Hyundai Ioniq 6 vs Tesla Model 3

[Music] it is no secret that in the age of EVS to really maximize on Range you don't bring an SUV to do a sedan's job that's why after a year of getting praised for its funky ionic 5 Hyundai has taken the electric bits and shoved them in this streamline shape the ionic 6 the ionic 6 is one of our favorite cars to drive this year but just as is the case with pretty much every EV that we driven the last 2 years one question keeps coming up how does it compare to the Tesla so we brought one along in this case it's the model 3 which is the closest equivalent to the ionic 6 the model 3 is the compact sedan EV and it sets the bar the question is can the ionic 6 clear it let's find [Music] out [Music] we'll get you back to Kyle's electrifying comparison in a second but before we go any further I want to take a moment to thank our sponsor and LX way the company behind the popular Juicebox EV Chargers if you're looking to buy an electric car you'll absolutely want a reliable and Smart Level Two charger like this Sleek 40 amp Juicebox unit it charges at up to seven times faster than a level one charger adding around 30 m of range per hour what's really cool is the easy to use ANL xway app that can find you public charging on the go schedule charging when rates are low Monitor and start or stop charging remotely and also notifies you when your vehicle is fully charged saving you time and money it even operates on voice command using Amazon Alexa hit the link in the description below to learn more and use our exclusive discount code autog guide25 to get $25 off a new Juice Box home charger so before you ask we rented this particular 2023 model 3 from turo Tesla rather infamously doesn't believe in press relations so this is one of the few ways of covering the car outside of a friend owning one or just buying the thing ourselves of course the reality of editorial scheduling and planning means that you're going to be watching this after the facelifted model 3 has already dropped um that's okay because I'd actually argue that this is the more distinctive model and that's after Oodles of them have proliferated across our highways it's still a clean uncluttered design with minimal decoration and tidy overhangs Tesla gets dinged for its quality a lot but the panels all fit well on this China built model I even like the 18-in arrow Wheels there's always been something a little froggy about the face at least to me but hey Kermit's up a lefted character OKAY model 3 drivers probably disagree with the old frog though because as as it turns out it's kind of easy going green getting into the cabin of the model 3 it's a Airy spacious place with this glass roof providing noticeably more Noggin room than you'll find in the Hyundai the super low cowl provides an excellent view out ahead and the corners of the car rise up just a little bit which gives you a clear idea of where the model 3's nose ends I'm not a big fan of these super squishy vegan leather seats they don't really provide much support but I will say that the power adjustability makes it easy to find your right setup that's about the only easy adjustment you'll find in the model 3 though Tesla practically invented the tape of tablet to the dashboard approach and its hyper minimalist cabin places just about everything in that touchscreen want to adjust your side mirrors yep that's in the menu and then you have to adjust it via the toggles on your steering wheel what about the steering wheel itself it's reach or rake same situation now admittedly you're not going to be changing these too often and even if you do cloud-based user profiles means that they'll Follow You from One Tesla to another which is pretty handy uh but it's it's still not very intuitive and it becomes a problem on the Move also I couldn't get either side of the wireless charger to work with my [Music] iPhone it's kind of wild that the ionx 6 cheats the wind as well as it does it's definitely not a nondescript Jelly Bean of a car there's a lot going on with the styling from the creased nose and those active Grill shutters down low the sculpted sides and that truncated tail now that double spoiler butt does give Porsche and Saab Vibes but with a modern twist that I personally really enjoy it's certainly not a design for everyone but you can't accuse the Hyundai of being boring those pretty 20-inch Alloys do look great but they chop a significant amount off the range like we're talking over 40 miles so pop the ionic 6's door handles which are also flush like the tesas but open the correct way and the cabin is a huge departure from what you see in the American car I mean look at this actual physical buttons and and textures I mean beyond the not entirely convincing wood paneling trim anyway really the ionic 6's cabin is a breath of fresh air it's warm and it's inviting and it's still got some funky touches to it like the inboard window controls or this winged dashboard design which is designed this way because other markets actually get side view cameras that are placed right here the ionx 6 isn't without its own green credentials either with materials made from things like recycled plastic bottles and fishing nets in a surprise move the door panels aren't as soft as those in the Tesla but there is a heft and resistance when you poke them the Hyundai just feels more substantial it also feels a little height at least up front so the combination of the smaller sunroof the twin 12.3 in screens and the center console make it feel like while there's only a 2in