Triple test: Hyundai Ioniq 5 vs Ford Mustang Mach-E vs Volkswagen ID.4

They didn't need 8 pages to determine that they're all overpriced relative to ordinary family transportation.

 

I pay a lot of attention to affordability guides. This one from Edmunds speaks my language. Not perfect; I disagree with them on a few points but it's a fair starting point.

For the median-income Pennsylvanian, monthly mobility expenses (payment, interest, insurance, energy & maintenance) ought to be around $475. If you take Edmunds' guideline that the insurance/energy/maintenance is around 7% of that, then there's about $440 left for the car payment. (I think they're low on this one)

Take that $440 payment to 48 months with excellent credit (2.something) and a $6k down payment/trade and you are shopping for a ~$23k window sticker.

I could see paying a bit more to go electric- I sincerely believe in the ecological necessity of electrification and I'm willing to take one for the team. But even if I went up 20% ($27.6k sticker) there's still a substantial mismatch.

I do not (and will not) consider tax credits into the equation because they aren't equally available to everyone. I'm not opposed to the concept of government subsidy in mobility electrification- if anything I'm massively in support of it, but I think they've found the wrong mechanism to apply it.

When I see electric cars priced like the Mach-e, ID4 and the new Hyundai it is hard to see them as anything other than a splurge; a guaranteed waste of money unless I know exactly what we would be giving up feature-wise with a ~$23k-stickered BEV. Without that comparison point I'm extremely hesitant to take the plunge.

 

Good summary. Too bad it uses UK prices. There is a good reason Toyota should be afraid of the Hyunai/Kia group. As a Kona EV driver I also found this assessment interesting:
Hyundai Ioniq 5 Achieves WLTP Range In Bjørn Nyland's Range Test

 

Oddly Bjorn calls the ioniq 5 (in so many words) an electricity guzzler at higher speeds. Still can't figure that one out, why that would be.

 

It has to do with the 'drag power' needed at any given speed. The roll-down coefficients can calculate the power needed at any given speed. Some cars are worse than others and there are non-linear, aerodynamic effects where flow separation can occur at a specific speed. Even a crosswind can induce the higher drag mode. Bjorn typically test at night but sometimes he has no control over the local weather and wind.

Bob Wilson

 

Here's an alternative test which, for some weird reason, uses an ID.3 instead of an ID.4, even though the ID.4 is clearly the more direct competitor for the other two.

https://www.topgear.com/car-news/big-reads/hyundai-ioniq-5-vs-ford-mustang-mach-e-vs-volkswagen-id3

Also, there are paragraphs in this report that feel like @tochatihu wrote them. I hope he is not sneaking into Britain to moonlight as a car reviewer.

 

The prospect of being condemned to CCS-1 charging networks makes this article unappealing.

Bob Wilson

 

I did not detect anything so familiar in reading that review, Mr. Kitty. Unsure if I am being unjustly praised or accused here. Well, maybe one tiny thing - expressing battery recharge rates as miles per hour sounds like something I might do.

 

Only a matter of time before Superchargers will be open to CCS-1 in the US.

 

Definitely praised.

There were just some sentences in there that had what I'd call a Tochatihu Flourish (like the Hofmeister Kink, but for words).

 

I'm not convinced on this. Trollbait may be right about Superchargers being opened up.

But otherwise, I suspect car charging may end up like smartphone charging: one set of equipment for one American company, and another set that works for absolutely everyone else.

 

Superchargers in Europe, or at least the EU, are already CCS-2. Tesla made the switch with the introduction of the Model 3 in order to be eligible for charger incentives. If US incentives come out that require the charger to be universal, they will likely do the same here.