I have spent much of the past week driving cars in South Korea, and well, it is amazing to go to the heart of the nation that is dominating global pop culture. Invited by Hyundai India, I’ve been lucky enough to experience Korean culture, food, and fashion and also to drive a couple of new Hyundai vehicles — specifically the new IONIQ 5 N and the fifth-generation Santa Fe SUV.
Now, at the outset, I must clarify that there are no immediate plans for the Korean carmaker to launch either car in India. But Hyundai was keen to get opinions on these two latest cars in its line-up.
Not much of a fan
On the first day, I drove the new Santa Fe. This large SUV has been absent in India for the past two generations, and straight off the bat, it looks strange. You can’t but help talk about the car’s design — it reminds you of old large American station wagons. Add a slab of wood trim on the outsides of the doors, and you’ll have your classic 1970 Jeep Grand Wagoneer. But this car has a drag coefficient (cd, a unit in physics that measures the resistance of an object in a fluid environment) of just 0.29, which is surprisingly good. In fact, the car is positively slippery, and considering its appearance, that’s a surprise too. And then you realise the effectiveness of small curves, the sharply raked windscreen, and other features the designers have worked on. It also has a unique stepper to access the roof rails. I won’t lie, though, I’m not a fan of the looks.
Keep in mind this is a large three-row SUV; the third is quite practical and usable. So, for the car to go around corners as smartly as it does, is impressive. I drove the variant with a 2.5 turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine that produced 281PS, which was more than sufficient on South Korea’s excellent expressways — thanks to a very large number of speed cameras, gunning down isn’t an option. But the engine, complemented with an eight-speed gearbox, also brings up the power quickly when you need it, both in the mountains and in urban start-stop traffic. Others on the drive drove the 180PS petrol-hybrid, and if Hyundai India ever does bring in the Santa Fe to compete with the Toyota Fortuner, this would be the variant that would come.
Also read: Toyota’s solid-state batteries can solve EV problems big time. But I have my doubts
‘Like a wow’
It was the second car I drove that is more likely to come to India if at all — the IONIQ 5 N. A couple of things to explain here. the ‘N’ division is the Korean carmaker’s motorsports and performance division. In India, we already get ‘N-line’ versions of the i20 hatchback and Venue SUV. While the N-line versions have been worked out by engineers, the full-fat N cars have completely different engines, engine mapping, suspension, and more. Sure, the IONIQ 5 N looks similar to the regular IONIQ 5, a car that I have been driving for the past six months. But it is very, very different, much beyond the orange trim elements and the 5 N’s rear wiper, the lack of which is the single biggest miss on the standard vehicle.
You get the difference the second you sit in the car. You are sitting in a dark cabin, Alcantara leather everywhere, and the steering wheel looks back at you. It is replete with multiple controls, especially those ‘N’ buttons mounted below the horn. The horn itself has a big ‘N’ logo instead of the stylised ‘H’ that all Hyundai drivers are used to.
Then you drive the car — and “it looks like a wow”. The IONIQ 5 N has a peak power of 650PS with boost, while standard is 609PS — that’s insane, almost three times the 217PS of the IONIQ 5. And that power comes into play in the blink of an eye. Hyundai engineers have tuned this car so well that you can enter a corner with full confidence. And on the highway, if speed cameras aren’t measuring average speed, man, oh man. I won’t say anything that will incriminate me, but this car can move.
I had no doubt that the IONIQ 5 N is, by far, the best electric car I have driven this year. And then I discovered the car’s party trick. What a trick — I ended up chortling like a college student at a frat party. And no, I was stone-cold sober.
You see, those N buttons on the steering wheel are not just decorative pieces. By pressing one of them, you move to ‘N-mode’, which makes the car behave and sound like it has a two-litre turbocharged petrol engine under the hood. Instead of a speedo on the digital instrument cluster, you see a rev counter — on an EV. And it works. I started the car up on first gear and then used the throttle pedal and I hit the stops, just like you would on a manual.
When you shift the gears, you feel it all — and as I drove through the light snowfall on the hills outside Seoul, I was cracking up. All electric cars have different performance maps that adjust acceleration, braking, and regeneration according to the mode. So do internal combustion cars — you’ve seen the ‘Eco’ and ‘Sport’ modes on modern cars. Other performance vehicles like the M cars from BMW allow you to do more. But this? I’ve never seen anything like it. The IONIQ 5 N redefines EVs. Sure, I’ll probably moan about performance EVs in a future column, but now that I’ve tasted the fruit, man, I love it.
@kushanmitra is an automotive journalist based in New Delhi. Views are personal.
(Edited by Humra Laeeq)