When Hyundai unveiled the Ioniq 5 N, I have to admit I wasn’t as excited as some of my colleagues were.
It’s not that I wasn’t convinced that Hyundai would make a true N car out of the Ioniq 5; I was. I just wasn’t sure that driving enthusiasts would be convinced. I found it hard to imagine that a high-performance version of the Ioniq 5 with muscle-car energy, faux gears, and artificial exhaust-mimicking sound would actually hit the mark.
Then I drove it.
I was wrong. Although I still find it hard to believe, I truly enjoyed the fake gears and loud exhaust sounds. Every other judge agreed. Staff Writer Kevin Williams had this to say: “The N shift is completely fake; it’s using regen braking and a subwoofer to fake the feeling of a DCT fart and shift shock. Yet it f—ing works. That’s… clever. I love it when automakers are clever.”
Gallery: 2024 Breakthrough Nominee: Hyundai Ioniq 5 N
But while the Ioniq 5 N is undeniably impressive in many ways, and is a blast to drive, does it deserve the accolade of Breakthrough Electric Vehicle of the Year? Let’s break down our thinking with a mix of praise, critiques and a healthy dose of reality.
(Welcome to The Breakthrough Awards, InsideEVs' year-end awards program recognizing the EVs, people and technologies that are paving the way for our clean energy transition. Read about the awards and the other contenders below.)
The Good: Fast, Furious and Futuristic
I’ll start by giving credit where it’s due. We believe the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N is an exhilarating performer that’s worthy of wearing the N badge.
First off, it looks like the future we were promised. The Ioniq 5 N seems as if it drove out of a retro-futuristic dream. Its pixelated LED lights, sharp angles and commanding stance scream Blade Runner, but a daily-drivable version of it. Unlike the monotony of many EV designs, Hyundai dared to be bold, and it paid off. Pull up in this beauty and anyone interested in performance vehicles will notice. They’ll probably have questions.
With dual motors cranking out up to 641 horsepower and a 0-to-60 mph time of about 3 seconds, the Ioniq 5 N isn’t just fast—it’s neck-snapping, face-meltingly fast. And unlike other EVs, it doesn’t move with a near-silent hum.
Hyundai introduced an artificial soundtrack feature that mimics the growl of a combustion engine or the whir of a spaceship, adding a theatrical layer to your tire-shredding escapades. The fake engine—the 2.0-liter four-cylinder turbo from the Elantra N, among others—rises and falls in “revs,” with simulated gears that actually affect the power band.
Contributing Editor Abigail Bassett also liked Hyundai’s faux ICE sounds: “I love, love, love, love the noises. While the sounds are essentially like a kid making engine noises while pushing a Hot Wheels car around, it never ceased to bring a smile to my face. Maybe that’s why I love it so much because it really taps into the joy I felt as a kid around cars.”
And it’s not only quick—it drifts! Hyundai didn’t just stop at straight-line speed; they gave the Ioniq 5 N a drift mode. Yes, this family-friendly crossover is also a drift machine. It’s equal parts absurd and awesome, proving that Hyundai won’t be afraid to have some fun in the electric vehicle era.
Despite its performance chops, the Ioniq 5 N is still an Ioniq 5 at heart. That means a spacious interior, a roomy hatch and ultra-fast-charging capabilities that rival the best in the business. It’s a car you can hoon on a track and then you can load up with groceries or take the kids to soccer in without a second thought.
The Not-So-Good: The Devil’s in the Details
For all its brilliance, the Ioniq 5 N stumbles in some areas—and these flaws are what keep us from awarding it the coveted “breakthrough” title.
While the Ioniq 5 N is a marvel, it’s ultimately a souped-up version of an existing model. The Ioniq 5 itself was groundbreaking over three years ago when it first launched in 2021. Slapping an “N” badge on it, tweaking the motors and suspension and adding some fancy noises are all good moves, but they add up to a fun new version of a beloved car.
If we’re awarding Breakthrough of the Year, shouldn’t it go to something genuinely new, not an improved remix of an old hit? Something that moves the needle on accessibility, rather than another expensive toy?
While the synthetic sound effects are fun for some, they can feel gimmicky to others. Purists might argue that the silent hum of an EV is its own badge of honor, a quiet rebellion against the internal combustion era. For those people, the Ioniq 5 N’s fake revs might feel like wearing a leather jacket to a yoga class—a fake personality that doesn’t suit its real one.
