MOTORS: Ioniq 6 is worthy winner of car of the year
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If you’re looking for a stylish, innovative and pretty clever car, you’d be hard pushed to find anything better than this year’s Scottish Car of the Year.
The Ioniq 6 from Hyundai took the honours after a round of voting by members of the Association of Scottish Motoring Writers – including myself – and it now joins a long list of previous winners which have reflected engineering, technological and styling advances over the years.
Sponsored by Macklin Motors, the awards were closely fought in all the categories, but the Ioniq 6 emerged as a clear winner and a reflection of it as a car for families looking to embrace EV ownership.
It also took the title of Best Large EV while the smaller Hyundai Kona won Best Small EV.
I really like the Ioniq 6, its driving ability and quality of build and Hyundai’s boffins have done some clever things to make life easier and safer when we’re behind the wheel.
Its looks are a complete contrast to the conventional image of the Korean brand and the featured test car, the top-range Ultimate model, came crammed with so much comfort and safety equipment that the final price tag nudged over £55,000, a figure inconceivable when the brand arrived in the UK 40 years ago.
Alongside heated and ventilated, relaxation leather-faced seats, rear view camera, remote parking assist, smart cruise control and height-adjustable electric tailgate it also had the optional slimline digital side mirrors, which contain cameras rather than actual mirrors to display the rear view on two screens either side of the dash.
I’ve already experienced them on the small Honda-e and I didn’t like them then, probably because I’ve spent a lifetime using wing and door mirrors and they do the job very well.
I simply didn’t feel fully aware of what was going on behind and more often than not, I found myself looking over the door at the camera rather than the screen.
What was particularly challenging was reversing into a parking space which is dead easy using door mirrors but felt uncomfortable and detached through the small screens. However, with practice I started to get the hang of it and realised it just needed a change of mindset and would become second nature with regular use by an owner.
I loved the car which is a step forward from the Ioniq 5 with more of a coupe shape and sportier handling than its smaller hatchback brother.
It is based on the same platform as the 5 and the equivalent Kia EV6 as well as the upmarket family member, the Genesis GV60 and has many of the common features of square pixel LED lights, rotary drive selector on the simple, two-spoke steering column with plain, unbranded central boss.
Unlike the 5, there’s a conventional high centre console between the driver and front passenger which makes it feel less EV and more sporty saloon.
The featured model was the all-wheel-drive version with an electric motor on each axle which has the same battery as the rear-wheel-drive with slightly shorter range but still able to hit around 320 miles on a full charge.
It’s quick off the mark, smoothly hitting 62mph in a hair’s breadth over five seconds with the trademark seamless electric power surge. On the open road, it’s delightfully quiet except for some sound from the big 20-inch alloys and tyres.
It has advance charging technology so that if you’re lucky enough to find a rare 350kW ultra-rapid charger, you can top up the battery from 10 to 80 per cent in only 18 minutes.
The more common 50kW public charger should do the job in just over an hour and a domestic wallbox will refresh the battery overnight.
The interior is fairly understated rather than minimalist with loads of storage space including a slide-out drawer rather than a conventional glovebox. It’s clever – like the digital mirrors.
VITAL STATS
PRICE: £55,035
ENGINE: 77.4kWh Lithium-ion battery dual motor
POWER: 325 PS
TORQUE: 605 NM
TOP SPEED: 115mph
0-62 mph: 5.1 secs
TOWING CAPACITY: 1500kgs (braked)
RANGE: 322 miles
