Review: Hyundai Ioniq 6 Max RWD – A Worthy, Left-Field Oddball Choice?

Debuting in the midst of the Tesla hype in Malaysia, the Hyundai Ioniq 6 arrived as Hyundai-Sime Darby Motors’ (HSDM) third all-electric offering, promising Malaysians an EV saloon with decent specs and quirky styling to match.

Whilst the timing of its arrival in Malaysia seemed unfavourable, the Ioniq 6 does stand out as an oddball in the eyes of many Malaysians who are still caught up in Tesla fever, and that’s despite rave reviews overseas. With that in mind, we decided to give the Ioniq 6 in mid-specced Max RWD guise a go ourselves, to see how this ‘oddball’ really stacks against its competitors.

Having spent a whole weekend piloting it, including an impromptu long-range testing trip to Ipoh, Perak, we certainly think Hyundai’s latest EV saloon packs enough talent not only to shake off its oddball label, but also see it stand as a viable alternative to the burgeoning crop of rivalling European or Sino-American EV saloons out there.

OVERVIEW

For lack of better words, the Ioniq 6 truly sticks out compared to other EVs, in a good way that is. Honestly, we reckon the Ioniq 6 boasts a brave quirky design that adds to its appeal.

The Ioniq 6 gets the same Parametric Pixel lights as seen on the Ioniq 5

Key touches here include the Hyundai marque’s signature Parametric Pixel lights as seen in the Ioniq 5, which bodes well with the Ioniq 6’s streamliner silhouette. These two elements, plus the 18-inch ‘Aero’ wheels it rolls on, make this the perfect example of ‘retrofuturism’ design.

Also part of its pretty metal are a slew of aerodynamic parts that grants stellar aerodynamics. Included here are the front bumper’s side air vents, flushed door handles, and the active air flaps in the front bumper’s lower quadrant, which opens only to boost the car’s battery cooling abilities.

Altogether, these aero parts sees the Ioniq 6 garner a slippery drag coefficient rate (Cd) of just 0.21, thus making it the most aerodynamic car ever produced by the Korean marque.

Like it or not, the Ioniq 6 is the 2023 World Car Design of the Year award winner

To cap things here, let's just agree that the Ioniq 6’s bold design might not be everyone’s cup of tea. At the same time, it’s also hard to argue with the World Car Awards panel and their decision to crown the Ioniq 6 as the “2023 World Car Design of the Year”, amongst many other accolades…

ON THE INSIDE

While exterior looks are debatable, the Ioniq 6’s cabin design and kit list instead ought to garner universal appeal despite featuring some questionable ergonomics.

The Ioniq 6 cabin is laced with a slew of tech bits, including an expansive dual-screen setup

In this upper-mid Max RWD guise, the Ioniq 6 gets a 12.3-inch dual-screen layout consisting of a digital instrument cluster and a central infotainment display offering Android Auto and Apple CarPlay support. Other key tech present include a wireless charging pad, USB-C ports, 8-speaker Bose audio system, cabin ambient lighting system, ventilated and powered front seats, heated rear seats, a 10-inch head-up display, and more.

The absence of a panoramic sunroof isn’t a big deal, though we’d argue the Ioniq 6’s unique streamliner design has a predictable drawback, particularly with headroom for rear passengers. Plus, its 401-litre boot space is quite small compared against contemporary rivals, though it does try to make up for this with an additional 35-litre ‘frunk’.

The cabin layout does take a little while to get used to. For example, both the car’s windows and door lock switches are primed in the centre stack and not in the individual door armests, whilst the gear selector is awkwardly in the bottom right quadrant behind the steering wheel.

Weird ergo aside, general space is otherwise decent, featuring premium materials and a bevy of tech, as well as plenty of legroom courtesy of its segment-leading 2,950 MM wheelbase. That said, we can only wonder how well this elongated EV saloon drives…

DRIVING

Besides a sportier look, this part is where most EV saloons arguably fare better than their tall-riding SUV twins. Thanks to its low-slung stature and the rather stiff nature of Hyundai’s proprietary E-GMP chassis, the Ioniq 6 Max RWD promises pretty stellar drive dynamics, even when not in its most peppiest form.

While its single, rear-mounted-and-driven (RWD) motor setup’s 225 HP and 350 NM seems a tad subdued by regular EV standards, we found out that it was indeed sufficient when tasked to propel the Ioniq 6 and despatch a respectable century sprint time of 7.4 seconds.

Aside from being pretty peppy, the Ioniq 6 Max RWD is wonders to carve corners with!

More importantly, the car’s decent damper setup, coupled with its rigid bones, lets you carve corners with relative confidence. There isn’t any apparent body roll or waywardness as what you’ll experience in most EV SUVs. Keen tail-waggers needed to be slightly careful, however, as the Ioniq 6 tends to oversteer out of corners at times – a result of both its RWD drivetrain and long body.

Unfortunately, the Ioniq 6’s unique body style has led to yet another shortcoming, as visibility and driver’s ergonomics can be quite off-putting. This is especially true for those who are not used to driving long-bodied cars. However, we’d reckon the car’s 360-degree sensor and camera setup might be enough to cover this.

