Hyundai’s IONIQ6 is not a usual vehicle – by any cut of the cloth. Yes, it’s an IONIQ and yes, it’s electric but perhaps most unusually, it’s a car – an honest-to-goodness four-door sedan.
This last should be reason enough for most motoring publications to present the IONIQ6 with an award for automotive empathy if nothing else!
Hyundai’s IONIQ 6 is much more than a four-door sedan for the 22nd century (yes, I mean the one after this) and for several reasons; the dual electric motive power being just one, though this is a crucial consideration.
I was asked what the top speed of the IONIQ6 is and all I can do is quote Hyundai’s 185km/h speed with a 0 to 100km/h time of 5.1 seconds. Not as quick as some electrics, but faster than others, and I stress, this is in a car, built by a company with a history of being carmakers.
The next question is, how big is the battery and how far will it take me? The IONIQ 6 Limited runs a 77kWh battery giving a nominal range of 519km using power at 16.9kWh per 100kms.
Charge times can be as low as 17 minutes on a 50kW charger thanks in part to Hyundai’s 800-volt charging system and if you can find a 350kW charger, you might have time to – I don’t know – check the tyre pressures, no wait, Hyundai has fitted TPMS, OK, umm wash the windscreen maybe?
The IONIQ6 is very well-kitted out. As the showpiece of the range, it has everything you would expect and some things you might not; V2L or Vehicle-to-Load capability, for example.
V2L allows the car to power small appliances which is handy if one is in dire need of a cappuccino whilst out on a drive – assuming you packed a coffee machine for the purpose.
I’m making light of a feature which any electric car worth its Lithium-Ion batteries should have. V2L has already proven its worth during Cyclone Gabrielle and, as electric vehicle technology improves, it is likely V2L tech will too.
A bit of tech which is a hallmark of the IONIQ6 is the exterior mirrors which are not really mirrors at all. They are cameras which project onto screens in the A-pillars.
Tres cool and they provide a beautiful picture of what’s behind you during the day. By night, not so much, since the cameras are prone to being flared out by following headlights.
It does take some getting used to looking at the view behind when the image is inside the car and you’ll find this frustrating sense of wanting to adjust the screen, which of course, you can’t do.
Unfortunately, the cameras are about the same size as a conventional mirror anyway and I was a little nervous for them every time someone came a little too close. Neat idea, Hyundai, but needs a little more refinement in the execution. Maybe put the cameras in the rear bumper fascia instead?
All right but what’s it like to drive? With a nickname like Electrified Streamliner, the IONIQ6 is obviously designed to be driven over long distances with the occupants enjoying the full comforts a modern car can provide.
It’s no sportster but you have a sense of ‘drive forever’ in the IONIQ6 – it is peace and serenity on four wheels, mostly. Well, we have to forgive the 20-inch wheels.
They are the best-looking design, but the ride is better on something a little less in diameter, the 18s the lesser grades come with for example (and yes, we have driven it, so we know).
One of the greatest things about the IONIQ 6 is perhaps one of the most overlooked aspects. Despite all its innovations and technical brilliance, the IONIQ 6 is an artfully designed car in a parking lot of mediocrity when it comes to automotive design.
