RE: 2024 Hyundai Ioniq 5 N | UK Review

Where did you manage to get a test drive? I phoned around all my local garages and not had any luck.

Strange then that you were moaning like an old woman again on the Caterham thread about the Project V
That car has the potential to be an absolutely fantastic driver's car and one of the lightest EVs going, patience Lee!

People lust after a Lotus Elise but the engine in that car was never part of its main appeal. The first Ultimas had Renault V6s, the Noble M12 (a car so many on here claim to love) had a Ford Duratec V6 but again, the cars themselves were greater than the relatively boring engines that powered them and I definitely saw them all postered on peoples walls 20-odd years ago. Even the new Alpine is powered by a 4-cylinder engine but I've yet to hear anyone who's serious about driving speak ill of the experience upon driving it based on its engine.

Point is, the engine in many cars that people lust after does not define it - for example, you own a Caterham yourself, do you not? Are you honestly going to tell me the K-series engine defines how good the driving experience is in that car? Does the lack of a big engine make it any less desirable? As I see it on this forum with the so-called 'drivers cars', the main things that people talk about and prioritise are lightness, handling, braking and steering feel, fun factor etc - what powers them tends be come far lower down the list. I have never, in my life, ever heard anyone define a Countach as a 'drivers car' btw.

Ultimately, I think that BEVs are still relatively new and over time, something will develop that is just as appealing. If drivers car type BEVs of the future look like this:-



weighed something around a 1000kgs (and maybe sounded like this), whilst having decent range, somehow I think most people could live with that. I believe we'll get there in the end with all of these things and cars like this Hyundai are steps toward that. It always makes me laugh to see comparisons made between a technology that's been developed for almost 150 years at this point being compared to one that's been developed (on a mass scale at least) for less than 30 years; the improvements in BEV tech since around 2008 which is when the Tesla Roadster came out are amazing to me so where will things be in another 20 years!?

Presumably you've had the fake engine sound in your M4 decoded then?

Modern cars have many downsides and that is definitely one of them for sure, and the bloody OPFs!!

I'm lucky that I also have the 370Z and the Caterham though, and they are far more "pure" in comparison to be fair.

I always like listening to the exhaust cooling down similar to that...when you've been out for a good blast in an ICE car as well.

When you strip it all back, there isn't a lot to get excited about really when it comes to electric cars in comparison to me. Fine if you want to pop to the shop for a pint of milk, but they don't have a lot else to get the juices flowing though for me.

Range shown is mostly dependent on how the car has been driven in the past. A demo model of the N is unlikely to have been previously driven in anything less than furiously. Stating other manufacturers claimed ranges is hardly fair - Hyundai claim 395 miles iirc.

What sort of family do you have?! Mine couldn't give a monkeys about that.

Yes and as a "head" car...I can understand the appeal, but as a "heart" car...they do struggle regarding that I think. However nobody is buying electric as a "heart" purchase anyway, so it is a moot point anyway I reckon.

Speak for yourself only sir - I will never buy or own an ICE car ever again.

The dream car would be a Spectre, having been fortunate to test-drive one; other than maybe range, there is simply nothing about an ICE'd Royce that I can see has any advantage whatsoever over their new BEV. The whole point of their V12s was always to possess the qualities that naturally happen with electric motors - totally smooth/vibration free, as close to silent as possible and ridiculous amounts of wafting torque (which of course one gets the full amount of from zero revs with BEVs); I can see your argument if you want a sports car experience but as a daily experience I much prefer opulent luxury where the noise of the world is shut out when you close the door and you find yourself cocooned.

It really reminds me of flying in first rather than in coach - the reason first is always at the front of a plane is because it's the quietest area, sitting as far ahead of the engines as possible. I notice that calm always makes me feel more relaxed at my destination than constantly being bombarded with noise.

So to you saying "However nobody is buying electric as a "heart" purchase anyway" my riposte is "nobody when taking cost out of the equation would prefer to fly coach than first class"!