2025 Tesla Model Y vs Hyundai Ioniq 5 Performance Comparison! This year’s best-selling vehicle in the world, the Tesla Model Y China, has much to do with that. However, here in America, the best-selling nonpickup truck is the Tesla Model Y. Yup, the compact EVSUV from the brand Elon Musk built edged out the Toyota Rav 4 to take the top nontruck spot.
The Ford F Series, Chevrolet Silverado, and Ram pickups have outsold the Model Y. Why are so many people around the globe deciding on the Tesla Model Y as the vehicle to buy? We can save you some speculation. It’s a fantastic product, versatile, practical, efficient, loaded with tech, and great to drive. Aside from its ubiquity, what’s not to love? Hyundai wants to ask another question.
Why not the Stylish Ionic 5 Instead?
We think that’s such a good question. We put together this comparison test. The Hyundai Ionic 5 enters this competition with a leg up, taking home the Auto Tops VS 2024 SUV of the Year award. The biggest question we weighed when naming it the winner was whether or not the Ionic 5 is an SUV.
We decided it was, and the rest was easy. With us calling it a game-changing rethink of what an SUV can be, taking one out for a refresher drive around the Canyons of Malibu did nothing but reinforce how right we were.
| Car Future and Advanced Technology | 2025 Tesla Model Y | 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 |
| Battery Capacity | 84.6 kWh | 77.4 kWh |
| Roadside Assistance | 4 yrs/50,000 miles | 5 yrs /Unlimited miles |
| EPA Range, COMB | 330 miles | 266 miles |
| Wheels | 9.5 x 20-in cast aluminum | 8.0 x 20-in cast aluminum |
| Drivetrain Layout | Front- and rear-motor, AWD | Front- and rear-motor, AWD |
| Weight to Power | 11.3 lb/hp | 14.6 lb/hp |
| MT Figure Eight | 25.5 sec @ 0.74 g (avg) | 25.6 sec @ 0.72 g (avg) |
| Base Price | $47,740 | $46,835 |
It’s just a great driving vehicle. The Ionic 5 Limited, compared to the Tesla Model Y, comes packing two motors with a combined 320 horsepower and 446 LB feet of torque. It features a 77.4 dash kWh battery pack and an EPA-rated range of 266 miles. Because of an 800 Volt electrical architecture, the Ionic 5 can use 350 kW chargers and charge from 10 to 80% in 18 minutes.
2025 Tesla Model Y vs Hyundai Ioniq 5 Pricing & Performance
That’s quick, as tested. This loaded Hyundai will set you back $58,045. The Tesla Model Y also comes with two motors good for a combined 384 horsepower and 375 LB feet of torque. The Model Y has a larger 84.6-dash kWh battery with an EPA-rated range of 330 miles. However, it’s more primitive.
400 Volt electrical architecture means it charges more slowly than the Hyundai figure in 40 minutes to go from 10 to 80% full at a Tesla Supercharger station. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly how much a Tesla costs, as weekly, if not daily, price updates, often in the form of cuts, seem to be the norm.
Also, since Tesla killed off its communications department, there’s no way to borrow press cars like we do with every other car maker. As such, we rented one, and it says the tested price was $70,130. That said, a good chunk of that came from Tesla’s optional and rightly controversial full self-driving capability, which costs $15,000 and cannot self-drive.
Moreover, we couldn’t even get it to turn on, but our hunch is that whoever rented us the car turned it off, so we subtracted its cost from our price. The Tesla scores an easy victory on space to put stuff. The Model Y has a big front that can swallow a sizable roller board, whereas we’re not even sure why the Hyundai’s hood opens.
You can perhaps stuff a soft backpack in its small nook with a charging cable, but that’s it. The Ionic 5 weighs significantly more than the Model Y at 4674 lbs versus 4337. We’re unsure why, as the Hyundai has smaller exterior dimensions, and the Tesla packs a larger battery pack.
That said, the Hyundai’s added beef doesn’t seem to affect much of anything in terms of feel or performance in acceleration. The two are dead even in the 0 -60 miles per hour Sprint, each taking only 4.4 seconds. That’s V8 power that’s most likely replacing your Camry. You have to love that.
The Tesla’s horsepower advantage shows up by the end of the quarter mile, where it bests the Hyundai by half a second. 12.7 seconds at 114.9 mph versus 13.2 at 103.3. Just so we’re all on the same page here, the 2023 Honda Civic Type RA legit performance machine hits 60 mph in 5.3 seconds and finishes the quarter in 13.9 seconds at 104.2 mph. Sure, quicker EVs and SUVs are out there, but at this price point, that’s pretty exciting.
