Last updated on April 8th, 2020 at 08:23 pm
The driver’s display is simple, with the central area showing the current speed numerically. A bar on the left illustrates whether you are using up power or regaining it via regenerative braking. Relevant safety alerts and the temperature are shown nearby, whilst on the right you can see the available range.
Although electric vehicles, hybrids and PHEVs do tend to offer a variety of unusual control systems, the pushbuttons employed by the Ioniq to switch between drive, reverse and park aren’t very satisfying. You will find you have to look at them to choose the right one, whereas a trusty gearstick or steering wheel-located system can be used without a glance.
The menu system for the 10.25in touchscreen in the centre of the dashboard is well organised and quite easy to navigate. By default, you can have the weather, satnav and range/charge information all visible at once, and it’s possible to drag and drop to customise this display. Customising your drive modes takes just a few screen presses. Only the volume control has a physical knob; everything else uses touch, although the screen mode buttons are dedicated and permanent rather than changing with context. The Smart Cruise Control with Stop and Go Functionality will adapt to the speed of the car in front, which is handy in heavy traffic.
That satnav itself, when taking up the entire screen, shows a clear and colourful display, with your next three turns on the right, plus estimated arrival time, distance to destination and time to destination along the bottom. There’s live traffic and speed camera alerts, although this appears to require your smartphone to be connected via Bluetooth to supply the necessary data connection. Camera alerts are not enabled by default, requiring a trip to the menu to turn them on. It’s not clear from Hyundai whose live traffic system is being used, however.
Speaking of smartphone connectivity, like any self-respecting EV there’s an app available that lets you control many features of your Ioniq remotely, in this case called BlueLink. You can send destinations to the satnav, enable climate control so the car is toasty (or frosty) in advance of when you get into it, monitor charge level and estimated range, and track your vehicle’s current location as well as immobilise it if you think it has been stolen. You can see a report of your driving behaviour and monitor the health of your Ioniq.
Discussion about this post