2023 Hyundai Ioniq 6 redraws sedans, and will topple Tesla Mannequin 3

There’s a purpose—past sheer reputation—why so many full-line carmakers have led with crossovers as they ramp up their lineups for the electrical period: Sporty midsize sedans just like the Hyundai Ioniq 6 require extra push and pull to look proper whereas delivering the aerodynamic effectivity that’s so vital for driving vary.

To suit thick battery packs beneath the passenger ground means pushing up the roofline and compromising proportions to compensate, or settling for a cabin that feels extra cramped. Alternatively, conventional three-box sedans are compromised within the wind tunnel; it’s why so many automakers have settled for the tall-tail “kammback” type as an alternative, with a hatchback as an alternative of a trunklid.

Put the 2 collectively and it’s daunting. With sedans not the core of the auto market, it’s much less stunning why so few automakers have tackled an electrical sedan. 

However Hyundai has threaded the needle and ended up with one thing jaw-droppingly distinctive within the Ioniq 6. The Ioniq 6 concurrently solves the aero situation and treads new design floor, making different sedans look antiquated.

Hyundai’s early tease of vary outcomes may be sufficient to persuade skeptics. The Ioniq 6 will bear a WLTP vary score of as much as 382 miles, based on the automaker. Primarily based on how the Ioniq 5 crossover has fared within the EPA cycle, versus the extra optimistic European WLTP, that may land it very near the Mannequin 3 Lengthy Vary’s 358 miles.  

It’s a trendsetter, appears even higher up shut, and from first impressions, it suggests for the primary time that there’s a automotive that one-ups the Tesla Mannequin 3 in lots of respects. Simply you wait. 

One curve, many particulars

It could have been simple for the Ioniq 6 to imitate the best-selling Tesla Mannequin 3, or to easily aping the Ioniq 5 hatchback that’s in ridiculously brief provide. However Hyundai didn’t go for both of these routes. 

Hyundai calls the profile of the Ioniq 6 “one curve.” Facet profile pics have a tendency to point out particular person arcs, however in individual it’s simple to figuratively lay a French curve throughout any portion of the automotive as a complete. The factor is curvy all over the place. Influences embrace the Stout Scarab and the Phantom Corsair, each from the Nineteen Thirties; and the 1950 Saab 92; and a Nineteen Twenties aviation aesthetic on this “streamliner.” But to anybody fluent in trendy automobiles, it’s inconceivable to not see some Porsche influences in entrance and in again. Is {that a} whale tail?

Nicely, it’s a rear spoiler that performs a key function within the 0.21 coefficient of drag, making the Ioniq 6 Hyundai’s most aerodynamic manufacturing automotive ever. Modeled after the super-marine spitfire British World Struggle II airplane, it’s a kind of components of magnificence the place engineering and design discover the candy spot. Don’t strive eradicating the spoiler in the event you worth your freeway vary. The aero benefits are additionally made attainable by an lively air flap on the decrease entrance air consumption, letting airflow by way of and across the entrance wheels—and, by the sound of it, a complete lot of modeling and wind-tunnel work. 

On the skin, Hyundai’s so-called parametric pixel design particulars, the emphasis on lighting, and the slim door handles are about the one issues in widespread with the Ioniq 5. That’s how Hyundai likes it, in an Ioniq lineup of fashions that may every make their very own assertion, together with the boxy Ioniq 7 SUV that’s on the best way as effectively. 

No wasted house

The Ioniq 6 is the primary sedan constructed from the corporate’s E-GMP devoted electrical automobile platform. It’s additionally the primary Hyundai mannequin to supply over-the-air firmware updates for the total gamut of auto features.

It rides on a 116.1-inch wheelbase and is 191.1 inches lengthy, 74.0 inches huge, and 58.9 inches tall. In total top, the Ioniq 5 is just about 4 inches taller than the Ioniq 6, however with them each at reverse sides of a storage you’d guess there’s extra of a distinction. 

Hyundai has conceived every of the Ioniq fashions individually, with an emphasis on an inside “residing house,” parametric pixel cues peppered all through to unify the completely different appears, and sustainability in tech and supplies. 

In keeping with Hyundai world design chief Simon Loasby, controlling the visible top of the automotive was essential. The broad arc that assures passenger house will get the place it must be, nevertheless it begins very low in back and front. 

Simply as with the Ioniq 5, the sprint is pushed ahead greater than in different automobiles, and the complete entrance ground house feels open and ethereal. Just like the Tesla Mannequin 3, there isn’t loads of wasted house atop the sprint, and from an upright driving place the hood just about disappears, leaving an incredible view forward. Twin 12.3-inch shows stand upright in entrance of the driving force—the one within the center a touchscreen for infotainment, the one forward for gauges—however they’re in no way in the best way. 

The skateboard platform and lengthy wheelbase pay dividends in passenger house. The ground is flat all through the cabin, bringing glorious leg room to the again seat, even when the entrance seat is again all or almost all the best way. Simply don’t count on loads of headroom; I (and anybody over six ft tall) was urgent my noggin in opposition to the headliner, requiring a hunched-forward place that might be acceptable for a visit throughout city however not a street journey. Up entrance, Hyundai provides a sturdy, two-tiered heart console; it doesn’t transfer round just like the one within the Ioniq 5, however there’s house for bigger objects under plus the highest space is degree and good for a laptop computer, they are saying. 

