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The Hyundai IONIQ 6 N is a family saloon that’s been transformed to deliver the electric racing car-like driving experience promised by its dramatic styling.
Whereas the Hyundai IONIQ 5 N offers an electric rally car-like driving experience, the Hyundai IONIQ 6 N is more of an electric racing car. How has Hyundai achieved such a huge transformation of an EV that started life as a normal family saloon?
The Hyundai IONIQ 6 N shares the same basic aerodynamic saloon body style as the standard IONIQ 6 but with the addition of a variety of go-faster features including a low, wide spoiler at the front, an even bigger wing at the rear, and some serious-looking 5-spoke 20-inch lightweight alloy wheels. The interior has bucket seats to keep you in place when you’re testing the g-forces through the corners.
The IONIQ 6 N is long (4,935mm) and rather than having the hatchback of the IONIQ 5 N, it has a boot offering 371 litres of space. There’s no space under the boot floor for the charging cables, and no frunk.
An 84 kWh battery provides power to electric motors at the front and rear, giving all-wheel drive.
You can jump into the Hyundai IONIQ 6 N and have a comfortable drive to the shops or a refined motorway journey. Or you can push the N button on the touchscreen, select N e-Shift and E-Active Sound Design +, and head off in search of your favourite A and B-roads.
Unlike SUVs, ie. virtually all new cars, the IONIQ 6 N saloon sits low to the ground, so the handling is much more racing car-like just because of the laws of physics, and that’s before the EV’s various items of technology come into play. These include Electronically Controlled Suspension (ECS) and an Electronic Limited Slip Differential (e-LSD) which actively manages wheel torque to boost traction. High-speed grip is also provided by Pirelli P0 Zero Tyres.
Then you need to add the performance. The front electric motor develops 238 PS and the rear produces 412 PS, resulting in a total power output of 650 PS, along with 770 Nm of torque. This delivers a 0-62 mph acceleration time of 3.2 seconds (with N Launch Control), and a top speed of 160 mph.
When you combine this explosive performance with the rewarding rear-biased all-wheel drive handling, and the interaction from changing gear along with an appropriate noise, albeit both of these things being simulated, the result is an EV that should appeal to drivers who struggle to give up the auditory and kinesthetic sensations of a sporty petrol car. If you don’t like the ‘ignition’ petrol engine sound, there’s also ‘evolution’ and ‘lightspeed’ options, or you can switch the sound off completely.
The IONIQ 6 N has a head-up display, a 12.3-inch driver’s instrument display, and a 12.3-inch touchscreen, which offers lots of car controls to play with, and thankfully there are also some physical shortcut buttons. On the left of the steering wheel there’s a blue drive mode button, giving you the options of Eco, Normal and Sport. On the right of the steering wheel there’s an orange button marked NGB which stands for ‘N Grin Boost’, which gives a 10-second burst of extra performance (boosting total power from 609PS to 650PS and torque to 770Nm), which is ideal for overtaking slow-moving caravans on country roads.
There are also two buttons marked ‘N’ on the bottom of the steering wheel, which can be used for customisable shortcuts for your favourite performance settings.
There are a number of additional settings in the touchscreen such as N Race, N Torque Distribution and N-Drift Optimiser, many of which you can’t use unless the car confirms via geolocation that you’re on a racetrack.
Lane departure warning is something that’s guaranteed to ruin the driving experience in any car, but especially in a driver’s car. Thankfully the IONIQ 6 N has a button on the steering wheel to easily switch this off, and you can press and hold the volume dial on the steering wheel to switch off the speed warning (again, something that might be quite useful with this car…).
You also get separate controls for the climate settings, although these are buttons on a screen, which aren’t as user-friendly as physical buttons that give you proper feedback when pressed.
Although you can get a good driving position, the driver’s seat adjustment is manual, not electric. There are no controls on the door panels for items such as the mirrors, because they’re in the centre console; this means that when you sit in the car and want to pull the door closed, this is easy because, with no window switches etc, the internal door handle stretches the entire length of the door.
The Hyundai IONIQ 6 N 84 kWh 650 PS 4WD has an official WLTP electric driving range of 302 miles. After a week on test the real-world range averaged 265 miles. Consumption (WLTP) is 3.3 miles/kWh.
Thanks to its 800V platform, the Hyundai IONIQ 6 N has a maximum DC rapid charging rate of 240 kW which should deliver a 10% to 80% charge in 18 minutes, as well as the ability to AC charge at up to 10.5 kWh using a three-phase supply.
The IONIQ 6 N also comes with a heat pump as standard, as well as Vehicle to Load (V2L) inside (in the form of a 3-pin plug under the rear seat) and outside (using an adapter in the charging port) and it can be charged with no need to make a physical payment using Plug & Charge.
The Hyundai IONIQ 6 N is priced at £65,800. It comes in a single specification, with the only options being the choice of six exterior body colours: Performance Blue pearl, Abyss Black pearl, Gravity Gold matte, Nocturne Grey metallic, Nocturne Grey matte and Serenity White pearl.
The Hyundai IONIQ 6 N is an electric racing car. It has race car-like performance: 650 PS of power, 770 Nm of torque, 0-62 mph in 3.2 seconds, and a top speed of 160 mph. It also has a race car-like driving experience: a low centre of gravity, all-wheel drive with a rear-wheel drive bias, and technology such as an e-LSD. And then there’s the driver interaction, thanks to the simulated gear shift and engine noise, which might sound like a gimmick, but it makes this a fun car to drive. Compared to many other performance EVs, the price of £65,800 is actually good value. The Hyundai IONIQ 6 N is awarded a Green Car Guide rating of 10 out of 10.
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Paul Clarke, GreenCarGuide Editor
