The 2025 Hyundai IONIQ 5 N Is The First Electric Car That Feels Like It Belongs On A Racetrack - The Autopian (2024)

One of the biggest question marks associated with the new EV market is how to make them properly fun to drive. Automakers have engineered top-notch handling dynamics into many models, and have yet to reach the ceiling of brutal instant torque acceleration. But no matter how maniacal the performance figures get, it all starts to wear off after a while.

What enthusiasts really want is engagement. We love feeling torque transfer through each gear as we gain speed, and yearn for a rev band with texture and personality. Not only that, we rely so much on gears and revs for reference and use them to feel like we’re a part of the process of getting through a fun twisty road or on-track lap at a quick clip. The thing is, though, there isn’t a real mash-and-dash gearbox in sight among factory EV offerings.

When the 2025 Hyundai IONIQ 5 N was first unveiled, many folks found its synthetic gears and engine-note-filled rev band to be a bit of a party trick—how on Earth could an EV ever fill in for the sound and feel of not only an internal combustion engine, but the conventional drivetrain that it’s bolted up to as well? Recently, after ripping it for several sessions on track at Northern California’s world-renowned Weathertech Raceway Laguna Seca, I’m here to report that the IONIQ 5 N offers more engagement than I thought was currently possible. What it’s come up with in its latest N performance model is something truly special.

[Full Disclosure: Hyundai shipped me to Laguna Seca and let me play on a race track with an IONIQ 5 N and even do an autocross with the Elantra N. Honestly, any lodgings or food would pale in comparison to that experience so they’re not even worth mentioning. – PN]

How Does It Look?

Before I dig into that, let’s kick it off with the basics: The IONIQ 5 N’s appearance. It’s neat to see where Hyundai gave this boxy crossover the hot hatch treatment. There’s the bright reddish-orange stripe that outlines its lowest perimeter, and the sporty bodykit that’s been optimized for aerodynamics—the spoiler, rear diffuser, and side air inlets are all functional to help improve stability at speed.

Then, if you were to park it next to a standard IONIQ 5, you’ll quickly notice its wider wheel arches and basket-weave-design 21-inch alloy wheels. Cool feature about this particular wheel design: Pieces of plastic comprise its outer rim to give it the basket-weave design. They’re there to improve aerodynamics, but can be removed to increase brake cooling. Then, the N sits half an inch lower than the non-N IONIQ 5, is three inches longer, and—well, you can’t see this, but—its battery sits half an inch closer to the ground. The latter two improve its center of gravity.

Then, there’s its sporty business end. The way the diffuser integrates into the bodywork is really neat, and the checkered-flag-inspired rear light bar might be a little corny, but I’m a fan.

Overall, its boxy hot hatch design slots in nicely next to its internal combustion N-ified siblings the Kona, Elantra, and Veloster (RIP).

What’s the Interior Like?

In a word: Spacious. In fact, the IONIQ 5 N might be more spacious than the regular model simply due to its front seats sitting almost an inch lower. Thus, fellow awkwardly shaped tall guys rejoice: After sliding in and sitting comfortably at the 5 N’s helm, in a performance-driving-ready seating position, I still had a few inches of headroom while donning a helmet. Plus ample leg and shoulder room.

Though, if I’m being picky, I wish I could’ve tilted the seat a bit more, brought the wheel a little closer to my gut, and had a little more bolster retention in the otherwise comfortable seats. Earlier in the day I’d taken a 2024 Elantra N for a rousing rip down a fun mountain road, and its seat had outstanding factory retention by comparison. Then, my legs were a little too long to take advantage of the center console that sports knee padding for added bracing under cornering.

Spaciousness isn’t reserved for upfront, either. After all, it does measure out to nearly 186 inches long, 76 inches long, and almost 62-and-a-half inches tall, so this boxy body means good rear seat room as well. Then, the rear seats drop down to net 59.3 cubic feet of cargo space, or in more practical terms: Enough to haul a second 20-to-21-inch wheelset sporting stickier track rubber, plus any track day tools and supplies.

It may look and act like a hot hatch, but the Ioniq 5 is abig vehicle.

Interior materials quality is par for the course for late-model Hyundai: Slightly above average plastics, substantial soft-touch surfaces where they count, and a sporty, thick steering wheel. While I didn’t spend any time futzing around through infotainment menus due to my drive being entirely on track, the 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster and the equally-sized center screen had great clarity and graphics.

