First impressions are great, but nothing beats getting to know a person, place or vehicle. That’s why I share my experience with vehicles after driving them for a week or so as a make or model evolves. This week, it’s the 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 N AWD performance EV. The Ioniq 5 impressed me mightily when I drove the XRT off-road model in February 2025.
Car of the week: 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 N AWD
What is it? High-performance all-wheel drive compact electric SUV
How much? 2026 Ioniq 5 prices start at $35,000. The 2025 Ioniq 5 N base price was $66,200. Hyundai dropped that to $59,900 for 2026.
All prices exclude destination charge, $1,375 for MY 2025 and $1,600 for 2026.
My loaded test car cost $67,310. Applying the price cut, I’d want a similarly equipped
2026 for around $62,000.
How’s it selling? Hyundai doesn’t report sales of trim levels, but it sold 24,366 Ioniq 5s through July. That’s a drop of just 2% – fewer than 600 units – from last year, when buyers rushed to cash in on the disappearing $7,500 federal EV tax credit.
Score one for strategic price cuts.
What does it compete with? High-performance electric SUVs like the Chevrolet Blazer EV SS, Ford Mustang Mach-E GT, Jeep Wagoneer S, Kia EV6 GT and Tesla Model Y Performance.
Why do I want it? Looks great, sounds great. Tons of power, sharp handling and a grippy suspension. NACS charging port. Improved controls.
What I thought when I first drove the ’25 Ioniq 5 XRT
I wrote at the time:
- A significant and surprising leap for what had been a competent but unexceptional EV.
- The 2025 Ioniq’s battery benefits from chemistry changes that increase range up to 30 miles on a charge and includes welcome new features like pre-conditioning that automatically prepares the battery for fast-charging when you use the built-in navigation system to pick your next charging stop on long trips.
- Hyundai replaced distracting flat-panel touch points with physical buttons and dials for features like heated/ventilated front seats, heated steering wheel, audio volume and tuning.
What I love about the 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 N
- The price cut makes it a screaming value.
- Built-in NACS charging port.
- Owners get a free adapter for CCS DC fast chargers.
- Up to 641 horsepower and 568 pound-feet of torque for 10 seconds with N Grin Boost. 602 hp and 545 pound-feet for “normal” driving.
- Physical buttons and dials for climate controls.
- More power than most competing electric performance SUVs .
- Ioniq’s electronically generated performance sounds are more convincing than most competitors.
I'd like this vehicle more
- If it had a longer cruising range. The EPA rates the Ioniq 5 N at 221 miles on a charge. I always accept trade-offs for more performance, but the bigger and more powerful Chevrolet Blazer SS EV is rated at 302 miles. Much better.
- If the driver didn’t have to activate one-pedal driving – a popular feature for recharging while decelerating – every time you start the vehicle.
It’s safe to say drivers who want one-pedal once will want it every time, so why jump them through an extra hoop to get it? Latch the feature so the setting carries over from one key-cycle to another. Better yet, link it to the memory for seats, mirrors, etc. to accommodate households where not every driver wants the feature.
Hyundai Ioniq 5 N key figures and features
- $6,300 price cut for 2026
- Seats five
- All-wheel drive
- 12.3-inch navigation screen
- Bose audio
- High-bolstered sport seats
- Electronic limited slip rear differential
- Heated and ventilated front seats
- 21-inch forged alloy wheels
- Physical controls for key audio and climate
- 10-80% charge in as little as 30 minutes
- 165-mph top speed
- 0-60 mph in 3.25 seconds
- Electronically controlled adaptive shock absorbers
- Assembled in Ulsan, Korea
Contact Mark Phelan: 313-222-6731 or mmphelan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @mark_phelan. Read more on autos and sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Who needs tax incentives? Deep price cut keeps this Hyundai EV selling
