RYAN ZUMMALLEN: We've got
two electric vehicles here and we want to find out
what happens when you put one of our favorite EVs-- the Tesla Model Y-- up against this,
the Hyundai Ioniq 5. No, it's not an Atari on wheels. Yes, it's a real car
and it's here to make an '80s-inspired splash. The electric race is
heating up these days. So can the Ioniq
5 stand the heat? Before we get started,
be sure to click Like and hit Subscribe so
you can see our videos before all your friends. And if you'd like
to sell your car, go to edmunds.com/sellmycar
to get a cash offer right now. So here it is finally,
the Hyundai Ioniq 5. Now you can get it in
one of two flavors. First, there's a
standard range version. That comes with a single
motor, rear-wheel drive only. But there's also
long range versions. You can get that
with rear-wheel drive or dual-motor all-wheel drive. The one we have today is a
long range all-wheel drive, and that gets you up to an
estimated 256 miles of range. Now, here's where Hyundai
really goes into their bag. The Ioniq 5 is going
to start around $41,000 including destination. And those prices are similar
to what the Volkswagen ID.4 or Ford Mustang
Mach-E starts at. But with tax
incentives and rebates, that number could dip
into the mid $30K range. And even at that price, those
base versions of the Ioniq 5 get a gang of extra
cool features. We don't necessarily
consider those base models a direct competitor
to the Model Y. But this one, a
long-range, all-wheel drive in its top limited
trim certainly is. You get 20-inch wheels,
more tech, and more comfort, and a price starting under
$56,000 with destination. Even before rebates
and incentives, that makes it significantly less
expensive than this, the Tesla Model Y. Now the Model Y first
debuted for the 2020 year. So Tesla has a leg up in
the experience department. And there actually was a
standard version of the Model Y that started around $40,000. But Tesla has since axed
that from their website and it hasn't been
heard from since. That means the base model is now
the Model Y Long Range starting at $61,000 and that's more
pricey than even the top-level Ioniq 5. So just keep that in mind. This one is actually
ours at Edmunds. We bought it last year
for around $69,000. The reason behind
that is that we included the optional full
self-driving option, which Hyundai doesn't offer. And this is a performance model
with the optional performance package, which Hyundai
also doesn't offer. Not so performance-minded,
the Ioniq 5. So, no. This isn't an apples-to-apples
comparison of these two models. But we do think the all-wheel
drive Ioniq competes directly with the Model Y in
this price range. And we think it's
indicative of the choices that shoppers will be
faced with when they're looking to enter the EV arena. Also, we spent our
own money on this so it gets to be in the video. If you think Tesla should send
us a direct apples to apples, well send a letter
to Elon maybe. He doesn't respond
to my DMs anymore. Come on, man. I can see it's on read. One of the hallmarks
of owning an EV is clever use of interior space. And the Ioniq 5 sure tries
real hard on that front. Let me walk you through some of
the more interesting features. Right off the bat, there's
a really attractive steering wheel right in front. There's a cool,
textured center area, although these four squares
are giving me Squid Game vibes, but moving on. The glossy black
buttons on either side actually are buttons. You have to press into them. It's not just touch-capacitive,
which is nice. And then there's a cool
fighter jet-looking button for the drive modes here. Now behind that are paddles. And obviously, you're not
shifting gears with them like you would on a sports car. But they're to control the power
of the regenerative brakes. So you can have it
where when you come off of the accelerator, the
car continues to coast. Or you can do one-pedal
driving, which is where you come
off the accelerator and the car will
basically brake on its own down to a complete stop. One of the virtues I
was excited to check out is this flat floor. Now obviously, you don't
need a lot of space for a transmission tunnel
in an electric vehicle, so you've got tons
of extra room. But as I'm sitting
here, I'm struggling to see the use case for it. I mean, first of
all, you're not going to be loading a bunch
of lumber up here. And second of all, if you
have groceries over there and a water bottle or a
piece of fruit or something potentially rolls over near
your feet while you're driving, that could be pretty dangerous. One of the other things is
that on this Limited trim, you can take this center console
area and actually slide it forward or backward,
I guess to either-- move it forward--
create more space in the back to load items. Or if you're of
different heights, maybe this is a more comfortable
resting area for you-- easier to grab your bottles. For me, I think all
the way back is nice. Again, I see the
idea and I understand trying to make the most
