beautiful car with unique retro touches. It turns heads all day long. Hard to believe it’s a Hyundai.
I love driving next to $150k+ sports cars or teens who rev their loud engines trying to show off. The i5 would smoke them in silence: 0-60 in 4.4 seconds.
The interior is spacious, gorgeous, and comfortable without being pretentious. With a panoramic roof & sliding and reclining back seats, I’m thinking of making it my office and writing it off as a biz expense. And with V2L, I can plug in my laptop and siphon the battery. Very ingenious.
The infotainment is subtle but robust. No giant iPad screen that takes up the entire dash while taking your eyes off the road. Yet it still offers lots of features without being unnecessary gimmicky (i.e. no fart sounds).
With 4 drive and 4 regenerative braking modes, you can noticeably change the driving experience.
Things I wish were better (ie spoiled 1st world complaints)…
No rear wiper. Dumbest oversight ever.
L2 auto driving could be better. On turns, driving assist will turn off. I ate a salad while driving my parents Tesla (hope my dad isn’t reading this). I wouldn’t trust doing that with the I5. I suppose that’s why it’s called L2 and not autopilot… and less money.
I know OTA updates are coming, but I’m nervous to see how limiting and infrequent they are.
No ability to connect to Wi-Fi. That’s weird, but maybe not a big deal?
Wireless charger is tucked away. I’d prefer my phone visible to see notifications.
Bluelink app is adequate.
No separator between driver and passenger leg area. Great for playing footsies; not safe when an object rolls over into the pedals.
Verdict: I love the Ioniq5. I was nervous about diving into the EV world b/c of range anxiety. This car is super efficient and can charge 10-80% in 18 min on a DC fast charger. I’ve caught the EV bug. Now if only the fast charging infrastructure were more widespread and reliable.
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