Hyundai Ioniq 5 N Drags Porsche, Jaguar, Maserati, Lamborghini SUVs – It's a Massacre

Video hosting platforms are overspilling with content featuring the new knight in shiny armor riding from the Far East, and its assault on the performance car market has not gone unnoticed. Granted, it’s not fair play to compare a five-seat, five-door family hatchback that runs solely on electrons with a twin-turbo something that has two doors, two seats, an engine where the kids should be, and a price tag that could get you a taxi fleet worth of Hyundai Ioniq 5 Ns.

The (r)aging dispute between electric power and fire power is pretty much settled – electricity is quicker, faster, and better performing than internal combustion (at least, when it comes to drag racing). A reciprocating piston machine has to put out a tremendous amount of horsepower and torque, more than an EV, if it is to stand a chance in a quarter-mile brawl.

Here’s proof—a five-way drag race between the internet’s newest battery-electric sweetheart, the Ioniq 5 N, and four super-SUVs from some of the world's most renowned houses of speed: Jaguar, Lamborghini, Porsche, and Maserati. With the paradigm shift of the past two decades or so, Sport Utility Vehicles have gradually crept toward the top of sales charts for some makers, much to the disgust of a good portion of gearheads’ society.

Nonetheless, today’s trends favor these oversized four-by-fours that see about as much off-road action as Antarctica sees snow-melting temperatures. The Hyundai Ioniq 5 N is and isn’t in the same category, much like Schrödinger’s cat. It is due to its body weight and bulk, but it isn’t because it doesn’t self-identify as an SUV but as a ‘sports car designed for daily use’ (Hyundai’s own claims).

Whatever it is called, the Ioniq 5 N is seriously fast – no surprise here; it’s the performance version of an electric vehicle. A Jaguar F-pace SVR, a Maserati Grecale, a Porsche Macan GTS, and a Lamborghini Urus Performante will testify to that, having been kicked in the cylinder heads by the merciless Korean.

Starting off with the small Italian, the Maserati Grecale Trofeo – that other Italian brand with performance ambitions – sports a measly three-liter, two turbochargers, six Vee-assembled cylinders, and an eight-speed auto. The 4,580-lb flash Italian puts out 523 hp and 457 lb-ft of torque (that’s 2,077 kg, 530 hp, and 620 Nm). Those are pretty good numbers, but there’s a Jaguar that can do better.

The F-Pace SVR is that Jaguar, and it comes with proper muscle: a 5.0-liter V8 fitted with a supercharger that delivers 550 hp and 516 lb-ft. The pompous Brit needs every drop of that if it is to stand a chance against the others, given its 4,810 lb heft. (translated into non-imperial units, the big SUV weighs in at 2,182 kg and fires 558 PS and 700 Nm through an eight-speed automatic).

The Macan GTS is Porsche’s underdog in this quarter-mile shootout at the Willow Springs corral, carrying the lowest numbers in this fight. Its V6 is augmented by two turbos, but it only displaces 2.9 liters and churns out only 434 hp and 405 lb-ft (440 PS, 550 Nm).

That’s not convincing at all, but this is a Porsche, and the Germans really know how to dial in their machines and get maximum performance with minimum effort. Also, the Macan GTS weighs just 4,330 lb (1,964 kg) and is armed with a seven-speed PDK (which is Porsche Doppelkupplung, or dual-clutch).

Finally, the Ioniq 5 N quietly sneaks 641 hp (650 PS) and 568 lb-ft (770 Nm) from its pair of electric motors (one on each axle). The catch is that peak power is only available for around ten seconds, after which the Hyundai ‘only’ has to make do with 601 hp (610 PS). It is the heaviest in this faceoff, at 4,880 lb (2,213 kg), because the batteries weigh a lot.

Long story short, the Ioniq 5 N walks out of the race only to go to the finish line and wait for the other three to struggle for the title of ‘the first one to lose.’ In 11.1 seconds, the Hyundai everyday sportscar puts around a dozen car lengths between its own tailights and the combustion triad.

The EV crossed the line at 123 mph, faster than the Jag’s 119 mph, the Maserati’s 111 mph, and the Porsche’s 109 mph (198 kph, 195 kph, 179 kph, and 175 kph, respectively). The runner-up, the SVR, got to the checkered flag eleven-tenths later than the unassuming Hyundai (12.2 seconds), a whisker ahead of the Maserati (who scored a 12.2, too) and one-tenth of a second faster than the Porsche.

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The End – for the stuck-up SUVs, but not for this race. With nothing left to prove, the EV levels up and goes head-to-head against a Lamborghini. The Urus Performante is the sporty evolution of the first-ever Super Sport Utility Vehicle (Italians are never tired of exaggerating the sportiness of their cars).

It packs a V8, four liters in capacity, two turbos, and enough firepower to start a war. 657 hp and 627 lb-ft is a lot, even in a 5,000-lb raging bull; that’s 666 PS, 850 Nm, and 2,263 kg of Urus to take on an electric car. For once, the Hyundai is outnumbered in all aspects (including weight), bar performance.

The Urus evaporates off the line and gets an early lead for about three seconds; after that, the EV’s instantaneous torque proves why electricity doesn’t care about old-fashioned wildfire and just blows the doors off the rowdy Lambo.

The Super SUV rushes toward the finish line half a second later than the Hyundai, six miles per hour slower (116 mph / 187 kph). Maybe it’s time to bin dusty traditions about reciprocating pistons and embrace the unavoidable, leaving the horse(power) nostalgia behind once more.