functional use out of the space that you have. But I'm kind of struggling,
at least initially, to see how this is adding
anything to the experience. But again, by all
means, leave a comment if you are really excited
about this movable console. The last party
trick I can show you has to do with the seats, which
I can say are very comfortable. On this Limited trim,
they're perforated, there's nice support, and a
really good shape to them. Also, just to touch on it,
I do have lots of headroom and I like the outward
visibility in here. So I'm enjoying the interior. One of the things that's
optional on these seats is this adjustable foot rest
which moves quite slowly. Overall, a very
nice place to be. I love the materials. I love the vibe. I'm just not sure everything is
hitting the way they intended. Quick side note, on
the Limited trim, both front seats are
heated and ventilated. Now let's move on
to the back seats. So the back seat. OK, you may have noticed that
I had to duck a little bit to get in, raise my knees up. That's because the rear seats
are pretty elevated compared to the front seats
because they're sitting on a whole
bunch of battery packs. So it is a little tricky
to get in but once in, I've got nice headroom
and a really good view of this sunroof which has
a cool way of opening. It works like a
football stadium almost, and then the two
panels come together and meet in the middle. Just like the front
seats, the rears are also really comfortable. But one cool thing
that they can do is slide front and
back, which is neat if you have to load things. And they can recline. So right now, this is the
most upright position. I could use a little
bit more space. So you can go down one or
you can go down all the way to here. And this is a much more
comfortable seating position and on a Limited trim, you get
sunshades too, which is nice. One really helpful feature
is the amount of ways you can plug in your devices back here. There's two USB ports
and then under your seat, there's a power outlet. You're sitting on
all this electricity, you might as well use it. Right? Enough about this. Let's check out the
frunk and the trunk. Under the hood of the Ioniq
5, nice engine cover, right? Wrong. It's a frunk, kind of. So to see what it could fit,
I brought two sleeping bags. And we're going to
get them in here, nice and, nice
and, nice and easy. All right. That's not going to latch. So let's do, let's just do one. OK. I wonder how the Tesla would do. Huh? OK, so that wins. Let's check out the trunk. Hey! Around back of the
Ioniq 5, you can see there's pretty
impressive cargo space. With the rear seats up,
there's 27.2 cubic feet and with them folded down,
that goes all the way up to 59.3, which is really
competitive with cars like the Volkswagen ID.4
and Ford Mustang Mach-E. But it's not quite as much
as what the Tesla has. And also, there's no
underfloor storage because of the big battery pack. You have just enough for your
charging supplies and a tire repair kit. Let's see what the Tesla
interior is all about. After coming directly out
of the Ioniq 5 into here, here are some of the first
things that stand out to me about the interior. First of all is Space. Now the Model Y is
pretty spacious inside, especially in the
front rows, but it does feel a little bit confined
compared to the Ioniq 5 which felt really, really airy. However, one big plus
is that in the Model Y, you can get an optional third
row, which the Ioniq 5 does not offer. Now that third row is basically
only for small children because if I sat
back there, the roof would go straight through
the middle of my face. But it's great to have an
option for up to seven seats if you'd like that. The other thing that stands
out is the design and styling. So if we were calling
the Ioniq 5 minimalist, then what do we call this? Because this is
simplified to the point that it makes the Ioniq
5 seem complicated, even though it's not. Everything revolves
through the touchscreen, which we'll get to later. But that means there are no
buttons really to speak of. As far as storage,
where the Ioniq 5 had that configurable
center console, instead, with the Tesla, you
have smartphone storage up here, center space here,
cup holders, and that. It's plenty of space
for small items. But in retrospect,
it was pretty neat how the Ioniq 5 was at least
being clever with its thinking. So you've got a very simple,
traditional-looking steering wheel here. It's only discerning features
are these two small buttons, which will control some
things like the mirrors and other things
in the touchscreen. As far as the seats, these
are really comfortable, soft, and supple, pretty supportive. They feel less, like,
structural than the Ioniq 5. But I've done long road
trips in these seats and they hold up great
and feel really nice. Now one thing that we should
touch on is fitment issues. Because this car is electric
and when you're driving it, it's nearly quiet you can hear
everything that's going on. Same with the Ioniq 5. But with the Ioniq
