Honda Accord vs Hyundai Ioniq 6

What's the difference?

Will the new Honda Accord e:HEV RS topple the SUV throne? Unlikely, but it proves sedans can still haul the family around in relative comfort and style.

The new Accord drives stupidly well and offers great ongoing ownership costs, even if it's price tag is a little steep. It's hybrid powertrain also offers fantastic efficiency and that's a big win.

The Hyundai Ioniq 6 will stand out in any automotive crowd, thanks to its distinctive aero-influenced design.

It’s well-equipped for the money, surprisingly roomy, energy efficient and notwithstanding some niggles around the ride and steering feel, comes up to scratch dynamically.

Does it do enough to apply the thumb screws to the likes of Tesla's Model 3? I think it’s got a pretty good shot, and it will be interesting to see if EV buyers embrace the car’s unusual streamlined look.

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with travel, accommodation and meals provided.

The design for the new Accord is powerful with a sexy silhouette that features a rear spoiler, black accents and sporty 18-inch alloy wheels.

The old chunky grille is long gone and at certain angles you almost get a Nissan 200 SX vibe, which is gorgeously retro and a refreshing take for Honda - which has been playing it safe for the last few years.

The interior is simply styled but looks timeless. The dashboard has clean lines and a featured honeycomb mesh that hides the air-vents. It's a feature which might not land with everyone but it adds personality.

The black upholstery looks plush and there are enough soft-touchpoints to make the cabin feel like it deserves a premium tag.

Lots of cars are said to be “shaped by the wind” but all you have to do is look at the Ioniq 6 to know that in this case it’s 100 per cent true.

In fact, images of the car in Hyundai’s wind tunnel show it performing more like a perfectly shaped wing than a four door sedan.

With a drag co-efficient (Cd) of 0.21 it’s slicker than the ultra low-drag Tesla Model 3 and Porsche Taycan. And while not conventionally pretty it’s certainly a striking and unusual design.

Flush door handles? Of course. Carefully sculpted spoilers front and rear? Yep. Active air flaps? Check. The RWD Dynamiq’s 18-inch alloy rims are shaped for aero efficiency, while the top-spec Epiq grade even swaps out conventional side mirrors for super-cool digital cameras and interior OLED screens.

And the sleek looks continue inside with a two-section dash divided horizontally by a swoopy winged insert and topped with a pair of 12.3-inch screens covering multimedia and instrumentation.

The look and feel is minimalist. A lot of the controls are on screen or digital, but a physical dial for audio volume gets a big safety and convenience tick. 

No gearshift in the bridge-like centre console. A rotary stalk is located behind the steering wheel on the right-hand side.

There’s configurable ambient mood lighting with six pre-selected themes and the materials used inside are suitably eco-friendly.

Cloth seat trim is recycled PET plastic, as is the headliner, the dashboard skin is manufactured using bio-ethanol, the carpet is made from recycled fishing nets (!), and bio paint (partially derived from vegetable oils) is used on the doors. 

Yes, there’s leather, but its dyeing process uses biodegradable flaxseed oil rather than conventional pigments, which is a good thing in terms of fewer harmful microorganisms in waste water, and is claimed to reduce CO2 emissions by 3.8kg per car. 

On the outside, recycled pigment paint made using ‘end-of-life’ tyres is applied to the body cladding, and bamboo charcoal pigment paint is used in the ‘Digital Green’ pearl colour option.

Speaking of which, there are seven other colours available; three more pearl shades - ‘Abyss Black’, ‘Ultimate Red’ and ‘Biophilic Ink’, as well a single metallic ‘Nocturn Gray’ and a solid ‘Byte Blue’. ‘Gravity Gold’ matt finish is the only extra-cost choice at $1000. 

Access to the cabin is great thanks to wide door apertures but the Accord is a low car to get in and out of with its 134mm ground clearance. Expect a couple of grunts when parked on a hill!

Both rows offer ample legroom but the front enjoys the best of the headroom. A 183cm (6.0ft) friend was lumped with the middle seat and spent the trip dreadfully hunched over and uncomfortable. Save the middle seat for kidlets.

The electric front seats offer decent comfort for a longer trip but it's disappointing that only the driver’s side gets lumbar support.  

The rear row enjoys well-padded seats and amenities, like retractable sunblinds, reading lights, two USB-C ports and directional air vents but it took a while for the back to cool down on hot days which my kid made known. Loudly. 

