I generally like the Ioniq 5 more, especially its quickness, the way it grips the road, and the general ride feeling, which feels a lot sportier to me than my 2020 Bolt did.
The speedometer for the Ioniq 5 is on the left, rather than in the middle. This means that at certain settings of the steering wheel, your view of the speedometer is mostly blocked. [Photo by Christof Demont-Heinrich]There are a few things that, to me, just don’t make sense in the Ioniq 5, though. Here they are:
Why is the speedometer on the left side of the digital LCD display field, not in the middle? I do NOT need to see the Ioniq 5’s tire pressure or watch a tripometer, etc. in the middle of the screen in front of me. And I certainly do not need the speedometer to be partially blocked by the steering wheel, which it is if you like adjusting your steering wheel low. On the other hand, the collision warning/nearby car warning images are useful — but they should be on the side or corner, not in the middle, where the speedometer belongs.
Why is there no way to display the driving mode when one is in “normal” driving mode?
The shifter/gear selector on an arm/knob on the steering wheel can make it difficult to see the gear selector. The middle of the steering wheel actually blocks the driver’s view of the shifter stick and they often cannot see whether the Ioniq 5 is in “D” “N” “R” or “P”. Why, why why?
Why can’t the driver set the car to be in “ipedal” all the time if that is what they want?, meaning why can’t you set the car to stay in the most pronounced regenerative braking mode there is? This IS the best mode, the one-pedal driving mode, and virtually anyone who’s driven electric for as long as I have (11 years +) wants LOTS of regenerative breaking.
In this picture, the Ioniq 5’s steering wheel is in the “right” position to view the gear selector. However, a view of the gear selector is often blocked by the middle section of the steering wheel, as it is in the next photo. [Photo by Christof Demont-Heinrich]Generally, it’s a pain to be fumbling around changing modes, levels of regenerative breaking, trying to figure out if one is in D or N, etc., even potentially dangerous.
I also miss from the Bolt, the display that showed exactly how many kW are being drawn, or generated, in real time, with read-able, understandable digits/numerals. The Ioniq 5 represents this with a circle one side of which represents when the car is generating energy and the other when it is consuming energy.
The climate control panel is, for me at least, difficult to see when there is a lot of daylight — and I have my sunglasses on. I wish it were brighter, or something, so I wouldn’t also be fumbling around trying to see what digital button it is that I want to push, sometimes at the same time I am fumbling around trying to get the Ioniq back in to ipedal, or full regenerative mode. I had no such issues in the Bolt, although maybe I need more time to get used to the Ioniq 5 driver interface, as I have only been driving it for five days.
I will say that I am looking forward to a road trip that I will be taking down to Crestone, Colo. this Wednesday, July 30 to participate in a Buddhist inspired mindfulness and meditation weekend at the Crestone Mountain Zen Center.
I feel quite a bit more confident about the Ioniq 5 showing me more accurate range numbers than my Bolt had been for the last five months. The phantom miles my Bolt added (at 100% SOC, it showed 340 miles of range, which is WAY OFF), and how quickly these phantom miles disappeared PLUS how quickly the miles below 259 miles (the actual EPA rated range of my 2020 Bolt) also were disappearing, the adding of up to five miles of range at nearly every stoplight, and every time I turned it off, all of these were anxiety provoking I would not want to deal with this on long intra-Colorado road trips where one is going up the steep, and long mountain grades and roads characteristic of the inter-mountain west.
In this photo, you can see that the mid-section of the Ioniq 5 blocks the driver’s view of the gear selector. [Photo by Christof Demont-Heinrich]Overall, there are lots of great things about the Ioniq 5, in particular, its sportiness, its futuristic look, its visibility for the driver, which is, as far as I can tell, quite similar to the Bolt, which, in my opinion also has very good visibility.
My Ioniq 5 also has an NACS charging port (a “Tesla” charging port) rather than a J-1772 or CCS1 port, which was a bit of surprise to me. I’m not sure how I feel about this, actually: On the one hand, I have adapter-less access to the entire Tesla Supercharging network. On the other hand, I am a bit anxious how Tesla drivers feel about non-Tesla EVs charging at “their” stations, as dumb as that might sound of me.
A ChatGPT search result on the topic of how Tesla drivers are responding to other EVs being allowed on to the Tesla supercharging network wasn’t super encouraging: There seems to be a fair amount of frustration and resentment toward non-Tesla EVs charging on the Tesla network as far as I could tell based on the ChatGPT overview.
Overall, I am happy with my decision to move to an Ioniq 5 after 5.5 years in a 2020 Chevy Bolt, at least so far 🙂. I like driving different EVs and I have driven four different EVs since 2014 — and I started off in leases in all cases. I plugged into 100% EV driving 11 years+ years ago, with a first generation Nissan LEAF in 2014. I followed up with a 2017 Bolt, which was a HUGE upgrade in range (I ran out of charge twice in my 2014 LEAF, both times in the dead of winter, and both times with my two kids in the car). I then hopped to a 2020 Bolt.
My Hyundai Ioniq 5 parked at a local YMCA in the Denver, Colo. area. [Photo by Christof Demont-Heinrich]I wanted to lease again in 2023. However, interest rates were so high that I could not afford the monthly payments, which were going to be around $600 for a 2023 Bolt. So, I bought out my 2020 Bolt lease.
Everything was going fine until I experienced the sudden range meter issues — the range meter had always been reliable before that despite all the comments people make about “guess o meter”. I also started experiencing issues with the heat not working in February of 2025, at exactly the same time the range meter issues showed up.
Two Chevy dealerships told me there was nothing wrong. I think they were/are wrong. And someone will find out if they were or not, just not me. I don’t feel bad about trading in my 2020 Bolt that, in my view, likely had some software issue. I took it in to two different Chevy dealerships for a thorough going over and did my “due diligence” in so doing as far as I am concerned. I also replaced the 12v battery with a brand new one, as ChatGPT suggested an old 12v battery can cause EV range meter problems.
In sum, I am quite happy with the Ioniq 5. That’s good, because I might have to buy it out, too, in three years, as the erasure of the Federal EV Tax credit will likely push up prices so high, I won’t be able to afford a lease again. Basically, I cannot afford a monthly car payment of more than $400/month on my $68k journalism professor’s salary.
However, there is work to be done on the Ioniq 5’s driver/auto UI, in my view. Some of this could be fixed by software updates — for instance, allowing a custom driver mode where the driver can set the mode — eco, normal, sport, snow, etc. — AND also set, and lock in, for future start-ups, the braking level to whatever they want AND have this linked to a specific driving mode. It is truly frustrating to have to fumble around with the regenerative braking paddle on the steering wheel so often. Can you do something about this, Hyundai? 👍
The Hyundai logo on the front hood of my Ioniq 5. [Photo by Christof Demont-Heinrich]
