Floating through the darkness in the Ioniq 6 is an eerie experience. Ambient lights paint pale blue shadows across the cabin. A disembodied chorus of electric angels hangs over the clatter of gravel under the tires as you pull out of the driveway and out onto the open road. Flick it into Sport mode and the lights turn red. Floor the accelerator and the hum crescendos into a discordant wailing as the electric motors underneath you catapult you into the night.
This may not be the fastest EV I’ve ever driven, or even the most luxurious. But as an experience? This feels like a cyberpunk noir love letter to the 1930s from the 2030s. It makes you feel like standing in the rain with a holographic Ana de Armas by your side.
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Styling
Okay, in the cold light of day, the Ioniq 6 is just, well, a car. But what a lovely car it is. There’s a bit of Citroen DS in the shape, mixed with some Porsche 911, but Hyundai claims design inspiration from the streamliners of the 1930’s. Sleek, sensuous Art Deco pieces like the Stout Scarab or the Phantom Corsair—okay, you could hardly call the Scarab ‘sensuous,’ I’m talking more about the Corsair there—cars a world away from the Giugaro modularity of the Vision N and the Ioniq 5.
Unlike its boxy brethren, the Ioniq 6 literally slices through the wind. Compared to former wind-cheating icons like the Honda Insight or the Mercedes CLA, the Ioniq’s 0.21 drag coefficient is damn impressive. Granted, there are high-end EVs with better aerodynamics, but this is the most aerodynamic car you can buy locally. For now.
Aside from the sleek shape, the Ioniq uses wind-cheating tricks like side spats to seal off the air gap in front of the tires, active grille shutters to seal off the heat exchangers, and a wing over the trunk to clear up the Ioniq’s wake. That narrow rear end may look aerodynamic, but it’s still a bit too short for proper flow separation without that wing. That the wing shelf evokes images of the 911 Turbo is simply a bonus.
Interior
The interior leans into the noir aesthetic with more exuberance than in the Ioniq 5. Black surrounds fit the dual LED screens better than the gray in the 5, and there’s more brightwork in the cabin. Hidden LEDs project shadows on the doors, like spotlights on an old building marquee. Dashboard “wings” house monitors for the side-view cameras on higher end models overseas. Here, they just sit there looking classy.
But while it looks good, especially with the generous swathes of dark leatherette, there’s also a distressing amount of hard plastic. The matte black plastic surround on the center console window switches is particularly off-putting, feeling like a panel off an old Santa Fe.
A split-tier center console with an impressively large lower shelf splits the front seats. It’s narrowed a bit to give you more knee space, and along with a wide range of seat and wheel adjustment, helps make for impressive driver ergonomics. The seats are supportive and well-bolstered, though the seating position can feel a bit SUV-ish. You can recline for a more relaxed position without encroaching on rear legroom, but visibility suffers proportionally. That rear legroom is the most impressive of the Hyundai-Kia EV triplets, thanks to a long wheelbase and scalloped seatbacks, but the sloping roof takes a big bite out of rear headroom. While the cabin feels suitably airy, there’s less glass and a smaller sunroof, which has a beneficial effect on air-conditioning and energy efficiency compared to the Ioniq 5.
Thanks to the narrow rear bodywork, trunk space is limited to 401 liters, in a deep but rather low configuration. The complex double-hinged trunk lid is fascinating to play with, but the small opening underneath it makes loading large objects difficult. There’s an additional 45-liter storage bin up front, as in the Ioniq 5. Perfect for wet or cold items. No hot engine to bake your fish up there!
Engine performance
Instead of a fume-huffing gasoline engine, the Ioniq 6 LR has a 225hp permanent magnet electric motor driving the rear tires through a single-speed transmission. 0-100kph goes by in a brisk 7.3sec, a hair quicker than the Ioniq 5 and a few tenths down on the lighter EV6.
Top speed is electronically limited to 185kph, not that you should actually drive that fast. The single speed setup handicaps energy efficiency at higher speeds, despite the excellent aerodynamics. Going flat out, you get a mere 3km/kW. Ease down to around 80kph, and 8-9km/kW is possible. At a push, we even topped 10km/kW, with optimal weather and good regen. Slippery aerodynamics give the Ioniq 6 about 545 km of range from its 77kW battery. Our overall test average was around 6.5km/kW, about the same as the Ioniq 5, but we did drive it much harder much of the time it was with us.