Storage consists of a large glove box and middle console (which can accommodate a small handbag), a sunglasses holder, four cupholders, four drink bottle holders and two map pockets. There is also a dedicated phone tray but a few extra cubbies up front would be welcomed.

The boot offers plenty of space with its 570-litre capacity, which is great for the class, and you can also open up storage options with the ski-port door, if need be. The powered boot release is a handy feature.

The touchscreen multimedia system looks nice but is a pain in the butt to use until you set some time aside to get to know it. It’s just not intuitive but the screen is responsive and it's a bonus that you get the built-in sat nav and Google apps. 

The new Accord gets wired and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto but it took a few beats to get the wireless CarPlay to work.

The charging options are good throughout the car with four USB-C ports, two 12-volt sockets and a wireless charging pad to choose from.

The Ioniq 6 is just under 4.9m long and the wheelbase is close to three metres, so no surprise there’s an impressive amount of space inside the car.

A flat floor enhances the roomy feel, plus controls for windows and mirrors are located in the centre console or on the dash rather than the front doors, which has allowed the armrests to be trimmed down for some extra breathing space.

As mentioned earlier, there’s no gearshift in the centre console, either. It takes the form of a rotary stalk on the right hand side of the steering column. It doesn’t take long to get used to and I found it pretty handy to use.

There are large bins in the doors with space for bottles, two cupholders in the console and a medium-sized lidded storage box (which doubles as a centre armrest) between the seats.

A lengthy tray underneath the main console keeps additional loose items under control and a generous glove box slides out from the dash rather than flipping open. So, there’s plenty of storage on offer.  

Move to the rear and it feels like you’ve teleported into the back of a stretch limo. With the driver’s seat set to my 183cm position there is huge legroom.

Hyundai says thanks to the use of high strength steel the backs of the front ‘relaxation’ seats fitted to the AWD models are appreciably thinner than normal, also increasing rear space.

Rear headroom is fine sitting in a normal, relaxed position, although sitting bolt upright my bonse grazes the headliner. 

Three abreast for adults will be okay for short runs, but not a goer for lengthy road trips. Three up to teenage kids will be fine, though.

Speaking of kids, parents will appreciate ‘Quiet Mode’ which limits audio to ‘25’ in front and mutes the rear. Perfect for uninterrupted sleep back there, or keeping the noise to a minimum for those furiously focused on their favourite game or a movie.

Backseaters are provided with bins in the doors, although the section scooped out for bottles is small, there are two cupholders in the fold-down centre armrest, netted map pockets on the front seat backs and a small slot for keys or a phone under the adjustable air vents at the rear of the front console.

Connectivity and power options run to three USB sockets in the front (one Type-A for media and charging, plus two Type-C for power only), a 12-volt socket under the front console, and two Type-C ports in the back. That’s plenty. 

Boot space is 410 litres (VDA), and the rear backrest split-folds 60/40 to liberate more room. Worth noting there are no tie-down anchors in the boot, but there is an underfloor storage compartment, plus a 45L ‘frunk’ under the bonnet of the RWD and a 14.5L storage space in the front of AWD models.

The boot lid is powered but there’s no spare, just a mobility kit. Grrrr!

If you want to hook up the tinny or camper trailer, towing capacity is 1500kg for a braked trailer and 750kg unbraked.

A bi-directional ‘Integrated Charging Control Unit’ (ICCU) allows for ‘Vehicle to Load’ (V2L) functionality on the inside and the outside of the car. There’s a house power-style three-pin outlet at the base of the rear seats or a simple adapter plugs into the charging outlet. Super-handy for camping, picnics, you name it.

Hyundai is offering the Ioniq 6 in three grades, the RWD Dynamiq at $74,000, before on-road costs, then the AWD Techniq at $83,500 and top-spec Epiq at $88,000.

At those prices you’re going to want a substantial list of included features, and aside from the performance and safety tech we’ll get to shortly, the standard equipment list is long.

The entry-grade Dynamiq features remote start, capacitive touch front door handles, dual-zone climate control, twin 12.3-inch screens covering multimedia and instrumentation, sat nav, a head-up display, Bose eight-speaker audio (with digital radio), Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, leather-appointed seats, leather-appointed steering wheel, alloy pedal covers, 10-way power-adjustable and heated front seats, LED headlights and tail-lights, auto rain-sensing wipers, a power (hands-free) boot lid and 18-inch alloy wheels.

