Since the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N electric hot hatch debuted a year ago, all I’ve heard is praise. Fellow car reviewers told me it ripped, slamming down its 600-plus horsepower with all-wheel-drive and a bunch of fake engine noises. They didn’t care that it had no gas; it had the spirit of a gas car, and that made it a hoot. But before driving the car, I couldn’t comprehend it. Was 600 horsepower and some fake noise really enough?
A few weeks ago, I finally drove the Ioniq 5 N. It’s not as good as they said—it’s way better.
Gallery: Hyundai Ioniq 5 N: The Track-Shredding EV We Need
What Makes a Hyundai ‘N’ Car?
The Ioniq 5 N debuted in 2023 as the first electric car under Hyundai’s performance “N” brand, starting at $66,000. The I5N has 601 hp, 545 pound-feet of torque, and all-wheel drive as standard, as well as an “N Grin Boost” mode that provides up to 641 hp for 10 seconds. (If you want to adjust the AWD, you can toggle power distribution between the front and rear wheels on the infotainment screen.) The car also has a 0-to-60-mph time of 3.25 seconds, an EPA-estimated range of 221 miles, launch control, drift mode and “N” modes that simulate the sounds and shifts of a gas car.
On paper, the Ioniq 5 N sounds like a ripper. But there are two big differences between it and most performance cars like it: The N badge has only been around since 2012, compared to decades-long tenures for performance badges like BMW’s M or Honda’s Type R. Plus, the I5N is electric. It’s not easy to make a crossover-shaped Hyundai EV into a performance icon.
The Hyundai N brand works like most other performance nameplates. The automaker begins with an existing model—like the BMW 3 Series, Honda Civic, or Ioniq 5—then makes performance upgrades to craft those cars into the M3, Civic Type R or Ioniq 5 N. The performance models benefit car enthusiasts by giving them something to buy, and they also benefit the automaker because they make the “normal” models look sportier.
Historically, those models are gas-powered, and that’s a far easier platform for creating a performance car. Gas cars can feel, sound, and drive far differently from each other, depending on their engines, transmissions, torque curves, natural aspiration or forced induction and more. The behavior of a four-cylinder gas engine is miles away from that of a V8, and the same goes for a manual transmission versus an automatic.
But EVs? They’re similar. They all have whip-fast acceleration due to instant torque, and they all have power bands that are almost perfectly linear. They don’t have the revs or gear shifts ICE car fans are accustomed to, and they’re all silent by nature. The biggest difference in how EVs accelerate is their relative power figures, and they often lack emotion because of it. It’s hard to imagine the Ioniq 5 N as a rowdy hot hatch, because rowdiness is personality, and EVs too often put personality on the backburner.
The Hyundai Ioniq 5 N: An EV That Acts Like a Gas Car
But the I5N’s main goal, from what I can tell, is personality. Every time I read or watch a review about the car, the person driving it raves about “N Active Sound+” and “N e-shift”: the modes that switch the car from a silent EV to a simulated gas car. The I5N uses 10 speakers to create its fake sound, including eight inside and two outside, and there are three modes: “Ignition,” which simulates the sound of a four-cylinder gas engine from Hyundai’s gas N cars; “Evolution,” which is inspired by Hyundai’s electric, Ioniq 6-based RN22e prototype and “Supersonic,” which is inspired by twin-engine fighter jets. You can pair those sounds with the N e-shift feature, which simulates an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.
The magic is in pairing the “Ignition” sound system with N e-shift. I’ve been on two racetracks in the Ioniq 5 N now, and with those features, the car is a blast. It feels like an EV designed by someone who loves gas cars, because it has all the fun and personality of one. It accelerates with the surround-sound grunt of a feisty four-cylinder engine and it downshifts into corners like a blender on the “pulse” function.
The I5N is better as an EV than it would be as a gas car, even, because it combines all the spunk of a four-cylinder hot hatch with more than 600 electric horsepower. It rips up to speed way faster than any gas-powered hot hatch would, while simultaneously emulating one.
The Challenge of Driving ‘Normal’ EVs on Track
The Ioniq 5 N also perfectly communicates with the driver through its fake shifting and sounds, which eliminates a lot of the negatives of EV track driving. A vital part of track driving is being able to use your senses—sight, sound and feel—to accelerate, decelerate and turn at the right times. For most of motorsport history, humans have driven gas cars on racetracks, meaning most of us use gas-car sounds and shift points as subconscious markers for how fast we’re going.
It’s possible to adapt to the silence and lack of shifting in EVs on track, and people do take fully electric road cars and race cars out there. But it’s more immediately comfortable to hop in an electric car that emulates gas-car noise and power cuts for “shifting,” even if the noises and cuts are fake. The reference points they provide help you adapt more quickly to the car on track, which is huge, especially when EVs present other learning curves.
The Ioniq 5 N, for example, has batteries under the floor, making it so bottom-heavy that you feel like you’re sitting on top of the car. That’s unlike most gas cars, where the heavy part of the vehicle is the engine (be it in the front, back or middle). When you’re able to lean on the Ioniq’s sounds and fake shifting for acceleration, braking and turning cues, you can focus on adapting to the weight distribution of the car.
Conclusion
The Ioniq 5 N’s only has one major flaw that could prevent it from being the ideal track car: powering it. If you take it there, you have to ask: Is there an EV charger nearby? Are you OK with either booking half-days at the track to avoid battery depletion, or paying for track time you can’t use because you ran out of juice halfway through the day?
That, to me, is a fixable concern. Battery technology and charging infrastructure will continue to get better over the years, and for now, having a good day at the track in an EV just requires a little planning.
The Ioniq 5 N gives me hope for a future where EVs have all the personality, rowdiness, and power they need on the track. The joy of the car isn’t only what it can do today, but what it foreshadows for the future.
It just happens to be great today, too.
