2023 Hyundai Ioniq 5 vs. 2023 Tesla Model Y: Has Tesla Finally Met It's Match?

MotorTrend

After dominating the EV space for the last few years

Transcript

00:00 Which one of these two all electric SUVs should you buy?

00:04 Let's find out.

00:05 (upbeat music)

00:08 Hi there.

00:15 In 2022, the Tesla Model Y was the best selling car

00:20 in California.

00:21 Through the first quarter of '23,

00:23 it was the best selling car in the world.

00:26 Why?

00:26 Because it does it all.

00:28 The price is right, it looks pretty good.

00:31 It's great to drive.

00:32 It goes far on a single charge.

00:34 It has tons of storage space.

00:36 And because of over the year updates,

00:38 the longer you own it, the better it gets.

00:41 It's a Swiss army knife.

00:43 It's also one of the greatest success stories

00:45 in the history of the car

00:46 that until now had no real competition.

00:49 Meet our 2023 Motor Trend SUV of the year,

00:54 the Hyundai IONIQ 5.

00:58 Like the Model Y, this thing stretches the definition

01:01 of the word SUV.

01:03 It's quite obviously some sort of funky hatchback,

01:06 but the important part is that there's finally

01:09 a real challenger to the Model Y's throne.

01:12 As far as the design of the Tesla Model Y goes,

01:19 and I say this to you as a Californian,

01:22 I'm sick of seeing them.

01:24 I'm over it.

01:25 It's ubiquitous.

01:26 They're everywhere.

01:27 They only come in four colors.

01:28 Done.

01:30 That said, if I could rewind my brain a few years

01:33 to when I first saw it, I may say something like,

01:35 well, it's got a very angry, fishy face,

01:37 kind of like a pissed off carp.

01:39 And because aerodynamics are so important with EVs,

01:42 they directly translate to range.

01:44 I think the rear slopes too much.

01:46 It looks like a porpoise with a bald spot,

01:48 if that makes any sense.

01:49 Now, it looks as if that sloping roof cuts off rear headroom

01:53 and luggage space.

01:54 It doesn't.

01:55 There's plenty of room in this thing.

01:58 You also might be looking at it right now and saying,

01:59 hey, what's with the green stickers?

02:00 Well, Tesla has become such an odd company as of late

02:04 that they got rid of their communications department.

02:07 They have no marketing.

02:08 They have no public relations.

02:09 They have no press fleet.

02:11 In order to make this video, we had to rent this thing,

02:14 and the person who owns it enjoys driving by themselves

02:17 in the carpool lane.

02:19 That's what these stickers mean.

02:21 Make of that what you will.

02:24 Design-wise, the Ioniq 5 is one of the coolest vehicles

02:28 on earth.

02:30 I still can't really believe Hyundai went ahead

02:32 and built it.

02:33 It's also much larger in person than you might assume.

02:36 I remember when I was looking at it on my phone,

02:38 I was like, oh, cool, it looks like a Volkswagen,

02:40 you know, the Mark 1 Golf Rabbit,

02:42 the Lancia Delta Integrale, something small and swift.

02:45 But as you can see, it is a real mid-size SUV.

02:50 I'm not original in saying that the Atari 8-bit

02:54 80s graphics are super cool.

02:56 From the headlights to the taillights, the wheels,

02:59 the strikes that run down this thing,

03:00 the colors they choose to paint it, it works.

03:03 It's innovative.

03:04 Now, why would Hyundai do something so radical?

03:08 Because design like this can be transformational.

03:11 You can become a different brand.

03:13 Before the Ioniq 5, you thought of Hyundai

03:15 as like the low-price alternative to a Honda or Toyota,

03:19 or worse, just kind of a punchline.

03:22 Build a car that is this cool looking,

03:25 and it can elevate the entire brand.

03:28 Tesla interiors in general, and the Model Y specifically,

03:36 there's a lot of cost-cutting taking place here

03:38 because what Tesla's done is,

03:40 everything they can get away with legally,

03:42 they have removed it as a button

03:44 and shoved it into the screen.

03:45 Now, if you're into screens, you're gonna love this thing

03:48 'cause this is one of the best screens

03:50 in the automotive industry.

03:52 If you like physical buttons,

03:54 you know, there's a hazard button right here.

03:56 That's about it.

03:57 You know, they got some wood, there's leather-like materials.

04:01 It's just kind of plain Jane.

04:02 A lot of people say, "Oh, it's Scandinavian design,"

04:04 but I think there's more to IKEA furniture than this,

04:08 and I hate IKEA furniture.

04:10 Also, very worst of all, the planet's getting hotter.

