(intro music)
- I finally got to try an IONIQ 5.
So I was gonna do this whole video
on the state of EVs, electric cars,
and I was doing all this research and looking into it,
and the more I thought about it,
the more I realized,
I really only had one major point to make,
which was that,
if the future of cars is electric,
then we're eventually gonna have to get
some really good, affordable electric cars.
Like, there's a lot of really good
electric cars out there already,
and they're really tempting,
but they're all so expensive.
At least,
more expensive than their gas counterparts.
And I also do remember when I had that conversation
with Elon Musk in the Tesla factory a while ago,
and I asked him about like,
a potential $25,000 good, mass-production electric car,
if that was even possible.
And he said yes.
And that answer has like,
made headlines over and over again
every few years since then.
But the truth is,
it's never been harder to make cars than right now,
and it's never been more expensive to make cars
than right now.
Obviously, supply chain issues
and it's hard to make a new electric car
for all of these companies,
but the point is, yeah,
we're eventually gonna have to get
some good, cheaper electric cars.
And this IONIQ 5
that I've been driving around for about two weeks
has convinced me that we are right on the cusp of that.
So the IONIQ,
to me,
stay with me,
is kinda like the Samsung Z Flip 4.
Like, it's one of the least expensive options
in an expensive new category.
Plus, a flip phone in 2022
kinda has this little bit of a retro future vibe.
And so does this car.
I have started a new channel
to talk about all my thoughts on cars,
and I actually have quite a few of them.
So, the first video is on the Rivian R1T
that I just took delivery of.
And we're actually already using it to shoot this video,
because that's what I got it for.
It beat the Cybertruck to market by quite a bit.
Either way,
you can go subscribe over there if you're interested,
I'm really excited about that channel.
I'm probably gonna shoot most of that stuff
on whatever phone I'm testing at the time but,
the "Auto Focus" videos,
no need to fear,
will still be here on this main channel
and I was so excited to test out the IONIQ 5.
See, at some point,
I just started seeing them around more and more.
Like, there was a lot of Teslas on the road already,
so they kind of blend in at this point.
I also feel like I see a Mustang Mach-E every other day,
but these IONIQs just started popping up
and got my attention,
and I kept wondering like,
okay, wow, lots of people are buying them,
they must be pretty good, right?
They're picking them over other options?
And now, after driving the thing for like, two weeks,
I get it.
I fully get it.
I mean, this is a well-rounded,
all-wheel drive crossover with plenty of space,
a distinct, but not super lame or flashy design,
an efficient 250-plus miles of range
and a sub $40,000 starting price tag.
And it isn't really bad at anything.
So, on the outside,
it has this design of like,
what people from the 80s
thought a car of the future would look like.
Now it's obviously a crossover with a lot of storage,
which is what people are into right now,
but it's very retro future and angular.
And I really like it.
And the coolest part,
for sure,
is the dot pixel theme all over the car.
The taillights and the blinkers are pixels,
and the front of the car,
that's my favorite part.
The glossy black rectangle is maybe not my favorite,
but everything else around it,
especially the dot pattern LED lights,
is so sick.
It's very unique on the road
and looks electric without looking dorky.
I mean, I can't really ask for much more than that.
And then I have these like,
four things that I keep in mind
whenever I see a new electric car,
just as far as like,
pillars of reasonable electric cars,
which would be solid range,
fast charging,
zippy performance and extra storage.
So, range is the easy one.
How far can it go on a charge, right?
So, the IONIQ 5 was giving me
a really impressively accurate range estimate
as I drove around, which I really like,
it's more accurate than Tesla's.
And so, on a full, hundred percent charge,
it would give me around 250 miles.
That's right around my comfortable baseline,
and it'll charge up to a ridiculous 350 kilowatts,
which would theoretically
take it from 10% to 80% charge in 20 minutes.
Now, most of these chargers
available to this car aren't that fast,
but that's another story for another day.
But then, the zippy performance is the other easy part.
This is the dual motor, all-wheel drive variant,
so it's a little more powerful
than the single motor 300-mile version,
but with a little less range,
and it's easily as quick
as any of its gas-powered equivalents.
I think on paper,
it's like, a five second zero to 60,
which is already pretty good,
but it's not even about that.
It's the zero to 30,
or the 20 to 40,
like, just zipping around town or merging onto highways
and with all that, it's very responsive.
Now the last pillar I say is extra storage because,
when you get rid of the gas engine, obviously,
there's just a bunch of extra space
and all the parts that come with it are gone.
And so every company has a different way
of taking advantage of that extra space.
