[Hayek]

TLDR Summary

Let me start by saying Please Read This Fully. But so far, after 40 days and 2350 km, I could not be more happy with the car.

Likes

• Drool worthy looks - I have owned a number of nice cars starting from my Yellow Zen through the BMW X3 and the Tiguan Allspace. But this by far the best looking car I have owned
• Fantastic Interiors - The looks are not just skin deep, the interiors are very good looking too, and comparable to the Superb or even products from luxury brands
• Great to Drive - Acceleration may not be as insane as some EVs, but you will never ever feel a lack of power. It is faster to 100 than my X3. There is also virtually no body roll, the car seems better around corners than the X5 I drove in Switzerland, and ride quality is good too!
• Refinement - EVs are all super quiet. But this is much better than the other EVs I have sat in and the combination of quietude and doing what you want the car to do adds to the experience
• Great Range - 500 km+ in the city. 400 km+ including a climb up Khandala Ghat. Theoretical ability to charge from 0-80% in 18 minutes at one of the 3 350 KWH chargers in India. Range Anxiety - what is that?
• Super Low Running Costs - I am averaging under Rs. 1.5 per km
• Spacious - The front seats are great with good under thigh support, and the amazing anti-gravity mode for the front passenger. Rear seat width and knee room is fantastic, and under-thigh support is better than the X3. Boot space is great too (albeit helped by the lack of a spare tyre)
• The Hyundai App - Have not talked about it much in the review, but it gives you access to state of charge, statistics relating to every drive, power consumption stats, ability to change charging modes, start climate control and lots of features I have not explored

Things that Could be Improved

• The Buying Process - Paying the full amount upfront without inspecting your car in your city, and having a temporary registration in your name before you see the car is a process that requires more trust in the system than exists in India
• Nickel and Diming on the Charger Installation - Come on Hyundai, how many people can manage with just 10 metres of free wiring? My 97 m may be high - but you could surely have given 75 m free like MG
• Only White Interiors - They look great, but will likely entail large detailing bills. A saddle brown option like that in my X3 would have been great
• Too Many Alarms - The 80 kmph alarm is much too intrusive (frankly, it should not exist), and the ADAS features are a pain too. There must be way to turn those off - have not figured that out
• Small Bottle Holders - I use wide 750 ml bottles for water, and can also store a 1l Bisleri bottle next to that in each door of my X3. Here, the 750 ml bottle barely fits in the front, and does not fit in the rear door
• Lack of Wireless Car Play and USB C ports- Don't see why that should have been omitted from a car being sold in 2023. Similarly, there are several USB ports, but not even one USB C which will make the car feel outdated in a few years
• Lack of a Spare Tyre Option - Hyundai refused to even countenance selling a space saver. And admittedly with 20" wheels, even a space saver would leave you with no boot space
• Very Complex Menus - The menus in the touch screen are very complex. I have not figured them out as yet. And compared to the iDrive in my X3, the Hyundai menus are very poor indeed

We need a Third Car

As many of you may be aware, my primary car is a BMW X3 20d (F25), which I purchased in January 2017. Even though the car is now getting to nearly 7 years old and 56,000 km, I am quite happy with the car, and content to let it continue as my daily driver for the next few years.

My employer has a car scheme which lets me buy a new car every 4 years on very attractive terms, and when the X3 completed 4 years in 2021, I bought a VW Tiguan Allspace as a replacement for my wife's VW Vento. The Allspace has turned out to be a great buy as well - and is currently running up the miles at a faster clip than any car we have owned in the last two decades. We bought the Allspace in March 2021, and thanks to the second wave of Covid, it took nearly three months to cross the 1000 km mark. But thanks to a combination of usage (largely chauffeur driven) by my wife, my in laws (who came to live with us during the lockdowns and often go to visit friends and relatives in the suburbs where they lived prior to Covid), and my son (who has an increasing number of classes), it crossed 11,000 km by March 2022, 23500 km by March 2023, and is now at nearly 33,000 km. Not excessive usage for a car - but with three claimants who often need the car at the same time, we quickly realized that we probably need a third car - or at the very least, a second driver who car ferry my X3 around for when others in the family need it.