5, we're not hearing a lot of creaking or
parts moving around or things like that. And in the Model
Y, in the year plus that we've owned it,
from the beginning, we've been able to hear
all that kind of stuff. That's consistent
with other Teslas that we've owned in the
past, too, and something that you should know if you're
trying to make a decision. If you'd like to read more about
our experience with the Model Y, check out our long-term blog. Now let's check
out the back seat. So getting into the rear of
the Model Y is easier for me than it was in the Ioniq 5. You may have noticed, it
didn't make me step up so high and it didn't make
me duck down so low. And once I'm back here, there's
more headroom and lots of room to stretch out. Does feel like more legroom too. I'm also not sitting up so
high at an elevated level. It feels like I'm
sitting in the same spot that I was when I was in the
front seat, which is nice. Finally, of course, the
big panoramic sunroof is a big selling point
for some shoppers. And it is impressive when
you sit back here and kind of bask in it. However, the Ioniq
5 has that shade that comes over the top of it. The Model Y does not have that. And I know what you're
thinking and the answer is yes. Sometimes it feels
like the sun is just beating down on you through it. But right here, in a cloudy
day, it seems pretty cool. When it comes to cargo
space, as you can see, the Model Y has a lot of it. Now Tesla is actually a
little murky on exact figures but suffice to say there's
more here than in the Ioniq 5. And if you fold
down the rear seats, because of that really
dome-like cabin, there is a ton of space in here
to load large items or bicycles or something like that. Plus under here, where the Ioniq
5 had really limited space, this is a really deep well. So if cargo space is
a big concern for you and you're trying to make
a choice between the two, it's a big plus for the Tesla. Technology is a real
test for Hyundai here. So let's get into it. First, the center
touchscreen is 12.3 inches and as you can see it's
pretty bright, vibrant, lots of colors, which is really nice. And as you swipe
through it, there are three different screens. The buttons and icons
are all easy to find so you can get to the menu
that you're looking for. Apple CarPlay and Android
Auto both come standard. However, wireless
is not available. But as you can see, the icons
are nice and brightly colored so they're really easy to find. You can get back to home, and
see a cool icon of the car, and get to the
maps really easily. A big difference from the Tesla,
which you'll see in a second, is that there are hard
buttons down here. So when you need to jump to
something quickly you can just do that by pressing media,
or tune the radio station-- there's a button for that-- and also a volume
knob right here. Now the last button
I want to show you is all the different
camera views that you have. If you hit this camera button
right there with the P on it, it brings up your standard
overhead view and a rear view, which are really clear
in a nice resolution so that you can get a good
view of what's behind you. And here's a cool view. If you hit that button
it'll give you a 360 that you can swivel around on. And the final thing on the
buttons and touching the screen is that I'm six feet tall and
I put the seat pretty far back, I think compared
to most drivers. If you are sitting more forward,
maybe it's easier for you to use. But at least for
me, there's going to be a lot of
leaning and reaching involved when using the screen. Of course, there's
another screen and that is this 12-inch screen
right in front of the driver to display your speed, your
trip information, and things like that. Ahead of that, on
this Limited trim, there's a heads up display
to display that information. But also, there's a
really cool feature where it provides
augmented reality turn by turn directions. So it really feels like it's
guiding you in real life as you're driving along the
route that you've programmed. Hyundai is going to issue
over-the-air updates for the Ioniq 5. But don't get too excited. You're not going to wake up
with extra range or extra power. Instead, that's to
make sure that the maps and the multimedia stay
updated, which it's still nice that you don't have to go
into the dealer for that. Up front, there's also
one USB port under here and two in the center console. And my phone is in the
wireless smartphone charging station, which is really nice. It would be great if you could
combine that with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. But again, that's
not offered here. Let's talk about charging. First of all, you can
open the charge port here using the key, which
is pretty cool. And let's start with the
coolest thing about this first. Hyundai has a system
called Vehicle to Load, and that's where you can
get an optional adapter, plug it into here, and
then plug in other devices, either for speakers
for a tailgate party, or like an emergency
