The new Ioniq 5 EV was worth the wait.
The new platform was developed for battery electric vehicles. The Korean automaker is at or near the head of the class in terms of quality and reliability, and its smaller, earlier EVs have gotten impressively close toTesla-levels of powertrain efficiency.
The ability to fast-charge in 18 minutes and the 800 V electrical architecture of the new "Electric-Global Modular Platform" made us excited. When we got our first look at the Ioniq 5 back in February, the excitement grew even more.
I would have seen the Ioniq 5 if I'd been paying more attention to the show. The design team, led by Sang Lee, took some of Giorgetto Giugiaro's energy and made it into the Ioniq 5's proportions. The 45 concept is meant to pay homage to a 1974 concept written for the Korean brand, but to my eyes, it's more reminiscent of a 1980s Lancia Delta. Except was scaled up by 19 percent.
The Ioniq 5 has perfect proportions, but it's 20 percent bigger than you think.
The Ioniq 5 is flatter by the sharp looks and spot-on proportions. This is not a small car, but a compact SUV. That's sure to spark some arguments about pigeonholing, but the facts are that it's 182.5 inches long and 63 inches wide. It's larger than a Volkswagen Golf but smaller than a Model Y.
The Ioniq 5 has a long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long That's longer than a car. It's even longer than the Palisade SUV. The interior of both front and rear dwellers will be spacious and airy.
The interior has a completely flat floor and a healthy use of recycled materials, which include old plastic bottles, bioplastic from sugarcane, recycled Tyvek fibers, and the dashboard and door-panel paint.
