Featured Hyundai IONIQ - Prius competitor?

Some pics I took of the ioniq on display at the OC Auto Show. IMO the white paint didn't show it off very well in that environment. Overall the car looked ok to me, a lot more "normal" than the styling of the gen 4 Prius. I was more impressed with the Kia Niro.

 

Kia Niro pics. '50mpg combined"

 

Wow on cargo area, but hard to grasp rear seat space.
Is that rear bucket seats?

 

I thought I could see a middle seat belt, but you never know. I'd say wow on the cargo space as well. I think the rear seats look tight in part because the front passenger is moved all the way back & the upper portion is tilted back more than many would want - unless you're sleeping. And 50 MPG combined? I'd have to wow that as well. Is this the only other gasser besides Prius to do that?
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Not really rear buckets, just a slightly raised center section. The 5th seat wouldn't be comfortable for long trips, but usable in a pinch.

 

i see the show runs for a couple more days - thru Sunday. I'll have to step across the street Saturday after making some OT $$ & check it out (see if i can find a coupon, too )
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Have to agree with you about the Niro. I'm a sucker for small wagons and that one looks very nice.

 

Niro is direct competitor to Toyota C-HR in pretty much everything on the paper. Except it is slightly slower, less economical, cheaper interior, heavier... but also very likely cheaper to buy in main markets in Europe.

 

Based on what I saw at the OC Auto Show the Niro interior is good quality and nicely designed. Real world performance and economy will have to wait until both are released. But who buys this type of vehicle for either performance or economy? It's more about utility, decent performance and mileage (great mpg compared to most CUVs), value and styling.

I was impressed with the Niro after watching this video.

 

...me too! (sucker for small wagons)

 

Brilliant review. Love the German version of a deadpan style especially comment about the kind old lady. Well done!

 

Over on the Ioniq forum, a member from the UK test drove a new Ioniq, hybrid and reported:

"The car is a bit larger than I thought it would be; the seats are very flat on the base, but firm and comfortable, at 6 foot I found the seat went far enough back I nearly thought I would need to move it forward a bit.
The instrument panel is nice and clear, but can appear cluttered with so much information on it depending the mode you are in for the information on the right; unless you are watching the bottom right of the speedo where you see "ECO" or "EV" you cant easily tell if you are on petrol or electric power due to the quietness of the engine.
It is very weird driving it for the first time, you pull away on electric and it is silent, if you just lift your foot off the brake it will creep forward slowly like a torque convertor automatic, so in traffic you don't need to put your foot on the gas.
Driving it is a very relaxed drive, if you are gentle you can get up to 35-40mph in electric drive only, the gearbox is very smooth; on gentle driving you can't even tell the gear changes in EV mode, only slightly noticeable in hybrid mode if you can hear the engine note change, it pulls like a train if you stick your foot down on the accelerator.
There are plenty of driving aids on the centre screen to help you drive economically, there is an eco score with a range of 1 - 8 (I got 7 even with a play in sport mode pulling out of a junction), on the right of the speedo there is a display that tells you the percentage of eco and aggressive driving you have done (I only got 1 percent aggressive due to playing in sport mode), you have a bar graph for you instantaneous mpg, and a bar graph on the left of the speedo is a bar graph of how eco you at doing at that point in time. On a 9 mile test drive from cold I managed 68 mpg (UK) 54mpg (US) without really trying.
One interesting thing the battery charge never goes much above 50-60%, which seems a bit odd but apparently that is by design.


One annoying feature is they have moved all the buttons round on the steering wheel relative to each other, so you have to look for the button you want, which is a tad annoying, the "D" profile of the steering wheel I had my concerns about, but to be honest I didn't even notice it. All the switches and controls had a positive feel, they didn't feel cheap or flimsy.

The throttle is progressive with no steps in power, but there is a point about 2/3 down where you need a little bit more pressure, its as though it is a reminder you are pushing the car to make progress.
The regenerative braking is a little weird, one thing I did notice was if you were braking gently the regenerative braking force seem to vary very slightly as the gearbox changed down is your speed slowed, the effect wasn't much and it was only because I was watching the car closely.

The satnav is an SD card to update the maps (during service my salesman said), and to use the safety camera alerts and live traffic information you need to link it via Bluetooth on your phone and use you phone data connection so make sure your data allowance is good enough; the DAB radio is good easy to use and fairly intuitive; the wireless phone charging worked with my Microsoft Lumia 950, but there are two raised lines and if your phone moves out of them it stops charging, so if you brake sharp it may mean your phone stops charging if it moves.

