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There’s a cause—past sheer recognition—why so many full-line carmakers have led with crossovers as they ramp up their lineups for the electrical period: Sporty midsize sedans just like the Hyundai Ioniq 6 require extra push and pull to look proper whereas delivering the aerodynamic effectivity that’s so necessary for driving vary.
To suit thick battery packs beneath the passenger flooring means pushing up the roofline and compromising proportions to compensate, or settling for a cabin that feels extra cramped. Alternatively, conventional three-box sedans are compromised within the wind tunnel; it’s why so many automakers have settled for the tall-tail “kammback” kind as a substitute, with a hatchback as a substitute of a trunklid.
Put the 2 collectively and it’s daunting. With sedans now not the core of the auto market, it’s much less shocking why so few automakers have tackled an electrical sedan.
However Hyundai has threaded the needle and ended up with one thing jaw-droppingly distinctive within the Ioniq 6. The Ioniq 6 concurrently solves the aero concern and treads new design floor, making different sedans look antiquated.
Hyundai’s early tease of vary outcomes may be sufficient to persuade skeptics. The Ioniq 6 will bear a WLTP vary score of as much as 382 miles, in keeping with the automaker. Based mostly on how the Ioniq 5 crossover has fared within the EPA cycle, versus the extra optimistic European WLTP, that can land it very near the Mannequin 3 Lengthy Vary’s 358 miles.
2023 Hyundai Ioniq 6
2023 Hyundai Ioniq 6
2023 Hyundai Ioniq 6
It’s a trendsetter, seems even higher up shut, and from first impressions, it suggests for the primary time that there’s a automobile that one-ups the Tesla Mannequin 3 in lots of respects. Simply you wait.
One curve, many particulars
It might have been straightforward for the Ioniq 6 to imitate the best-selling Tesla Mannequin 3, or to easily aping the Ioniq 5 hatchback that’s in ridiculously quick provide. However Hyundai didn’t go for both of these routes.
Hyundai calls the profile of the Ioniq 6 “one curve.” Aspect profile pics have a tendency to point out particular person arcs, however in particular person it’s straightforward to figuratively lay a French curve throughout any portion of the automobile as an entire. The factor is curvy all over the place. Influences embrace the Stout Scarab and the Phantom Corsair, each from the Nineteen Thirties; and the 1950 Saab 92; and a Twenties aviation aesthetic on this “streamliner.” But to anybody fluent in trendy automobiles, it’s unimaginable to not see some Porsche influences in entrance and in again. Is {that a} whale tail?
2023 Hyundai Ioniq 6 first drive – South Korea
Nicely, it’s a rear spoiler that performs a key function within the 0.21 coefficient of drag, making the Ioniq 6 Hyundai’s most aerodynamic manufacturing automobile ever. Modeled after the super-marine spitfire British World Warfare II airplane, it’s a type of parts of magnificence the place engineering and design discover the candy spot. Don’t attempt eradicating the spoiler if you happen to worth your freeway vary. The aero benefits are additionally made potential by an energetic air flap on the decrease entrance air consumption, letting airflow by way of and across the entrance wheels—and, by the sound of it, an entire lot of modeling and wind-tunnel work.
On the surface, Hyundai’s so-called parametric pixel design particulars, the emphasis on lighting, and the slim door handles are about the one issues in widespread with the Ioniq 5. That’s how Hyundai likes it, in an Ioniq lineup of fashions that can every make their very own assertion, together with the boxy Ioniq 7 SUV that’s on the best way as effectively.
No wasted area
The Ioniq 6 is the primary sedan constructed from the corporate’s E-GMP devoted electrical car platform. It’s additionally the primary Hyundai mannequin to supply over-the-air firmware updates for the total gamut of auto features.
It rides on a 116.1-inch wheelbase and is 191.1 inches lengthy, 74.0 inches large, and 58.9 inches tall. In total top, the Ioniq 5 is barely about 4 inches taller than the Ioniq 6, however with them each at reverse sides of a storage you’d guess there’s extra of a distinction.
Hyundai has conceived every of the Ioniq fashions individually, with an emphasis on an inside “dwelling area,” parametric pixel cues peppered all through to unify the completely different seems, and sustainability in tech and supplies.
2023 Hyundai Ioniq 6 first drive – South Korea
In response to Hyundai international design chief Simon Loasby, controlling the visible top of the automobile was crucial. The broad arc that assures passenger area will get the place it must be, nevertheless it begins very low in back and front.
Simply as with the Ioniq 5, the sprint is pushed ahead greater than in different automobiles, and the whole entrance flooring area feels open and ethereal. Just like the Tesla Mannequin 3, there isn’t plenty of wasted area atop the sprint, and from an upright driving place the hood just about disappears, leaving an awesome view forward. Twin 12.3-inch shows stand upright in entrance of the driving force—the one within the center a touchscreen for infotainment, the one forward for gauges—however they’re in no way in the best way.
The skateboard platform and lengthy wheelbase pay dividends in passenger area. The ground is flat all through the cabin, bringing glorious leg room to the again seat, even when the entrance seat is again all or practically all the best way. Simply don’t anticipate plenty of headroom; I (and anybody over six toes tall) was urgent my noggin in opposition to the headliner, requiring a hunched-forward place that might be acceptable for a visit throughout city however not a highway journey. Up entrance, Hyundai provides a sturdy, two-tiered heart console; it doesn’t transfer round just like the one within the Ioniq 5, however there’s area for bigger gadgets beneath plus the highest space is degree and good for a laptop computer, they are saying.
