Hyundai Ioniq 5 N is coming to Goodwood - teaser no.3 is out

23 June 2023

Hyundai N fans rejoice - the company released the third episode in the Ioniq 5 N teaser campaign. The 600 hp or-so electric Hyundai is getting tantalizingly close to its official launch, and the company is ramping up its marketing efforts to make sure we don’t miss it. The first ever electric Hyundai N has a lot to live up to, and the company took a lot of time developing it, which suggests it’ll be a proper hoot to drive.

The video itself is full of nuggets - the first, and the most obvious is the engine noise. Pumped both outside and inside of the Ioniq 5 N, it resembles the iconic exhaust note made only by a seriously stressed 4-pot engine, think of Honda Civic Type-R before they started strapping turbos to it. Why would Hyundai make the Ioniq 5 N pretend it's powered by a combustion engine? Apparently, hard-core N division fans cannot imagine life without the engine noise.

The next one up is the fake gearbox. Hyundai engineers spent countless hours coming up with a solution to a non-existing problem. Rather than just skip all the fakery, they decided the sound wasn’t enough, Ioniq 5 N needs a gearbox. So now the driver can pull the paddles mounted on the steering column, and the powertrain will mimic the gearbox behavior - there’s a little pause in power delivery during the “gear change” and then a slight torque bump for the next gear sensation. All matched by the engine noise - very clever stuff, very pointless, and thankfully can be switched off.

Everything else though is real - the performance will be unmatched by any previous N model. The Ioniq 5 N will be Hyundai’s fastest and most powerful production model ever. The new battery tech will keep the cells cool under the most demanding conditions, the new battery is apparently good enough for 20 minutes of flat-out action, or two laps of Nurburgring. One lap is enough to make many people not ever go back there.

There are two driving modes - Sprint and Endurance. Sprint obviously gives the powertrain all the beans at once, while the Endurance flattens the power peaks for improved - you guessed it - endurance. A fully adjustable power delivery system splits the power between each wheel on demand, with as much as 90 percent of it capable of being delivered to one axle at a time. While the Kia EV9 has a clever Drift Mode, Ioniq 5 N takes it to the next level - it even has a simulated clutch kick to induce the power slide.

Yes, Hyundai Ioniq 5 N will be seriously quick, we should expect 0 to 100 km/h time of just above 3 seconds. But that’s not the point - the point is, that despite some of its fakery, and thanks to its clever tech and extra work put in by Hyundai engineers, it will be the very first electric car that is expected to be taken to race circuits. Taken there and driven flat out, not just for spectating. Hyundai wasn’t prepared to water down the N-badge requirement for the Ioniq - it had to go through a training camp as all of its predecessors did.

We are just 3 weeks away from the Ioniq 5 N debut. Hyundai chose to officially unveil its fastest EV ever at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, which starts on July 13. This year’s Goodwood is shaping up to be the busiest ever, with the new BMW i5, Caterham Seven EV, and the Caterham Project V joined by the McMurtry Speirling Pure in their global debuts. MG is bringing its Cyberster with a couple of other performance EVs, and Porsche celebrates its 75th anniversary by being the Central Feature and presenting the 500 hp Spyder RS.

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