I don’t think too many of you will cry foul if I say that, here at Ti, we are not exactly blind to the shortcomings of EVs. You may have read Dan’s test of two new Mini Cooper Ss, one with petrol flowing through its lines, the other with electrons. It is fair to say that as sporting carriages go, EVs have their limitations, to put it as mildly as a chicken korma with a side of raita just in case.
Of them all, it is actually Hyundai that’s come closest to making an EV genuinely entertaining to drive, but it has nothing to do with the power, grip or steering response of the Ioniq 5 N: it’s because its engineers have bothered to create a programme which makes the I5N sound like an ICE car and change gear like one as well. It is remarkably effective. But if the only way an EV can be fun is to make it behave like it’s not an EV… well there can be no more clear acknowledgement of the problem.
But what if the last thing you expected or wanted from your car was for it to be fun to drive? Does that not make the problem go away? What if what you want is simply the most comfortable, safe and refined seven-seat family barge money can buy? Volvo thinks it has the answer.