The option of making the X3 available for the rest of the family was quickly ruled out - even though I am now no longer finicky about letting a driver handle the car, I often need to head for meetings at short notice, and I was clear that I would need a car available for my use at all times. This was amply demonstrated when our Tiguan unfortunately had its windscreen chipped by a stone sent flying from Bombay's lousy monsoon roads and I found managing without the X3 while the Tiguan went for repairs quite inconvenient. Net result, we decided we need to buy a third car. This would of course have to be bought without the benefit of my company car scheme - and the thought immediately turned to which car we should buy.

What Car?

I must admit that we have often been confused about which car we want to buy, especially when it comes to cars for the family. Back in 2010, when I bought my Superb, it was a fairly straight forward decision. Luxury cars were ruled out, I wanted an automatic, and hence the only serious contenders were the Honda Accord and the Skoda Superb. Our decision in 2012 (It's a VW Vento (Petrol Highline AT). EDIT: Sold!) was more complex. We started off with a consideration set of the Vento and the City, but because the Vento trim we wanted (Petrol Highline 1.6 AT) was not available, ended up scouring the entire market ranging from the Jazz to the 520D, before going a full circle and picking up our first choice. In late 2016, I was clear that the Superb replacement would be a luxury car, and it ended up as a two horse race between the Mercedes GLC and the BMW X3, before the mouthwatering discounts that BMW gave in the post demonetization phase swung the decision in its favor. Our Vento replacement was a more complex process - we started off loving the Kia Seltos DCT, but the long wait periods and the poor crash rating moved it down our selection list. We then test drove the MG Hector DCT (very comfortable but terrible to drive), and the Innova Crysta 2.8 AT (as a substitute for the Innova Crysta 2.7 AT and the Innova Crysta 2.4 AT both of which were not available to be tested), before settling on the Tiguan Allspace which we once again got at a mouthwatering discount.

And this time round, we already had 2 very similar sized SUVs which we were going to retain - one with a BS4 diesel power train, and the other a BS6 petrol. And consequently, we started our decision making process with only one criteria that had more or less been set - that we could not add one more smoke belching ICE card to Bombay roads. We were clear we wanted to pick up an EV.

Why an EV?

- We already have two great long distance cruisers - so range anxiety is not something we need to bother about
- Everything I have read about EVs and know about physics / chemistry suggests that EVs do materially reduce CO2 emissions.
- Even more importantly, in a city like Bombay, which is where our car will be primarily driven, local particulate emissions are a genuine health hazard, and everything we can do to reduce these helps. EVs are clearly superior to even the best ICE cars in this regard
- I have 4 permanently allotted parking slots, and our society allows members to fit an EV specific meter and wiring to place a charger in one's own slot.
- Peer pressure - we already have about 40-50 EVs in our society, and every day one sees a new person buying an EV
- Driving pleasure - I had driven a colleague's MG ZS EV, and found it outstanding to drive.

[Hayek]

Which EV - Test Drive Outcomes

The EV landscape has of course changed dramatically in the last two or three years. We now have options at almost every price point - but sadly, do not have multiple options at any price points other than the upper entry level (INR 15-20 l where the Nexon EV and XUV 400 compete) and the > INR 60 lakhs level.

From our perspective, any EV we bought needed to have sufficient rear seat knee room (since I am 5'10.5" with very long legs for my height, and my son is even taller and still growing), be reasonably comfortable in the rear seat (since it should logically take up my in laws suburban run duties from the Tiguan Allspace), be reasonably nice to drive and be driven in, and in an ideal world, be usable even with 4 passengers plus the driver on board.

I was also clear that I did not want to go grossly overboard in spending on this car. Based on the above criteria, we had 3 logical options, and 1 outsider which I decided to consider:

1) The MG ZS EV - INR 26 l ex showroom
2) The Byd Atto 3 - INR 34.5 l ex showroom
3) The Hyundai Ioniq 5 - INR 45.9 l ex showroom
4) The Tata Nexon.ev - INR 19.94 l ex showroom

My son was strongly against the MG and the BYD. After some reflection, I managed to persuade him to consider the MG (given all the rumors of a large Indian group buying a controlling stake) but decided myself that given the uncertainty around approval for BYD's future investment plans in India, it was too risky to spend so much money on a product that may lack support tomorrow.

I called all three remaining dealers for a test drive.

MG ZS EV

The MG ZS EV is the de facto default option for EV buyers, at least in my friend circle. A colleague has one, two of my closest friends in the building have one, and all told a majority of the EVs in our building are this model.