Hyundai’s Bluelink connected car services are on board as is over-the-air software update capability. 

The Techniq adds a glass sunroof, 20-inch alloys shod with Pirelli P Zero rubber, ventilated front ‘relaxation’ seats, a heated steering wheel and heated rear seats.

Then the Epiq tips in digital side mirrors, a battery conditioning system, and high-efficiency (heat pump) heating.

Tesla’s three-grade Model 3 line-up is similar with a RWD entry model. It’s well specified and roughly $10K cheaper, but can’t match the Dynamiq’s driving range. The two more premium Model 3 variants are AWD and close on price to their Ioniq 6 equivalents.

Like the Ioniq 5 this car will be sold via a ‘direct to consumer’ online model, with dealer “delivery partners” charged with getting it into peoples’ hands.

Our test vehicle has an electric continuously variable transmission and features a new self-charging hybrid powertrain that couples two electric motors with a 2.0L, four-cylinder petrol engine that combine to produce 135kW of power and 335Nm of torque.

Only being available in one powertrain may limit its audience but the combo delivers decent performance for a sedan of this size.

The entry-grade Ioniq 6 is the rear-wheel drive Dynamiq, featuring a 168kW/350Nm permanent magnet synchronous electric motor on the rear axle powered by a liquid cooled lithium-ion battery.

The all-wheel drive Techniq and Epiq models feature an additional permanent magnet motor at the front for a combined output of 239kW and 605Nm.

Drive is fed to the wheels via a single-speed reduction gear auto transmission on the rear or both axles.

The new hybrid powertrain means lower outputs and the official combined fuel cycle figure is just 4.3L/100km! Which is only beaten by the Toyota Camry's 4.0L/100km.

The on-test figure pops out at 5.1L/100km after doing a some urban stuff but mostly open-road driving. Which is where hybrids tend to be the least efficient, so the fuel usage is excellent.

Based on the official combined (urban/extra-urban) fuel cycle and 48L fuel tank, you should see a theoretical driving range of up to 1116km, which is a little less than the Toyota Camry but still an amazing range for a family car.

That range figure drops to around 940km using our real-world average consumption number.

All versions of the Ioniq 6 carry the same 77.4kWh lithium-ion Polymer battery and the car’s 800V architecture allows it to use 350kW DC fast charging for a 10-80 per cent fill in 18 min.

The number of genuinely fast chargers available is increasing rapidly and that fill time is impressive.

Drop to 400V (50kW charging) and that time increases to 73 min, while 7.0kW AC charging from 10 to 100 per cent will take close to 12 hours.

The ports behind the not-fuel flap are a Type 2 for AC and CCS Combo2 for higher powered DC charging.

And if all else fails, you’re also equipped with a portable charger/cable so you can access house power for a full charge in, wait for it… 34 hours 20 min.

Quoted WLTP range for the RWD Dynamiq is 614km, that number dropping to 519km for the more powerful, dual-motor Techniq and Epiq models.

The WLTP combined cycle energy consumption figure for the Dynamiq is 14.3kWh/100km, with the Techniq and Epiq models at 16.9kWh/100km.

A ‘Disconnector Actuator System’ (DAS) on the front axle of the AWD grades is able to automatically engage and disengage drive to the front wheels as required, to reduce mechanical drag, lower energy consumption and increase driving range.

On test, in the Dynamiq, over a mix of suburban, b-road and freeway running we saw an average of 16.1kWh/100km which is a pretty good result.

Power delivery for the new Accord is pretty punchy and, in most scenarios it’s responsiveness is great. But occasionally, when you’re getting up to speed, there can be a small lag before things kick in.

The Accord handles like a dream and feels firmly planted on the road in corners. Even in high winds, the car feels stable and sure of itself. Delightful.

The cabin is quiet and engine noise is at a minimum most of the time. Around town, the Accord sounds and behaves like an EV. Only once you hit the open road do you get some road noise but it never intrudes on chatting.

It might also be one of the easiest sedans to park and it's got a lot to do with the top-notch 360-degree view camera system and direct steering.

Hyundai claims the RWD Ioniq 6 Dynamiq will accelerate from 0-100km/h in 7.4 seconds, which is not hanging around, and it feels every bit that quick. 

