There is exactly one other electric sedan on the market that’s even three price brackets within touching the slippery-ness of the brand-new Hyundai Ioniq 6 — the now very ancient, and still very expensive ($76,380) Tesla Model S. You might wonder why aerodynamics matter, and the answer is two-fold. First, less drag allows more efficiency; the $42,450 SE Long Range Ioniq 6 rolls 361 miles between charges. The other reason is that wind-cheating leads to an absolutely serene driving experience, one where there’s plenty of power, and fun if not ultra-sporty handling. We’re talking S-Class-Benz tomb-like luxury, minus the triple-digit sticker.
And the Ioniq 6 has plenty of tech bling of its own to boast about, too: Its flush door handles deploy as you approach the car, and there’s reverse charging to your home. This isn’t quite as impressive as a Ford F-150 Lightning’s capability to power an entire estate, but the Ioniq 6 could easily keep a refrigerator and kitchen lights going during a power outage. Also, you can use your Apple Watch or Galaxy Watch (or Android or iPhone) to unlock the car, and three other family members can also have that access; you can even temporarily share the digital key with other people, like a friend. Speaking of door locks, if you just stand in front of the trunk for three seconds the Hyundai reads the key and unlocks and flips open that hatch, “knowing” you probably have your hands full with a kid in one arm and a bag of groceries in the other.
Some of these advances, by the way, will also come to the somewhat larger and somewhat more expensive $45,700 Ioniq 5 — which unfortunately can’t go quite as far between charges. Speaking of which, you should also weigh the 5 vs. the 6 (and versus the Tesla Model 3, a close rival, detailed below). We love that the second row of the Ioniq 6 gets cloth seats made from stain resistant cloth that’s quickly wipeable, and that both front and rear perches are very comfortable. The Model 3 has okay front seats and not comfortable rear ones. And the rears of the Ioniq 6 offer a generous 39.2 inches of knee room, which is not only way better than you’ll see in the Tesla, but matches some of the larger crossovers on this list.
But on cargo space the Ioniq 5 destroys the 6, because hatches will always beat trunks. The Ioniq 6 has a mere 11.2 cubic feet in its cargo hold, which is about five cubes shy of the Accord we’ve included here and several trunks shy of the 27.2 cubes of the Ioniq 5. Which maybe has you head-scratching about why we didn’t include the 5 here instead of the 6? The answer is we like the more-range-per-dollar math better, but in case you’re on the fence, know that both the 5 and 6 come standard with excellent safety tech, including automated cruise control, automatic emergency braking, pedestrian and cyclist detection, rear cross-traffic avoidance, and auto-dimming high beams.
Safety rating: IIHS Top Safety Pick +