There’s a frunk, nevertheless it’s primarily a small storage bin, good for charging cables or possibly a laptop computer bag. The trunk isn’t very deep—simply sufficient for grocery luggage, though it’s huge and lengthy. 

Not a sport sedan however properly balanced

Rear-wheel-drive single-motor variations of the Ioniq 6 make 225 hp and 258 lb-ft and all-wheel-drive dual-motor fashions make 320 hp and 446 lb-ft. Hyundai claims a 0-62-mph acceleration time of seven.4 seconds in single-motor type and 5.1 seconds in dual-motor type, though its manufacturing unit acceleration instances are sometimes conservative. 

Our well-equipped dual-motor mannequin with 20-inch wheels felt loads fast on this world of “prompt torque,” and the motors and traction system by no means wanted the Pirelli P Zeros to scramble for grip. What would this automobile be like with a firmer suspension and the higher-output 576-hp dual-motor format of the Kia EV6? Whereas precise horsepower figures are nonetheless TBA, that automobile is within the works because the Ioniq 6 N. It’s one to sit up for, given the Ioniq 6’s decrease, extra planted really feel. 

The Ioniq 6 is in no way firmly tuned. We’d name it a scosche firmer than the 5, however because you’re decrease you don’t really feel the roll as a lot. Steering really feel is gentle and straightforward, and it returns to heart effectively. It’s at its greatest in tighter corners, the place it weights up properly, nevertheless it may use a bit extra precision in the way it unwinds out of them. Versus the Ioniq 5 and just about the entire cohort of electrical crossovers, you sit extra within the automotive somewhat than on it—and that makes an enormous distinction in notion as you nook rapidly and revel in driving. 

The 6 will get hydraulic bushings in again to assist take in street harshness, in addition to frequency-sensitive shocks with variable move paths, to permit them to react in another way to different inputs. The built-in drive axle has a hub-integrated outboard joint to assist help stiffness. The Ioniq 6 additionally makes use of low-noise tires, a carpet/ground that’s decoupled from the construction, and numerous sound-absorbing supplies. Acoustic glass is used for the windshield and entrance and facet door glass, and clean shielding retains the underbody freed from turbulence. 

4 ranges of regenerative braking, all steering-wheel paddle-selected, plus easily blended brakes make it simple to seek out one of the best expertise for every driver.  An Auto Maintain mode merely toggles on and off with its personal button, permitting drivers to present the brake pedal a relaxation in visitors as desired. Hyundai additionally supplies Eco, Regular, Sport, and Snow modes, as with the Ioniq 5, however new to the Ioniq 6 is an EV Tune-up characteristic that permits the proprietor to tweak extra of the settings individually—together with steering, acceleration sensitivity, and horsepower. 

As I examined the Ioniq 6, it possible has a curb weight of round 4,500 lb, which is a number of hundred kilos heavier than the Mannequin 3 Lengthy Vary. 

Tech, a few of it inbound

My check automotive—truly, all of the check automobiles—had a tech merchandise that received’t come to the U.S.: camera-based facet rearview mirrors. With screens mounted on the fringe of the sprint, on wings that prolonged upward from it. The setup offers drivers a wider angle of view than normal rearview mirrors. I discovered it rather a lot simpler to get used to than the screen-based heart rearview mirrors provided in a couple of U.S. fashions. My solely caveat is the boxy execution of the digital camera unit on the skin; it didn’t slot in with the remainder of the coordinated, super-aero design. We’ll take our normal mirrors and grin, thanks. 

The Ioniq 6’s 800-volt charging functionality implies that, just like the 5, will probably be capable of benefit from 350-kw DC fast-charging stations, getting both of its battery packs from 10% to 80% in simply 18 minutes. Each a warmth pump and battery heating system are included, as is a brand new preconditioning system that ought to make peak cost charges simpler to entry in chillier climate. 

With its 11-kw onboard charger, the Ioniq 6 can get a full cost in about six hours for the Commonplace pack or about eight hours with the Lengthy Vary pack—eight and 12 hours, respectively, with extra widespread 7.0-kw storage wallboxes. It comes prepared for bidirectional charging and can characteristic an analogous Automobile to Load (V2L) connector permitting house owners to energy home equipment or tenting gear, or to slow-charge one other EV. 

Hyundai hasn’t supplied a lot steerage on the bottom value of the Ioniq 6, which is able to arrive in early 2023 for North America, after a rollout in Korea this fall. However to mix a couple of hints from firm officers, we count on it to begin barely decrease than the Ioniq 5 however prime out considerably increased in its top-performance Ioniq 6 N type. Suppose $40,000 to $65,000, roughly. This isn’t going to be an expansive luxurious automotive, nevertheless it feels prefer it. 

Most significantly, the arrival of the Ioniq 6 will lastly present competitors for the Mannequin 3. Offered Hyundai builds sufficient of those, we’re wanting to see how this rivalry performs out.

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