2025 Hyundai IONIQ 5

The Hyundai Ioniq 5 is genuinely one of the best electric cars you can buy right now. It's quiet, comfortable, packed with features and enjoyable to drive. But is it fun to drive? Well, Hyundai will have this covered too with the debut of the 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 N.

Just one look at the Ioniq 5 N and it's pretty clear it wasn't meant to be slouching around city streets and cruising along highways. It's a far more purposeful interpretation of the standard car, with an aggressive front maw meant to direct air to independent radiators for the battery and motors to help the Ioniq 5 N keep cool during track sessions.

The Ioniq 5 N, as we've come to expect from Hyundai's N division products, has also been hitting the gym. The 84-kWh battery feeds a dual-motor all-wheel-drive system that has been juiced up to 601 horsepower, but press the N Grin Boost button and power jumps to 641 hp for a short time. With the boost engaged, Hyundai estimates the Ioniq 5 N will sprint from 0 to 62 mph in 3.3 seconds. If that holds true then the Ioniq 5 N should be one of the quickest electric SUVs available.

Quick charge times when connected to a DC fast-charging station is another advantage. As with other Ioniq 5 versions, the N can charge from 10% to 80% battery capacity in just 18 minutes.

So far, Hyundai has not said how much range the Ioniq 5 N will have.

Even though you wouldn't think to take a big, heavy EV to the racetrack, Hyundai is adamant the N is ready for track work. To that end, the N gets significantly beefier brakes than the standard Ioniq 5. The front brake discs measure 15.7 inches and are clamped on by four-piston calipers, while the rears measure 14.2 inches and have a single-piston caliper. Hyundai has also reprogrammed the regenerative braking in the Ioniq 5 N.

A new feature called N Brake Regen supplies the majority of the braking force on track (up to 0.6 g of braking force) and remains active even when you dig deep into the friction brakes. The benefits of heavy regen are, mostly, to preserve the physical brake discs until max braking force is needed (say, for heavy deceleration into a corner) and to reduce the amount the discs fade while on track.

There are scoops, flicks, wings and ducts everywhere to help redirect air, but they also have the side effect of punching up the Ioniq 5's curb appeal for us enthusiasts. The whole car is also wider and lower, and the chassis is significantly stiffer than the standard car. It rides on 21-inch wheels wrapped in Pirelli P Zero summer tires, and the wheels themselves make no pretense about being "aerodynamically efficient." This hot-Hyundai is clearly all about performance.

The hardcore Ioniq 5 N will go on sale in March 2024 as a 2025 model, but Hyundai hasn't mentioned a price yet. Given that it boasts similar levels of equipment to the top-spec Ioniq 5 Limited and a number of pretty serious go-fast goodies, we wouldn't be surprised to see it priced near the $65,000 mark, but we won't know for sure until Hyundai sets a price later this year.

We're not sure this far out. It's interesting that Hyundai says the N version has a 84-kWh battery pack, which is larger in capacity than the existing 77.4-kWh pack. It seems plausible that the 84-kWh battery could be used on other Ioniq 5s besides the N, which could result in more range. We also wouldn't be surprised to see Hyundai make other changes to availability of the car's standard and optional features.

We're excited about the Ioniq 5 N. It improves upon the basic design of Kia's EV6 GT with significant changes that should make it a more compelling EV for enthusiasts.