04:13 It's currently 98 degrees out.

04:15 That's a giant glass roof above my head.

04:17 If I wasn't wearing a hat, I'd get a sunburn.

04:19 I hate it, I hate it, I hate it.

04:22 And that's the Tesla Model Y interior.

04:25 I'm inside the Hyundai Ioniq 5, checking out its interior,

04:31 and this interior is much better than the Tesla's

04:33 because it's not just a giant screen.

04:35 There's actually stuff everywhere, and it looks cool.

04:39 Yeah, the screens aren't as feature-rich,

04:41 and the graphics aren't as sharp

04:42 as what you have on the Tesla.

04:43 However, there's two of 'em, so you get more information.

04:46 Also, you can update this thing over the air,

04:48 so maybe the software will get better.

04:50 But much, much more importantly, physical buttons.

04:55 Volume knob, on/off, I can tune right here.

04:57 I got my temperature controls, my fan speed

05:00 at my fingertips.

05:01 I don't have to dig into a screen

05:03 to do the easy stuff that you do constantly.

05:06 Good job, Hyundai.

05:07 Also, most importantly, there's a cover

05:10 over the giant glass roof.

05:12 I can take my hat off, I'm not burning, yay!

05:16 Very cool.

05:17 Also cool, because you're gonna be charging,

05:19 you might be sitting in the thing for 30 or 40 minutes,

05:21 there's relax mode.

05:23 What's that, you hit a button?

05:24 Not only does the seat fully recline,

05:26 but there's a little calf leg rest that pops up.

05:29 Super cool.

05:30 Overall, I greatly prefer the Hyundai's interior

05:34 to that of the Tesla.

05:35 One of the many things that Tesla will go down

05:42 in history for is changing people's notion

05:46 of electric vehicles from being little more

05:48 than glorified golf carts, a la the Nissan Leaf,

05:51 to an actual great-to-drive performance machine.

05:55 There's many reasons why that's true.

05:57 The big one is all the weight in these vehicles

05:59 is underneath your feet, and lowering the center of gravity

06:03 is a really good thing.

06:05 Even though this weighs more than a conventional car,

06:08 the performance is just there.

06:10 It's inherently great to drive.

06:14 And this thing has tons of power,

06:16 it's a regular dual motor, not the performance.

06:18 It's quick, the steering's great, three steering modes,

06:21 comfort, normal, sport.

06:23 I'm in comfort, I like it better, they're all pretty good.

06:26 Grip is great, the brakes are good.

06:27 The only thing that you can complain about

06:29 is the ride quality could be better, but you know what?

06:33 If that's what you have to trade off

06:34 for this kind of grip, I'll take it.

06:41 So a number of years ago, Hyundai started hiring up

06:44 all these former BMW M engineers, and we were like,

06:47 cool, but the cars still drive like Hyundai.

06:50 Well, apparently, things take time,

06:52 because now, not only do Hyundai drive pretty well,

06:55 this thing, the Ioniq 5, drives great.

06:58 It's just surprising how tossable it is

07:01 on a twisting road like this.

07:03 And unlike the Tesla Model Y,

07:06 you can actually turn the traction control off.

07:09 Lots of grip, likes to rotate, super fun.

07:13 Who knew?

07:13 You know, yeah, in terms of performance,

07:16 I prefer driving the Hyundai.

07:18 This comparison test is close.

07:22 The bottom line is, both of these are fantastic vehicles,

07:25 and I would happily own either one of them.

07:28 The tricky part is that for everything

07:30 that the Tesla does better,

07:32 the Hyundai does something else better.

07:34 Here's an incomplete list.

07:36 This steers better, that rides better,

07:40 this is quicker in a straight line,

07:41 that's more fun to drive around corners,

07:44 this has incredible storage,

07:46 this has incredible exterior design,

07:49 this has a quieter interior,

07:51 this has an actual interior.

07:54 It really is a dead heat,

07:57 except for one teeny, tiny little thing,

08:00 and that's that public charging infrastructure

08:05 in this country sucks.

08:08 Tesla realized that and did something about it.

08:10 They built the supercharger network.

08:12 Hooray!

08:13 Hyundai realized that, but did nothing.

08:16 Now, it's true, Hyundai announced that along

08:18 with General Motors and Honda and four other automakers,

08:22 they're gonna build an alliance.

08:24 They're gonna put out their own

08:25 competitive supercharger network next year.

08:29 And so that's why today, right now,

08:32 the winner of this comparison test is Tesla Model Y.

08:37 (upbeat music)

08:41 (upbeat music)

08:44 (upbeat music)

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