difference in Headroom on paper it might be more but the seats are much more supportive than the ones in the Tesla and while both cars have heated Thrones in both rows only the Korean model has ventilation up front the Headroom premium continues in the back so even though the Hyundai is taller that tap in roof line does mean that anyone approaching around 6 ft might feel the pinch back here now that being said there's a lot more leg room similarly storage is the Hyundai's weak point you can fit a surprising amount of stuff in the Tesla's wide mouth trunk with 19.8 cubic feet or 561 L the Hyundai's got barely over half that with 11.2 cubic feet or 3116 l so one important thing to note there is that while the numbers show a huge difference the actual trunk space is surprisingly similar the Tesla's main advantage is that it has a huge underfloor storage space whereas the Hyundai only has a small one and that usually is filled with the Charger and the cord both cars also have a frunk but while the Teslas can fit a pair of camera bags the Hyundai can fit a pair of cameras now how these two Drive is very different and that's because you're looking at the lowest and highest trims of the Tesla and Hyundai respectively now Tesla introduced a new lfp battery this year for the model 3 which improves both range and longevity in terms of single charge range you're looking at 272 miles now for this model which is 438 km in Canada Tesla also reintroduced the long range Model A few months ago and that's a better appropriate competitor for the ionic 6 that we have here now by Dent of its single motor setup the Tesla feels lighter and that's because it is by a fair few hundred lb even the dual motor long range is trimmer than the Hefty Hyundai so even though the model 3 is down about 50 horsepower and well over a 100 lb feet of torque it doesn't feel that much slower in everyday use in fact the Tesla is right on the heels of the Hyundai from around 50 m hour or about 80 km an hour at low speeds it just can't match that all-wheel drive oomph though and it throttle response is duller regardless of the Post-it speed the model 3 doesn't really like bumps either you throw one its way and it loses composure heaving along all three axes there's a lot of noise from the rear suspension and also from some trim pieces and at speeds that are a lot higher you get a lot of wind noise from these frameless Windows basically it just widens the perceived quality gap between these two cars on this wavy bit of tarm Mag which the ionic 6 handles pretty darn well I have to slow down in the model 3 otherwise it just gets uncomfortable so it might sound like I'm being harsh on the model 3 Driving Experience but actually there are upsides for starters this small diameter steering wheel has a nice tight two turns lock to lock which makes the model 3 feel pretty agile more than that it has a good amount of resistance when you set it to the sport steering setting in fact that's one of my favorite parts of the model 3 is that when you set the accelerator or the brakes or the steering to your desired mode it stays that way I don't have to worry about switching every time I go into neutral as automakers are want to do Hyundai sent us the absolute top trim to test here so in the US that is the ionic 6 limited all-wheel drive here in Canada it is the ionic 6 preferred all-wheel drive long range with ultimate package whatever you want to call it the ionic 6 is great to drive so it's a dense little nugget at around 4,600 lb or slightly less than 2100 kilos but from behind the wheel The IX 6 only feels about a passengers worth heavier than the Tesla there's a well damped maturity here that's really lacking in the American car going for the dual motor setup in the ionx 6 automatically puts buyers in the larger 77.4 KW battery pack model and that gives you a combined horsepower of 320 with 446 lb feet of torque now that lad figure is the important one here because it really defines the ionic 6 Driving Experience torque is basically instant and throttle response is really strong so as an example yeah yeah that um it's really really quick and the accelerator response is noticeably sharper than the Tesla and that's even in the regular drive mode so I could go to sport mode and even improve that the suspension tuning is another way where the ionx 6 kind of reminds me of more European Machinery Hyundai's Engineers have found a great balance between everyday comfort and surefooted athleticism here on the wavy tarmac in our local park the onx 6 handles the bumps way better than the Tesla not feeling like a boat lost at sea now if you go out of the city and into more fun ribbons of tarmac it's also a blast there it's very well composed and it stays reasonably flat with little body roll you also have different Drive modes and there's a noticeable difference in the characteristics between them and in addition to that Hyundai will offer you the custom drive mode setting where you can tailor the stuff to your particular needs including a rear drive mode you know if you feel so inclined there's also less noise overall too both from the suspension and just generally from the road and wind one thing I don't love about the ionic 6 Drive experience is this that beep is to let you know that eye pedal is active which is the highest level of regenerative braking and it allows for one paddle driving you use it through the steering wheel mounted paddles all good right yes except that every single time you park or go into neutral or reverse it resets to one level