Love Our Ionic 5 SEL
We bought an Ionic 5 SEL to replace a 2002 Acura MDX and transition one of our two cars from gas to electric. We could not be happier. Full stop! It drives beautifully, quietly, accelerates like a rocket (in Sport mode), and those soaring gas prices . . . yup, problem solved.
The only negative was paying $5K over the MSRP (on the Limited it would have been $10K, with such premiums seemingly everywhere in California - not sure about other states). We don't blame Hyundai for the over MSRP issue - that seems to be a function of supply and demand in a world of messed up supply chains.
We considered the Tesla Model Y, the VW ID4, and Audi's electric (E-tron I think). Those cars and the Ionic came closest to replacing the size and functionality of our MDX (needed to fit a road bike without taking the front wheel off and be able to schlep stuff about as well as our MDX had for two decades). We test drove the Tesla but were not able to test drive the others, so we relied mostly on internet research/reviews. While the Tesla seemed to have substantially better real world range than the others, the reviews suggested Tesla's build quality was/is no where near as good as Hyundai's. The Tesla also meant doing business with Elon Musk, and my wife detests him, so that crossed the Tesla off the list.
The Ionic could be found and purchased whereas delivery of the Audi and ID4 seemed to be 6-10 months out. And that pointed us to the Ionic. That's our story process-wise.
With about 1,200 miles including road trips into the mountains and up and down a stretch of Highway 1, I couldn't be happier (wife drives a MINI)! The driving experience is excellent, an f'ing blast (even compared to a 6-speed MINI). All the controls and screens work, fairly intuitively and without an unexpected learning curve. Without all that much effort one quickly becomes comfortable managing "range anxiety" (you get a Level 2 charger at your house; accounts with a few networks of charging stations, Hyundai gave us 2 years of free charging at Electrify America, and trickle charging is surprisingly viable). The car and an app you download help you locate charging stations without much effort. You do have to think about range (256 miles in our AWD model), and that is different than driving a gas car. So there's an adjustment, without question, but we've found it to be very manageable one (had a 50 amp circuit added for Level 2 charging at the house before we purchased the car).
If you're inclined toward making the switch to an electric vehicle - do it! And if you want a car in this size category, the Ionic (so far) is very, very impressive. Easily the happiest I've been about a new car purchase in my not quite 40 years of buying cars.
Recommended
Verified Owner
