I recently went to Denver and tried renting an Ioniq 5 from this forum. Here’s what I thought about it.
I have been driving electric vehicles for a couple of years now. I have a 2015 500e and my partner drives a 2023 Leaf. I wanted to see how the Ioniq 5 felt since I hadn’t driven it before. I rented a 2023 AWD version in white.
I always thought the Ioniq 5 and similar cars like the EV6 and GV60 were too big for my taste. My past experience with SUVs made me skeptical about their practicality. Plus, I struggle with parking; I once owned a Rav4 hybrid, and parking it straight was a challenge. People call the Ioniq 5 a hatchback, so I wanted to give it a fair shot. I had high hopes for its technology, knowing it had great range and fast charging.
The process with Turo was easy. It was my first time using this forum. The host sent me the car’s location, and when I got there, they unlocked it through an app. The key was in the glove box. I took pictures to show there was no damage and then hit the road. For the return, I documented where I parked, left the key inside, and the host locked the car remotely. Communication was smooth, so there were no hiccups.
Driving the Ioniq 5 was just like any other EV—smooth, quiet, and fast. I enjoyed the 75 mph highways, although the adaptive cruise control made me slow down at times. After a few years of not driving a Hyundai, I found the controls were user-friendly. The two large screens were easy to navigate, and I liked the paddles for adjusting regenerative braking, although I didn’t use them much. Parking was a breeze with the screens, even for reversing.
The navigation system was straightforward, and voice control worked fine. I ended up using my phone’s Apple Maps alongside it for better accuracy. I had some trouble figuring out how to avoid tollways, but since I only had the car for a couple of days, I didn’t search for a solution. Once, in heavy traffic, the system told me to exit and then re-enter a highway, which confused me. That experience pushed me to rely on Apple Maps.
I only stopped to charge once at a 350 kW EVGO station, and it was quick. I went from 40% to 69% in 10 minutes. I probably didn’t need to charge, but I wanted to test it out and gain confidence for highway driving. My hotel didn’t offer charging, or I might have used that instead.
My friend was impressed with the car too and had many questions about EVs. It might have swayed him as well.
I know this may sound boring to current Ioniq 5 owners, but it was a new experience for me, and it helped me see crossovers in a different light. The Ioniq 5 is definitely bigger than our Leaf but still fit well in parking spaces, even between some large trucks.
In short, I think the Ioniq 5 is a great car, and I could see myself owning one in the future.