I really dug that the digital cluster displays what “gear” you’re in, as well as more pertinent information like both motors’ temperatures and battery temperature. Like oil and water with ICE fare. What I didn’t expect to see was a lightly bouncing tach needle in sync with a synthesized burble at idle. But more on that later.

What Makes It Hot?

In the middle of the 4,861-pound IONIQ 5 N’s chassis is an 84 kWh battery that powers a permanent magnet synchronous motor on each axle, making it all-wheel drive. Combined output is rated at 601 horsepower and 545 pound-feet of torque, with the rear unit dispensing the lion’s share of 378 and 288, respectively. Though, for those among us who love to make a Fast and the Furious reference whenever possible, the 5’s N Grin Boost button on the steering wheel bumps overall output to 641 hp and 548 lb-ft for 10 seconds when charge is above 30 percent. The 5 N also has a drift mode and enables drivers to shift the power between axles, but unfortunately, we didn’t get a chance to play with these.

In spite of hauling nearly two-and-a-half tons, the mighty Hyundai will sprint to 60 mph in a reported 3.2 seconds with NGB engaged. Doing this regularly probably wouldn’t bode well for range, but Hyundai says it designed the 5 N to do two whole laps of the Nurburgring’s Nordschleife before needing to recharge. When it’s time to top up, DC fast charging at 350 kW takes just 18 minutes to go from 10 to 80 percent—50 kW takes an hour and ten, and Level 2 takes seven hours and 20 minutes. Overall, outside of attacking apexes, range is rated at 236 miles city, 203 highway, and 221 combined.

What makes it cool, literally, is a host of track-ready airflow improvements at the stern. An added upper grille gives the N a slightly different setup than what’s in the standard IONIQ: a low-temperature radiator (LTR) sits up top—fed by said upper grille—and is designed to take care of motor temps, whereas the lower, larger high-temperature radiator (HTR) keeps battery temps in check below it. So, neither is impeded by the other from incoming air, unlike the 5’s setup where the LTR sits in front of the HTR. They’re also thicker than the 5s’ for even better cooling efficiency.

What’s Going on With the Chassis?

Besides the IONIQ 5 N’s lower center of gravity, there are a handful of tricks up its sleeve to increase overall rigidity over the standard 5, including 42 additional welding points and 6.9 feet of additional structural adhesive.

“The basic direction is to enhance lateral stiffness,” Jun Mo Lee of Hyundai N Division told me.” All of the bushings are a harder rubber and designed to sustain more lateral force, and provide more initial turn-in response.” Then, its MacPherson front and multi-link independent rear suspension feature adaptive dampers.

The 5 N’s front suspension design differs from the standard 5 by possessing a split link, as Lee described it: two aluminum lower control arms that sort of resemble what’s commonly found on BMWs. “It’s like a combination of a MacPherson design and a multi-link, and gives us the flexibility to better locate the kingpin axis and minimize external disturbances,” Lee explained further. This means bump steer is greatly reduced, and the overall steering is sharper. For improved cornering grip, the front camber is around -1.7 degrees.

Finally, to keep control of the N’s weight and power, 4-piston calipers clamp down on 15.7-inch multi-piece discs up front, and single-piston units are fitted to 14.2-inch discs out back. Here’s what’s especially cool about tracking EVs: Turning up regenerative braking not only helps make up for the increased discharge of juice but also cuts down on consumables like pads and rotors. Everything helps when they’ve got two-and-a-half tons to get a hold of.

How It All Comes Together

Jumping back to the IONIQ 5 N’s lightly bouncing tach needle, I was greeted by a sound resembling an idling ICE N model while sitting in Laguna Seca’s hot pit, ready to head out for the first on-track session. Hyundai calls this soundtrack Ignition, which is one of three settings, the others being Evolution and Supersonic—the former is meant to sound more space/futuristic-like, whereas Supersonic errs on the side of jet aircraft. I kept things as authentic to the angry turbo-fours that Hyundai N’s built its reputation on, and stuck to Ignition for all three of my on-track sessions.

Rolling out to do a sighting lap, I was behind pro driver and six-time Pikes Peak champion Paul Dallenbach, my group’s instructor for the day. My hope was that he wouldn’t take it easy on us, and thankfully he didn’t disappoint. The pace was amply quick by the time we’d reached the top of the hill just before Laguna Seca’s famous Corkscrew.

