2026 Hyundai Ioniq 5: Here's what we still like, here's what annoys us
When we first drove the Hyundai Ioniq 5 at the end of 2021 , it didn’t take much exposure to the angular electric vehicle to find much about it appealing.
It’s spacious, efficient, and charges very quickly. But what about reliability concerns?
Although the Ioniq 5 range starts at $35,000 for the standard range model, our test car was a 2026 Ioniq 5 AWD Limited, which has an 84 kWh battery pack—part of the lifecycle refresh in early 2025 that also swapped in a NACS (J3400) charge port in place of the CCS1 port you’d find on earlier cars. Among the other additions that arrived as part of the 2025 refresh was a rear windshield wiper, which was sorely needed at launch.
This range-topping trim starts at $45,075, with an extra $3,900 for the addition of the front electric motor that gives the AWD version a combined output of 320 hp (239 kW) and 446 lb-ft (605 Nm). The added traction of AWD (when you have grip) is desired by many, but you do trade something for it: efficiency. The AWD version has an EPA range of 269 miles (432 km) versus 318 miles (512 km) for the rear-wheel drive variant.
Single-motor Ioniq 5s should easily be capable of 4 miles/kWh (15.5 kWh/100 km) or more. But with both axles powered, even in Eco mode, you can expect closer to 3.4 miles/kWh (18.3 kWh/100 km). Having 49 miles (79 km) more range would, of course, mean a little longer behind the wheel between charging stops, should one happen to be on a road trip or dependent upon public fast-chargers, but even with a larger pack, the 2026 Ioniq 5 still fast-charges plenty fast. The native NACS port means the Ioniq 5 can charge at Tesla Superchargers as well as other networks, like IONNA and Electrify America.
In practice, the ubiquity of Tesla’s charging locations is offset by the fact that most of those Superchargers are the older V3 units. These feature shorter cables that can be a pain to use with non-Tesla EVs, but also top out at just 250 kW, meaning longer charge times than the 20 minutes from 10–80 percent that you might expect if you used a 350 kW charger from EA or one of IONNA’s 400 kW units—peak draw from an 800 V charger like these should be in the region of 265 kW. But fast-charging should probably be a small percentage of most EV drivers’ charging sessions, at least for those who can reliably plug in either at home or work, particularly given the cost of most DC fast-charging networks. A 240 V level 2 AC charger should take 7 hours and 20 minutes to charge from 10–100 percent.