We got into the ZS EV for a test drive, and were disappointed to find that fitting three people in the rear seat was an extremely tight squeeze. The width seemed less than that of our old Vento - whether that was because we have been spoilt by the Allspace or because it is really narrower, I cant tell. The other issue was that the rear seat was very close to the floor, and my son in particular was in an extremely knees up position in the rear.

Boot space was decent, and it came with a rear tyre placed under the boot floor which was a positive. Fit and finish was quite good - the steering wheel and switchgear reminded us of our Tiguan, and the Hello MG features worked beautifully. We didn't get a chance to drive it much - it was around the Navratri time, and there was some kind of procession which had backed up the traffic. But given my experience in my friend's car, I was fine with its power, and my family gave it the thumbs up from a ride quality perspective.

So overall, quite a good car, except for the tight rear seat, and its country of origin.

The Tata Nexon.EV Long Range

When the Nexon.EV came in, it frankly blew my mind. The interior quality was a couple of generations ahead of the pre facelift Nexon and in my view, much better than that of the MG, the infotainment screen was world class, and it was the only car of the lot with Wireless Apple Carplay. While boot space was materially less than that on the MG, rear seat knee room and under-thigh support did not seem materially different. Rear seat width was narrower, but marginally, and both were in our view only good for 2 in the rear. At first glance, it seemed like that Tata Motors had pulled off a miracle, and delivered a product that was as good as the MG at a significantly lower price.

We then took the car for a fairly long 15 km test drive - which include a couple of long flyovers where some speed was possible, and some areas with heavy traffic. To my shock, the way regen was implemented in this car was not great at all - it somehow made the passenger in the rear feel a little nauseous, and even when I toned down regen from Level 3 to Level 1, it did not give us a perfect ride. I don't know what owners feel about this, but for me, this was a deal breaker, and by the time we reached home, my wife and I had agreed that this was NOT the car for us.

[Hayek]

The Ioniq 5

The Ioniq 5 initially came for a test drive on the same day that we test drove the MG ZS EV. I had seen pictures of the car on both the Team BHP review and in some YouTube channels, but arguably it looked a lot better in real life than in pictures or videos.

When we entered the car, we were even more impressed. The plastic quality was great even if the explanations of how plastic from recycled bottles had been used seemed quirky, the leather quality was good (even if we didn’t really buy the spiel about it having been treated in an environmentally friendly way), but the front seats were great, the rear seats even better (in my view and that of my son, more knee room and better under-thigh support than the X3), the “anti-gravity” mode of the front seats seemed like something I would never use but was cool to have, the fixed glass pane was amazing, and the movable center arm rest seemed very thoughtfully designed. And of course, the car came with oodles of interior space - three fitted much more comfortably in the rear than in the X3 and it certainly did not compare adversely to even the Tiguan Allspace. While the car does not come with a spare tyre and Hyundai does not even sell a space saver (the sales guy gave a spiel about how jacking the car up incorrectly could damage the battery which I did not buy), it did have a puncture repair kit and the deep boot space more than compensated for the limited height of the boot under the luggage cover.

Aside: When the sales guy told me “puncture repair kit”, I initially thought that this was something akin the the tools a street side vendor uses to repair a puncture. I was surprised to find that it actually was an air pump with an attachment that helped you push a sealant into a punctured tyre, which would hold at speeds of up to 80 kmph for a certain distance (forget what it was though it is written on the sealant bottle). In short, this turns a punctured tyre into the equivalent of a run-flat, and given that we have never used the spare on either the Tiguan or the X3 in nearly 90,000 km of combined running, I decided it was not a deal breaker. Further we were assured that after using this kit, we could safely get the puncture repaired through a normal road side vendor.

The instrument cluster reminded me of that on the Kia Seltos I test drove nearly three years ago. Given the Puja processions that were going on, I was once again unable to take it for a proper test drive, but the limited driving was enough to tell that this was from a different planet than either the ZS EV or the Nexon.EV. What made it even better was that the steering wheel was a joy to hold, the switchgear quality was great, and you could store not just the front but also rear seat positions in the memory. The strange “twist to shift” gear lever located to the right of the steering wheel and the turn signals being on the wrong side (vs the X3 and the Tiguan) were the only wrinkles on ergonomics that I could point out.

