Hyundai IONIQ 6 review

Driving position 

Finding your perfect seating position in the IONIQ 6 is a breeze. All versions get electronically adjustable front seats that can be moved forwards and backwards, up and down, and even tilted front and back. 

The same goes for the steering wheel, which has loads of reach and rake adjustment to get it right where you want it, even if it only has an old-school manual adjustment lever. 

Plus, it’s a well-proportioned wheel that’s nice to hold and doesn’t obscure your view of the digital dashboard and head-up display. 

However, one thing to note for taller drivers is the sunroof. It eats into headroom and can result in a bit of scalp scraping on the headliner, even in the lowest seating position. We solved it by moving the seat back a bit, so it was fine in the end.  

Tech and features 

While the exterior makes passers-by point and shout, “What kind of Porsche is that?”, the interior is unlike anything we’ve seen from Hyundai before, in a good way. 

Its cabin layout gives off a homely yet clinical feel a bit like a dentist’s surgery with some soft white leather sofas and a fluffy carpet. It’s a very clean layout, and a logical one too. 

Spanning the dashboard is a 12-inch central touchscreen for all your infotainment needs, and an almost identical second 12-inch screen sits to the right, acting as a digital driver’s display. 

While the driver’s display lacks customisation, it’s very function, the central is just brilliant. It’s responsive, crisp, and easy to navigate. It can even play nature sounds for you while you charge.  

Why? We’re not entirely sure but it certainly helps calm everyone down in the car, should you need to. 

Our one gripe with the infotainment is the lack of wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Ordinarily, this wouldn’t be the biggest problem in the world, but Hyundai only offers a single USB-A port to connect your phone. 

Most new smartphones ditched this years ago and moved to USB-C. There are USB-C ports around the car but none that allow CarPlay connectivity, so you might end up ordering a USB-A to USB-C cable faster than you can say ‘Amazon’.  

But once your phone is all wired-up like we’re back in 2017, the system works really smoothly, as it always does.  

In our Ultimate trim test car, we had the more powerful eight-speaker Bose sound system, which offers really punchy base and high mids. It was an almost theatre-like experience while we drove the length of the A1. 

And speaking of tech, there’s the optional £995 digital door mirrors. They feel a bit strange to begin with and then you soon get used to them. They’re not exactly natural and feel a little bit overly designed, but if you’re a tech nerd, they might be right up your street.  

Electric motors and power 

There are two different versions of the IONIQ 6 available: a rear-wheel drive and a all-wheel drive variant. 

Both get the same 77kWh battery but power ranges from 228hp in the RWD and 325hp in the AWD.  

Our test car was the RWD one, and it felt plenty powerful. Put your foot down in sport mode and it gets up to 62mph in a brisk (but not painfully quick) 7.4 seconds, which is more than enough. 

For reference, the AWD goes from 0-62mph in 5.1 seconds, so you would notice that extra power. 

And despite it being rear-wheel drive and with plenty of electric torque, we never once felt it was unsettled. In fact, it’s quite the opposite and very confidence-inspiring at higher speeds. 

We’re also big fans of its ‘i-Pedal’. Flick the paddle shifters to the strongest regen braking setting and you unlock one-pedal driving system – it’s good enough that you never need to tickle the brake pedal. 

And, when you lift off, you generate a bit more juice for the battery. It’s the best one-pedal driving we’ve used yet, and for an electric car, that extra range is very, very welcome.  

Handling and ride comfort 

Get onto a twisty country road and the IONIQ 6 performs surprisingly well. Yes, it’s a long car at 4.8 metres but thanks to its relatively short bonnet and tapered design, it feels much smaller. 

You can thread it down a narrow B-road with a lot of confidence, and if it’s fitted with Pirelli P Zero Elect tyres like our car was, you have grip for an eternity – or that’s how it feels anyway. Plus, you’re maximising range at the same time. 

You do feel the car’s weight on taller speed humps, but around corners and on the UK’s generally rather poor road surfaces, the IONIQ 6 feels pretty planted – even on the 20-inch wheels our test car had. 

The same goes for when you hit the motorway. It feels very composed at 70mph and doesn’t have anywhere near as much wind noise as some other EVs. We’re not sure how much different the normal wing mirrors would make, but the digital ones must be playing a part in that. 

