We test and review the 2025 Hyundai Elantra N. There is no doubt this is one of the very best four-door performance cars available today, but can you live without the creature comforts offered by the Limited?
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2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 N - What Is It?
The Ioniq 5 is a five-passenger, four-door hatchback car (some may say crossover). It comes only with a battery-electric powertrain. The N trim is the line’s sporty build with extra go-fast bits, and a few luxury and convenience options deleted.
2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 N - Powertrain
The Ioniq 5 N has an all-wheel drive system complete with a limited slip rear differential to help put its immense power and torque to the ground. With over 600 hp and a whopping 568 lb-ft of torque, this is a serious performance setup. The powertrain features not just sport modes but also an N Grin Boost button, which we think is the best thing since round tires.
2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 N - Does It Walk the Walk?
The Ioniq N flies. This is a muscle car or a sports car, depending on how you parse the terms. With its 3.0-second zero to sixty time recorded by Car and Driver, it is one of the quickest cars in America at any price. It is within single-tenths of a second of the time the new Corvette puts down. It’s quicker than a Dodge Charger Hellcat Redeye to 60. Is that quick enough for you?
In our public road testing, the Ioniq 5 N seemed not just quick but also fast. Even at highway speeds, hitting the N Grin Boost button and flooring the car results in stunning acceleration. You simply leap forward, and the world rushes by. All EVs feel fast, but this one is actually fast.
To help the car slow down, Hyundai fitted ginormous brakes to the car. In fact, they are Hyundai’s most powerful braking system ever. The Ioniq 5 N has 15.75 in. diameter front rotors squeezed by four-piston monobloc calipers and 14.2 in. rear rotors. For fade-free repeated use, Hyundai added a design that enhances cooling efficiency. The regenerative braking system has been recalibrated to enhance braking performance. The results can be felt in even normal use.
The car also turns. Remember that we called this a car? It has only 5.6-inches of gound clearance. The bottom of the battery is just six inches off the pavement. Hyundai has created a car that is fun to punch, steer, and brake. We took it to New Hampshire to experience mountain roads and the N was a beast in this fun environment.
Hyundai corrected its original design error by adding a rear wiper to the 2025 Ioniq 5. Ours worked great. During our testing, 2023 Ioniq 5 Limited owner Michael Rundlett chatted us up at a charging station and was very jealous of the wiper.
Hyundai offers a mile-long list of track-day stuff this car has. Here is a quick data dump of that:
- N Race lets you pick your track day style - Endurance or Sprint
- There is a drift mode if you want to murder your tires
- There is launch control
- N Pedal prioritizes fast and exhilarating cornering
2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 N - Price
The N trim has almost no options and zero packages. Our test vehicle had a price inclusive of freight of $68,705 with its Performance Blue Matte paint and floor mats. Our research showed some dealers were marking the cars up to about $73K.
2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 N - Does It Really Exist?
Unlike many pretend BEV sports cars like the imaginary Tesla Roadster 2, you can really buy a 2025 Ioniq 5 N. We found three in stock driving distance to our house. The closest was just 11 miles away. And those were just the blue ones!
2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 N - Living Electric
Hyundai's Ioniq 5 is one of the quickest to charge on the market today when you use a DCFC. It uses the outgoing, soon-to-be-obsolete CCS charger port. The EPA-Estimated range is expected to be 221 miles. Our observed (approximate) range was about 245 miles in 70 F rural driving. Hyundai is offering a $450 ChargePoint out-of-home charging credit or a ChargePoint Home Flex Level 2 Home Charger to shoppers right now.
We love the Ioniq 5, but we need to point out that the N forgoes a lot of the Ioniq 5 Limited’s content. No sunroof, no power seats, and no head-up display. The racing-style seat is covered in nifty microfiber cloth with heat and ventilation, but there is no lumbar support adjustment. We used a folded hand towel behind our lower back to make long drives more comfy. As with most performance and battery-electric cars, there is no spare tire. The four tires it does have are summer-only, so you will need to buy four huge high-performance winter tires come fall and store your summer/track tires for four months or so.
Your author’s overall favorite vehicle is the Genesis GV60 Performance. The Ioniq 5 N is very similar in terms of performance, but the Genesis is so much more real-world livable. If you are planning track days on a regular basis, get the Hyundai. However, while Hyundai dealers are adding small markups to the price, Genesis dealers were offering discounts on GV60s when we checked this past month. If you are not going to track your car, the Genesis seems like the smarter choice.
2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 N - Conclusion
Hyundai has put a stake in the ground by making the Ioniq 5 N such a serious performance car. Hyundai’s battery-electric Ioniq 5 N is holding the door for the gassers as they exit the scene.
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John Goreham is an experienced New England Motor Press Association member and expert vehicle tester. John completed an engineering program with a focus on electric vehicles, followed by two decades of work in high-tech, biopharma, and the automotive supply chain before becoming a news contributor. In addition to his eleven years of work at Torque News, John has published thousands of articles and reviews at American news outlets. He is known for offering unfiltered opinions on vehicle topics. You can connect with John on Linkedin and follow his work at our X channel. Please note that stories carrying John's by-line are never AI-generated, but he does employ Grammarly grammar and punctuation software when proofreading.
Exterior images of 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 N by John Goreham. Image of 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 N seat by Hyundai.
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Small error in your review…
Small error in your review. The 5 N comes standard with wireless CarPlay and AndroidAuto. Works perfectly in mine.
Ira, THANK YOU! I will make…
Ira, THANK YOU! I will make that correction to the story. I failed to make it work, but if you have found it works, I trust that input. Cheers,