Autotrader's Rory takes the £65,000 Hyundai Ioniq 6N to the Castellolí circuit, about 40 km northwest of Barcelona, to find out whether a 650 PS electric saloon with a synthetic soundtrack and a simulated gearbox can genuinely earn the supercar comparison Hyundai is strongly implying but not quite making.
The numbers hold up. Two electric motors, 650 PS, 770 Nm of torque, and a claimed 0-to-62 mph of 3.2 seconds. On a slightly uphill surface, Rory clocked 3.58 seconds. The N Grin Boost button delivers 10 seconds of maximum power and torque at the push of a button, with a 10-second cooldown before it is available again. The comparison to Mario Kart's mushroom was made completely sincerely. The car also ships with a drift optimizer that lets you distribute torque front to rear and use the regenerative braking system to initiate a slide. It works, though it takes patience to find the right settings.
The engineering feature that generates the most conversation is the simulated 8-speed dual-clutch transmission. You shift with paddles, the car beeps when it wants you to change up, there are torque interruptions between gears that feel like real gear changes, and if you bounce off the limiter you lose your acceleration window exactly as you would in a real DCT. Hyundai also retuned the 6N to require more frequent shifts than the Ioniq 5N did, which makes the whole experience noticeably more engaging. The simulated sound was modeled on a V6 turbo, though Rory notes it has developed its own character and does not sound quite like any V6 he knows.
Rory also sat down trackside with Tyrone Johnson, the vehicle engineer whose previous credits include the Ford Focus RS and the Mustang. Johnson says he was skeptical of performance EVs from the start, particularly around weight, engagement, and throttle response. On the simulated gearbox and sound: he describes them not as gimmicks but as genuine engineering solutions to replace the subconscious feedback loop drivers rely on to know when to shift. They feel it, they hear it, the torque drops off, and they shift. EVs have none of that by default. The 6N is built to put it back. His view on the EV-versus-ICE performance debate: put a high-performance ICE car next to a high-performance EV and the ICE driver will notice the lag immediately. ICE engineering had 120 years to develop. Performance EVs have had about 10. His advice: give it a minute.
On the downsides: the driving position sits a touch high, rear headroom is limited by the sloping roofline, the 400-litre boot loses some space to chassis bracing, there is no front trunk, door bins are small, and exposed foam in the door hinges looks like an afterthought. On the upside: 25 physical buttons on the center console including direct heated steering wheel access, suspension that genuinely softens in normal mode, motorway cruising that is surprisingly quiet at 70 mph, and 260 kW DC rapid charging that puts it from 10 to 80% in around 18 minutes. Real-world range: approximately 300 miles.
Verdict from Rory: not a supercar in the traditional sense, and not trying to be. What it is trying to be is an engaging, capable, emotional fast saloon. The sound is not real. The gearbox is not real. But the connection between car and driver feels very real, and if it feels real, it is real enough.