Featured Hyundai IONIQ - Prius competitor?

steady on, don't let your prius hear you say that about an Ioniq

 

One thing is sessy...other is "married for life, and happy"

 

I'll have to say that I do like the looks/packaging of the Ioniq.

However, as I have learned more about the Prius, it is absolutely true that the reliability cannot be matched. This is obviously due to the Hybrid Synergy Drive...but Toyota has also made great strides regarding rust resistance, etc... In fact, the entire vehicle is rock solid and requires little maintenance. I know a couple mechanics that joke that they would be out of a job if everyone drove a Prius.

as far as the Ioniq goes, even if it wins slightly in the the long run on MPG, I'm just not sold at all on the full package. The various components of the transmission require far more maintenance. The system is also unproven long term. Personally, I just don't feel that tie Ioniq will match the Prius in terms of *long term* reliability. It also loses regarding scheduled maintenance costs. If that is the case, what's the point of 'winning' by 1-2 MPG?

However, I am glad that some ( like Bluecar ) are stepping forward to try it. Maybe my hunches will be proven wrong in the long run.

 

Looking at the maintenance schedules, the only extra on the Ioniq is checking the HSG belt, and the Prius a 12v lead acid battery.
Hyundai Recommended Maintenance Schedules
https://www.toyota.com/t3Portal/document/omms-s/T-MMS-17Prius/pdf/T-MMS-17Prius.pdf

 

so far all good and at 22,000 miles, I have a firmware issue with the gearbox that causes slightly slow gear change only from 5th to 4th under a very specific set of circumstances and the wireless charger causes my phone to overheat

there was an ECU firmware update last service which made the smart cruise smoother, and a few other things, all positive

 

The reviews suggest that Prius seems to have many more safety features than the Ioniq.

 

Depends on the trim.

 

it also depends on country,

in the US the blue spec is lower spec and fewer safety features as std than prius, but in the UK all models are fully loaded with AEB. LKAS, Smart cruise etc so I think they're are equal or slightly better than the prius

 

This is the document I was referring to :

http://www.ioniqforum.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1817&d=1488803104

Here is the associated thread : http://www.ioniqforum.com/forum/218-hyundai-ioniq-hybrid/4785-first-service.html

The HSG belt and the Dual Clutch Actuator Fluid maintenance are what stood out to me. In general, dual clutch setups typically require more maintenance than you would think. However, it does seem odd that 'brake fluid' is listed so frequently on the maintenance schedule.

Maybe BlueCar1 can set us straight on what is actually required?

 

You tag a user like this @Bluecar1 You type ‘@‘ start typing the name and then select. The user gets an alert that they were tagged.

 

Dual Clutch Actuator Fluid. HSG Belt. Two things that may work out in the long run or become the issue for this car. As for the Prius,

No water pump being pulled continously
No AC compressor being pulled continously
No Transmission "sensors" to eventually wear out
Extended brake life due to "Synergy Drive"

But these things won't matter to the market segment the Ioniq is trying to reach. Just the name "Prius" sends some people running. I wrote a long theory on why I feel people have a bias for the Prius in some thread here in Priuschat. Don't remember where the heck it is, but to summarize what I wrote, most people hate the Prius because it is a Prius............with no valid reasons. I use to be one of those years ago, till my mind started thinking about the need for better built cars. We owe a lot to Nascar. The technology spawned from them is so big and goes so far it ain't funny.

Many today are already scoffing at Toyota's Mirai. Why? The main complaint is the lack of hydrogen fill stations. Wasn't that the case when the automobile was first built? Gasoline was everywhere. We just needed to find a way to get to it and refine it affordably. Hydrogen is everywhere, we now just need to find a way to refine it and make it affordable. Also, now the electric car that use to be ugly and not appealing is growing in popularity. So what happens now? Our local energy companies are thinking of raising our fees due to expected "higher comsumption" of energy.

What will continue to happen is that the smartest people with some moolah will keep making sexy, fast and economical cars. It ain't going to stop. Toyota was one of the first to go all out on making a car drive like a car and get great gas mileage and be affordable. Hopefully the Ioniq can carve it's own nitch..............instead of trying to trash talk the Prius.

