Hyundai’s Ionic 5 all-electric crossover was always going to be a hard act to follow having gained the title of 2022 World Car of the Year, World Electric Vehicle of the Year and World Car Design of the Year. But Hyundai designers and engineers have pulled off a repeat performance with the Ioniq 6 to win the overall 2023 World Car of the Year and the other awards won by its ’5’ predecessor.
Both Ioniq models are built on the same platform although both have different body styles.
Chief competitors are the Tesla Model 3 and BMW i4.
Hyundai people call the Ionic 6 four-door saloon ‘an electrified streamliner’. Yes, this is a sleek, low slung car that is a very welcome break from the avalanche of SUVs in the marketplace. A car for the senses. You can’t help but feel emotional looking at it with its sculpted shape, sensuous curves and sloping design. To my mind, there’s nothing quite like it for style on our roads, especially when viewed from the rear with its wing-inspired rear spoiler shaped with glass-like, transparent materials that highlight the LED signature lighting and which a neighbour said ‘makes the car look like a space ship’. A very stylish one at that and with one of the lowest drag-efficient figures around at 0.21. Good aerodynamics saves on energy.
The interior takes full advantage of the car’s long 2,950mm wheelbase to provide a spacious cabin with very good legroom for those in the rear. The slope of the roof doesn’t interfere with headroom here as I tested the car with a 6ft 2ins guy seated there. He found getting in and out didn’t mean having to duck his low down too low. All seats are so comfortable you won’t want to leave them. My driver’s one provided good, but gentle, support right the way up my back so full marks there. It also had two memory seat settings. Front seats are 8-way adjustable and fold flat for a power nap with just one click. Ambient lighting, in this case in a gentle purple, was a welcome addition.
The dash is dominated by an easy to use and stylish 12.3ins infotainment touchscreen with satellite navigation and an equally big driver’s instrumentation screen that displays speed and battery state of charge. Blind spot cover is well catered for with a red warning triangle on side mirrors and also on the rearward left and right-hand side views in the driver’s digital cluster. There’s a traditional knob for the volume control and other controls for heating and the air con. Storage areas include a deep pull out drawer type glovebox, a good area below the front armrest and a long tray below the flat of the central console.
The car’s parking gizmos really took my fancy, especially the surround view monitor. Driving into a friend’s long driveway, the central screen showed the whole drive, garden and house before me, ditto when parking nose-in to a tight parking slot showing how close I was to a hedge in front and to a vehicle parked alongside.
Power window switches are on the central console.
A high-speed wireless charger port is located in the centre console and there are lots of USB ports front and rear, of varying sizes.
Luggage space isn’t so great, though, at a tad over 400 litres but there’s another 45 litres of front cargo space under the bonnet.
Grades include Signature, Elegance and Finesse. The spec for the Signature version includes 18-inch alloys, heated front seats, dual zone climate control, tinted windows, a heat pump, power tailgate, heated steering wheel, both 12.3ins screens, front and rear parking sensors, rear view camera, a tyre kit, hill start assist, and numerous top end safety features. Elegance trim adds a leather interior, auto flush door handles, the remote smart parking assist, a Bose Speaker system, park collision avoidance, heated rear seats, Head Up display among other items.
While a 53kWh battery option with a claimed range of 429km is available, my car was the more powerful 77kWh battery with 614km of range and in the Elegance trim. When I returned the car after some long, and some short drives, it was still 50pc charged with 251kms left. Not bad at all.
Ioniq 6 can charge from 10-80pc in under 20 minutes, or add 351km of range in 15 minutes.
You can power any device or charge your tablet or computer up to 3.6 kW with the on-board 230V plug of the car’s Vehicle-to-Load technology.
On the road, the car proved a lot of fun to drive - it has a 0-100km/h time of 5.1 secs and, for such a low car, I found there was all-round good visibility. Steering was a bit light for me at first, but I soon got used to it. My passenger remarked on how quiet the car drove - he drives a diesel - which added to our onboard comfort. Drive modes of Eco, Normal and Sport. I mostly used the Normal mode.
A big niggle, though, were the bong warning sounds while driving, as is also the case in quite a few other new cars. If you exceed the speed limit, you get a four bong alert. A bong also alerts you to a speed limit change on the road and even picks up the reduced 50km/h speed limit difference of an off-ramp road while you are on the motorway, resulting in more bongs. Even if you turn off the system, it comes back on automatically next time you drive the car. Yes, it's a safety feature, but I found the bong alerts a distraction.
Ionic 6 was awarded the highest possible 5-star safety rating from Euro NCAP scoring 97pc for adult occupant protection, 76pc for child occupant, 90pc for safety assist and 66pc for vulnerable road users cover.
Ioniq 6 comes with a 5-Year Unlimited Mileage Warranty; the battery is warranty protected for 8 years or 160,000 whichever comes first.