All in all, this seemed like a great car - the only question was whether we wanted to spend more than what we paid ex showroom for the X3 for a Hyundai!

In the next week, I ended up viewing practically every review of the Ioniq 5 on YouTube, and concluded that subject to a proper test drive, this was the car I wanted. On the price itself, while I paid very little for my X3, that was courtesy large discounts in December 2016 - and the same car today would cost a lot more than the Ioniq 5. I also convinced my self that the Government of India is being very kind to EV buyers currently - what with only 5% GST and 0% registration vs 53% GST And 12% registration for a similar ICE Car. With ICE taxation, this would cost Rs. 75 l OTR (excluding insurance) vs Rs. 46 l. Excuses, excuses - I think I wanted this car and came up with all kinds of rationalization to justify this decision.

The next Sunday, the car came over to my place again, and this time, I went for a long drive - from Parel to VT through the Lalbaug and the JJ flyovers, back to Wadala through the Eastern Freeway, and various streets in between. The car was great to drive - extremely quick to accelerate (though the 80 kmph beep was irritating), with minimal body roll, and despite the 20" wheels, with a reasonably compliant ride. I tested out the Automatic Cruise Control, and found it worked quite well. The car showed relatively poor efficiency - only 4 km / kwh, but the sales person explained this was because the test drive car had been standing with the AC on as both the previous customer and I studied it, and that the actual mileage would be better. By the time we reached home, I had taken a decision that I would buy this as my third car.

[Hayek]

The Booking and Delivery Experience

Having decided to purchase the car, I asked the sales advisor for a quote. To my surprise, I was told that the cars were being sold directly by Hyundai Motor, and all the dealer would be involved with was in selling add-ons such as insurance, extended warranty, mats etc and coordinating the delivery process. I was told that I would need to make a payment of the base price direct to HMIL as soon as they confirmed the car was available, after which they would provide the VIN and invoice the car to me. Dispatch of the car to Mumbai would be carried out only after full payment was received, and a temporary registration and insurance was in place. It did strike me as a somewhat risky proposition but I decided that Hyundai would be unlikely to pass on a lemon onto its premium customers, and decided to go ahead with this process.

I tried asking the Dealer to pass on some of the commission or incentive that he would be getting to me, or to give me a discount on the extended warranty, but he just did not budge. I am not sure if that was because they genuinely had no flexibility or he gauged the fact that I was keen on the car and would not insist on a deal - but in the end, I folded.

Extended warranty was available for Rs. 26 k for the 4th year and Rs. 47 k for the 4th and 5th years, I picked the latter. They also offered Hyundai mats of Rs. 15,000 - these were not washable, which was not acceptable to me. As an alternative, they offered something called 7D mats, but said that if I installed these, the moving centre console would not move anymore. Between these two options, I decided that having mats that can be washed was more important than a moving centre console, and chose the 7D mats.

The dealer initially quoted a "Hyundai Assurance" insurance package for Rs. 204,000 which included Zero Dep, Engine Protection (I was and still am unclear what this covers but was told it covers the battery), Return to Invoice etc, and offered a Rs. 22,000 discount if I took this package. I felt that paying Rs. 182k for insurance was a lot, and checked online for quotes. I was surprised to find a relatively limited set of options - Tata AIG did not have a zero dep available, HDFC Ergo offered a zero dep for Rs. 137.5 k and zero dep plus tyre secure for Rs. 171 k, and the best offer was from Royal Sundaram for about Rs. 90 k. In the mean time, the dealer got back and offered me a Royal Sundaram package with cashless support, Zero Dep, Return to Invoice and Tyre Cover for Rs. 93 k and given the marginal difference between the online policy and what the dealer was now quoting, I went with that plan.

So overall, my final cost for the car was going to be as under:

Ex Showroom Price 4,595,000
TCS 45,950
Payable to Hyundai 4,640,950

Insurance 93,000
Registration and Fastag 1,462
Extended Warranty 47,102
Mats 15,000
Payable to dealer 156,564

Total OTR 4,797,514

Or so I thought.

Having negotiated the deal, I went ahead and made a payment of Rs. 100,000 to the dealer through card, which he said would be remitted to Hyundai as a booking amount.

The next day, I was contacted by a Relationship Executive(the RE) from HMIL. She directed me to an extremely user unfriendly website where she wanted me to upload some KYC documents (PAN, Aadhaar and Electricity Bill copy iirc). After two or three attempts to do this myself, I called the dealer and the RE, and asked them to figure this out at the back end.