 

that is my service schedule, brake fluid was replaced on my last service (20,000 miles) a few weeks back, not even a year old

that is the UK service schedule, US schedule has more oil changes

HSG is replaced at 50,000 miles here in the UK, US I think is more frequent as it is classed a more hostile environment

there is only a DCT oil level inspection at 100,000 miles, as it is a dry clutch setup they is no fouling of the DCT oil due to clutch friction material contamination

there is a engine clutch fluid replacement every 20,000 miles, this is the clutch between the ICE and electric motor which enables the ICE to be completely decoupled from the electric motor and drive train

 

the Ioniq is electric water pumps
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the Ioniq users an electric AC compressor driven from the 240v traction battery
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not sure about what sensors are on the DCT unit, but it does have more parts than the HSG on the prius
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at 20,000 miles my front pads were less than 20% worn, which shows the level of regen braking I am getting (partly my driving style and partly the hybrid drive regen systems)

some dislike the new styling, some the way the CVT works, likewise some dislike the DCT on the Ioniq or think it too bland etc

no car can please everyone
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on the dark side we are watching the fuel cell tech with a certain level of interest as we can see it may take over from batteries (but it does appear to need a battery to act as an intermediate energy store as FC tesh is not as controllable as required)
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this is where I have said on several occasions pretty much all hybrids owe a lot to Toyota and the Prius as you guys have made hybrids main stream and acceptable to the masses

 

That's a UK schedule. The US one doesn't call for a HSG belt change until 120k miles. The serpentine belt in our Sable went 15 years. The engine clutch actuator fluid change is every 22.5k miles. I don't know if I could comfortably go the 150k miles Hyundai says the transmission fluid is good for myself.

There is no brake fluid change called for in the US schedule, just an inspection every 30k miles. I've heard the brake fluid on any car should be changed every two years, but that might have only been true during the time of 3000 mile oil changes.

Hyundai does call for a 7500 mile oil change interval.

Any car with a regenerative braking system will have extended brake life.
The Ioniq has an electric water pump and AC compressor like the Prius.

It's everywhere, but it takes energy to free it for use as a fuel. The most affordable source for it is fossil fuels. That won't solve the issues fossil fuels bring to the table. Renewable sources will result in more expensive hydrogen, and that is before we start paying for distribution infrastructure.

 

no that's not the reason. the trillion dollars it would take for infrastructure is not the main reason people scoff at hydrogen either. They scoff for many reasons - like because their 10,000psi tanks have to be replaced at 10 years. The hydrogen embrittles their metal fuel lines so they have to be replaced too. Their Platinum fuel stacks have to be replaced as well. Toyota ev RAV4's from year 2000 have nickel batteries that are 17 years old, so even that Tech works longer than hydrogen, but that's not the main complaint. And all those ridiculously expensive hydrogen replacement parts are not the main complaint either. Japan plans on reforming hydrogen from Australian Brown coal, all the while they claim hydrogen is a clean fuel, but you don't want YOUR backyard used as a coal fly ash dump now do you. That's not the main complaint either. The efficiency of reforming hydrogen is no better than generating juice for an electric car - even if you use natural gas - which means you built an expensive, little, disposable car that is not as practical as a plug-in Electric, and it still has to burn fossil fuels, because if you reform using electricity, the efficiency drops about 400%. Even that's not the main complaint. The main complaint is you compile all those together, and then the lobby tries to hide all of that from you - hoping their audience is gullible, & too ignorant to get it. That's the complaint.
.

 

Thank you for your correction of my misconception

 

Although hydrogen is common, it is tightly bound to other elements. Separating hydrogen requires a huge amount of energy yet we only get that energy back in the hydrogen gas. Worse, we get no more energy back in the fuel cell. There just isn't a 'hydrogen' mine or well. Free space hydrogen converts to water when it hits our atmosphere.

In contrast, gasoline is another hydrocarbon found in crude oil and only needs separating with fractional distillation and in some cases, catalytic enhanced, breaking of heavier hydrocarbons into smaller ones. Regardless of source, the energy gain of gasoline is huge.

Bob Wilson

 

As far as brake fluid, that's one thing that I was surprised was not in the Prius maintenance schedule.

Brake fluid is hygroscopic - that means it absorbs water. Water in brake fluid reduces the braking effectiveness (due to water flashing to steam, and that steam being compressible), and also corrodes braking system components.

As a result, some manufacturers have 2 year replacements in their maintenance schedule.

Does the Prius have some mechanism to keep fluid volume constant without pulling air in and out of the reservoir?

 

my old skoda (2012 fabia) had a brake fluid change at 3 years then every two years, also they checked the boiling point of the fluid at the intermediate services to check if it needed changing

 

I have read on this forum that yes it does.

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