Featured Hyundai IONIQ - Prius competitor?

The A/C or heat coil also requires air flow to work properly. Discovered that when experimenting with a 100% grill block. Got enough flow through the bottom of the bumper for the A/C, but come to a stop, and the vents blew warm air.

Some cars are bottom breathers; air for the radiator is pulled from the bottom, just behind the bumper. The Ioniq BEV might be that way.

PS: The Model S might need more airflow for with the size of its pack, and/or pulling air from underneath may have issues with its low ride height.

 

I had a chance to sit in Ioniq today.. it is nice, as expected before it is half size smaller inside than Prius. For instance, I could not sit behind myself in Ioniq (220lbs, 6ft) - i could not squeze my knees beyond plastic seat backs at all.... I could sit behind myself in Prius that was near it - it wasnt Lexus like rear seating position, but I had few inches of space in front of my knees.

What surprised me was the price that they told me at the show. It will be very similar to Prius at least here in Eastern Europe, and I assume it will have less base equipment.

Basically they told me around €26k for base Ioniq while here in my part of Eastern Europe, Prius is €27.5k for base.

Previously European media gave some bogus straight up lies about 18k-20k price for Ioniq and Niro.

The price obviously changes everything.

Ioniq had weird front seats too - they were soft on the outside but firm toward inside, not comfy... new Hyundai steering wheel was great, rest of interior was fine. Prius had super nice seating position, completely surprised me and had decent interior materials but not perfect... did not get much time to mess with either, I will do so tomorrow and take more pics.

 

great info, thanks sp!

 

How about the rear seat headroom? I saw a Korean video review of the Ioniq that implies that the rear headroom was somewhat of a problem.

 

Maybe Toyota Auris HSD competitor then?
I'm afraid Auris is cheaper and the Touring Sports model with a bigger luggage compartment.

 

Could those have been pre-tax prices?

 

Europeans always quote prices with full tax... in that case, it would be price competitive with Auris Hybrid for instance and much cheaper than Prius.

Niro especially will be much more expensive then, since it is SUV while Autocar (I believe) said it will cost around 18k .

I assume that pricing everywhere of Ioniq will be within 10% of Prius, max. They might have better prices for some markets but our market is good example of what cars actually cost.

Previously I wondered why Hyundai estimated only 70k sales in full year, since official MPG will be good, car looks and feels fine, and was supposed to be priced very affordable but obviously they are going to target Prius in pricing instead of more appropriate Auris Hybrid.

Trunk seemed a bit smaller than Prius but still fine... it was only rear bench that I could not fit in at all.

I should investigate it more when I go there again. Does anyone have any questions, I am sure some members saw it at local shows in USA as well. Production will start in June so it will be everywhere by September.

 

It sounds more like a 'Prius c' class car than a 'Prius liftback.' So maybe the pricing and performance are appropriate for the smaller car.

I'll wait for the EPA numbers including the roll-down coefficients. Then look forward to reports from hilly area, early adopters . . . say San Francisco and Boston.

Bob Wilson

 

Auris hybrid is C-segment in Europe. Yaris hybrid is B-Segment. Prius Liftback is a bit more bulky, and much closer to the D-segment we call BMW3, MercedesC, Avensis, Fusion/Mondeo.
IMPOV this Ioniq is closer to Liftback than to 'c'.

Early adopters are in Boston. SF is always late (timezone )

 

Interesting. Others have asked before why the Prius continues to not do the same.

Not sure how much the Gen 4 12V battery weighs, but recall the Gen 3 was about 45 lbs. That's a good amount of weight to ditch if possible and one fewer item not to have to replace and potentially leave one stranded every few years.

We'll have to see over time if this introduces some new downsides.

 

can you please give us a feel for rear seat headroom, and if there is a 12 volt battery?if true, will be interesting to see how they did it.

 

I was wondering if there could have been confusion about whether the price included taxes or not. I'm sure the press includes taxes in Europe, but the Hyundai rep they quoted might not have.

The hybrids that do well in Europe are the ones built in house to avoid the import tax. Then there are some weird pricing decisions, like the Lexus CT being less than the Prius.

I think Hyundai is just focusing on Asia and North America with the Ioniq at this time. They are both bigger hybrid markets than Europe.

 

Must be since they've brought the Ioniq to the USA trade shows and given the automotive press a lot of access.

Bob Wilson

 

they made a pretty big decision to put a bigger battery under the hood of the gen 4, i'm sure they didn't take the engineering lightly. no 12v sounds good, we'll see how it pans out.

 

I am not sure if it is Hyundais fault, or just European press inventing things.

CT200h did not start cheaper than Prius, now when it is very old vehicle, there are special prices that make it cheaper than brand new Prius which has a lot more equipment here in Europe than CT200h base.

p.s. keep in mind that we have Auris Hybrid here thats essentially 19.5k vs 27.5k for Prius. Thats what Ioniq should be targeting price wise for hybrid version. Prius is not a core model in Europe, it sells small numbers because we have Auris selling big numbers.

Merged

yep... I saw it tight on Korean videos, cant be better with me inside, I already cant fit my knees anywhere. So If you are tall enough to bump the head then your knees will be a problem too.

I should try to see the trunk compared to Prius... seems a bit higher by default but I am going by memory and i checked 50 other vehicles there today.

Merged.

they brought it everywhere, including small show in Eastern Europe that I went to.

 

Part of that Auris to Prius price difference is the import tax. The Ioniq is too new for Hyundai to consider manufacturing it in Europe. Trying to compete against the Auris will be difficult with the import tax adding to its price. Is the Sonata/Optima hybrid available in Europe? Hyundai might just be happy offering the Ioniq/Niro in Europe as its hybrid presence. While focusing on Asia and North America for the cars' introduction.

 

only small part of the price though, it is 10% on the base price of the vehicle, so in my case thats only 15% of the difference.

Here Optima is available as Hybrid but is very expensive and nobody buys them. In general, their sales of Sonata and Optima are low. They focus on lower end of the market, i30 for instance has lowest starting price on the market.

 

As to the rear seat headroom, when I sit at the back and put my head on the headrest, my head is hitting the roof (not hair but head). So both knee and head room is limited.

I sat in the Prius at the back, and I could fit my knees and my head did not hit the roof. So there is quite a difference, I am not that big at 6ft.

Maybe in the US, there will be larger difference in price so it would make sense. Here if it stays at these prices, nobody is going to get it. Even Prius sells good only for first 1-2 years because its cool at that time but later on people buy Auris especially since there is a Wagon with a lot more space available so you can satisfy both markets.