So Rivian did a pickup truck with a gear tunnel
and lots of other cars like Tesla and Ford
have added a front trunk.
The IONIQ does have a front trunk,
but it's so small that I don't really count it.
Really, they just extended the wheel base
and made a crossover SUV,
with a ton of internal storage.
Big, big trunk,
lots of leg room and headroom in there,
and a ton of space between the seats.
And there's even this like,
moveable armrest thing between the front seats.
Honestly, other than that,
this is a pretty average,
if not slightly subpar,
interior for a $45,000 car,
but if nothing else, it is spacious,
so I say it checks that EV box.
So the IONIQ hits all of those fundamentals,
which, you know,
if we were missing one of those,
then I would sort of question like,
maybe I can't recommend this,
or I'd question why it's missing it.
But it has all that stuff
so that means everything else is just extra,
you know, stuff like software features,
autopilot-type stuff,
creature comforts,
little quirks and features.
So I'll give you a few things
that the IONIQ does that I really like,
and then some other things that I don't like so much.
So the IONIQ has paddle shifters,
which might sound kind of weird
for a one-gear electric car,
but they adjust between levels of regenerative braking.
So you can adjust on the fly with the paddles,
between coasting like a regular gas car,
all the way to one-pedal driving,
where it brakes when you come off the accelerator.
It's not the first time I've seen that,
but, I like it a lot.
That is dope.
It also has an HUD up front with this top-tier spec,
it has a really solid traffic-aware cruise control
that takes over on highway driving
and makes stop and go traffic way easier.
And it supports both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay,
which is convenient,
because aside from these capacitive buttons,
which really should have either been full-on touchscreen
or regular buttons,
I think the worst thing in this car is the maps.
And it's funny,
the software and navigating around
is actually pretty responsive,
it's totally fine.
And the features are nice.
It shows you how much range you'll get in each driving mode,
plus how much extra you can get
if you don't use the air conditioner.
But, the second I pop into the maps,
which is theoretically,
the most important part of an electric car,
it's brutally slow and clunky and unintuitive.
So Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are great,
you know, in-car replacements for the UI,
but they aren't particularly good at charging stuff.
So they don't know,
as of right now,
if you're driving an electric car or not,
and so if you're planning a trip
they don't know how many miles of battery you have
when you arrive at the charger
and how long you need to stop before you need to go again.
You kind of need to rely on it.
So, again,
Android Auto,
Apple CarPlay,
really good,
but for actually doing a road trip
and navigating through chargers and planning that way,
you kinda need the in-car map to be good.
I might have to add that to my electric car fundamentals.
Anyway.
I tweeted a few weeks ago,
there was this sick Hyundai like,
track concept car.
And I was like,
yeah, whoever's doing design for Hyundai right now,
keep it up,
you are absolutely killing it.
And that's, I think,
the last thing I wanna talk about which,
I think is kind of underrated
in this whole electric car revolution which is,
rolling out your first electric car,
for all these companies,
is basically an opportunity to rebrand,
to start over a little bit and create a fresh reputation.
Like, if you think about it,
Hyundai might be the best example.
Like, in the last three, four years,
what did you think about Hyundai?
You know?
The Tucson,
the Santa Fe.
You know, in the US,
they're typically 20 to 30K,
pretty reasonable, affordable cars,
but now all of a sudden this new car is 40 to 50K,
and it's considered one of the more affordable,
impressive, easy-to-recommend options in a new category.
So I guess what I'm trying to say is,
these car companies can create a whole new reputation,
from scratch,
for this new audience,
especially of younger people who are gonna grow up
and eventually buy their first car,
that may just be an electric car.
So if you reputation was already good,
like a Ford,
then maybe don't think too hard about it.
If you're coming out with an F-150 that's electric,
just name it the F-150 Lightning.
But, if you're looking for a change in reputation
that I think that a lot of companies are,
then this is an opportunity for them.
Just saying.
Anyway, I get it now.
I get the IONIQ 5
and I'm glad I got to test it.
From the EV fundamentals to the distinct design
that's not too weird, not too quirky,
but pretty sweet,
I think it's great.
It's not cheap.
But it is one of the most affordable EVs
at this moment in time.
So, yeah, I get it.
And not only do I get it,
but this is the exact car
I think we're gonna need to see a lot more of
to sort of, usher in our electric car future.
Anyway, go subscribe to the cars channel if you want,
I'll see you over there.
It's below the like button.
Thanks for watching this one.
Catch you guys later.
Peace.
(crickets chirping)