Driven: 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 Can’t Stop Winning

Since its debut for the 2022 model year, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 has become a Car and Driver darling. In that time, it’s racked up EV of the Year, 10Best, and Editors’ Choice wins, all bolstered by handsomely edgy styling, satisfying performance, fast-charging capability, a practical and spacious cabin, and competitive range estimates. Now, four years in, Hyundai has updated the Ioniq 5 for the 2025 model year, keeping one of our favorite EVs at the top of its game.

This mid-cycle refresh brings mild styling tweaks front and rear, new wheel designs, a revised center console, upgraded infotainment with wireless support for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and an updated steering wheel with handy lights that indicate the battery’s state of charge. Mercifully, Hyundai has also added a rear windshield wiper to the Ioniq 5 this year, something we wish our long-term 2023 model had.

Two different battery packs are still offered, but both are now slightly larger. The Standard Range pack grows from 58.0 to 63.0 kilowatt-hours, and the Long Range version is now an 84.0-kWh battery versus last year’s 77.4-kWh capacity. Range is up across the lineup as well, with the biggest boost coming for the dual-motor all-wheel-drive SE and SEL models, which are now estimated to deliver 290 miles per charge, a 30-mile increase over 2024 equivalents. The model with the most range is still the rear-wheel-drive single-motor variant with the Long Range battery, estimated to deliver as much as 318 miles per charge.

Juicing the battery now requires an NACS connection. Popularized by Tesla, the new charging standard is being adopted industry-wide, and the Ioniq 5 is the first electric Hyundai to offer the port as standard. To ease the transition to NACS, all 2025 Ioniq 5s will come with a CCS adapter, which is still needed to charge at most non-Tesla charging stations. (That’s the plug you find at your average DC fast-charger.)

We drove a loaded Limited model across a variety of Southern California microclimates, starting in the sunny desert town of Palm Springs, stopping for a coffee in Idyllwild, and eventually landing at a mile-high mountain village in the San Bernardino National Forest. The cliffside roads leading up to Idyllwild are twisty, but the Ioniq 5’s stable handling and torquey electric motors made quick, fun work of the ascent. The Ioniq 5’s suspension has been reworked and is slightly firmer than before, but steering feel remains duller than we prefer.

But mild year-over-year tweaks weren’t the only reasons we trekked to California. In fact, there’s a whole new trim ready to put this electric SUV into an equally new environment: the dirt.

Off-Roading in the Hyundai Ioniq 5 XRT

After coffee, we headed back down the mountain to an off-road playground on the San Andreas Fault. There, we sampled the rugged-looking XRT trim. New for 2025, the Ioniq 5 XRT features a 0.9-inch suspension lift, all-terrain tires on steelie-inspired 18-inch wheels, and trim-specific front and rear fascias wearing a subtle pixelated camouflage pattern.

The all-wheel-drive-only XRT’s approach and departure angles have been improved compared to other Ioniq 5 models: 19.8 degrees for approach and 30.0 degrees for departure versus 17.5 and 25.4 degrees, respectively, for other models. Functional, red-painted recovery hooks add an extra element of ruggedness to the XRT’s front end, and three terrain-specific driving modes—Snow, Mud, and Sand—can be selected via a button on the steering wheel’s lower spoke.

The sandy trails at the off-road park were dotted with bowling-ball-sized rocks, sagebrush scrub, and shallow gullies, all of which the Ioniq 5 XRT handled just fine. We had fun whipping it around in Sport mode, kicking up enough dirt that we could finally test out that new rear wiper. (It’s everything we’ve hoped for.)

Of course, higher heels and beefier bumpers alone don’t make a proper rock-crawling expert. For those adventures, you’ll have to consider a Rivian R1S or perhaps a Jeep Wrangler 4xe plug-in hybrid. The Hyundai doesn’t have an adjustable air suspension or a locking differential system—but then again, the XRT doesn’t cost $80,000 either. Instead, its $56,875 asking price makes it a direct competitor to the Ford Mustang Mach-E Rally or perhaps an EV alternative to something like a Subaru Outback.

On the road, the XRT’s extra suspension travel, new suspension tune, and taller tire sidewalls offered a more compliant ride than the Limited we drove earlier in the day, but otherwise the car delivered the same satisfying experience on pavement as the rest of the Ioniq 5 lineup. We also noticed that the dirt-friendly trim didn’t feel quite as quick as its siblings, but the difference was marginal, and we’re excited to get the full breakdown on performance deltas when we get the new models in for testing. Driving range is estimated at only 259 miles per charge for the XRT, though, down from 269 in the Limited AWD.

What we’re seeing here is Hyundai covering all of its bases. From the price-leader SE to the posh Limited, and from the rugged XRT to the rowdy Ioniq 5 N, this particular lineup of electric crossovers works so well because its foundation is strong. The updates endowed on the 2025 model are minor, but they’re still impactful, and they should keep this EV plenty relevant going forward.

Source: Reviews - aranddriver.com