Hyundai Ioniq 6 53kWh Prestige Drive Review : 6 in the Lion City [YIC2024]

The evergreen electric Hyundai Ioniq 6 brings back the “Made in Singapore” tag and continues to impress us with its all-rounded personality, especially in Cat A guise.

Younger readers probably might not know this, but Singapore used to “build” cars. Ford and Mercedes-Benz were among the more notable brands to have had assembly plants in Singapore up to around 1980. 

You’d have thought that era to be behind us, but Hyundai Motor Group has given new life to Singapore’s assembly aspirations with the setting-up of the Hyundai Motor Group Innovation Center Singapore, or HMGICS for short.

Both the all-electric Ioniq 5 and the featured Ioniq 6 are now proudly assembled in Singapore, which to us, is a really cool thing indeed. After all, when’s the last time you heard “Made-in-Singapore” in relation to a car?

And these are pretty cool cars in their own right, but the Ioniq 6 arguably garners a lot more attention.

See also: With 650hp and 770Nm, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N serves up plenty of noms

Boasting a Cd of 0.21, its wind-cheating, “streamliner” four-door coupe design is stylishly distinguished from the familiar Asian suspects.

Plenty like to reference Porsche in relation to its swoopy aesthetics, but we reckon the Ioniq 6 has a visual identity of its own that is indubitably electric.

See also: An introduction to: The Year in Cars - 2024

Most intriguingly, the Ioniq 6 does a great job of concealing its commodious 2950mm wheelbase.

It has loads of cool cues both inside and out, such as the retrolicious, LED matrix-style taillights for instance.

There are also four LED indicators on the steering wheel that will change colours depending on drive mode and charging status.

We especially like the pull-out ‘drawer’ glove-compartment, which is eminently useful and pretty cool to boot, since it gives the cabin a nice ‘living-room’ vibe.

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There are several variants of the Ioniq 6, and we reckon the Cat A ‘Prestige’ makes the most sense for Singapore use. For what it’s worth, it’s an eye-catching, nippy city runabout that makes light work of peak hour trawls.

And know what’s another great benefit of EVs? Keeping the air-con on while you’re stationary, since you’re technically not leaving your engine idling.

True to the Korean car-maker’s roots in ICE, the Ioniq 6 features physical switchgear in the cabin.

Compared to the current crop of EVs – which are practically built around an oversized tablet that controls every single function – the ‘hard controls’ in the Ioniq 6 are a welcome sight for us petrolheads.

We like that there’s never any fumbling around on-the-move trying to adjust climate control or in-car entertainment settings on a slippery touchscreen, because the physical keys just make things easier.

There’s a lot to be said about going digital for the sake of it, and we’re glad that Hyundai has achieved a sensible balance between analogue and electronica that translates well to daily-drive use!

One feature we found particularly cool is the V2L (or Vehicle to Load) function (pictured above and below). 

This means the Ioniq 6 even doubles as a 3.6kW power source.

This is real parks and recreation stuff that can be used to power your light sources, entertainment and cooking implements!  

Cars like the Ioniq 6 have such a striking visual identity there’s never any doubt as to what brand they’re by.

By that same token and even in spite of the fact that the Ioniq 6 has been kicking around on Singapore roads since 2023 (Made-in-Singapore ones since July 2024), it cuts an instantly recognisable silhouette that is properly differentiated from many of today’s homogenous products and continues to turn-heads today.

We were even approached several times during our time with the car to confirm that it was indeed the “electric Hyundai”. What’s even better, it attracts even more brownie points when you tell them it’s “Made in Singapore”!

With its nice hit of torque, you never need to hustle the Ioniq 6 hard to punch ahead of the herd, so it doesn’t really matter that its 145hp output falls within the Cat A COE umbrella for EVs (which is capped at 110kW, or 150hp).

It may not be blisteringly quick, but it is brisk enough for the rush hour trial-by-fire and that’s all you really need for a daily-driver. Properly timed, it’s possible to drive it one-pedal style – and smoothly at that – which we feel is an integral part of piloting an EV. If you can’t drive it smoothly with one-pedal, it’s probably a ‘you’ problem.

Coupled to its 400+km real-world range, there’s plenty to get by between charges (based on our level of usage), although we should qualify it’s still important to have access to your own charger, be it at home or the office.

Don’t forget, it ultimately isn’t so much about how many public chargers they build, but whether or not they’re occupied when you need to use one.

We like how legacy automotive brands like Hyundai manage to infuse its futuristic designs with a healthy dose of nostalgia.

By doing so, this helps ensure the Ioniq 6 isn’t just another tearaway page like so many modern hits and misses, but a proper entry of note in the brand’s history book.

HYUNDAI IONIQ 6 53kWh PRESTIGE
Battery 53kWh (gross), 800V
Power 145hp
Maximum torque 350Nm
Transmission Single-speed
0-100km/h 9.4secs
Top Speed 185km/h
WLTP range (combined) 429km
Kerbweight est. 1.8-tonnes