They got this done the next day, after which I had to go back to the web-site and select Direct Payment (as opposed to Financed) mode for paying them. The site was supposed to let me download an order form with payment details, but this did not work too. A few additional calls to the RE later, I was told the order form would be mailed to me the next day. After receiving the order form, I set up the beneficiary, and made the payment the next day. After all of this, I was given the VIN and then proceeded to make the balance payment to the dealer so that the insurance policy could be issued. Overall, it took 6 days between my initial advance and this stage.

So with everything I needed to do finally done, I now started following up for shipment of the car. They said it would take 2-3 days, but as it happened, it was 5 days before the temporary registration was completed and the car was shipped. Fortunately, they made up sometime on the way to Bombay and it reached the dealer 5 days later.

Went over to the dealer’s yard (literally in the middle of a slum) to see the car and pick up the charger.




The car looked brilliant - but I was concerned about where it was being stored. I asked them to deliver the car to me with the temp registration, and carry out formalities later. They agreed and said they would deliver the car the next day.

[Hayek]

Something I had Forgotten - Charger Installation can Cost Money

While I was waiting for the car to arrive in Bombay, I got a call from someone from the Hyundai charger installation team coming for a feasibility survey for charger installation. I must say I had been rather stupid - just presumed that charger installation would not be a problem since many people in my building have EVs.

I have 4 parking slots - 3 together at one level with a wall behind them, and a fourth at a different level where there is a pillar nearby. Our meter room is at the latter level, and I presumed the charger could be installed there. To my surprise, I found that while the 7.5 KVA chargers of the MG ZS EV can be fitted on the pillar, the larger 11 KVA charger of the Ioniq 5 does not fit there and it can only be installed on the wall.

Fortunately, this was not a deal breaker but for others in our building who have slots with only pillars nearby, that could prove to be a problem. The survey was done very professionally with a detailed video being prepared both for my reference and for the benefit of the installation team. They found that there was space in our tower’s meter room to fit an extra EV specific meter but that the wiring to my slot (which needed to follow a particular route approved by the society) would be 97 m long. I was asked to work with society’s electrician to get a new EV meter and connection, and told that thereafter, Hyundai’s agency would carry out the wiring and install the charger.

The society electrician told me that installing the meter would cost me ₹30,000. That seemed reasonable to me, and I asked him to go ahead. I had presumed that this included the cost of the wiring to my slot. But that was not the case. Hyundai provides only 10 m of wiring free of cost (unlike MG, which provides 75 m) - and the cost of the extra 87 m to reach my slot was ₹59,000. So overall, the cost of installing the charger came to ₹89,000 - or approximately the cost of 890 litres of petrol - enough to run 7000 km.

The charger installation process itself was time consuming - they started work at around 11 am and completed it only around 730 pm - stretching the patience of our society security guys to the limit. Of course, it only in India that you can have two men work all day and pay effectively only for the hardware used in the process.

As an aside after the charger was installed, they informed me that they need less wire than originally estimated, and refunded me ₹7500. Costly guys - but honest guys.

Including the cost of the charger and the new meter, the car cost me a total of ~ ₹ 48.8 lakhs.



The charger is much larger than those provided by competing brands like Tata and MG - and even larger than the 22 KW ABB charger that someone who has an EQB received. They gave us two physical tokens that need to be tapped for charging to start. I have not yet figured out if there is an app which will let me start charging remotely without using the token. The charging cable itself is fairly long - and lets me charge the car when parked in any of the three adjacent slots I own.

Have not yet received my first bill for this charger, and hence am not sure if there is a difference between the actual power consumed in a given period and what the charger indicates. But the charger showed a consumption of 24.55 units for going from 70% to 100% on my first charge, which suggested a loss of nearly 13% vs the theoretical battery capacity. Will try and show a broader trend on this parameter later in this thread.

[Hayek]

Back to the Delivery Process

With the charger installation process well underway, I reached out to the dealer to check if the car was ready for delivery. They told me that the registration process would take a week, but if I was ok using the car at my risk with the Temp Registration, I could collect it at around 5 PM. However, when we went to pick up the car, we found that it had a number of dirt marks (mud / paint - unclear to me) on it, and we told them we would not accept the car in this form. We were traveling for a few days thereafter, and hence told the dealer to get the car ship-shape, and to allow me to inspect it before sending it for final registration. About 4 days later, after my travel, I went over to check the car, and this time it had been polished properly and I hence signed off on their completing the registration process. The registration was completed the next day, and they received the RC plates the following day.

