New Hyundai Ioniq 5 vs Tesla Model 3 vs Volkswagen ID 4: costs
With the radical Ioniq 5, Hyundai is looking to carve its first slice of the large electric car market. But can it get the better of models from Tesla and Volkswagen?...
Buying and owning
Costs, equipment, reliability, safety and security
If you’re a company car driver, you’ll pay benefit-in-kind tax on just 1% of any pure electric car’s list price until April next year, rising to 2% from then until at least April 2024. If that doesn’t mean much to you, consider this: as a 40% taxpayer, you’ll currently sacrifice just £14 per month to run any of our contenders. Compare that with the circa-£370 you’ll have to pay to run a similar-priced diesel BMW 3 Series and the appeal is obvious.
Incredibly slow predicted depreciation means the Tesla Model 3 will work out cheapest overall for cash buyers selling after three years, with relatively heavy depreciation making the Volkswagen ID 4 the priciest long-term option.
The ID 4 is the most affordable if you’re buying on PCP finance, though. On a four-year deal with a £4000 deposit and a limit of 10,000 miles per year, you’ll pay £538 per month, compared with £545 for the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and £561 for the Model 3.
All three have lots of standard kit, including adaptive cruise control with steering assistance, keyless entry, heated front seats and, in the Ioniq 5 and ID 4, a heated steering wheel as well. Meanwhile, the Ioniq 5 and Model 3 have electric bootlids. You get plenty of safety kit, too, with all three performing really well in their Euro NCAP tests.
One advantage of buying a Tesla is access to the company’s proprietary Supercharger network. From one of these, you can get a 10-80% top-up in around 21 minutes. The Ioniq 5 can accept much more power, so you can theoretically charge its much larger battery from 10-80% in 18 minutes in ideal conditions, if you can find a powerful enough outlet.
The ID 4 can’t charge anywhere near as quickly as its rivals, but you can still expect a 10-80% top-up of its battery in around 35 minutes. Charging from 0-100% at home using a regular 7kW wallbox will take around 12 hours in the ID 4 and Ioniq 5, compared with eight hours in the Model 3.
By EV standards, the Model 3 performed averagely well in our 2021 Reliability Survey. The Ioniq 5 and ID.4 were too new to feature, but Hyundai finished joint third (out of 30) in the brand league table, compared with Volkswagen’s disappointing 20th.
Hyundai also provides a five-year, unlimited-mileage warranty on most of the car, with the battery covered for up to eight years (with a 100,000-mile cap). The Model 3 and ID 4 have the same level of cover on their batteries but only four years or 50,000 miles of cover on most other components.
Used alternative
2018 Jaguar I-Pace
For similar money to any of the others here, you could put a three-year-old example of the luxurious Jaguar I-Pace SUV on your driveway. As well as having an opulent and spacious interior, the futuristic-looking I-Pace is great to drive, very refined and super-quick, with the 0-62mph dash seen off in less than 5.0sec. Its official range of 292 miles is pretty respectable, too.
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