Following the launch of the Ioniq 5 last year, Hyundai is now shifting its attention to its next EV, the Ioniq 6 sedan.
Full Disclosure: Hyundai Canada was gracious to invite me on behalf of TheCanadianTechie to Vancouver to drive the Ioniq 6 ahead of launch. They also provide travel and accommodations. This does not affect TheCanadianTechie’s editorial coverage of Hyundai and its vehicles.
Exterior
While the Ioniq 5 went for a crossover SUV/hatchback look, the Ioniq 6 goes for a traditional sedan look. Hyundai calls the vehicle a “streamliner” which is designed to make the Ioniq 6 as aerodynamic as possible, which in turn brings better range.
The Ioniq 6 is around 4,855 mm long which is longer than its Ioniq 5 sibling. On the front and back of the Ioniq 6 are the parametric Pixel LED lights, which give the vehicle a slightly futuristic look. One cool thing you may not notice at first is that in the front left headlight, “Ioniq 6” can be seen.
There is a front trunk on the Ioniq 6 but it is fairly small and could only really fit the vehicle’s charging cable.
The main trunk at the back of the vehicle offers up to 316L which is smaller than the 770L on the Ioniq 5 but it should suffice.
For all of Hyundai’s electric vehicles in the Ioniq lineup, they’ll be using the company’s Electric-Global Modular Platform (E-GMP) for the powertrain. While the Ioniq 5 offered two battery pack sizes, the Ioniq 6 will only be offered in the long-range 77.4 kWh battery.
The vehicle also comes with an 800V charging infrastructure that supports up to 350 kW DC fast charging. This means you can get up to 80% battery in 18 mins when charging from 10%.
Depending on which trim you go for in the Ioniq 6, you’ll get up to 581 KM on the Preferred RWD Long Range to 435 KM on the Preferred AWD Long Range with Ultimate Package.
There’s also Vehicle-to-Load (V2L), which lets you use an adapter to turn the charging port into a standard wall outlet. There’s also a standard wall plug just below the rear seats.
In Canada, the Ioniq 6 will be offered in several paint options including Serenity White, Transmission Blue, Ultimate Red, Nocturne Grey (which is the colour I drove), Digital Green and Abyss Black.
Interior
The inside of the Ioniq 6 will feel very familiar to those who have seen the inside of the Ioniq 5, Hyundai went for a very straightforward design. There are hardly any buttons on the doors except for the door unlock/lock.
The rest of the controls for the vehicle are in the centre of the vehicle or below the main infotainment displays. Speaking of which, there are two 12.3-inches screens, one in front of the driver and one in the centre which is a touchscreen.
The main centre touchscreen is running Hyundai’s BlueLink system which is fairly easy to use but now has some EV-centric features. There’s also Android Auto and Apple CarPlay but it’s still wired only via the USB-A port in the centre console.
Flanking each side of the dashboard are these winglet dash designs which look cool but don’t serve any function.
That’s because, in certain markets, the Ioniq 6 can be equipped with a Digital Side Mirror and OLED displays would be put in each of those winglets.
Sadly, the Digital Side Mirror won’t be an option for the Ioniq 6 in Canada and most likely North America.
Sitting in the front seats of the Ioniq 6 was spacious with lots of legroom and a good amount of headroom. But if you’re taller, the headroom might not be to your liking.
The Ioniq 6 (Preferred AWD Long Range with Ultimate Package) also comes with Hyundai’s Blind View Monitor, which shows you the view from the mirror camera on the digital driver display.
The Preferred with Ultimate trim line of the Ioniq 6 also features Remote Smart Parking Assist V2 which lets you remotely move your vehicle forwards or backwards using the buttons on the key fob.
Driving the Ioniq 6
Now onto the real question, how does the Ioniq 6. For this first drive trip, Hyundai had us driving in beautiful Vancouver with a route already planned out.
For the first leg of our drive, we started at our hotel in downtown Vancouver and took HWY 1 to Fort Langley National Historic Site, which was our first stop of the day.
The second leg of our trip was going from Fort Langley and going back on HWY 1 and up some mountain roads to the Cypress Mountain Ski Area, which is where this photo was taken.
After that, the last leg of our drive was going from the Cypress Mountain area and up HWY 99 N (aka the Sea-to-Sky Highway) and up to Porteau Provincial Park. Then it was Porteau and back to our hotel in downtown Vancouver.
While most of the drive was mostly highway driving, that is likely the type of road that at least some potential Ioniq 6 buyers will be using for their daily commutes or just getting around town.
The Ioniq 6 is a fairly smooth drive overall and feels very similar to the Ioniq 5. The vehicle can easily go around corners even when not in the dedicated Sport mode.
The 4 levels of regen can be adjusted via the paddle shifters on the steering wheel. The higher the regen level, the more intense stopping power the vehicle will have when taking your foot off the accelerator.
There are different drive modes available on the Ioniq 6 including Normal, Sport (which gives it more nimble and responsive but at the cost of less range) and Eco (which offers maximum range). There are also Snow and Custom modes available.
The Ioniq 6 is also one of the first Hyundai vehicles to offer Highway Driving Assist 2 (HDA 2), which acts like a step up from Adaptive Cruise Control. Hyundai says that HDA 2 uses Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) and Machine Learning to tailor the ACC to the driver’s habits.
With HDA 2, the Ioniq 6 can keep a set distance from the vehicle in front and stays in the center of the lane but it can also change lanes.
It’ll also respond to vehicles that cut in when driving at low speeds and also adjust your vehicle’s position when a vehicle in an adjacent lane drives too close.
I was able to test out the HDA 2 during the drive in Vancouver but it didn’t seem to work as well on winding roads like HWY 99 N. The system will need a bit more testing when I get an Ioniq 6 press vehicle for review in the weeks to come.
Each of the Ioniq 6 vehicles was the Preferred AWD Long Range with Ultimate Package, which gets up to 435 KM of range. Starting our drive, we were at 100% battery but by the end, we were at around 50-55%.
Final Thoughts
Overall, the Hyundai Ioniq 6 looks and drives great. It handles great and offers good electric range (with around 435 KM of the lower end). The Ioniq 6 is set to go on sale in Canada later this month.
Here are the Canadian pricing and trimlines for the Ioniq 6.
- Preferred RWD Long Range (581 KM) – $54,999 CAD
- Preferred AWD Long Range (509 KM) – $57,999 CAD
- Preferred AWD Long Range with Ultimate Package (435 KM) – $63,999 CAD
Following the Ioniq 6, the next vehicle in Hyundai’s Ioniq EV lineup would be the Ioniq 7 SUV which should be similar in size to the Hyundai Palisade. One interesting tidbit that Hyundai shared is that for the model naming of their Ioniq vehicles, they use odd numbers for SUVs and even numbers for cars.
The production version of the Ioniq 7 should be announced in the coming year but nothing has been announced yet.
TheCanadianTechie 