Hyundai Ioniq Electric strong on range, driving dynamics
[MUSIC]
Finally, we're getting a slew of really affordable electric cars for the average person.
And one of the first in the salvo is this guy, the middle sibling of the Hyundai IONIQ triplets.
This one is the full battery electric, not a drop of gas in it.
Let's drive it and check the tank.
[MUSIC]
Pretty, no, but pleasant and that's compared to a Prius that is polarizing these days.
This is going to appeal to a different set of eyes.
Although you do get some polarizing back here, this rear end reminds you that a split rear window is only cool on a 63 Sting Ray.
Here it just looks kind of ungangly on the outside and annoying as hell from the inside.
But they sort of had to do this.
Otherwise you'd be locked up in a submarine because this thing ends up proud and high back here
[MUSIC]
Now to tell you about this Hyundai, I actually have to tell you a little story about Toyota.
Akio Toyoda, the head of that company loves their Toyota 86, one of the cars they make.
So the engineers there, hope they do them a big solid and they built a one off electric 86, presented it to them at the company test track.
He goes out for a spin, he's an accomplished driver, he comes back they're all waiting for him to be beaming and he says eh.
It's an electric car.
Electric cars are very similar to each other, so what you look for is not so much that personality you find in a gas car but in this car what I notice is.
Refinement.
I'm hearing almost no electric car noise coming out of the car itself.
I'm not hearing any of this high pitched squeal that some inverters throw off.
I'm not hearing any motor whine.
I'm not hearing any gear gnash from the one speed gear box.
That's nice.
On the other hand, I'm getting quite a bit of drum in the chassis on this Sort of rough road, and it's kind of unpleasant, and I hear it all the time.
I suspect it's a torsion beam rear suspension where most of that's coming through, and it's typically a first-year model thing.
I bet next year they'll tune a lot of that out.
[MUSIC]
Now like so many hybrids and electrics and plug-ins, Hyundai is still kind of in love with giving you electric in the interface.
Hi the EV button over here and you get a whole bunch of screens you won't care about After about two weeks of owning this car.
Whoa, electric TMI.
Goodbye.
Down here you've got you drive mode selector.
Normal, eco, and sport.
Within that you can go to the screen and set up what those do based on how much change you want to make in the HVAC or how aggressive you want the energy capture to be when you lift off and decelerate.
And on top of that you got paddles on the wheel.
But there's no transmission so what are these for.
These are for grabbing different levels of regen on the fly, so more or less pullback when you lift off the accelerator .I just happen to find what I like and I leave it there.
I like normal mode with level two regen.
I don't know what the 0 to 60 is on this car and I don't care.
That isn't the point.
It's spritely, it's gets up out of it's own way and it's got a nice linear pull like all electric cars tend to do.
Some of that split rear window I talked about a few minutes ago.
Well, now you see it in action, or inaction.
And I mean it really blows out a lot of your comprehension of what is behind you at a glance.
Now if they didn't do that, I wouldn't see a damn thing out of here.
It would just be a panel below it, so I guess I shouldn't complain, but I am.
[MUSIC]
Okay, so, live with it numbers.
You've got about 125 miles of range on a charge.
That's about mid to upper mid pack.
Then you're looking at something on the order of two and a half hours to put that charge back in.
On a Level II like the one you'd very likely have in your home, if you can find a DC fast charger, hello 80% of a charge in about 25 minutes.
And the MPGE if you're even cognizant Of that, is in the 135, 136 range.
Now you can get into an Ionic Electric for as little as 20 grand after the tax credits that many states offer.
But you gotta be living an Monastic life to be happy with that one, there's gonna be almost no tech to check.
Instead, pay 3000 more for the limited trim, and that enables you to pay 3500 more for the ultimate package.
And look at all the cool tech you get when you do that.
[MUSIC]
So still, done up CNET style, you're under 27 out the door with just about all the toys.
Here's the question you've got to ask yourself.
Nice price, pleasant but not stunning looks compared to Chevy Bolt which is a little different vehicle in its shape and a whole different vehicle in its range or do you sit right now and wait for Nissan Leaf 2.0.
Very interesting time to be buying a EV with a type one.
[MUSIC]
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