Hyundai Ioniq 5 N DK Edition officially revealed
The glory days of the Japanese tuner special live on... in a Korean EV
It was hard to know quite what to expect from the DK Edition Ioniq 5 N, given Keiichi Tsuchiya hadn’t had any car input before and the Ioniq - despite its tech - isn’t the most obvious drift car in the world. Would it be a cynical cash-in on the name? You’d hope not, given the rep built up by Hyundai. Would it be rear-drive only? Seems a bit extreme with all that power. Might it just be a nicely optimised version of a really good electric car?
The latter seems probably closest to the truth for now, going off what’s been shared in the first part of a YouTube series. Certainly the car looks as cool as hoped for, its stance spot on and the carbon lending it a motorsport aura. As far as can be told, the DK doesn’t boast any more power than standard, though if the Ioniq 5N needed anything it definitely wasn’t an output increase.
Instead, the focus has been on the chassis, with Tsuchiya-san spending time alongside the N team to perfect the setup. While the standard dampers were left alone, they settled on a set of H&R lowering springs that have dropped the Hyundai 15mm at both ends and upped the spring rate by an undisclosed amount. The change promises ‘enhanced track handling’ as well as ‘more agile driving’, which is certainly encouraging. The Drift King seems impressed in the video, though he’s unlikely to have implemented mods he doesn’t like.
The brake upgrade is a pretty serious one, too, with six-piston monoblock aluminium alloy calipers up front; they get racier pads that cover 54 per cent more of the disc than before, too. DK says it brings “reliable braking performance even in the most demanding environments”, with greater power and stamina. Uprated rear pads should balance out the braking effort. And the green looks great.
The DK Edition also benefits from some lovely forged wheels, which shave 10kg from the unsprung mass despite still being 21-inch diameter and actually a little wider (10.0J) than stock. Bring those together with a full carbon bodykit (front splitter, side skirts, diffuser and gooseneck rear spoiler) that promises a tangible downforce benefit - 93kg at 87mph - and the DK Edition really seems like a proper job. Japan’s most famous racing driver says it offers an “incredible” driving experience, “where Hyundai N performance meets the DK style”.
All sounds right up our street: a performance car that’s really fun to drive, hopefully made even more so by a man and a team that knows all about entertainment. A shame, then, that for now the DK Edition looks set only for Korea and Japan, with sales kicking off this year. Let’s hope one or two could find a way here at some point - it’ll be like the good old days of Japanese imports all over again…
(With Terminator X winding them up)
I had it marked down for size and weight, and wasn't interested at first.
The fact that it is rated so well despite it's size and weight caught my attention.
Turns out this is the first car that satisfies my needs for a driver's car AND can take the role as the main family daily car, /despite/ and *because* it's size, respectively.
And if you realise the practical size is in the region X5M/Cayenne, the performance it offers is amazing. It isn't even heavy if seen like that, ICE competitors weigh similar, EV competitors, if they even exists, are markedly heavier for a given size.
On-topic: nice with a special, they look to be good for people tracking their car a lot. I'm more of a back road blaster where I need the ground clearance and suspension travel, and the brakes hold up incredibly well as most of the braking energy goes back into the battery anyway.
As for the question on downforce, does it matter? Well considering that the original car probably has lift, and that the downforce number is quoted at a very reasonable speed, and that the car already performs very well, the roughly 10% higher grip in high speed corners will definitely make a noticeable difference. I'm sure many think it looks cool too. While the special isn't meant for outside of JDM and KDM, I do hope there will be a growing offering of N Performance parts as this new verhicle type gains traction...
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