Let me start with a very strong disclaimer that I am an old-school gas guy. Always have been. The rumble of any engine, be it a 1.5-liter turbo to a properly tuned V8, the satisfying click of a short-throw shifter and the smell of fuel and burnt rubber is all religion to me. I've been lucky enough to sit behind the wheel of just about everything with four wheels and an engine, and more recently, as I got behind the wheel of some EVs, I've always walked away feeling a little... let's say, empty.I've driven Teslas. I've cruised in the Mercedes EQS Sedan — which is genuinely incredible in that "floating on a cloud in a library" kind of way, very luxurious, very quiet, very not a driver's car. I've been in the Porsche Cayenne EV and the new Dodge Charger Daytona, both of which at least made an effort to speak my language. But, something was just always missing.Then three things happened. Three machines that made me grin from ear to ear, staring at the steering wheel, questioning my entire belief system.Welcome to Driver's Week. This week we are focusing on some of the best driver cars out there,both past and present. We are looking at everything in the driving culture community that surrounds it and everything in between. The Hyundai Ioniq 5 N: A Family Car With a Felony Record Jared Solomon / HotCarsI am a big guy. I like space. I need elbow room, headroom, and enough cargo area to haul the chaos of everyday life. I also — and this is important — love going fast. These two desires have historically been at war with each other, a tension that has defined my car-buying life since roughly forever.On paper, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N looks completely innocent. A crossover. A family crossover. The kind of thing you'd park next to a minivan at a soccer game and nobody would blink. It has a practical interior, a sensible profile, and the general aesthetic of a mild-mannered appliance. I climbed in, settled into the seat and thought, "Sure, okay, this should be nice."Jared Solomon / HotCars What happened next is genuinely difficult to describe to someone who hasn't experienced it. The world just... left. Not in a gentle, linear, "wow that's quick" kind of way. I mean the horizon rearranged itself. My internal organs filed a formal complaint. In the two years I've been driving cars seriously, nothing — nothing — has launched harder out of a dig. Not the sports cars, not the muscle cars, not the things that cost three times as much and wear their performance on their sleeve.This is the ultimate sleeper car. You can haul your kids, your groceries, your golf clubs, and your dignity to work on Monday morning. And then on Saturday, you can embarrass people who thought they were buying a fast car. The Ioniq 5 N doesn't ask for anyone's respect at all. Once you get behind the wheel, it just takes it. It's got over 600hp, can sprint to 60mph in just 3 seconds and the best part is that it actually drives well too. In fact, fun to drive is an understatement. The Audi E-Tron GT: When EVs Starts Meaning Something Else Audi If the Ioniq 5 N is the scrappy upstart throwing haymakers at supercars, the Audi E-Tron GT is the sophisticated assassin.I'll be honest, always, of course. I expected to like this car the way I like a nice hotel. Comfortable, competent, forgettable. I did not expect it to fundamentally challenge my understanding of what a luxury car is supposed to feel like in motion.Everything about the E-Tron GT feels slightly unreal. The acceleration is so smooth and so savage that your brain can't quite process it — there's no buildup, no drama, no mechanical storytelling. It just goes, instantly and completely, like the car decided to teleport and is politely bringing you along for the ride. But then the handling really got me. This is a large, heavy electric car, and it moves through corners with the kind of precision and planted confidence that I associate with much smaller, purpose-built machines. It's comfortable enough for a long road trip and sharp enough to make you smile on a back road, and it manages to do both without feeling like it's compromising on either.Audi The base S e-tron GT produces 670 hp and hits 0–60 in 3.3 seconds, with a top speed electronically limited to 152 mph. The RS e-tron GT produces 818 hp in normal driving, with up to 912 hp unlocked via launch mode, hitting 0–60 in under 2.5 seconds. I mean, I don't really have to go into any more specs to prove that this thing is a performance car through and through. It's the kind of car that makes you rethink your assumptions. I didn't expect to feel much driving it. But, I felt a lot. The Harley-Davidson LiveWire: The One I Really Didn't See Coming via Harley-Davidson Okay, I need to talk about the Harley-Davidson LiveWire, because this one hit differently. Yes, it's not a driver, it's a rider in this instance, but so what? If we are going to have an EV vs gas debate, then we have to include motorcycles too.I ride. Motorcycles are a whole separate chapter of my automotive life, and Harleys occupy a very specific place in that chapter — they're about sound, feel, and culture. The idea of a silent Harley seemed, at first, almost offensive. What are you even doing without that iconic rumble? Are we just cosplaying motorcycle culture now?I really am smiling as I write this, because the memory alone of that motorcycle still excites me. The LiveWire's acceleration is, without exaggeration, genuinely startling. On a motorcycle, there is nothing between you and physics. No car body, no seat pressing you back — just you, your grip on the handlebars, and whatever the machine decides to do. The feeling of 0-60 on a bike is very different that in a car.When the LiveWire goes, it goes, and the sensation of that instant electric torque delivered directly through while you're sitting completely exposed to the universe is one of the most visceral things I have experienced on any vehicle.I did not expect to love it. But, I really loved it. So... Can an EV Be a Driver's Car? Source: Bradley Hasemeyer / Hot Cars / Valnet Here's where I have to be honest with myself, and with you.The world will always love gasoline. I will always love gasoline. There is something about the mechanical drama of an internal combustion engine — the way it builds, the way it sounds, the way it communicates through vibration and noise — that connects you to the machine in a way that is genuinely hard to replicate. When a great ICE car is singing at the top of its rev range, that's an experience.And look, the fake engine noises some EVs pump through the speakers, in my opinion, is embarrassing. The simulated gear changes as well need to stop. I would rather have honest silence than a car that's pretending to be something it isn't. That stuff is the automotive equivalent of a restaurant playing a recording of background chatter to seem busy. Nobody's fooled, and it makes the whole thing worse.But here's what I can no longer pretend isn't true. The Ioniq 5 N is more fun to drive fast than most gas cars I've been in. The E-Tron GT handles better than it has any right to. The LiveWire made my heart rate do things that only fast vehicles are supposed to do. Electric cars, at their best, are not pretending to be driver's cars anymore. They actually are. The performance is real, the capability is real, and the feeling — the genuine, stomach-dropping, grin-on-your-face feeling — is completely, undeniably real.I'm not ready to park the gas cars. Not even close. But I'd be lying to you, and to myself, if I told you these machines didn't earn something from me. Some grudging, bewildered, slightly annoyed respect. They're fast, and, unfortunately for my previously firm opinions — they're fun as hell.