2023 Hyundai Ioniq 6 first drive – South Korea
There’s a frunk, nevertheless it’s basically a small storage bin, good for charging cables or perhaps a laptop computer bag. The trunk isn’t very deep—simply sufficient for grocery baggage, though it’s large and lengthy.
Not a sport sedan however properly balanced
Rear-wheel-drive single-motor variations of the Ioniq 6 make 225 hp and 258 lb-ft and all-wheel-drive dual-motor fashions make 320 hp and 446 lb-ft. Hyundai claims a 0-62-mph acceleration time of seven.4 seconds in single-motor kind and 5.1 seconds in dual-motor kind, though its manufacturing facility acceleration occasions are usually conservative.
2023 Hyundai Ioniq 6
Our well-equipped dual-motor mannequin with 20-inch wheels felt a lot fast on this world of “on the spot torque,” and the motors and traction system by no means wanted the Pirelli P Zeros to scramble for grip. What would this car be like with a firmer suspension and the higher-output 576-hp dual-motor structure of the Kia EV6? Whereas actual horsepower figures are nonetheless TBA, that car is within the works because the Ioniq 6 N. It’s one to stay up for, given the Ioniq 6’s decrease, extra planted really feel.
The Ioniq 6 is in no way firmly tuned. We’d name it a scosche firmer than the 5, however because you’re decrease you don’t really feel the roll as a lot. Steering really feel is gentle and simple, and it returns to heart effectively. It’s at its finest in tighter corners, the place it weights up properly, nevertheless it might use a little bit extra precision in the way it unwinds out of them. Versus the Ioniq 5 and just about the entire cohort of electrical crossovers, you sit extra within the automobile fairly than on it—and that makes an enormous distinction in notion as you nook shortly and luxuriate in driving.
The 6 will get hydraulic bushings in again to assist absorb highway harshness, in addition to frequency-sensitive shocks with variable move paths, to permit them to react in a different way to various inputs. The built-in drive axle has a hub-integrated outboard joint to assist support stiffness. The Ioniq 6 additionally makes use of low-noise tires, a carpet/flooring that’s decoupled from the construction, and numerous sound-absorbing supplies. Acoustic glass is used for the windshield and entrance and facet door glass, and clean shielding retains the underbody freed from turbulence.
2023 Hyundai Ioniq 6 first drive – South Korea
4 ranges of regenerative braking, all steering-wheel paddle-selected, plus easily blended brakes make it straightforward to search out the perfect expertise for every driver. An Auto Maintain mode merely toggles on and off with its personal button, permitting drivers to provide the brake pedal a relaxation in visitors as desired. Hyundai additionally offers Eco, Regular, Sport, and Snow modes, as with the Ioniq 5, however new to the Ioniq 6 is an EV Tune-up function that permits the proprietor to tweak extra of the settings individually—together with steering, acceleration sensitivity, and horsepower.
As I examined the Ioniq 6, it seemingly has a curb weight of round 4,500 lb, which is a number of hundred kilos heavier than the Mannequin 3 Lengthy Vary.
Tech, a few of it inbound
My check automobile—truly, all of the check automobiles—had a tech merchandise that gained’t come to the U.S.: camera-based facet rearview mirrors. With screens mounted on the fringe of the sprint, on wings that prolonged upward from it. The setup provides drivers a wider angle of view than customary rearview mirrors. I discovered it quite a bit simpler to get used to than the screen-based heart rearview mirrors supplied in a couple of U.S. fashions. My solely caveat is the boxy execution of the digicam unit on the surface; it didn’t slot in with the remainder of the coordinated, super-aero design. We’ll take our customary mirrors and grin, thanks.
2023 Hyundai Ioniq 6 first drive – South Korea
The Ioniq 6’s 800-volt charging functionality implies that, just like the 5, it is going to be capable of benefit from 350-kw DC fast-charging stations, getting both of its battery packs from 10% to 80% in simply 18 minutes. Each a warmth pump and battery heating system are included, as is a brand new preconditioning system that ought to make peak cost charges simpler to entry in chillier climate.
With its 11-kw onboard charger, the Ioniq 6 can get a full cost in about six hours for the Normal pack or about eight hours with the Lengthy Vary pack—eight and 12 hours, respectively, with extra widespread 7.0-kw storage wallboxes. It comes prepared for bidirectional charging and can function the same Car to Load (V2L) connector permitting house owners to energy home equipment or tenting tools, or to slow-charge one other EV.
2023 Hyundai Ioniq 6
Hyundai hasn’t supplied a lot steerage on the bottom worth of the Ioniq 6, which can arrive in early 2023 for North America, after a rollout in Korea this fall. However to mix a couple of hints from firm officers, we anticipate it to start out barely decrease than the Ioniq 5 however prime out considerably increased in its top-performance Ioniq 6 N kind. Assume $40,000 to $65,000, roughly. This isn’t going to be an expansive luxurious automobile, nevertheless it feels prefer it.
Most significantly, the arrival of the Ioniq 6 will lastly present competitors for the Mannequin 3. Offered Hyundai builds sufficient of those, we’re desirous to see how this rivalry performs out.
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