Plus, the grippy tires take a major toll on efficiency. With an EPA-rated range of around 240 miles (if you’re not driving like I did most of the time I had with it), the Ioniq 5 N lags behind its main rival, the Tesla Model Y Performance. A Ford Mustang Mach-E GT or Rally also go a lot farther.
Push the Hyundai hard in N Grin Mode (yes, that’s the actual name), and that range drops faster than your phone battery on a transatlantic flight. For a vehicle aiming to break boundaries, this feels like a bit of a step backward. Sure, all performance products are less efficient than their normal counterparts, but the Ioniq 5 N is far less efficient than its quickest rivals. They may not have the N's track-capable cooling system, but that's rarely what compact SUV buyers are looking for.
The extra cooling and performance hardware also adds a lot of weight. At nearly 5,000 pounds, the Ioniq 5 N is no featherweight. While Hyundai has done an admirable job disguising its heft with clever suspension tuning, physics still applies. It’s a blast in a straight line or on wide-open curves, but tighter corners reveal its Achilles’ heel. Breakthrough cars should defy our expectations, not succumb to them.
The Competition Factor
To declare the Ioniq 5 N a breakthrough, we’d have to ignore its formidable competition in the EV space—and that’s not easy to do.
Love it or loathe it, Tesla’s influence looms large. The Model Y Performance offers similar speed and better range while maintaining Tesla’s trademark minimalism and tech-forward ecosystem. It goes farther than the 5 N and does so with a smaller battery and costs $15,000 less. Sure, it lacks the personality of the Ioniq 5 N, but it’s hard to argue with the numbers.
The Lucid Air is redefining luxury EVs, with its jaw-dropping range and spaceship-like interiors. While it’s a different class of car, the entry-level Pure costs just $2,500 more than the 5 N, and underscores how much car you can get for the same money.
If the MSRP for the Ioniq 5 N was around $50,000 instead of just under $70,000, I believe we would have given it more consideration for the Breakthrough Award. But with contenders like the Kia EV9 and Chevrolet Equinox EV offering tremendous value in their respective segments, we couldn’t really consider the 5 N, as much as we all love driving it.
The Breakthrough Awards are meant to recognize the car that’s done the most to advance the EV market this year.
We loved the Ioniq 5 N, but it’s a neat halo product that only really matters to EV enthusiasts with a lot of money to burn.
“It’s a $65,000 compact Hyundai SUV, and consumers aren’t going to care,” Deputy Editor Mack Hogan said. “Its biggest selling point is that it’s track-capable and fun, but driving very fast on track is still a niche better served by internal combustion cars, and the volumes here are so small that electrifying them is a small benefit."
Why “Breakthrough” Matters
Let’s not forget what “breakthrough” implies. It’s about shifting paradigms, setting new standards and leaving competitors scrambling to catch up. The Hyundai Ioniq 5 N is undoubtedly an incredible car, and Hyundai deserves a lot of credit for making the faux gears and sound work—something I didn’t believe possible. But does it truly disrupt the market? No, not really.
“It’s a blast for the gearheads, but does it matter much in a wider sense beyond the performance car awards the magazines hand out?” Editor-in-Chief Patrick George asked. “I’m not convinced that it does.”
Yes, it’s fun. Yes, it’s fast. Yes, it’s cool. But it’s not rewriting the EV playbook. Instead, it’s playing by the same rules—just louder and faster. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it doesn’t make for a “Breakthrough Electric Vehicle of the Year” award-winner. Just a well-loved nominee.
I think my colleague Tim Levin put it best when we were discussing why the 5 N shouldn’t win this year: “The Ioniq 5 N succeeds in making EVs slightly more appealing to die-hard gearheads, but that’s a tiny slice of the car market with hyper-specific preferences. As much as I loved the Ioniq 5 N, it’s a nearly $70,000 sports SUV that solves a very specific gripe of a small audience.”
If there were an award for “Most Fun EV of the Year” or “Coolest Way to Make Your Neighbor Jealous,” the Ioniq 5 N would be a shoo-in. But for a category that demands innovation and transformation, it falls short.
So, let’s tip our hats to Hyundai for delivering a vehicle that sparks joy, burns rubber and makes a lot of noise while doing so. But if we’re talking breakthroughs, we need to look elsewhere. For now, the Ioniq 5 N will have to settle for being the most fun EV you can buy today. It’s just not the one changing the game.
Hyundai Ioniq 5 N Specs
