Hyundai Ioniq 5 vs Rivian R1T

What's the difference?

What is it about single letters and performance cars? 

BMW has M, Volkswagen has R, Lexus has F, and with only 23 choices left Hyundai opted for N - which stands for Namyang, site of the brand’s sprawling proving ground and development centre in South Korea, and Nurburgring, the famous German racing circuit where its performance cars are fine-tuned.

And like BMW M Sport, VW R-Line and Lexus F Sport, the Korean giant has N Line as a ‘lite’ option. Sporty models that add a little more punch and visual flair without crossing the line into hardcore hot-rod territory. 

And this is one its latest examples, the pure-electric Ioniq 5 SUV in top-spec Epiq AWD trim and equipped with the N Line Option Pack as well as the tricky Digital Mirror Pack.

In this configuration it slots into the $90K price band, which means it has a lot to live up to in terms of performance, safety, driving dynamics, value and more. 

So, stay with us to see if this premium five-seater is the kind of sporty EV SUV that gets your heart racing.

Tesla started from nothing to become one of the most recognisable brands across the automotive industry in less than two decades. Rivian is hoping to do the same.

If you haven't heard of Rivian that's okay, it's currently only available in the US market. It shares a lot in common with Tesla, though - a charismatic founder and CEO, a focus on electric vehicles and plenty of hype around the brand.

To find out if the hype is justified, CarsGuide.com.au was able to organise an exclusive preview drive of the brand's R1T electric pick-up in Los Angeles recently. The R1T is one of two models Rivian has entered the market with, the other is the R1S large SUV.

This is a far cry from company founder RJ Scaringe's original vision, the R1 - a mid-engined hybrid coupe sports car. Instead, Scaringe switched focus to the pick-up and SUV markets, which provided a much larger audience and helped attract investment from the Ford Motor Company and Amazon to get the company up and running on an industrial scale.

Rivian is still a few years from making it to Australia, but make no mistake, the company has been committed to global expansion for years. As far back as April 2019 a company representative told CarsGuide it believes there's a good opportunity for the R1T and R1S to find an audience in Australia.

So, with that in mind, we drove the R1T to find out if it has what it takes to make its mark with Australian ute buyers.