Room in the back was good, the salesman sat in the front with me, and the wife in the back, she was happy. The car has the pull down console in the middle of the rear seat with two cup holders The load cover was not pulled over, and there was noticeable road noise from the back. I checked and yes it definitely had a spare, but it appeared to be a space saver, and not a full width tyre compared to the others so you will be limited to 50mph with it on. Under the bonnet, there are two coolant tanks, the one on the right is for the high voltage inverter for the electric motor, so something else to keep an eye on when you lift he bonnet to check levels etc."

The report was written by a chap using the name blue car 1.This is the first report I have seen that was written by a prospective owner and not a company spokesman.

 

nice write up. sounds like a newbie who hasn't driven a hybrid previously. refreshing, almost sounds like a prius description.
heard any pricing rumors yet?

 

By January/February we should have examples that the Priulatti can do a proper compare and contrast. We should also have EPA metrics which will make me happy.

It is not impossible for someone to reverse-engineer the Prius control laws and technology. More than a few of us have been fascinated by what Toyota accomplished and appears to have wrapped up in the Prius Prime. But like the IONIQ, it too is a promise not yet realized.

I can report that Elan Musk is right that our cars should not be 'wimps.' Having a 2,900 lb car with 168 hp, rear-wheel drive has and remains a joy. I don't even like higher HP gas engine cars because: (1) shifting gears is slow, and (2) noisy. It reminds me of what our old, 2003 Prius would do at an intersection ... and then peter out.

Bob Wilson

 

Exactly how would power-split hybrid technology apply to a parallel one?

 

1. Operate the engine only at peak efficiency:

1. Bank excess power to the traction battery.
   1. Turn off the engine when there is sufficient traction battery energy.
2. Optimize the engine for peak thermodynamic efficiency.

​

FYI, my daily driver is a series hybrid with the traction battery between the ICE generator and motor and does not implement rule 1.1. This failure to bank the excess energy by running the engine at a peak efficiency regardless of load means the tank-to-wheel MPG falls off at speeds under 55 mph. Understand implementation is not trivial regardless of power-split, parallel, or series architecture.

When I saw the "Blue Motion" hybrid system in 2009 at the Detroit Auto Show:



I realized it was a viable, hybrid architecture and the second generation Sonata has performed at levels of the Gen-1 Prius, 38 City / 43 Highway. I suspect we'll find the IONIQ will actually perform between the Gen-2 and Gen-3 Prius. I am not surprised that Hyundai claims similar IONIQ engine efficiency to the Prius Gen-4 engine.

Bob Wilson

 

Again ... on the Ioniq forum, a fellow using the name norweigen wrote:


"I'll chime in.

Re lane assist: I've never had this before, but I am sure it will make me a safer driver. There are three levels of assist that can be set in the menu. The default normal setting will give you a clear warning beep when you approach the lines without having used the turn signal, whereas the active setting actually allows the system to take over the steering wheel. Quite eerie to see the car drive itself through turns and all.

The system is reliant on there being clear lines and markings on both sides of the lane. When the system gets a clear fix on the lines, the lane assist symbol in the dash turns from white to green. If the active level is set, you also get a green steering wheel symbol showing that the system is active.

On the highway, the system keeps the lane just fine. If you want to change lanes, just blink in the direction you want to go, and the car simply switches lanes in that direction, given that the blind spot zone is free of cars. Otherwise, there's another warning beep along with the orange light flashing in the outside mirror.

In combination with the adaptive cruise control, the lane assist made driving on the highway a breeze. It kept the distance to the car ahead, it speeded up to the preset speed when possible, and kept the lane until I told it to switch. However, should you be tempted to let go of the steering wheel, a beep and a voice will come on after a few seconds telling you to keep your hands on the wheel!"

That seems to describe somewhat how my brothers Tesla performed, although he did not let me drive it, so I can't say for sure.

I also rad this on autoglog:
"Toyota issued a stop-sale order on the Prius over potentially faulty parking brake cables. NHTSA has ordered a recall for model years 2016 and 2017 Toyota Prius vehicles produced from August 6, 2015, to October 3, 2016. It affects a potential 91,585 vehicles, including about 19,500 new cars still in dealer inventory."

Has this been reported?

 

Can't help feeling this one is a substitute for paying attention to to one's driving with regard to other road users.

 

several times. you can't buy a gen 4 right now.