Stopping power is pretty close, but the model-wise bigger brakes and lower weight help it stop from 60 mph in 118 feet versus 122 for the Ionic 5. The big surprise of the test session occurred on our Figure 8 handling circuit where the heavier, less powerful Hyundai was only a 10th of a second 25.6 versus 25.5 off of the Tesla chock. It is perhaps down to the tires, as the Korean has a bit more grip, 0.87g, than the American 0.85g on the skid pad for Rd. Driving.
Senior Editor Scott Evans spent a bright sunny day flinging these two around the Wilds of Malibu, where we immediately knew we were conducting a tight comparison test—broad strokes for everything. One competitor did well; the other scored a win for something else. For example, the Tesla had better steering, but the Hyundai rode and handled better.
The Tesla has much more storage space, but the Hyundai looks 5 to 10 times better. And on it went, Evans. I knew this would be close, but it’s even closer than expected. I’m having trouble deciding. As mentioned, it’s an easy win regarding looks for the Ionic 5.
I’m not talking out of school by stating that the Ionic 5 is one of the bravest, most daring car designs in years, and Hyundai is selling some of these on looks alone. Sure, the design is polarizing, and some people will dislike the 80s DeLorean-esque 8-bit look, but for those folks, sister brand Kia sells a sleeker thing called the EV Six that is otherwise functionally identical.
The Tesla still looks like an angry fish, and it’s so popular that its styling has become bland. The interior is another spot where we like the Hyundai better than the Tesla. Tesla’s Evan said there are so many people at so many automakers who would cut off a limb to have their company’s cost-cutting viewed as positively as fans view it. Putting everything on a screen and leaving the dashboard empty is chic, minimalist, and forward-thinking.
When other OEMs go this route, it’s not as cheap to many of our editors. The model-wise interior looks too austere, and we’re still not fans of having to glance at the single screen to see vehicle speed. Course, any owner will likely get used to that in the big central screen that runs just about everything saved for hazard lights.
It looks too austere, and we’re still not fans of lights. It does work quite well. It’s logical and easy to navigate, too. I told Evans I’d be willing to give the wind to the Hyundai just because there’s a shade for the glass roof. What a galactically obvious thing to include on a car, whose markets are in sun-drenched parts of a warming world—a message to every other carmaker. A glass roof with no shade is simply the wrong answer.
Unlike its exterior, there’s nothing particularly revolutionary or cutting edge about the Ionic 5’s interior. That said, we both found it preferable to the model-wise starkness simply for having been styled. It’s roomier inside as well, and a special shout out to the calf cushion that pops up from the driver’s seat when you turn it into recliner relax mode while waiting at a charger on the road.
These two are even Steven. One of the reasons EVs are as efficient as they are is their ability to recapture energy via regenerative braking. This enables 1 pedal driving that uses the motors to slow the vehicle instead of the brakes, so you rarely have to bother hitting the brake pedal.
The Tesla excels here. I am a die-hard one-pedal driver, Evan said. And I just plain like the way Tesla does it better. For example, you’re driving down the street and see a yellow or red light in a normal car. You lift off the throttle and then begin modulating the brake pedal. The Model Y is programmed so that simply lifting means you’ll come to a complete stop at the same spot you would have by using the brake pedal.
On the other hand, the Hyundai does not stop completely in time on its own. Its regenerative braking is sometimes difficult to judge. Moreover, unlike the Tesla, you must remember to put the Ionic 5 into high region mode by pulling the left steering wheel paddle every time you get in and drive still.
And as much as we both preferred the Tesla’s steering feel and one-pedal function, we thought the Hyundai was the better car to drive. First, the ride quality is much better, and I think we can attribute that to the Ionic 5’s longer wheelbase, 118.1 inches versus 113.8. The Ionic 5 displayed better body control and much less beeping and intervention.
But with everything so tight, we sliced and diced our findings and experiences every which way and still couldn’t pick a winner. And yet, the 2023 Tesla Model Y takes the prize. Why charging? After driving, we decided to charge the vehicles while continuing to debate and ponder.
Evans took the Tesla, plugged it into a Supercharger near where we ate, and 40 minutes later unplugged it; the car was charged to 80%. He touched nothing. He swiped nothing. No phone, no apps, nothing. I had a much different experience with the Hyundai Ionic 5. About a mile from the Supercharger in the high-income enclave of Westlake Village sits an Electrify America Bank of four chargers. All four were occupied.
I called Evans, and he told me that the Tesla Supercharger had 16 chargers, and 14 were available when he plugged it in. I sat and waited while he was charging. After 10 minutes, I noticed two people exit one of the theoretically charging vehicles, a brand new BMW I4.
No charging for the Hyundai there. So I drove 8 miles to an EVGO station in Newbury Park, passing two other Supercharger stations with open chargers. My first two attempts failed; one using my credit card timed out, and then I couldn’t connect using the app as I was abandoning all hope.
