Hyundai Ioniq 5 N vs Tesla Model 3 Performance | Who makes the best performance EV?

Welcome to Tesla vs Hyundai. Not the kind of twin-test you'd have dreamed up back in 2017 when Mr. Musk first launched the Model 3, but times move fast and now the IONIQ 5N is a proper consideration if you want a fast EV that's also brilliant fun. The question is, which one should you buy? We'll start with a few stats. The facelifted Tesla Model 3 Performance starts from £60,000 in the UK, while the IONIQ 5N is a touch more at £65,000. Both cars get two electric motors and all-wheel drive, but the IONIQ 5N is considerably more powerful, 641bhp vs the Tesla's 453bhp in UK trim. The Model 3 is, however, considerably lighter, weighing in at less than 1.9 tonnes, whereas the Hyundai is in excess of 2.2 tonnes. Okay, so neither of these cars are particularly light. In fact, they're both very heavy if we're being honest, and that's not great when you're trying to make something fun to drive, but then that is par for the course with EVs at the moment. The good thing, though, is that the engineers that build these cars are getting better and better at hiding the weight, at least at road speeds, and what's really going to help the Tesla in that department is that it's finally got adaptive dampers. These dampers adjust in real time and are controlled via Tesla's own software. This means that, like many other elements on the car, they can be updated via over-the-air updates. Other improvements from the pre-facelift car include forged aluminium wheels with staggered Pirelli P Zero tyres. They're wider at the rear than they are at the front, as well as what Tesla calls track-ready brake pad material. I also really like the new sport seats in this car. They weren't great in the previous Model 3 performance, but now they feel more supportive, the bolstering's better, but you still get 12-way electric adjustability and heating and ventilation. The driving position is okay, but I'd like to sit a little bit lower, although I do feel like the low window line does make it feel like you're sitting higher than you actually are, and what's really nice in this is that it feels, it actually feels quite narrow, and you can really place the car down a road and know exactly where you're putting it, and I think a large part of that is because of the window line. You can just see so much out front. Other than the new seats, the Model 3 performance cabin is largely business as usual. That means the central screen is absolutely brilliant and packed with functionality, except of course Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. The space on offer is okay, and the steering wheel mounted indicator buttons are still annoying. I can see these steering wheel mounted indicators being absolutely fine in America, for example, but here in the UK where we have a lot of roundabouts where you sometimes need to change your indication halfway through, it makes it harder than it needs to be, and how it is with a stalk, because you don't have your wheels straight, your hands are moving on the steering wheel because you can't just twist your arms all the way around, and it means that the buttons are changing position, whereas a stalk is always in the same position, so it just makes more sense, and it's a shame because you don't really need to do this. It feels like one of the things, a problem that actually never existed in the first place. Okay, so you can probably tell that I'm not a fan of the indicator stalks being taken away, but by my own admission, it's probably not a deal breaker, especially if you live somewhere without roundabouts. So what about the rest of the car? Now one thing I've always really liked about Teslas, and it's definitely the case in this, is the power delivery. It's not just that it's ballistically fast, which it is, it feels like it's got more power actually than the closest amount. It's so clean in its delivery, but also the throttle map and how intuitive it is. It feels like your foot is directly connected to the motors, so you can just be so precise with how much power you're getting. I mean, even by EV standards, it's so smooth and easy to use. Yeah, it's just been designed by people that you can tell really, really know what they're doing. Might not sound like much, but trust me, when you get in a car that hasn't got the throttle calibrated as well as this, you will notice it. Because in this, it is pretty much perfect. I also like how you can change how the torque is distributed on the central screen. Although I wouldn't be so keen to advertise it as understeer if you push it more towards the front, but I guess that is what you're going to get. But it's more about how it changes the balance coming on the power, and you can tell the difference. It really does mix things up a bit. That's just one of the benefits of an EV powertrain. The Model 3's brakes take some getting used to, especially in track mode, but they do scrub off speed very well. On corner entry, the turn-in and body control is a big improvement over the pre-facelift car. It's incredibly alert and the grip from the front end is enough to carry huge speed in, with the all-wheel drive traction allowing you to get back on the power incredibly early and be halfway to 100 before you've even had a chance to realise that all of your belongings are now nicely scattered over the width of the cabin. Those responses do come at a price, however, because on an imperfect, bumpy road like this one, the car can feel quite nervous, and together with the steering feel which just isn't really there, and the brake feel which can be a little bit inconsistent, at least to start with, it just kind of leaves you wondering how far you can take it. It's a strange one. It feels like it's doing so much right, and I think this is the most enjoyable and best-handling Tesla that I've ever driven, but then there's still, ah, there's still something, just something missing. I mean, going into this corner, speed's good, grip's good, it turns in really nicely on the nose, but, yeah, I'm just not feeling the urge to just keep on doing it over and over again. Gone through the corner now and I'm almost happy to just settle back into a cruise again. Needless to say, the Model 3 performance is accomplished as an everyday car. The ride is mostly good, the refinement respectable, and the Tesla charging network gives it a considerable advantage. Max range between charges is a realistic 300 plus miles, which, from experience, is more than the Ioniq 5N. I know this because when I first drove this car over in South Korea, and you can watch the video just up there, it was doing about 200 miles realistic range, but otherwise I thought it was absolutely mega. The thing is, the roads in South Korea are very smooth and wide open, and I reckon that the Tesla would have been absolutely at home on those roads, so I want to find out, can the Ioniq 5N be as good here as it was over in South Korea? Well, I