In fact, it has more than enough performance for sharp response in the city and easy cruising on the highway.

Step up to the AWD Techniq or Epiq and you’re hitting 100km/h in just 5.1 seconds, which is properly rapid. 

A single-speed ‘shift-by-wire’ reduction gear auto transmission sits on the rear or both axles and you have the choice of ‘Normal’, ‘Eco’, ‘Sport’ and ‘Custom’ drive modes, which fine-tune power output, accelerator response, steering weight as well as power distribution between the axles on AWD models.

Hyundai’s ‘E-Active Sound Design’ (e-ASD) changes the ‘sound texture’ as you drive with a noise roughly approximating Luke Skywalker’s Landspeeder coming through the speakers.

It’s fun for a while, but I found myself turning it down, then off, for the majority of the launch drive. And in that silent mode you can feel and hear (or not?) the impact of the car’s super-slippery shape. No wind noise and only modest tyre rumble at 110km/h on the freeway. 

The Ioniq 6 sits on Hyundai’s ‘Electric Global Modular Platform’ (E-GMP) which features the flat battery pack mounted low down, skateboard-style, between the axles. 

Suspension is strut front, five-link rear, and although the set-up hasn’t been tuned locally, Hyundai Australia says it’s been involved in the development. 

The front seat remained comfy after hours behind the wheel, but it must be said bumps and thumps from typical highway surfaces made their presence felt on a regular basis.

That’s not unusual for a full electric vehicle, but with the RWD Dynamiq riding on relatively cushy Hankook 225/55 ventus S1 evo3 rubber, it’s surprising.  

In corners you can feel the effect of the car’s low centre of gravity with the battery and motor(s) mounted low in the chassis. It hunkers down and remains beautifully balanced and secure through sweeping bends.

But even though the car points nicely, a meaningful connection between the front tyres and your hands on the steering wheel is MIA. 

The physical brakes are vented discs at the front and solid rotors at the rear, adjustable through ‘Normal’ and ‘Sport’ settings, and they’re nice and progressive.

However, there’s more fun to be had with the regenerative braking, adjustable through three levels (‘Strong’, ‘Medium’, ‘Soft’) via steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters.

Move to the highest setting and you’re in ‘i-Pedal’ mode which means for the majority of the time easing off the accelerator is all that’s required to wash off speed before coming to a reasonably prompt halt.

In terms of ergonomics, the simple dash layout works well thanks to a sensible mix of digital and physical controls, the head-up display is crystal clear, and the big screens for media and instrumentation are hard to fault.

A word of warning, though. An over-speed chime fires four times when you even marginally exceed the detected limit. It quickly becomes intensely annoying, the saviour being an off button in the vehicle settings menu. Downside is it defaults to ‘on’ every time you stop and re-start the car. Ugh!

The Ioniq 6 showcases the latest version of Hyundai’s ‘SmartSense’ active safety suite - Everything from front and rear auto emergency braking (AEB) to a bunch of assists, including lane change, blind spot, rear cross-traffic, and heaps more. No surprise it’s scored a maximum five-star ANCAP rating.

The airbag count runs to seven - dual front for the driver & passenger), front side (covering the thorax and pelvis), full-length side curtains and a front centre/side bag to minimise head clash injuries in a side impact.

There are three top-tether points and two ISOFIX anchors for baby capsules and child seats across the rear row.

The Accord comes with a five-year/unlimited km warranty, and an eight-year battery warranty, which are now normal terms for the class.

You get a five-year capped priced servicing program and it costs just $199 per service, which is very competitive.

Servicing intervals could get annoying if you put a lot of kays on your car as they're set at every 12-months or 10,000km, whichever occurs first.

Hyundai covers the Ioniq with a five-year, unlimited km warranty, with eight-year, 160,000km protection for the high-voltage battery. Both are industry standard these days.

There’s a lifetime servicing plan with maintenance intervals set at an impressive two years/30,000km. 

At this stage cost is $560 a throw, which is pretty handy when you consider the lengthy service intervals. 

A ‘Premium Roadside Support Plan’ is complimentary for the first 12 months and renewed annually while the vehicle is serviced by Hyundai.

Also complimentary is a ‘Sat Nav Update Plan’ which includes nine updates to be used within 10 years.