Hyundai Ioniq 5 N review

In most ways it's like any other sports saloon, all black faux-suede and brand-specific blue stitching. The front tombstone seats do their job, both for long-distance comfort and cornering support, plus they're heated and vented, if manually adjusted. By the way they're not Recaros, just as the brakes aren't Brembos – the N engineers say they can do this stuff themselves and save you money.

The N version has a pebbledash of specific switches on the steering wheel. You get two customisable N modes that'll set up your own shortcuts with combinations of sound, 'gearshift', accelerator map, ESP, damping and more. Then there's the red power boost button, and one that gives you simplified comfort-sport-sport+ modes. Useful to quickly relax back to comfort after a twisty section.

In any case, the Ioniq 5's regular switches survive, for driver assist, climate, navigation and stereo. Together with the screen menus it's all very customisable, and a bit of a learning curve, but once set up remarkably easy to use.

A big helpful head-up display is standard. It shows graphics of the lane markings and the traffic around you, and it's nearly always right, so you feel more comfortable using the driver assist.

The rear, as in the base car, is super-accommodating thanks to sliding reclining seats with big legroom, plus loads of lights, vents, USB ports and storage. The boot is 480 litres, but it grows if you slide the rear seat forward.