For years rivals have tried to beat the Toyota Prius, look at the Honda Insight and Ford C-Max, unfortunately the Insight is gone and does anyone even know the C-Max exists? Now it’s Hyundai’s turn. The Hyundai Ioniq may look like a Prius, but Hyundai has leap frogged the Prius by offering three versions: a hybrid, plug-in hybrid and a fully electric version of the Ioniq. For now, lets start with the 2017 Ioniq Hybrid, which will be the cheapest of the three and the most direct rival to the popular Prius. Here are the five things you need to know:
2A fun to drive hybrid?
Although hybrids have been great at saving fuel and lowering emissions, there’s one thing that they haven’t been good at – being fun to drive. The Hyundai Ioniq obviously isn’t going to be as fun as something like the hybrid Acura NSX, but only a select few of us could ever even think about being able to afford that. For the rest of us, the Ioniq Hybrid is actually pretty fun to drive. Around town, it’s zippy and light on its feet. Maybe it’s the lack of the dreaded CVT transmission that helps or maybe the fact that Hyundai clearly sought to beat the Prius in every way possible. There’s also a nice Sport mode that improves the throttle response and although the steering is light, it’s not completely devoid of feedback, like some other hybrids.