Aside from that, NVH levels are pretty decent, as expected of any EV. While wind noises are well-suppressed thanks to its double-layered windows, tyre roar can be apparent at speeds beyond 110 KM/H. As for ride comfort, front passengers can sit pretty comfortably, while rear passengers do tend to suffer from some slight bumps, especially when driving on uneven surfaces – perhaps a result of the performance-biased multi-link rear axle setup.

Beyond that, the Hyundai Ioniq 6 in Max RWD form still possesses pretty good driving talents, in spite of being the long range-focused offering in its range. On that note, we’d reckon this EV will smash it out of the park in the next segment…

BATTERY, CHARGING, & RANGE

Beyond its stellar rigidity, the E-GMP platform allows the Ioniq 6 to adopt some of the most impressive EV tech available in the market.

The Ioniq 6 is one of the fastest-charging EVs in the world!

For starters, there’s the 800-volt battery architecture that allows DC fast charging inputs as high as 350 kW. This makes the Ioniq 6 one of the fastest-charging EVs in the world. Through this method, the 77.4-kWh lithium-ion polymer battery pack can be charged from 10% to 80% in just 18 minutes, while the slower AC 11 kW charging method will fully-charge the battery in about seven hours.

Our range-test driving trip to Ipoh via scenic B-roads was an eventful one, to say the least...

On a single charge, Hyundai claims up to 614 KM (WLTP) for this variant specifically, but that’s not the exact figure we attained in our range-test driving from the Klang Valley to Ipoh. On this trip, we used the slightly longer and ‘scenec’ B-roads instead of cruising on the expressway, all the while not applying any hypermiling techniques, all in order to get a true, real-world maximum range.

We mustered just around 450 KM on a single full charge, with our battery already depleting below 20% once we got to the 370 KM mark. However, with slightly light-footed driving and better route planning, we reckon that you should easily get at least 500 KM out of this flavour of the Ioniq 6.

To wrap things up on this front, the Hyundai Ioniq 6 Max RWD not only boasts one of the most advanced EV technologies in the market, it also has one of the highest estimated range figures in segment. While we didn’t exactly get near that claimed range figure, we’d still reckon that the Ioniq 6 is a pretty stellar long-range EV to have.

SAFETY

Similar to most European and Chinese marques, automakers from South Korea are quite advanced on the vehicle safety aspect, particularly on the active safety system front.

ADAS features are aplenty in the Ioniq 6, with all of them working pretty well as expected

The Ioniq 6 Max RWD is no exception, as this EV fastback gets a complete arsenal of both active and passive safety kit. Amongst them is the latest Hyundai SmartSense ADAS suite, which adds key functions like Lane-Keeping Assist (LKA), Forward Collision-Avoidance Assistance (FCA), Smart Cruise Control (SCC) with Stop & Go, Blind-Spot Collision-Avoidance Assist (BCA), and Parking Collision-Avoidance Assist (PCA).

Meanwhile, passive safety equipment like seven airbags, ABS with EBD,  Hill-Start Assist Control (HSC), as well as both traction (TCS) and stability (ECS) control systems are also available too. Then again, don’t take our word for it, as the Ioniq 6 has scored a full five-star tating in both the Euro and ASEAN NCAP crash tests.

To summarise, the Hyundai Ioniq 6 is on par with any other modern car nowadays, laden with both active and passive safety tech that give drivers more confidence in driving this EV saloon.

SHOULD YOU BUY ONE?

Unique and quirky styling, plus a well-equipped and respectably posh cabin, coupled with decent drive dynamics and stellar range performance, it is hard to argue with the rather complete package this Hyundai EV offers.

However, at RM289,888 sans insurance, this EV fastback saloon can be quite a hard sell for some, especially amongst prospects who  not only hold strong doubts over EVs, but also the hardly-fading negative stigma Korean cars still face in general.

Fuelling the hard-to-sell narrative further is the 2-year or 50,000 KM vehicle warranty package offered by HSDM, which can be expanded to three years or 100,000 KM for an extra RM10,000. Against contemporaries, said warranty seems a tad bit ‘lukewarm’.

In spite of its stellar spec sheets, the Ioniq 6 might be struggling with negative brand stigma

That being said, we’re here to reassure you that Korean car brands, particularly Hyundai, aren’t only on-par against Japanese rivals, they also arguably stand on equal footing across several aspects – particularly on their advanced EV technologies. Should you still somehow have doubts over the cutting-edge EV tech, then the separate 8-year or 160,000 KM EV battery warranty included might alleviate those feelings.

Pitting the Ioniq 6 Max RWD against its segment rivals, however, tells you a different story, as this EV saloon stands more like an odd, left-field option compared to the likes of BMW i4 eDrive 35 and the soon-to-be-launched Tesla Model 3 Long Range AWD. Both not only boast better performance and more competitive prices, both are also more ‘universally accepted’ by most Malaysians compared to the ‘H-italic’ emblem.

Should you be able to afford it, the Ioniq 6 Max RWD is truly worth your serious consideration...

By days’ end, we’d still think that the local EV market is now vast enough to garner the Ioniq 6 some attention, and it truly deserves. Be it its quirky and futuristic look, or its stellar EV battery technology and performance, we believe that the Hyundai Ioniq 6 in this Max RWD guise is worth serious consideration.

SPECIFICATIONS

HYUNDAI IONIQ 6 MAX RWD EV