Ride and handling
We drove it harder because the 6 is incredibly fun to drive. A low center of gravity and grippy 245/40 R20 Pirelli P Zero EV tires make it a fantastic steer. Granted, the wide tires numb the steering a bit, but there’s enough feel and precision to place it millimeter-perfect through a turn. The long wheelbase and stiff suspension make for a planted feel, even when you get hard on the power. Regenerative braking makes the brake pedal feel a bit light, but give it a good shove and you’ll find that the physical stoppers quite strong. Driven at 8/10ths, you can almost forget that this is a big, heavy electric saloon. But enter a tight corner too fast and you can feel that heavy battery tugging you around like a bowling ball in your gym bag, forcing you to back off. Still, it’s a better dynamic performance than the old Genesis Coupe—the last sporting Hyundai we got with rear-wheel-drive.
When you want to calm things down, the Drive Mode button on the steering wheel gives the usual selection of Eco/Normal/Sport modes. There’s also ‘My Mode,’ which allows you to mix and match steering weight, power delivery, accelerator response, and brake regen strength any way you want.
Settling back, you realize that the Ioniq’s athleticism compromises its ride comfort, especially with those low profile tires. The suspension dampers also lack that last little bit of polish found on true luxury saloons. Thankfully, the cabin is comfortable enough that the stiff secondary ride is a minor annoyance rather than a major irritant, and exterior noise is so well muffled that Hyundai throws in adjustable fake ambient noise to keep you from going insane. Some people don’t like the slightly dissonant chorus of demented angels, but I find it oddly soothing.
Ambient noise or not, the Ioniq 6 is also rather relaxing to drive around town. Despite the low ride height, tall humps pose no issue, even with a full load, though the long wheelbase causes the odd scrape on steep ramps. Visibility is great thanks to the upright seating position, and the 360-degree camera system activates automatically when parking or even when changing lanes. Unfortunately, we don’t get the side mirror delete option here, with the slim side camera pods and cool dash-wing monitors. You can tell that the 360 system was designed around those rather than the cameras on the regular mirrors, as the stitching in 360 mode is a bit off. But you still get automatic braking that prevents accidents when backing up or pulling out into traffic. Along with all the Level 2 driving aids you’ve come to expect of a high-end Hyundai.
Extra features
Those aids include adaptive cruise, lane-keep assist, and digital minders that prompt you to take a little coffee break when you start driving erratically. If coffee isn’t your thing, you can switch the sounds on for some light music. Or maybe something heavier to keep you awake.
The eight-speaker BOSE system isn’t quite dubstep-worthy, but is great for hard rock or bombastic opera. Pillar tweeters and a dashtop mid provide good articulation, separation, and volume, but the rear speakers lack punch and bass definition. You can slide the balance back to mitigate this, but I really wish they’d stuck some extra speakers behind the back seats.
No complaints about connectivity: Android Auto and Apple CarPlay allow anyone to plug in and party on. There’s a number of USB-C charging points, 12V sockets, and even a wireless pad for cell phone charging, but like most factory installs, it’s rather slow.
The bigger draw—literally—is 3.6kw reverse charging, which allows you to plug in a number of appliances while out camping. Granted, this isn’t the kind of car you take off-road, but that extra AC outlet inside the cabin allows you to plug a rice cooker or coffee pot for those long camp-outs in EDSA traffic.
But perhaps the biggest draw of all is the 350kW supercharging feature, which allows you to charge the car from 10-80% in just 18 minutes. Which is astonishing. Or it would be, if we had 350kW chargers here. The fastest public chargers are the 180kW ones at Shell, and they’re not exactly cheap.
Verdict
And there’s the rub for most electrics. While Hyundai bundles the Ioniq with a 7kW Level 2 home charger, the large 77kW pack takes about twelve hours to top off at home. Or three days with the emergency 220V adapter. For those who want faster charging, Shell charges P35 per kilowatt for Level 3 charging, which actually makes topping up slightly more expensive than gasoline.
It’s worth bearing in mind, however, that Level 2 mall charging is still free, and charging at home only costs you about one to two pesos per kilometer.
This means, in day-to-day use, the Ioniq 6 will cost you less to run than a comparably priced and spec’d luxury sedan. While feeling a million times more special while doing it. Sure, it may not be the last word in luxury, but the attention it gets at parking lots and gas station forecourts is unbelievable. Everyone wanted a picture of it. Or with it. But not with me, sadly, the sex appeal doesn’t carry over. But the excitement when they walk up to ask about the car is palpable.
Sadly, the P3.8 million price tag—though half that of comparable premium EVs—is more than most of us can afford. But from the sparkle in people’s eyes as they look at the Ioniq’s sensuous lines, you can tell that Hyundai has succeeded brilliantly at getting people to dream electric.
Now, where did I put that lottery ticket?
SPECS: Hyundai Ioniq 6 GLS 2WD
Price: P3,798,000
Motor: Permanent-magnet synchronus
Power: 226hp
Torque: 350Nm
Transmission: Shift-by-wire
Drive layout: RWD
Seating: 5
Score: 9.5/10
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