There’s a cause—past sheer recognition—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 below 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” kind as an alternative, with a hatchback as an alternative of a trunklid.

Put the 2 collectively and it’s daunting. With sedans now 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 difficulty and treads new design floor, making different sedans look antiquated.

Hyundai’s early tease of vary outcomes is likely to be sufficient to persuade skeptics. The Ioniq 6 will bear a WLTP vary ranking of as much as 382 miles, in line with the automaker. Based mostly 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, seems 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 will 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.” Aspect profile pics have a tendency to indicate particular person arcs, however in particular person it’s simple to figuratively lay a French curve throughout any portion of the automotive as an entire. The factor is curvy in all places. Influences embody the Stout Scarab and the Phantom Corsair, each from the Thirties; and the 1950 Saab 92; and a Nineteen Twenties aviation aesthetic on this “streamliner.” But to anybody fluent in trendy vehicles, it’s unimaginable to not see some Porsche influences in entrance and in again. Is {that a} whale tail?

Effectively, 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 Conflict II airplane, it’s a kind of parts of magnificence the place engineering and design discover the candy spot. Don’t strive eradicating the spoiler for those who worth your freeway vary. The aero benefits are additionally made potential by an energetic air flap on the decrease entrance air consumption, letting airflow by and across the entrance wheels—and, by the sound of it, an entire lot of modeling and wind-tunnel work. 

On the surface, 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 car platform. It’s additionally the primary Hyundai mannequin to supply over-the-air firmware updates for the complete gamut of car capabilities.

It rides on a 116.1-inch wheelbase and is 191.1 inches lengthy, 74.0 inches vast, and 58.9 inches tall. In total peak, the Ioniq 5 is barely 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 “dwelling house,” parametric pixel cues peppered all through to unify the completely different seems, and sustainability in tech and supplies. 

In keeping with Hyundai world design chief Simon Loasby, controlling the visible peak 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 autos, and your 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 awesome view forward. Twin 12.3-inch shows stand upright in entrance of the motive force—the one within the center a touchscreen for infotainment, the one forward for gauges—however they’re certainly not 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 will be acceptable for a visit throughout city however not a highway 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 gadgets beneath plus the highest space is degree and good for a laptop computer, they are saying. 

There’s a frunk, nevertheless it’s basically a small storage bin, good for charging cables or perhaps a laptop computer bag. The trunk isn’t very deep—simply sufficient for grocery luggage, though it’s vast 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 kind and 5.1 seconds in dual-motor kind, though its manufacturing unit acceleration instances are sometimes conservative. 

Our well-equipped dual-motor mannequin with 20-inch wheels felt a lot fast on this world of “instantaneous torque,” and the motors and traction system by no means wanted the Pirelli P Zeros to scramble for grip. What would this car 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 car is within the works because the Ioniq 6 N. It’s one to stay up for, given the Ioniq 6’s decrease, extra planted really feel. 

The Ioniq 6 is certainly not 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 simple, and it returns to heart effectively. It’s at its finest in tighter corners, the place it weights up properly, nevertheless it may use somewhat 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 slightly than on it—and that makes an enormous distinction in notion as you nook shortly and luxuriate in driving. 

The 6 will get hydraulic bushings in again to assist take in highway harshness, in addition to frequency-sensitive shocks with variable movement paths, to permit them to react otherwise to different inputs. The built-in drive axle has a hub-integrated outboard joint to assist support 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 aspect door glass, and easy 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 the most effective 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 site visitors as desired. Hyundai additionally offers Eco, Regular, Sport, and Snow modes, as with the Ioniq 5, however new to the Ioniq 6 is an EV Tune-up function 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 seemingly 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 take a look at automotive—truly, all of the take a look at vehicles—had a tech merchandise that received’t come to the U.S.: camera-based aspect 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 commonplace rearview mirrors. I discovered it loads simpler to get used to than the screen-based heart rearview mirrors supplied in a couple of U.S. fashions. My solely caveat is the boxy execution of the digital camera unit on the surface; it didn’t slot in with the remainder of the coordinated, super-aero design. We’ll take our commonplace mirrors and grin, thanks. 

The Ioniq 6’s 800-volt charging functionality implies that, just like the 5, it will likely be in a position to reap the benefits of 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 Customary 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 function an identical Car to Load (V2L) connector permitting homeowners to energy home equipment or tenting gear, or to slow-charge one other EV. 

Hyundai hasn’t supplied a lot steerage on the bottom worth of the Ioniq 6, which can 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 start out barely decrease than the Ioniq 5 however prime out considerably increased in its top-performance Ioniq 6 N kind. Assume $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 desirous to see how this rivalry performs out.

–
Motor Authority accepted journey, meals, and lodging in a really tall constructing to carry you this report.