situation, or you need to run tools, or
something like that. You take power from
the car's battery pack and use it to power other
things, which is super cool. It is optional though. As for actually
charging the Ioniq 5, the onboard charger
is 10.9 kilowatts and that will help you
get from 10% charge to a full charge in
just under seven hours. But the really cool
thing about the Ioniq 5 is that no matter the trim
level, every one of them can use DC fast chargers,
otherwise known as level 3. And with a level 3
charger, the Ioniq 5 will go from a 10% charge to an
80% charge in just 18 minutes. Now one of the downsides
is that Hyundai doesn't have its
own charging network so there aren't designated
Hyundai stations to go to like there are for Tesla. You need to go to
Electrify America and other public
stations like that. Remember earlier when
I said the Tesla is minimalist to the extreme? Well, here's the
best example of that. Technology. Because as you can see there are
no buttons, no dials anywhere. Instead, it's all about
this 15-inch touchscreen. So let me walk you through it. First of all, the
screen is pretty easy to use because it's really
responsive to your touchscreen. Everything's really bright,
really clear, obviously big, so you can see it
from a mile away. And there is a massive breadth
of functions-- everything from unlocking the
car doors, to the-- and opening the trunk,
to activating autopilot, turning on the
windshield wipers. There's a separate
thing for that. So a lot of the normal
everyday functions that you would just press a
button on in a traditional car have to be done through
the touchscreen. And it's impressive
that the screen can handle all of that stuff. Now, the downside is there
are all these different menus that you have to navigate in
order to get to that stuff. That means you have to
go through the screen to get to functions that would
normally be right at your hand. A word on smartphone
integration. You can link the car to your
phone via Bluetooth connection. And for 2021, there's
now a standard wireless charging pad, which
is really nice and doesn't come
on our 2020 model. However, there's
still no compatibility with Apple CarPlay
or Android Auto. I know that a lot
of Tesla owners don't find that to be a
drawback, and that's great. But in our Edmunds research,
we found that a lot of shoppers want Apple CarPlay
and Android Auto. They look for it
and they will pick a car based on whether
they can get it or not. So it is still a downside
that Tesla doesn't offer it. One of the things I like the
most from a tech perspective is the different camera
views you can get. Now, from just a standard
rear-view camera, there's a really high definition
and kind of a fish eye lens so that you can see pretty
far in both directions, especially if someone is
coming at you from the side. And if you press
this little arrow, you get a view of the
ground looking back from both sides, which is
really helpful as well. However, one of the
things that stands out as a downside compared
to the Ioniq 5 is there's just no screen
right in front of you. Every bit of information
that you're getting takes your eyes off of where you
should be looking on the road. And that happens
in other cars, too. Other cars have
central touch screens, but they also give
you information here so that not literally
everything you'll need to touch or see
takes your attention away from what you're looking at. No heads up display, no
display in front of the driver, it's just not as convenient. Now you can't talk
about technology without talking about
over-the-air updates, which is a big deal for Tesla. Whereas, with the Ioniq 5,
Hyundai is going to issue OTAs to make sure that
things like the maps and the multimedia are updated. But with Tesla, everything
is on the table. That means maps,
multimedia, sure, but also introducing games,
or giving you extra autopilot features, or sometimes
even giving you more range or more power. That means you could
wake up in the morning and your car is better than
it was yesterday for free. You didn't have to
take it anywhere. It's pretty wild. Let's talk about how
the Model Y charges. To open the charge port
you can, of course, do it through the
touchscreen or mobile apps, or you can just walk right
up and press it open. Teslas are known for being able
to charge very quickly, which brings us to its
supercharger network. We're still big fans of these
very quick stations, which are conveniently located
and proprietary to Tesla, which is super cool. We think that's still
one of the big advantages of buying a Tesla. OK. Behind the wheel of the Ioniq 5. Now the first thing I want
to mention is quiet in here. You do get a little bit of whine
from the artificial battery sound. You do get a little bit
of bumps from the road. But other than that, it's
just smooth and quiet. And that's how it feels
comfort wise, too. I drive these streets
pretty regularly and they are not smooth
or easy on suspensions. And the Ioniq 5 is just having
