Through the looking glass

Time to enter a magical futuristic kingdom ruled by some very strange gods.

Sunday morning. Driving through the middle of Northamptonshire to get our youngest to his rugby match. I realise that ahead of me is a BMW iX3, and behind me a Mercedes EQA. So with an Ioniq 5 filling in the German sourdough sandwich, that makes three electric crossovers in a row. And it’s all entirely normal. This is it – it’s happened – electric cars are now completley unremarkable, and I’m in the thick of it. But no.

Just moments later, another Ioniq 5 approaches from the opposite direction. You can spot it a long way off, with that nongrille, angular LED lights and its jaunty stance. And as it nears, the driver flashes and the front passenger waves, like we’re Suzuki Cappucino owners or something equally cultlike. Not normal at all, then.

So which is it? Well, I have six months to find out, but based on the first few weeks I suspect the answer is going to be that the Ioniq 5 is outstandingly competent, a supremely well executed summation of the state of the mainstream EV art, but it draws a lot more attention than other equally competent cars because it looks so striking, and because it represents a pivotal moment in Hyundai’s progress from respected maker of motorised reliability to interesting and desirable brand.

You’ll be aware that the Ioniq 5 has been around for a couple of years, but this version is new. It’s called Namsan, which refers to a mountain in Korea. It comes with a bunch of equipment, such as the glass roof, fully reclining front seats and digital door mirrors.

There’s a choice of Namsans. Ours is two-wheel drive. There’s also an all-wheel-drive, dual-motor car that’s £3500 costlier, quicker to 62mph by 2.2sec, but also heavier.

My car also, along with some other versions of the Ioniq 5, benefits from a revised longrange battery, which has gone up from 72.6kWh to 74.4.

But the thing everyone wants to talk about is the digital mirrors. Nobody actually likes them, but I find myself getting rather defensive, and pointing out that they give a superior rear view at night.

And I couldn’t help but notice that the Ioniq 5 coming towards me, occupied by the fan club, had the conventional mirrors, which is all that you get on nonNamsans. And the iX3 and EQA didn’t have them either.

So I win. @ColinOverland

Hyundai Ioniq 5 Namsan Edition 77.4kWh RWD Month 1

The story so far

New edition of game-changingly stylish Hyundai EV, with high spec and big battery

★ Roomy, techy and user-friendly inside

- Range seems oddly short; digi mirrors will take some getting used to

Logbook

Price £54,150 (£54,150 as tested)

Performance 77.4kWh battery, e-motor, 225bhp, 7.3sec 0-62mph, 114mph E ciency

3.45 miles per kWh (ocial), 2.8 miles per kWh (tested), 0g/km CO2 Range 295 miles (ocial), 235 miles (tested) Energy cost

12.1p per mile Miles this month

772 Total miles 1353

Some of it’s aero. Some is just styling