Solid vehicle so far, but with some annoyances
In my first three months of ownership, my Ioniq 5 has worked reliably and given me no problems. It's been reasonably quiet (although there is an annoying motor whine below about 25 mph), the handling is good, the ride is good, the cargo capacity is good, the range is good, the DC fast charging speed is excellent, and the wireless Android Auto is good. The overall utility of the vehicle is good for me, although of course that depends on a particular person's needs.
My previous car was a Tesla Model 3, and the Ioniq 5's software suffers BADLY by comparison to that vehicle. The Ioniq 5's user interface is awkward and confusing, it's missing features (like the car's refusal to remember that I prefer iPedal Max driving mode), and the built-in mapping system is pretty bad. The last of these is so important for EV road trips that it deserves elaboration. First, the display and user interface deviates significantly from what other mapping tools (Google Maps, Waze, etc.) use, which is a user interface nightmare. The plotting of EV charging stops is awkward and requires too much user intervention (confirmations that charging stops should be planned, for instance). The display of charging stops with the first one at the BOTTOM of the list is completely unintuitive, at least to a US user. (Maybe that's a cultural thing and bottom-first makes more sense to Koreans; but if so, it should be a configurable option or the default should be changed for different markets.) Although the estimated state of charge at the destination or way-point can be found, doing so requires button presses; this information is important enough on road trips that it should be displayed on the main screen, along with the arrival time. Hyundai recently provided an update that supposedly adds Plug & Charge support; but the setup instructions refer to options in the MyHyundai app that don't exist. Online user forums are filled with speculation that an update to the MyHyundai app is required, but nobody really knows anything. Better communication from Hyundai about this sort of thing is imperative.
As I adjusted from my Model 3, I both appreciated the presence of buttons and other physical controls and detested them, depending on the feature. People tend to focus on Tesla's placing traditional button functions onto its tablet-style screen, but that's only part of it; things that other cars (like the Ioniq 5) require manual adjustments for are handled automatically in a Tesla. For instance, Teslas lack an on/off button; wipers are automatic (although Tesla's implementation is poor); headlights are automatic; there's an option to automatically cancel turn signals once a manual lane change is complete; and so on. Although my Ioniq 5 SEL has some of these features, it lacks others and requires more manual intervention on too many little things. Also, I've come to believe that settings that need adjustment while the car is in motion are better handled with physical buttons, whereas those that are never adjusted while the car is moving can be shifted to a screen for cost-cutting. By this measure, moving the heated seat controls to physical buttons for the 2025 model year is a big improvement; but the physical buttons to open the rear hatch and the charge-port door could as easily (and more inexpensively) be removed and those functions done via the screen.
I was one of the first people to buy the 2025 Ioniq 5, and so much of my research was based on seeing the 2024 model in person and seeing online reviews and the online Hyundai configurator. I was therefore surprised and disappointed to discover that the color of the seats for the 2025 Ioniq 5 SEL with gray interior did NOT match what's shown in the online configurator; the latter shows very light gray (almost white) seats, whereas what I received has much darker gray (not quite black) seats. Apparently, the Limited trim gets the light-gray seats, but the SEL gets dark-gray seats, similar to the SE's (cloth) seats. To this day, your online configurator is WRONG. Although I'm not upset enough to refuse delivery or sue, I STRONGLY recommend that you fix this ASAP. I've discussed this discrepancy with others in online forums, and some people seem to be more upset (or at least potentially upset) than I am about this.
Although I'm not affected by it directly, I've seen reports online that the 2025 Ioniq 5 is incompatible with the Tesla Mobile Connector, and possibly some versions of the Tesla Wall Connector. As a NACS-based vehicle, this is a significant problem. I hope you'll be able to fix it via a software update. I'd hate to arrive at a hotel with a Wall Connector and be unable to charge with it.
I've focused mostly on negatives in the above, but to be clear, I am mostly satisfied with the car. It's getting me around nicely and I hope to keep it for several years. The 2025 model year has a large number of small improvements over previous years, and I appreciate those. I hope you'll put more effort into the car's software, though; rearranging some menus, adding some options, and improving the in-dash navigation could greatly improve this car.
Recommended
Verified Owner