below that and I just want it to stay on all the time so Tesla's come with a ton of tech and obviously the model 3 does not buck that Trend it comes with a large 15in touchcreen which can be a little overwhelming at first but I find only a little bit of time makes it a pretty comfortable experience so navigation is included as standard on every model 3 and it's a pretty good one because not only are the maps very high res it has excellent voice recognition which makes calling out directions simple now other features like satellite image Maps or live traffic feeds or video streaming which includes the Sentry mode security feature are free for the first month with the premium subscription but then you have to pay after that the Joe mode reduces audio notifications similar to the ionic 6's quiet mode while I prefer an actual 360° camera feed like the Hyundai's to the Tesla's video visualizer I do appreciate the heat map proximity warnings including the rough distances to nearby objects the standard autopilot does adaptive cruise control pretty solidly there's a boatload of tech in the ionx 6 and most of it is standard across the board things like automated emergency braking blind spot monitoring rear cross traffic alert and Lane assists are welcome but par for the course I prefer Hyundai's more natural feeling blind view monitor to the Tesla's odd camera angles and its head-up display is a big big win the lad offers augmented reality navigation which is nice but the Hyundai native nav setup is unnecessarily cumbersome the voice controls also leave something to be desired while Tesla buyers can pay extra for things like summon higher spec Hyundai offer the parking assist via the fob it's only forward and backward though the model 3 can charge up to 250 KW on the supercharger network with a home setup the smaller battery in this model allows it to top up in less time than the ionic 6 every ionic 6 runs on the egmp platform capable of charging up to 235 KW at DC fast Chargers that allows Ultra quick charging from 10 to 80% in under 20 minutes level two charging at home is a little under 7 hours with the bigger battery pack I can't forget to mention its v2l capabilities either allowing owners to plug accessories into the ionic 6 and charge them Tesla asks for $41,600 us for the base model 3 or 5698 Canadian well at least this week anyway pricing has fluctuated a lot in 2023 now that's a wicked deal in America and an all right one in Canada where the ionic 6 is just $56 cheaper to start now Beyond paint and wheels the only major cost options are the enhanced autopilot package for $6,000 or 7,800 Canadian adding a more robust adaptive cruise control Auto parking and the summon gimmick I mean uh feature Tesla's misleadingly named full self-driving capability continues for a pricey 12 or 16 Grand depending on market now adding the second motor brings more power more range which is now up to 333 Mi or 534 km and of course more money you're looking at 7 Grand us or an even $10,000 Canadian so specting the 19-in wheels does shed a little bit of range off the model 3 long range you're still looking at a little bit more range though than the equivalent 18in all-wheel drive option from the ionic 6 now if you want even more power the performance model is still available pricing kicks off at $42,715 in the US including detonation now that will get you the smaller batteried rear drive ionic 6 which gets pretty close to the Tesla in terms of range at 240 M or 386 km uh but it does so with an Lantra like 149 horsepower if you spend a few extra Grand you'll get the larger battery pack and more power which is now 225 horsepower and that's where the Canadian range kicks off at $56,900 also including destination there you'll find up to 361 M of range which is 581 km and it beats the rear drive Tesla in fact it also beats the long range Tesla so going for all-wheel drive and the 18-in wheels knocks the range down to 316 mil or 59 km which of course is slightly less than the all-wheel drive long range then if you go into this model which has the Fancy Pants 20in Wheels you lose even more range resulting in 270 mil or 435 km now look it can be hard to separate Tesla the brand from the antics of its man in charge and yeah over the years its competitors have slowly chipped away at its previous advantages namely range and charging speed but the model 3 Remains the Brand's best offering even in base form it's spacious it's easy to drive and it comes with a lot of standard kit and there's the supercharger Network which is so good other automakers are signing up to join it this is the default choice for a reason and pair that with price reductions and the general availability and it's really hard to argue with but it's also hard to argue against the appeal of the ionic 6 the Tesla's ubiquity is its biggest drawback whereas the Hyundai just feels special it's definitely the one that I'd rather drive and it's also the one that I would just rather spend time in even though I really wish that it had the ionic 5's glass roof but at the end of the day it's just hard to beat a model 3 thanks again to our sponsor nlx way click the link in the description below to learn more

Channel: AutoGuide.com

Views: 44,407

Keywords: AutoGuide, Car, Automotive, Automobile (industry), Drive, vehicle, car review, cars, hyundai, ioniq, ioniq 6, tesla, model3, model 3, ev, electric cars, electric car, EV, comparison, comparo, head to head

Id: YDpqSYOn3p8

Length: 18min 31sec (1111 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 29 2023