The delivery process itself took about a hour, with a detailed explanation of the various features of the car being provided to us. They also completed my registration for the MyHyundai and Bluelink apps and explained how those apps worked. There was then an unveiling ceremony, and after a brief Puja, we set out down the ramp of the dealer's showroom.





The car was delivered to us with 160 km on the Odo and 81% charge. The dealer had of course driven it from his yard to the showroom at least twice, and had also taken the car to the RTO for inspection. Nevertheless, it did seem a tad higher than I expected but we decided to let that pass.

(We missed taking a snap of the odometer at delivery but compensated shortly thereafter)




Our first drive was to the Nerul temple in fairly heavy traffic. It took us over an hour to cover the 22 km, and used up ~5% state of charge. That did not seem bad - 440 km was quite close to the advertised WLTP range.





At the temple with a Garland



The return journey was slightly more efficient - using 6% for 28 km, or an indicated range of over 460 km.



We thus had covered about 50 km and had 70% charge left. But the next day being a Sunday, we decided to use the opportunity to make a run to Lonavala for a Misal breakfast, and hence put the car on charge for the first time.

[Hayek]

Driving the Ioniq 5

The First Drive - Bombay to Lonavala and Back

We started at a decent hour in the morning (it was the day of the World Cup Final), with the car fully charged and showing a range of 425 km. My wife got first dibs at driving, and found it fairly comfortable to drive. The most amazing thing about the car is how quiet it is - and that in and of itself makes the car feel like a segment or two above what it costs. (it was not for nothing that the Rolls Royce ad went, "At 60 mph, the loudest noise in this new Rolls Royce comes from the Electric Clock").

Traffic was quite heavy and it took us nearly an hour to get to Kharghar, by which time my wife agreed to hand the baton to me. Whether it was my wife's smoother driving style or better traffic, I cant tell, but when she handed the car over, the display indicated a consumption of just 14 units per 100 km. We used the native maps in this journey, which are quite good



We made much faster progress from Kharghar to our first halt at Khalapur, and got there in just over 1.5 hours. I tried the Adaptive Cruise Control on the expressway - but quickly realised that at least at the second from minimum gap it allowed me to set, it was too conservative, and kept braking whenever some tried to cut in front of it - with the result that our average speed was not great. I also toyed with regeneration settings - the car seems to accelerate much faster at lower levels of regeneration, while at Level 3, it seems as if something is holding it back even when the accelerator is pressed (and slows fairly quickly when you release the accelerator). The other irritating thing was the number of warnings the car gave - of course there was the 80 kmph warning beep (accompanied by a large MID display saying Reduce Speed which is arguably more irritating), but there was also blind spot warning beeps whenever I changed lanes, the resistance to changing lanes if I didn't bother to signal, and a desire to follow lane markings even if I could see a stretch with road work ahead which caused me to run over the marked lane signs. I must say I have now become used to this - which could be a problem as I may miss an actual warning that matters (cry wolf)

At any rate, our average consumption up to Khalapur was 14.5 kwh / 100km, and we had covered 73.1 km while using only 35 km of range and 13% of charge. (suggesting a true range of 560 km)



The one other observation I made is that the MID gets reset even with a fairly short halt such as the one we took at Khalapur. As we set out up the ghat, I realised that hills are true range killers for EVs. Consumption even after the first stretch where traffic was light was about 30 kwh / 100 km - we thereafter got stuck in a jam from before Amrutanjan Bridge to the Lonavala exit, and when we reached Lonavala (Bhuvachi Misal), we had lost 64 km of range and another 8% charge for just under 17 km with a consumption of 35 kwh /100 km in this ghat stretch. So the Khandala Ghat climb gave me a range of just 212 km.

Overall, we used 21% charge over 90 km from home to Lonavala - giving an average range of 428 km (more or less what we started with) including city traffic, a fast expressway run and the ghat climb which included a terrible jam.



We stepped out, and I must say I couldn't help looking back and staring at the car - it looks so good.