Boot space 

For a saloon car, the IONIQ 6’s boot is rather cavernous at 401 litres. This is plenty for a couple large suitcases or a few smaller ones and can be extended to 760 litres with the rear seats folded in a 60:40 split configuration. 

The opening is wide though the boot isn’t very tall (a common saloon downfall), so you may find yourself bending through the car to reach items at the back, but it’s not too much trouble. 

If you do run out of space, or just want somewhere to store the charging cables, you have a small 45-litre front boot (or ‘froot’), which is enough for a small bag of shopping or a rucksack. 

Rear seats 

Despite its sloping roofline, there’s lots of space in the back seats. Passengers six-feet tall and below won’t struggle to get comfy, plus they get two-stage heated seats and two USB-C ports will keep them happy. 

Our car had the lighter-coloured interior with white seats that look great but are prone to staining, so if you’re planning on having kids in the back, maybe opt for one with black seats to be safe. 

Storage solutions 

There are two main reasons you’d buy an IONIQ 6: you like tech or you have a family. It's more likely the former but this is a four-door saloon car, so it definitely works for both.  

That being said, it’s not the best in terms of nifty storage solutions. For starters, we couldn’t store any bottles in the door bins. They’re also a hard plastic and narrow, so if you drop anything in there, good luck getting it out. 

There isn’t much storage space between the driver and front passenger other than two cupholders, a wireless charging pad, a small space for the key. There’s a bit under the armrest as well but it feels like it lacks. 

You do, as in many other EVs, get a big storage area under the cupholders for bags or jumpers, which is useful. 

In the back, it’s very much the same story, with narrow door bins and a central armrest (which folds down between the two outer seats) with two cupholders. 

Safety 

When it was independently tested by Euro NCAP in 2022, the IONIQ 6 scored a full five-star safety rating, thanks to an array of onboard safety features. 

These include blind spot collision avoidance, forward collision avoidance, lane-keep and follow assist, parking collision avoidance, rear cross traffic avoidance, and loads more. So, it’s safe to say it’s very kitted-out. 

While it is useful, we did find some of it to be distracting. The speed warning beeps at you incessantly if you go 1mph above what it thinks is the speed limit. The worst part is, we found it was often wrong and reading speeds from other roads around us (e.g. 30mph while on the motorway driving past a smaller road).  

The lane assist was the same, and we often found it tugging at the wheel on country roads where you often have to drive in the middle because there aren’t proper markings. 

In fact, it beeps so much that you often don’t know what it’s warning you about, and it would be more dangerous to look down at the display to work it out. We understand all new cars are becoming like this, but it was needlessly aggressive in this one. 

Range and charging times 

Thanks to its mammoth 77kWh battery pack (and impressive 0.21 drag coefficient that helps it cut through the air), the IONIQ 6 has one of the best ranges of any electric car in its class – 338 miles for the RWD and 322 miles for the AWD (since it’s heavier and powers twice the wheels). 

This is plenty for most people, and it stays true to its reading when you’re on the move. We averaged 3.7mi/kWh during our week with the car, which is quite a bit lower than its claimed 4-5mi/kWh. But considering this was mostly motorway driving, we think it’s about right. 

Because we drove hundreds of miles, we did need to charge a couple of times, which in the IONIQ 6 is an absolute doddle.  

It can charge at speeds up to 232kW, which means you can charge the battery from 10% to 80% in just 20 minutes.  

We plugged it into a 350kW rapid charger at a service station when we got it down to 20%, and after a quick lunch stop and toilet break, it was already at 95% battery.  

This is precisely what EV life should be like. Not once did we have range anxiety or worry it wouldn’t charge quick enough. 

Granted, fast chargers are more expensive than a slower 7kW home charger, but if you have a wall charger at your house and make the most of it, you’ll rarely need to visit a public charging station for most journeys. 

Reliability 

Being a modern electric car, there’s very little to be concerned about reliability-wise.  

There are fewer moving parts than in an oily internal combustion engine, but it’s also made by Hyundai – famed for designing and building dependable cars. 

Insurance groups 

The Hyundai IONIQ 6 sits between insurance groups 36 and 41 because it’s a powerful and relatively expensive electric car.  

The exact cost will vary depending on the driver, so it’s best to run an online check or ring up your insurance provider first.