2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 N review: Awesome sports car, bad EV

A thrilling electric sports car, the Ioniq 5 N has terrible range

2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 N review by The Road Beat

Words and pictures: Mitchell Weitzman

This is the quickest-accelerating car to 60 mph I’ve ever driven. If you want to melt faces at legal speeds, the Ioniq 5 N considers that mission accomplished in three fleeting seconds. What sets the Ioniq 5 N apart from nearly every other EV on the market is what it does—and how it does it—when you’re not just blasting along in a straight line. Speed is everything for many EVs, a trend that kicked off when Tesla unveiled the original “Insane” mode on their early Model S sedans. But the Ioniq 5 N is different: this hot hatch is a legitimately and staggeringly brilliant sports car. Yet in doing so, it’s not exactly a great EV by traditional standards. Whichever way you slice it, this car proves one vital truth: EVs can be fun.

Picks

This is one hell of a fun time. Explosive acceleration is old news for EVs—been there, done that. Where enthusiasts are concerned, the glaring ingredient missing from most attainable electric cars (sorry, Rimac doesn’t count) is genuine, old-school fun. No matter how accomplished the regular Hyundai Ioniq 5 is, it often has the charisma of a washing machine. There will always be fanboys for certain models and gimmicks, but a true, modern electric sports car? That’s been largely missing until now.

Instead of trying to make an electric car “more fun,” Hyundai went back to the roots and asked, “How can we use electricity to make a better sports car?” That’s the attitude carmakers should adopt, and by doing so, Hyundai has crafted an incredibly fun retro hatch with performance that obliterates its contemporaries and most muscle cars.

The standard Ioniq 5 dual-motor setup is already plenty quick with 320 horsepower, but the N division said, “Hold my beer,” and cranked it up to 641 horsepower at peak performance, with nearly 600 horsepower available at all times. The result? Face-warping acceleration. Being electric, there’s no pause or wait for power—it hits instantaneously with a prod of your right foot.

With dual motors front and rear, plus the ability to adjust torque split for optimal traction or glorious slippage, this car is built for hot-lapping and attacking canyons at devastatingly illegal speeds. Grip is immense when you want it, and smart power distribution quells understeer. Flip a few switches, push some buttons, and you can transform this AWD hot hatch into a RWD-biased drift machine with a penchant for Mountain Dew-fueled, cotton-candy oversteer. What impresses most is how this machine changes direction so flatly, aided by batteries that keep the bulk of its not-insignificant mass low in the chassis. Despite weighing nearly 5,000 pounds, the Ioniq 5 N dances around like it’s a ton lighter.

It might wear a Hyundai badge and look like a boxy grocery-getter with some puffed-up jewelry to some, but this EV is a sensory blast, delivering the joy and adrenaline of driving a fast car fast. There’s no real engine sound (more on that later), but the tactile sensations are dialed up well past the usual domesticated levels.

The main takeaway from a week with this menacing Hyundai is that it’s a properly, righteously fun car. Unconventional? Sure. But it tickles all the right feelings in conventional ways through its blistering speed, razor-sharp control, and driver involvement. That last bit is crucial—other EVs often lack engagement or even prefer (and are designed) to drive themselves. The Ioniq 5 N, however, demands its driver take the helm to extract its full potential.

Nicks

By crafting an incredible sports car, Hyundai has also made a pretty lackluster EV by (admittedly recent) traditional metrics. Standard Ioniq 5 AWD models average about 2.7 miles per kWh in previous testing, but the N drops that to a dismal 2.1. Even with a full charge, I never saw more than 200 miles of estimated range, and with the heater lightly on during winter, that quickly plummeted to around 150 miles all-in from its 84 kWh capacity battery park.

A real-world range well under 200 miles makes this car highly impractical for many drivers because of how limiting it is, not to mention how you'll constantly need to have charging planned (and time allocated for charging). Compare that to a gasoline-powered sports car like the BMW M3, which can easily surpass 300 miles in daily driving and averages about 20 MPG in mixed driving.

This poor range hampers outright usability, forcing frequent charging stops. Long journeys will be a hassle, even driving 120 miles to San Francisco from home would leave me with just morsels of energy remaining, necessitating a charging stop en route or upon arrival. Utilizing 350 kW chargers helps (though it actually maxes out at about 200 KW), but the need to recharge so often is a bummer. And on the track? A 20-minute session of hard driving will significantly drain the battery, requiring a recharge every session to keep things on the boil.

Then there’s the fake engine noise. It’s amusing at first but quickly feels overdone, like Hyundai’s admitting that EVs are inherently boring. I’d prefer a raw, mechanically electric sound—think TIE Fighter—over this artificial snapping, crackling, and popping of a faux four-cylinder. Thankfully, you can tweak those noise settings to be as fake or silent as you desire.

The Ioniq 5 N’s cornering prowess comes at the cost of everyday comfort. The ride is firm and jiggly at low speeds, though it settles at moderate paces. This is a sports car, and it can beat you up like one. Plus, unlocking its best performance requires navigating menus and settings—lots of them. Remember when a BMW M3 didn’t even have a screen or adjustable dampers? Just key in, shift to first, and go. I miss those days.

The right direction for electric vehicles

Let’s face it: as an EV, the Ioniq 5 N isn’t great. Its efficiency is laughable—a car with this big a battery (84 kWh) failing to hit even close to 200 miles in real-world conditions, especially in colder weather, is disappointing. But focusing on its strengths, it excels in its fever-dream levels of speed and intensity, laughable in an entirely positive way.

Other EVs may be as fast—or even faster with a large bank account—but few match the Ioniq 5 N’s fun factor when the road gets twisty. Accelerating, braking, turning, repeat—it’s a blast. Whie not close to perfect, the Ioniq 5 N is a massive stride forward for EVs, proving hypercar-level performance can be attainable at its price point and also be genuinely fun to drive.

Price as-tested: $67,685

Pros: Outstanding performance in every direction; Looks great

Cons: Poor range; Stiff ride

2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 N basic specifications.

Powertrain: Dual electric motors, all-wheel drive

Power Output: 601 hp (641 hp with N Grin Boost)

Torque: 545 lb-ft (568 lb-ft with N Grin Boost)

Battery Capacity: 84 kWh

Electric Range: 221 miles (EPA)

Real World Range: About 175 miles

0-60 mph: About 3 seconds

Top Speed: 162 mph

Transmission: Single-speed direct drive

Charging Time (240V): 7–9 hours

Fast Charging: 10% to 80% in 18 minutes (350 kW charger)

Dimensions:

• Length: 186 in

• Width: 76 in

• Height: 62 in

• Wheelbase: 118 in

Curb Weight: about 4,900 lbs

Cargo Capacity: About 26 cubic feet

Wheels: 21-inch forged aluminum with P275/35R21 Pirelli P-Zero tires

MSRP: Starting at $66,100 (US)

Thank you for reading The Road Beat's 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 N review. Please subscribe for more new vehicle reviews featuring our honest and candid commentary and high quality image galleries.