The more aero-friendly platform-mate of the Ioniq 5 offers a maximal interior, generous range, and a confident drive experience.
- The Hyundai Ioniq 6 features aerodynamic body liness that set the EV apart from its E-GMP platform-mate, the Ioniq 5.
- The Ioniq 6 claims a tentative range on the European test cycle of 384 miles, but our real-world drive yielded closer to 290, still not too shabby.
- The electric vehicle is set for launch in the States next year, wearing a sticker expected to fall around $42,000.
Glance at the all-electric Hyundai Ioniq 6 in profile and the Mercedes-Benz CLS is arguably the most familiar reference point, with a single curve for the glasshouse and another linking headlamps to taillamps.
Walking around the Ioniq 6 in Hyundai’s Goyang ‘Motorstudio’ ahead of our South Korean test drive, design VP Simon Loasby says his team looked much further back in time, to radical “streamliner” vehicles including the Stout Scarab and Phantom Corsair—crustaceous designs produced in the 1930s and inspired by leaps in airplane aerodynamics.
Aerodynamics really are transformative for this second ‘chess piece’ in Hyundai’s full electric Ioniq line-up. The 6 rides on essentially the same E-GMP modular platform as the Ioniq 5 superhatch/SUV, and it too gets 800-volt and 350 kW charge capability, a choice of either 77.4 or 53 kWh lithium-ion batteries, multi-link rear suspension, and either rear- or all-wheel drive.
Yet a drag coefficient of just 0.21 Cd cleaves air far more efficiently than the 5’s 0.29 Cd, helping boost driving range to 384 miles on the European test cycle with the largest battery—a huge 69 miles over the equivalent 5 (US figures are TBC, but comparisons with other models sold in both markets suggests circa 350 miles EPA, while our own tested 3.75 miles per kWh gives a real-world 289 miles).
A rival for the likes of the Polestar 2 and Tesla Model 3 with a predicted starting price of $42,000, the Ioniq 6 is perhaps not the most comfortable looking design in the metal—I want to squash it lower and stretch it much wider into the Taycan-esque purity of 2020’s Prophecy concept that previewed it.
But the package is clearly challenging: a skateboard-style battery takes up a very long wheelbase of 116.1 inches (2950 mm)—2.0 inches (50 mm) shorter than the Ioniq 5—and therefore occupants sit relatively high in the cabin; plus, there are truncated overhangs and requirements to give large adults plenty of space in the front and back. An overall length of 191.1 inches (4855 mm) is some 8.7 inches (220 mm) longer than the 5, while the height of 58.9 inches (1495 mm) compares with the 5’s 63.2 inches (1605 mm)—and puts it some 2.4 inches (60 mm) or so above a 3-series.
We’re testing the top-spec Ioniq 6, with the 77.4 kWh battery, all-wheel drive, and 20-inch alloys (18s are also available), which can cruise for a max of 379 miles between charges. Performance of 325 hp is just slightly more than an Ioniq 5’s 320, with charging times equivalent: around eight hours on an 11 kW charger, dropping to 18 minutes for a 10-80% boost on a 350 kW ultra-fast charger.
It’s certainly loungey inside—the front seats are highly comfortable and offer decent lateral support around your middle. At 6-feet-1-inch, I have a couple inches of headroom. The ‘floating’ center console adds storage and a sense of space rather than actual extra occupant space, but like the Ioniq 5 and its Kia EV6 sibling, there are heavily concave door casings, so you can hang your knee in nothing but fresh air, an unusual if appealing sensation.
Some interior plastics are hard, but overall the look and feel is modern, minimalist, and well-built, with aluminium-look switches, capacitive buttons disguised under a sheen of gloss black, and twin 12-inch screens running back-to-back and responding on the double to swipes and prods.
Naturally, the back seats unleash the full packaging benefit, most notably with a vast chasm to the front seatbacks and an entirely flat floor; plus I’ve still got an inch or so of vertical space. Even if the rear seat bases aren’t quite as comfortable, it’s very relaxing back here. A slightly awkward opening will make loading larger items into the trunk something of a ship-in-a-bottle challenge, but there’s plenty of space in there (the frunk is basically a cup holder, though RWD models have more room).
My first stint is spent navigating Seoul’s nightmarish traffic, where it’s clear Hyundai has done a fine job calibrating the EV powertrain.
My first stint is spent navigating Seoul’s nightmarish traffic, where it’s clear Hyundai has done a fine job calibrating the EV powertrain, with natural and progressive responses as you squeeze and release the throttle around town. You can tailor things just so, with Eco, Normal, and much sparkier Sport drive settings, plus you can adjust the level of re-gen on ‘gearshift’ paddles fitted to the steering wheel, but just jumping in with a factory default feels right.
Not so much the optional digital side mirrors, which are smaller and more aero-efficient than regular mirrors, accounting for just under a mile of the official maximum range. They also necessitate screens that curl out from either end of the dash, which makes the transition from glance in-the-mirror to over-your-shoulder less fluid. I don’t feel as on top of my driving as I should, especially in traffic so aggressive.
Free from congestion, performance is strong rather than devastating, but there’s more than enough surge for muscular lunges down the freeway, and you always sense energy is primed to be unleashed whatever your speed.
Digital ‘powertrain’ sound effects can be a little over the top, and if anything, they’re out of sync when you really flatten the throttle. Knock them off and this is a very refined car, with impressively low road noise, bare minimum wind noise, and suspension movements defined by a mostly supple, long-striding gait—fluid-filled lower-arm bushings and variable-flow dampers help here, even if there is too much fussy patter over imperfections.
The 6 is even decent company over mountainous roads towards the North Korean border. There’s consistently meaty definition from the steering, even at the top of the rim as you flick through direction changes. Mass feels palpably low, and this chassis is keen to pivot about its middle, hook into a turn, then power out smartly. Not as a fun as a Model 3, no, but a sportier, more willing feel than other E-GMP products.
The Ioniq 6 goes on sale in the US next year, with physical vehicles supported by a metaverse, ‘Ioniq citizenship,’ and unique NFT art designed to engender brand loyalty rather than generate revenue. Almost a century since those original streamliners, Hyundai is certainly giving the genre a modern twist.
Keyword: 2023 Hyundai Ioniq 6 Sports Sleek Design, Loungey Interior Space