no issues with them at all. I'm also coming to really
appreciate these seats. They were nice to just
sit in without moving. But now that I'm driving, you
start to really sink into them. Plus they're supportive as well. The front seat has
a lot of adjustments and so I've been playing
with it quite a bit to get as comfortable
as possible and found a position where
I'm leaning back a little, my legs are raised, and
then those extenders come up and just kind of deliver my
feet to the pedals, which is really nice. As for power, let's see. Oh, that's a lot. So we got up over
50 miles an hour there pretty fast
from a slow roll. Let's see if it has the same
thrust if we're going about 45. Pretty close. Some electric cars, you get
all the bursts in the beginning and then if you're at higher
speeds, it's not so sudden. The same goes for
the handling, too. You could almost
forgive this car for having steering that feels
kind of loose or numb, not very communicative. But this feels very direct. When you combine
that with the power, it's a really more lively
feeling than I was expecting. This isn't a performance
car by any means but this thing can
be a lot of fun. No doubt about it. What about the
driver aid systems? Well, on the Ioniq 5, you
can get the optional Highway Driving Assist 2, which is
Hyundai's semi-automated safety suite. You can activate it by pressing
the buttons here on the wheel. And it lets me know through
that augmented reality system that we talked about earlier
on the heads up display. So right now I'm just cruising
along at a pretty slow speed. But we've tested this
system pretty thoroughly and we found that not only does
the adaptive cruise control work well, so it keeps a nice
buffer between you and the car ahead, as well as
handling transitions well if it needs to speed up
suddenly or slow down suddenly, but on top of that, there's
also a nice hand-off between the amount of steering
that the car will do on its own and the amount that
it requires you to do to prove that you're
actually paying attention. It doesn't make you do
big dramatic inputs that will override the system just to
prove that you're still awake. It pretty much
requires some gentle nudging here and there,
now and again, just to prove your hands
are still on the wheel and you're still
paying attention. But otherwise, it'll handle
a lot of the steering itself. Now, one thing that
could be improved is the lane keep assist
system where from time to time it will kind of
ping pong you back and forth in between the lanes. But overall, we found that
Highway Driving Assist 2 is a really comprehensive
system and probably one of the best semi-automated
suites that you can buy today. Just like every vehicle
that we test at Edmunds, we put the Hyundai Ioniq 5
through a battery of tests at our track to
see how it performs versus the competition. This long range, all-wheel
drive is packing 320 horses. That was good enough to get
it from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 4.7 seconds in our testing. And it hit the quarter
mile in 13.3 seconds. Now, for sure, those are
strong numbers for the class. But they significantly trail
the Model Y we have today. Just remember, that is
a Model Y Performance with an optional
performance package. But we've also tested
a Model Y long range and while that was just a tick
slower to 60 miles an hour, it did beat the Ioniq
5 in the quarter mile. To find its true total
range, we put the Ioniq 5 through our Edmunds
EV range test. Now that's where we leave from
our office in Santa Monica and drive a standardized route
to see how far the car can go on a full, single charge. The Ioniq 5 did 270
miles, easily beating its EPA estimate of 256 miles. What's interesting is
that for less money you can get a long
range, single motor Ioniq 5, which has an EPA
estimate of up to 303 miles. When we put the
Model Y Performance through the same route. It ran for 263 miles. Now, that's a problem
because at that time Tesla claimed total range of
291 and since then they've upped it to 303. And we're into
the Model Y. First thing I notice after
jumping out of the Ioniq 5 and into the Model Y,
it is not quiet in here. There is creaking,
there is rattling. Something is loose somewhere or
many things are loose somewhere and you can hear it and
you can feel it every time we're hitting a bump
or a crack in the road. It's partly the
suspension, it's partly these 21 inch wheels, which
come on the performance package. But this is just
not a smooth ride, especially coming
out of the Hyundai. That's just how it is. As for the creaking
and the rattling, yes, we've owned this
car for over a year, but those were present
the day we got the car. It's not very hot out today
but in Southern California it does get hot. You do get sweaty
on black seats. It would be really nice if
they offered ventilation. The Model Y does not. They do come on the Ioniq
5 in it's Limited trim. And for the amount that
we paid for this car-- Come on. It would be really nice to
