I Rode Shotgun in the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N at the 2024 New York Auto Show, It Was Glorious

Fresh from a win for best performance car at the World Car of the Year award ceremony, the Ioniq 5 N dazzled journalists and churned their stomachs at perhaps the grandest event on the North American auto show circuit. I was fortunate enough to be on hand to be one of those writers who legitimately almost lost their lunch. Now, a cramped, union-regulated event space might not be the most conducive to a high-quality track experience. But as it turns out, all the Ioniq 5 N needed to impress was a couple of straightaways and a few hairpin left turns.

Tucked into the far right corner of the Jacob K. Javits Center's central event space, a pair of two Ioniq 5 Ns had a steady stream of media and press flocking to it from the moment the show's first press day got underway. With its World Car of the Year trophy in hand, the anticipation couldn't be higher as a team of Hyundai event coordinators directed me to the track area. There, a delightfully charming driver by the name of Gianfranco charmed us with a little bits and pieces of information about Hyundai's world-beating performance EV.

On first impressions alone, the Ioniq 5 N is a seriously impressive-looking machine. The standard Ioniq 5 is already a handsome-looking little crossover. With a design language purportedly borrowed from the classic original Hyundai Pony, it's more apt to say the Ioniq 5 has a look all its own. Not too aggressive, despite the racing threads, but not exactly a pansy either, the Ioniq 5 toes the line between a tree-hugging, zero-emission EV and a true-to-form performance car in appearance like no other in its segment. With a subtle rear wing and rear diffuser, there's some real aero on hand to go along with the stylish red accents on the body kit.

On the hardware side of things, the Ioniq 5 N is no less impressive. From some points of view, they're even more astonishing. We're talking about two electric motors, one front and one rear, that combine to produce a healthy 601 horsepower and an instantly available 546 lb-ft of torque fed through a clever single-speed, direct-drive transmission. It's all fed by an upgraded 84 kWh battery that goes above and beyond even what the most tricked-out, extended-range standard Ioniq 5 can manage. With extra structural rigidity owing to an increase in welding points before the bare chassis is built upon, the bare shell of the Ioniq 5 N is ready to handle the extra power.

If you remember our ride-along in a standard Ioniq 5 back at the 2022 New York Auto Show, you'll know that machine was no slouch in its own right. Nor was it light on features. All the same plush leather and acres of screens are here in force on the Ioniq N, all with red pinstriping accents that match all the aero outside. Even if it was just a few minutes total strapped into the Ioniq 5 N's cockpit, I got the sense that this would be a phenomenal place to spend a track day. This was a point my driver Gianfranco was all too happy to showcase in all its glory.

After creeping out of the "pits" at the entrance to the track, Gianfranco brought the Ionic 5 N to a stop and engaged the car's launch control system. With one swift dump of the brake and a stomp of throttle, he showed how this nearly 5,000-lb EV sprints from zero to 60 mph in a scarcely believable 3.1 seconds. We didn't quite get that fast before the end of the first straightaway, but the Caesar salad and two cans of Diet Coke I had in the Hyundai VIP room didn't seem to get the memo. With a rounding of the corner and another stomp of throttle, the Ioniq 5 N had already made me humble.

But that was only the start of a very eventful minute or so ride-along. With one lap of the track complete, Gianfranco proceeded to show a few of the Ioniq 5 Ns party pieces. Starting with the most polarizing feature, its N Active Sound+ ICE-simulation system is designed to give all the auditory feedback of an old-fashioned gas engine, a jet fighter, or even a futuristic spaceship if that's more your speed. Using eight internal speakers and two on the outside operating at different auditory frequencies, the system works in tandem to provide a full-bodied and life-like sound to every stomp of your right foot.

All the while, Hyundai's N e-shift feature lets the Ioniq 5 N's direct-drive gearbox operate like an eight-speed, double-clutch automatic transmission through strategically placed bumps in torque that mimic a gear change. After a few more laps around the track, we can only say that all these bits of mimicry did at least work on a superficial level. That said, the track at the show this year was hardly long enough on the straightaways to really stretch out this pseudo transmission.

Lord knows the purists out there who hate EVs, no matter how good they theoretically are, will find these fake trinkets to be little more than window dressing on something they were never going to like in the first place. But hey, people like that are never going to be satisfied with the direction the auto industry is heading unless they give the General Motors EV1 treatment to every BEV this side of the Atlantic. To the rest of us more sensibly-minded people, it's nice to see that an automaker does at least attempt to cater to folks craving an old-school sports car feeling to modern performance EVs.

In the same way that the all-new Dodge Charger EV does, Hyundai is trying to preserve the very essence of what a sports car has always been since day one. That being a machine that satisfies all senses, including auditory. I'll tell you one thing: with my admittedly limited experience riding shotgun in an Ioniq 5 N, I can say, at least on the speed side of things, there's really not much to critique at all. Did I mention this EV has a starting MSRP of only $66,100? Gianfranco was all too eager to point this out as we rounded the track one last time to conclude our ride-along.

That said, you might want to expect a significant dealership markup by the time these little rocket ships hit showroom floors nearest to you. But what matters for our purposes is this. If you're a performance EV skeptic, all it'll take to convince you the Ioniq 5 N is legitimately quick is a 60-second jaunt in the passenger seat of one to break any delusions you may have about it being slow. Or, at least, slower than the equivalent ICE vehicle. Whether you appreciate the Ioniq 5's artificial attempt to bring you an old-school sports car experience is going to be entirely dependent on human psychology.

That's a factor that not even Hyundai, with their billions in R&D and design campuses with tens of thousands of employees, can control. But then again, Hyundai isn't building the Ioniq 5 N for overgrown adult babies who're perpetually stuck in the late 60s, the mid-2000s, or any other time period popularly coveted as being "better" than right now from an automotive perspective. For the rest of us, the Ioniq 5 N is nothing short of a stunning vehicle.

But what do you all think? Is the Ioniq 5 N an all-time great 2020s sports car? Or would you not touch one, or any other BEV for that matter, with a ten-foot pole? Let us know in the comments down below.