A short time later, after rolling into and out of Turn 11—the final corner—the first hot lap was underway. The N’s power band was very progressive instead of instant like many other EVs, albeit rapidly progressive. We crested Turn 1 above 110 mph (feeling it get light along the way, which was a hell of an experience in a heavy EV), and got above 100 after almost every straight. With track-centric traction control configured and all-wheel drive, the big hatch put the power down quite well out of each corner. In fact, I bet I could’ve put my foot down a tad sooner.

While barreling into Turns 2, 8 (the Corkscrew), and 11, braking performance always felt ample throughout the session, even when I started shortening braking zones on hot lap number two to keep up. The pedal felt fairly solid, though easy to modulate.

Turn-in for each corner felt a little muted just off-center and steering weighted up pretty well, but the front end always felt quite solid and I dug its quick ratio. Then, Lee’s explanation of what’s going on under each front wheel arch really came to light while compressing down hard onto the curbing at Turn 6—the steering was uninterrupted and quite confidence-inspiring.

You definitely don’t forget the heft, but body roll felt like that of a larger Veloster N—very minimal and confidence-inspiring.

Once the N-specific, 280-treadwear 275/35/21 Pirelli PZ4 tires started to get hot later in each session, understeer crept in pretty quickly. Turns 2, 3, 8, and 11 became more laborious, though they still held up respectably well, especially for an everyday-friendly Summer tire.

If you’re familiar with Laguna Seca, I was setting 1:46-1:47 per lap chasing Dallenbach, and after reviewing my footage, I found plenty of things I could’ve done better. Not terrible for the first session out on non-track tires and some weirdly shaped schlub at the wheel, but it’s more a testament to the IONIQ 5 N being so grippy and easy to get up to speed with. The thing encourages you to rip harder and harder, and I only wish that every session lasted at least two more laps. Or, heck, just give me a whole open track day with some stickier rubber—it’d be a non-stop blast from 100% to 5% charge.

A New Level of Engagement

But here was the best part of it all: The IONIQ 5 N’s synthetic rev band and shifts felt impressively authentic. You feel the car lightly shudder with every lightning-fast shift, and you even feel it bounce off the rev limiter. It was a weird feeling, yet after a while, my brain re-categorized the 5 N’s personality into the same region of its card catalog as any dual-clutch-gearbox-equipped, four-cylinder turbo that’s been simulated via some kind of symposer.

Then, N traction control allowed the slightest amount of slip at certain corner exits, particularly if I matted the throttle entering the front straight; it was fun feeding the wheel a tiny amount of opposite lock. It was absolutely wild having this much engagement, from the noise and vibrations to the very entertaining rev band’s aural cues.

I went into this first drive event expecting just cool noises, and having an open mind about it—anything that an automaker can do to mirror ICE characteristics, I’m all for trying at least once. But Hyundai really delivered here—like all weird new tech, don’t knock it ‘til you try it.

To go one further: I’d take this over any CVT-equipped ICE car, any day of the week.

[Ed note:The Porsche Taycan is great on a race track as well and I’ve managed to put some hard miles on both a Taycan Turbo and a Taycan GTS at different tracks. But it’s not like this. The Taycan, for better or worse, tries to feel like what the future of performance driving is. The IONIQ 5 N feels more rooted in the past, which is, somewhat ironically, a huge step forward. – MH]

Peter Nelson

What Next?

The 2025 Hyundai IONIQ 5 is a very well-rounded big hot hatch. It sports a comfortable and cargo-room-rich interior, cool overall looks, and driving dynamics that truly impress. As an EV in general, range isn’t great at just over 220 miles, though considering its DC Fast Charging rate, and the fact that it’s got a hell of a power output—plus massive Summer tires to keep rolling down the road—it’s not shocking (EV pun mildly intended).

To get behind the wheel of a fresh new IONIQ 5 N and launch off into some apexes, it’ll cost $66,100 plus a $1,375 (yikes) destination fee. By comparison, the base 5 starts out at $41,800. Not cheap, but then, there’s a lot going on underneath to up the fun factor.

When it comes to how fun and engaging this thing is to drive, it’s not only a testament to Hyundai N Division’s research and development, but what’s possible with the future of EVs in general.

It’s a little weird that it’s all synthesized, I’ll admit, but so much of culture in general has, and is now considered normal. I’ll spare you the history lesson on early purveyors of electronic music, but between the F10-generation BMW M5 and the latest Toyobaru sports car, fake engine sound has been getting pumped into car interiors for some time now. I’m not saying it’s a must-love, but for anyone who wants a bit more personality and drama engineered into a handsomely boxy EV, it’s worth a try.