2024-25 Wheels Car of the Year Contender: HYUNDAI IONIQ 5 N

Albert Biermann and the team at Hyundai’s N Division have engineered this to be ingrained from top to bottom with laugh-out-loud enjoyment and baked-in driver engagement.

It takes a very special sort of road car to impress somebody who has won the Australian rally championship seven times, but after we ran performance tester Cody Crocker through the 5 N’s manual gear shifting system, he returned with a massive grin and a distinct reluctance to hand back the keys. “I’ve got a new favourite car,” he said. “I had no idea it could do that.”

Ah, yes, that. It was always going to be a controversial move, offering drivers the option of artificially mandated gearshifts, a rev limiter, and the feeling of torque building as the entirely non-existent engine comes on cam. At first glance, it would seem to play into the hands of those who claim that electric powertrains are lame and that the old ways are better, but do we need to be that partisan, that binary? Can we not take the best of both to create something new and incredible? That’s exactly what Albert Biermann and his team at Hyundai’s N division has done with this remarkable car.

Value? You’re getting a performance car with 478kW; comfortably more power than a McLaren F1 for $110K. Safety? The Ioniq 5 has returned a five-star ANCAP rating. Layer on top of that the bigger brakes, better tyres and additional safety systems of the 5 N and that box is resolutely ticked. Cabin design and execution? It seats five adults in comfort, has a big boot and is well-appointed throughout, with thoughtful stowage inside the car, solid ergonomics and a flat floor. How it drives? If that includes the ability to make you laugh out loud in pure joy, then nothing at this year’s event, even the fabulous Mustang Dark Horse, could top it. The mantra that ran through the 5 N’s development speaks volumes: driving still matters.

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Of course, it’s not perfect. No COTY winner ever is. Drive it like you mean it and that claimed 448km WLTP-mandated range shrinks somewhat. Throw it from lock to lock around hairpins at a racetrack and the tyres will let you know that, despite its nimble feel, there’s 2230kg of physics at work here. Then there are the whispers that Hyundai is ready to unleash something even focused, and that the full-bodied Ioniq 5 was a mere toe-in-the-water platform for the Koreans in order to gauge customer reception. As ever, we can only test the cars that are put
in front of us.

It resists roll well and there is so much to be said for plucking the gears yourself. At first, you’ll feel silly. Ten seconds later, you won’t give a hoot about how silly you think it is – you’ll be laughing too much. Isn’t that what we want from performance cars today: to feel connected and engaged? The Ioniq 5 N delivers that in spades. Don’t get mired in how you got there. Just enjoy the end result.

Hyundai Ioniq 5 N Specifications