have ventilated seats here. Now, as for power. That has never been a
question in the Model Y. We are up to speed and
beyond, in a hurry. Yeah, that hasn't changed. But here's what
I'll say about that. The Hyundai felt
more responsive. It did. As soon as you touch
the accelerator, that thing was giving
you power quickly. The Model Y feels a
little bit slower. It's not slow, obviously. It's very quick. But just in comparison,
the response is a little bit delayed. In the Ioniq 5, there's
less total output of power so eventually you're going
to start to taper off. And in the Model
Y, it just feels like it wants to keep going,
always faster, always faster. It's constantly accelerating
and pushing harder. So that's fun in its own right. But I think it should
be noted that the Ioniq 5 was a bit sharper in the way
that it delivered the power. Handling is still really good
in the Model Y. I find it crisp and it's easy to be pinpoint
with where you want to go-- around a corner, or hitting an
apex, or something like that. Fits this car. Especially for an electric
SUV, it's really nice. I'm a little bit less
enthusiastic about the brakes. I know that this outbreak the
Ioniq 5 on our test track. But driving it around on
the road, if you're at speed and you need to come
down in a hurry, I think it probably stop
in a shorter distance. But there's not a whole
lot of confidence there. It doesn't feel like
it's giving you a lot. And then all of a sudden
it comes to a stop. I just think it should be
noted for a vehicle this fast, it feels like there should
be a little more consistency all the way through the pedal. OK. So let's talk about driver aids. Obviously, autopilot
is the name for Tesla's semi-automated driving system. You press down once on
the gear selector stalk for adaptive cruise
control and twice for full autopilot, which
will take over some steering functions. Now that's a very cool
feature and it works well in a lot of applications,
especially gridlock. It's also very cool
that the car is capable of controlling so
many functions on its own, even taking full control
around turns sometimes. But we've tested
this system a lot. And too many times, it has
trouble recognizing things that it says it
should be able to do, such as reacting
correctly to cars moving in and out of the
lane, or reacting to driving by a parked car,
or coming up on lane mergers or construction zones. We've had to intervene
in order to make sure that the car performed safely. Autopilot is for sure
an ambitious system, but it needs some pretty
dramatic fine-tuning. And so far in our testing,
we've found that Hyundai Driving Assist 2 is just a more refined
and seamless overall safety suite. You know I'm impressed by the
Model Y and I always have been. But the Ionic is making some
of its blemishes very apparent. Just as an example, I'm
looking at the touch screen to see my speed
which is positioned in the upper left corner. Why is it position there? Because that's the
closest to me so that I have to take
my eyes the shortest distance away from the
road in order to see it. So by putting it there,
Tesla is basically admitting that we want
the important information to be close to you
so you don't have to take your eyes off the road. Then why don't I have a screen
in front of me telling me exactly that kind of stuff? Why do I have to take my
eyes away from here at all and bring it down here? For that and every
other function? The Model Y was a
revelation when it came out and it made us
question why we had been doing certain things a
certain way in the first place. But the Ioniq 5 today
is kind of reminding me why we did certain things
in the first place. Well, there's a lot to
like about the Ioniq 5, from air-tight build quality
to the innovative outbound charger. And there's less of a learning
curve than in the Model Y. On the downside, it can't match
the raw numbers of the Tesla. And you saw what happened
with cargo capacity. Ouch. On the other hand, the
Model Y pushes the envelope in so many ways, from range to
performance to expansive OTA updates, plus access to
the supercharger network. Of course, the learning curve
to that touchscreen is a doozy. And we're still concerned
that Teslas consistently fail to match their EPA
estimated range on our Edmunds EV range test. However, even at its
expensive starting price, the Model Y can still wow you. And that was enough,
when it came out. Since then, Hyundai has
been waiting in the wings, sharpening its
knives, and the result is an Ioniq 5 long
range, all-wheel drive that sets a new standard
in this price range. We're impressed by its
superior ride comfort and build quality, plus
more approachable tech for the masses. The Model Y set the
standard, but the Ioniq 5 now stands on its shoulders. That's why it's our pick today. Thanks so much for
watching today. Be sure to leave us
a comment, and let us know which of these two is
the best bang for your buck. And of course, don't
forget to subscribe so that you can see
what's coming next in the wild world of EVs.
