Backseat Driver: Hyundai IONIQ 5

The ROADSTER! family goes back to the future with Hyundai's new IONIQ 5.

In the previous issue we looked at the climate crisis – the build up of man-made "greenhouse" gasses in the earth’s atmosphere that are trapping the sun’s heat and warming the earth’s climate to devastating levels.

Countries around the world are taking action to reduce emissions and adapt to climate change. Car manufacturers around the world are looking for sustainable transport solutions, and more and more electric cars are being released, but many people still have doubts and are hesitant about making the switch to electric.

With petrol and diesel cars gradually disappearing from production lines we need to accept that we are going to have to switch to an alternative. Electric is one alternative, but what does it mean to be an electric car family? The ROADSTER! family had a weekend to find out for ourselves!

The car we had to test was the IONIQ 5. IONIQ is an electric focussed sub brand of the Hyundai Motor Company, an automotive company from South Korea in Asia. ROADSTER! first saw this car at the British Motor Show last year and immediately loved the idea of it, so we were really excited to be given the chance to try it out.

The model we got to test was Hyundai’s new 2023 “Namsan” edition. This dual motor 77.4 kWh battery car is one of Hyundai’s top of the range IONIQ 5 cars, featuring a 10.5 kWh 3 phase on board charger, a rapid charge port and an Emergency 3 Pin Connector meaning the car could be plugged in for charge almost everywhere!

Upon delivery the first thing we noticed is how the car looks. The car has won the prestigious car design awards all over the world.

It features a classic hatchback style but look closer and you see distinctive lines, angles, shapes and pixel patterns. It looks fantastically futuristic yet it also looks like it comes from a 1980’s vision of the future with bold angles and lines. It turns out this is deliberate, as the car takes its design inspiration from Hyundai’s very first car, the 1970’s “Pony”, itself designed by famous Italian car designer Giorgetto Giugiaro, whose work includes the VW Golf, the BMW M1, the Lotus Esprit, and the DeLorean DMC-12. A family car with a design which attracts the “Generation X” drivers of today, whilst also appealing to today’s youngster’s too... “I love the way it looks!” says Sam.

Inside the IONIQ 5 is an extraordinary space. Like the TARDIS in Doctor Who the car seemed to be bigger on the inside than it looked on the outside! This was largely because of the larger flat floor, adjustable seats, and sliding centre console. Lightly coloured sustainable materials made the car feel airy and spacious, as did the panoramic vision roof – a feature of the Namsam model. Sam adored the fully adjustable and reclining front seats. There was certainly plenty of space to relax in this car!

We discovered that the boot, whilst not having the capacity to lug all of the additional gear we take on family camping holidays (“we take A LOT!” – Sam) was a good size and was more than capable of taking a large family shop. The 45 degree angle of the hatchback opening also meant that the back of the boot remained more accessible than most hatchbacks.

One party trick of the E-GMP platform is “Vehicle to Load” (V2L), which provides the opportunity to plug household appliances into the car taking power from the IONIQ 5’s considerable capacity batteries. We plugged in a hot drinks maker in remote countryside! We could even store the drinks machine, cups and bottles of water in the car’s “frunk” – a small storage area, where the engine should be.

Roadster! Snr found driving the car to be a new experience too, with very fast acceleration and a range of safety features and driving enhancements. One feature which stood out was the IONIQ 5’s ability to steer itself! Roadster first noticed the car was trying to correct its position in the road on a narrow country lane. We then tested it safely and found the car to steer itself around bends in the road! It was incredible!

Another feature we really liked was the car’s digital side mirrors. No more wing mirrors – instead, cameras on each side of the car and screens inside gave a clear and wider view of what was happening around the car. Even better – an image pops up on the drivers dashboard when indicating to turn left or right, so the driver can immediately see hidden dangers.

The IONIQ 5 Namsan car we tested came with a 77.4 kWh Lithium-ion Polymer battery. 82% of charge is claimed to give a range of 250 miles. We found this to be accurate. It cost us about £20 to put around a third of charge into the car. This didn’t feel dissimilar to a petrol car. It took around half an hour to charge.

All in all ROADSTER loved this car, but the model we tested was nearly £55,000! The cheapest 2nd hand model we could find was a 58kw 2021 model at £28,000, with 20,000 miles. This is still really expensive for us but we could see why. Our first press car was an unforgettable experience. We are going to miss it.

FACT CARD

Hyundai IONIQ 5 (Namsan Edition)

• Year of production - 2023

• Price - £54,445 (on the road)

• Battery - 77.4 kWh Lithium-ion Polymer

• Power - 228 bhp

• Top Speed - 115 mph

• Torque - 350 lbf-ft

• 0-62 mph - 7.4 seconds

• Range - up to 321 mi

• Car Length - 4635mm

• Car Width - 1890mm

Design your own E-GMP car!

A "platform" is a set of design, engineering, and production features which are shared by different vehicles. Traditionally, car platforms have had to support a large, heavy engine, additional parts such as a gearbox and a transmission tunnel to transfer the power to the rear wheels. But pure electric cars don't need these things, allowing car designers to get creative!

Hyundai has developed a new Electric Global Modular Platform (or "E-GMP") which houses the batteries, the electric motor and power system. Hyundai have been able mount fast charging longer range batteries under the floor of the car and moving the wheels further toward the front and back of the car to provide a larger, flatter cabin floor space.

Here’s your chance to design your own vehicle using the E-GMP platform!

• What new concepts would you come up with?

• What shape will it be?

• What will the windows look like?

• What do you want your car to be able to do?

• How many people do you want it to hold?

• Do you want your car to have lots of storage space?

• Do you want your car to have some special functions?

• What features do you want to include?

• What do you want your car to look like?

• What kind of character do you want your car to have?

• Do you want it to be sporty? off-road? practical? spacious? wild? crazy?

• How will you make your car unique to you?

In real car design these very first design sketches are often just rough ideas. Designers often just use pencils and paper at this stage, and sometimes markers to highlight particular shapes and lines.

We have provided the platform, you come up with the idea!

We have also provided an A4 printable of this page on our DOWNLOADS page. Print it out to refine your designs...

Make sure you share them with us using the hashtag #kidswhoLOVEtheroad.

We’ll print our favourites!

N-BELIEVABLE!

Hyundai revealed their brand new IONIQ 5 at Goodwood Festival of Speed (see page x). ROADSTER! Sam was there to get hands on and get a feel for driving the car himself!

Hyundai’s N-brand is all about high-performance, with cars developed to deliver track performance.

The new IONIQ 5N adds many performance enhancing features such as black trim and a wing-type rear spoiler.

To celebrate the launch, Hyundai had a games zone at Goodwood with a racing track and an IONIQ N simulator which allowed kids like Sam to drive the car around Goodwood!

Sam even got to sit in the driving seat of the IONIQ 5 N himself and try out the N Active Sound+ simulator – 3 adjustable sound settings to enhance the drive – with Ignition, Evolution or Supersonic settings!