have to say that seeing the Ioniq 5N in the UK really does confirm to me that it is an SUV in disguise. Yes, it's styled like a hatchback, but you only have to sit in it to realise that it's a hatch that's been enlarged by about 25 to 30%, otherwise known as an SUV. The cabin is huge and offers way more space than the Tesla. So, climbing in this after being in Tesla, there's two things that you notice straight away. The first is that for some reason, on a £65,000 car, there's no electric seats. They're both manual. That's a bit strange. Also, the driving position in the Tesla, I actually think, although it's not perfect, it's better than this, because here I do still feel like I'm a bit high up, which is probably natural because it is more like an SUV in here, but also I'd like to bring the steering wheel a bit further down as well. At the moment, it feels like it's just pointing up a little bit. Actually, it reminds me of the driving position in the Ford Focus RS, the last gen Ford Focus RS. Interestingly, the person that oversaw the development and the engineering for that car is the same person that did it on this car, and it definitely shows. The Ioniq 5N is absolutely inspired in the corners, and it's largely down to the way that it never feels like, on the road at least, it's trying too hard. Body control is excellent, but the 5N isn't too stiff or spiky. Despite its considerable weight, it works with the bumps and undulations in the road surface and always feels confidence-inspiring. The feel from the brakes is exceptional. The feeling from the steering is satisfactory. It's not the best, but it's a lot better than the Tesla, and yet it's the feeling from your seat that really stands out. You can tell exactly what this car is doing underneath you, and although it's about six centimetres wider than the Model 3 Performance, on a road like this, I've just got way more confidence in placing it where I want it. There's no sense that it's going to get unsettled by bumps or undulations in the road. It's just planted, it's communicative, and it just eggs you on to drive it like you would a hot hatch. For once, Tesla is beaten for gadgets and gizmos. We've covered them extensively in our in-depth review of this car, but the N eShift is a particular highlight. Now, I can't have been the only person that was a bit sceptical when Hyundai said they were going to make a fake gearbox for this car, because it hadn't been done before, to my knowledge. How do you make a fake gearbox? How do you make it seem like it's worth doing? Somehow, they have. It is brilliant. You can map the N eShift to a button on the wheel, or you can change it in the screen, but I've got it on the wheel here, so if I press it, we now get a sequential gearbox with paddles. I mean, I don't think the sound is the best. Hopefully, they'll come up with some more sounds. It's all right, but the feeling of having a gearbox and the torque and the interruptions in the torque and the shift, there's a jolt there. It's incredible. It's so intuitive, and there's even a half limiter. I didn't think it would work, but it just does. I know it sounds silly, but it's just so much fun, and it does give you a proper experience. I just love the way they've mapped the torque curve into the gears. They're not real gears. They're completely fake, but they feel real. You've also got other really cool gadgets, such as the N-Pedal, which is extreme one-pedal driving. Definitely give that a go. It takes some getting used to, but it's actually quite satisfying when you can get it right. There's an N-Drift optimiser. Just like in the Tesla, you can change where the torque is going front to rear. There's a clutch kick function, which I'm not convinced about because you have to pull both paddles back at the same time and then let them out, and then that's kind of like doing a clutch kick, but because you have to have your hands at nine and three, it's not ideal if you then need to switch them like you do when you're trying to slide a car, so that's not perfect, but it's still a nice idea. Then, just like with the i20N and the i30N, you've got a huge amount of customisation, and you've got two custom drive modes that you can input that into. There's so much that you can change. I don't think the power delivery, regardless whether you've got the N eShift on or not, is quite as smooth or intuitive as it is in the Tesla. I think the Tesla's power delivery, as I said, is absolutely superb. It is the standard, but it's still very workable in this. It's got a huge amount of shove, and what I really like is the N Grin Boost button. It sounds like a bit of a silly name, and it is a bit, but what it allows you to do is, regardless of what mode you're in, whether you're in eco mode or normal, or how you've got the powertrain set up, you can get the full 650 or so brake just by pressing that button, and it means that if you need that burst of power, you've got it right there. So, press it and it takes your head off. Such a good idea, and it's so accessible. But it's not the party tricks that make the IONIQ 5N such a standout. I mean, don't get me wrong, some of them are excellent, but it's the car underneath that just feels properly engineered. There's always been a problem with performance EVs where they've just felt inert, and while the Tesla must be credited for trying to fix that, it doesn't pull it off as convincingly as the IONIQ 5N. This car doesn't just stop and go and steer brilliantly for an EV. It's a really enjoyable, engaging performance car, full stop. You could have happily put this in a test against petrol-powered performance cars, and it's in there with a chance. It is that good to drive. I'm not exaggerating there, it really is. There's more wind noise than the Tesla, but otherwise it's comfier on a long drive, and for me, and no doubt many others, it's a huge plus point to have Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility. Even so, when it comes down to it, you could make a strong case for either car overall. Having spent a lot of time in the IONIQ 5N and the pre-facelift Model 3 performance, I was surprised at how well the updated version of the latter stood up. You can feel that it is noticeably lighter than the 5N, especially under braking, and it is the more agile and nimble of the two cars. In short, it's another reminder that Tesla is always in the conversation when it comes to best EVs. But for me, the IONIQ 5N wins it because, put simply, it is the most fun. Not just because of the various gadgets and brilliant N eShift, but because it does what the best performance cars should do. It's engaging, it's got a sense of humour, and it makes you want to go out and drive it for no other reason than your own enjoyment. But come on, which car would you pick? Tell us in the comments section below, and don't forget to subscribe and turn your notifications on for the Car Magazine channel so you don't miss another video just like this one.