After a nice (albeit excessively spicy) breakfast of Misal Pao, Bhajia and Tea, we headed back home. And of course, what gravity takes away while climbing a hill, it gives back when you are coming down. The reading of energy consumption per 100 km for this stretch kept dropping, and eventually came down to 0 a little before Khalapur. It did not fall below 0 even though we kept coming down the ghat. Oddly, the range indicator fell by 30 km in this 20 km stretch even though battery state of charge remained at 79%. Am not clear why that happened.



Now that we were back in the plains, consumption started to rise fairly quickly. By the time we exited the expressway, average consumption from Lonavala was 8.6 units per 100km, by Vashi it was 9.9 units per 100 km, and when we got back home, it had risen to 11.4 units per 100km.



Overall, our 184 km return journey depleted 189 km of range, and used 36% state of charge.




Driving Till Date

Very unusually for us, the car had to make two more trips to Lonavala in the next week, since my wife had to attend a retreat there for which we sent the car with the driver to drop her, and then get her back home. Net result, the odometer crossed 1200 km (or over a 1000 km since we got the car) within 10 days.

Since, then usage has been more normal - even though this has replaced the Tiguan as the preferred vehicle for the suburban runs that my wife and in laws do. As of date, the Odo stands at about 2350 km, with the car having used over 350 units so far as per the charger's display. We are back at an 80% state of charge (I have used the app to get the car to start charging after 10 pm when the concessional rate of electricity kicks in, and to stop at 80%), and given the urban bias to our running, our average power usage is about 6.25 km per unit (based on the charger). At an 80% state of charge, the indicated range is about 460 km. In charging to 80%, the units shown by the charger add up to about 6% more than that indicated by the increase in state of charge - vs 10%+ in my first charge to 100%. Whether that is because charging efficiency drops between 80% and 100% even on AC charging, or some other reason, I don't know.

Overall, we are very happy with the car after 40 odd days of ownership. I enjoy driving it myself, and take it to office instead of the X3 on any day when the family does not plan a long trip. Will be taking the car for a longer highway drive in about two weeks, and may try fast charging at that point. Lets see how that pans out.

Will try to keep posting observations from time to time on how our ownership experience pans out - but given the usage pattern assigned for this car, my own driving will likely be less than 30% of the distance the car drives, (more than that for the Tiguan where I have probably driven less than 5000 km out of 33500 including Goa, Ajanta - Ellora, Lonavala and Poona trips, but less than that of the X3 which will continue as my daily driver) and hence updates may not be as frequent as I would like.

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[androdev]

Congratulations @Hayek. The car is a 10/10 in looks department - something one wouldn't normally expect that from a typical Hyundai. Very interesting to read the perspective of someone who owns X3 and Tiguan, says a lot about how good the car is. Not to mention the "definitive" analysis of the price and economics coming from the Guru himself :-) I hope Hyundai doesn't abandon this design anytime soon - it has the potential to become an iconic design. If Hyundai can shrink this same design into a crossover with a smaller footprint and lower price, it would be a phenomenal city car for a lot of people.

[iliketurtles]

Congrats Hayek, the Ioniq 5 is an absolute stunner to look at, one of the best looking cars at almost any price point on Indian roads IMO. Whenever I pass one I can barely peel my eyes away. My only wish is that they launched it with the AWD powertrain that’s there in the EV6.

Do keep this thread up to date with details. There are such few threads by EV owners, understandable given the nascent nature of the ecosystem. Your perspective could be invaluable in guiding others, given you’ll break down the ownership experience into easily digestible numbers.

May she serve you and the family well. Go well.

[Axe77]

Thanks for the fantastic review Hayek. Had been keenly waiting for this one ever since I read about your purchase. Once again hearty congratulations on a fabulous new addition to your garage. In my eyes, the Ioniq and the EV6 are the two best looking EVs on the market today - bar none - at the entire price range from half their price to twice their price!

The Ioniq is an extremely compelling proposition indeed. I really hope the Korean twins bring out some equally enticing offerings in the 20 - 30L range as well. Overall, the Ioniq today is probably the best value luxury EV option out there, delivering a lot more than the Indian / Chinese offerings in the 18 - 28L range and delivering much better value and a more palatable price tag than the 65L plus offerings. A brilliant middle ground indeed.

The couple of things (like you also rightly mentioned) that stick out for me with the Ioniq, which I wish they’d address:

- Lack of a spare wheel. All the talk around range and fast charging is blunted if one can’t have complete peace of mind while going far. Of course this is increasingly becoming a norm in the premium segment but nevertheless - it’s still not something I’ve made peace with.

- The all white interiors really are avoidable. They should at least have given the option of a more manageable upholstery color.

One question please:

Just curious to know, if your building did not support the native fast AC charging set up and only had the means to use a normal 15 AMP plug for slow AC charging, would this have affected your decision to purchase an EV? Interested to know your outlook on this. Asking because my Mumbai apartment complex for the foreseeable future does not look like it’ll enable anything except this 15 AMP set up. This may well be the case for our second home in Pune as well but we’ll only know for sure once it’s up and ready.

Personally I feel it’s sub optimal but something I can perhaps live with, specially in a multi car garage where each car is not working full time. But interested to know your thoughts on this as someone actually living with an EV today.

[BlueGod]

Good review. Could you please let me know if the lack of support for the left knee is a big concern ?

[dockap]

Congrats it's a great car. Wishing you many miles of safe driving.
I got my Ioniq 5 in black colour around 3 months back. On highway eco mode at a speed maintained between 70 to 80 kph it can give 550 to 575 kms actual range.
I sold all 5 of my ICE cars and now have 3 electric cars. Nexon Ev Max, MG ZS Ev and Hyundai Ioniq 5.
I have also installed a 15 kW Rooftop solar power plant.

[shyampsunder]

Originally Posted by Axe77

Just curious to know, if your building did not support the native fast AC charging set up and only had the means to use a normal 15 AMP plug for slow AC charging, would this have affected your decision to purchase an EV? Interested to know your outlook on this. Asking because my Mumbai apartment complex for the foreseeable future does not look like it’ll enable anything except this 15 AMP set up. This may well be the case for our second home in Pune as well but we’ll only know for sure once it’s up and ready.

Personally I feel it’s sub optimal but something I can perhaps live with, specially in a multi car garage where each car is not working full time. But interested to know your thoughts on this as someone actually living with an EV today.

I have the ZS EV being charged on the 15A socket. MG's charger is tuned very conservatively and only pulls 2 kWh. This translates to 25 hours for a 0-100% charge. Obviously it's a daunting number but generally it's not something you will ever experience because folks typically plug in at 20%-30% because it's just so convenient to do so.

Numbers should be similar for Ioniq 5 because it uses the NMC battery where generally you charge to only 80%.

While my apartment complex allows us to install the 7.2 KW charger, I chose not to do it because I don't want to deal with increasing the sanctioned load.

Cities like Bangalore and Mumbai have plenty of DC fast charging stations. Within a 5 KM radius of my home, I have roughly 30-40 DC charging guns primarily due to the presence of a Jio BP hub and several Shell stations. So for any emergencies, a quick top up of 20 mins should be sufficient to get you on your way. Suggest checking Plugshare around your home to get an idea of the DC charging ecosystem.

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by Axe77

- Lack of a spare wheel. All the talk around range and fast charging is blunted if one can’t have complete peace of mind while going far.

There must be a repair kit that normally includes a Compressor and some liquid you can fill to stop the leak. Works well though, it will not help you if the tyre is damaged. You can buy and additional spare wheel and keep it at home and take it along (luggage/ occupant permitting) when travelling far. I used to do similar on Mini.

Just curious to know, if your building did not support the native fast AC charging set up and only had the means to use a normal 15 AMP plug for slow AC charging, would this have affected your decision to purchase an EV?

15 Amp should work fine unless you are in a hurry or travelling 200+ km a day. I used to charge i7 overnight and occasionally in the daytime ( weekends usually). Jio/ Statiq and others have a great and continuously developing infrastructure. So I didn't miss any home charging for whatever time the car was with me.

However, as they say in property, one can buy the cheapest house in a posh locality, but buying the most expensive house in an otherwise mediocre location will have its own perils. You experience differently, say at Mercedes or BMW workshop vs Hyundai. Given the large growth in the number of cars, this can mean, delayed services, and the chances of cars being mishandled at the dealership level increase. But you will also benefit from the number of dealerships handling such cars, which will be more (eventually) than, say, BMW/ MB/ Volvo or a Porsche.

Do have a look at the iX1 as well. It's CBU and looks well-built for the prices they are asking.