LDV Edeliver 7 vs Hyundai Ioniq 6

What's the difference?

There’s room for improvement, but that room is getting smaller. For urban daily fleet or solo operation, using the convenience of back-to-base overnight charging, it offers a compelling alternative to diesel in terms of real-world driving range, performance, payload, warranty/servicing costs... and zero tailpipe emissions.

In the Ioniq 6 N Hyundai has built an incredibly quick and high-capable performance car. But that doesn’t mean it’s flawless and an obvious recommendation over its rivals.

Its looks remain divisive, and while obviously each individual will need to judge the design of the Ioniq 6 N themselves, objectively speaking there is a lot to like about this latest addition to Hyundai’s N stable. 

Yes, it’s very fast, but with all the N modes switched off it’s also a very quiet and relaxed sedan with a premium look and feel. So it will play the dual role of track terror and everyday family transport well. 

But it needs to be for the price, which is really testing the limits of Hyundai’s brand appeal. It obviously won’t be a best seller, but with the less-polarising Ioniq 5 N only selling approximately 300 cars since its launch, this could be a very niche proposition, reserved only for those who crave its special kind of electric performance.

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

The SWB Low Roof rides on a 3000mm wheelbase, which is 366mm shorter than the LWB models. As a result, its compact 4998mm overall length makes it well suited to work duties that require quick steering response and easy manoeuvrability in tight spaces. Plus its 1990mm height allows easy multi-storey car park access.

The front wheel-drive chassis has MacPherson strut front suspension, a leaf-spring solid-beam rear axle and four-wheel disc brakes, with the 77kWh lithium-ion battery mounted beneath the floor to optimise cargo bay volume.

It has a clean and streamlined appearance, with a functional grille that is “required to cool any later ICE (internal combustion engine) variants” according to LDV. So, in this application, it serves no purpose other than a styling feature.

Dark grey composite mouldings are used on the lower body sections to absorb the unsightly bumps and scrapes often inflected on these areas in hard-working vans.

The cabin’s interior has an upmarket look that creates a nice working environment, with a harmonious mix of colours, seat fabrics and soft-touch materials that display good fit and finish.

However, there’s no bulkhead to separate the cabin from the cargo bay, resulting in not only higher noise levels but also no protection for occupants from shifting cargo.

The cabin floor is covered in non-slip rubber finished in a smart ‘checker-plate’ pattern that's easy to wipe clean. The dash layout is uncluttered and the controls are easy to reach and intuitive to use. The transmission shifter is a stalk on the steering column.

Although the passenger bench seat has no adjustments, the centre position is surprisingly spacious, even for people my height (186cm) as it provides about 60mm of knee clearance from the dash. However, the centre passenger must also sit with their feet in a split-level position, due to a higher centre-floor section.

The original Prophecy concept, which previewed the Ioniq 6, was a thing of beauty, a case study in elegance and simplicity. The final production version of the Ioniq 6 is a case study in awkwardness, with a design that polarised opinions.

For the Ioniq 6 N Hyundai has been given a second chance to try and make it look more appealing and less divisive. To that end they’ve added this gloss black bumper with an integrated splitter, highlighted by the N-specific fluro orange strip, as well as unique fenders and 20-inch forged alloy wheels.

The facelift also introduces much more appealing slimline headlights that help reduce the awkwardness.

At the rear, there’s a new rear bumper design, with more black to try and hide some of its most awkward lines, plus an unmissable rear wing to further attract your attention. And while it undoubtedly provides a sportier, more dynamic look, it actually provides up to 100kg of downforce.

Inside, Hyundai has made a number of key enhancements to ensure the Ioniq 6 N looks suitably sporty. There’s a sports steering wheel, complete with a pair of N buttons to immediately activate the more dynamic driving modes, plus sports seats and even a soft knee pad built into the side of the centre console, so you can brace yourself when you're lapping the track at speed.

There’s a 12.3-inch multimedia touchscreen in the centre, which houses all of the various car settings, including the very detailed N performance driving modes. This is where you can either program the N buttons or dial up the individual settings.

There’s also track-themed graphics that appear on the head-up display, if you really want to do your best Oscar Piastri impression.

With a typically hefty 2300kg EV kerb weight, its 3650kg GVM allows for a sizeable 1350kg payload rating which is more than competitive with ICE rivals.

It’s also rated to tow up to 1500kg of braked trailer but with its 4250kg GCM (or how much it can legally carry and tow at the same time), that would require a substantial 900kg reduction in vehicle payload to 450kg to avoid exceeding the GCM. So, keep these numbers in mind if you plan to tow heavy.

The cargo bay is lined to mid-height and accessed through a kerbside sliding door with 990mm opening width, or through symmetrical rear barn-doors with 180-degree opening that’s handy for forklifts or when accessing loading docks.

The load floor, with its non-slip rubber surface, is 2547mm long and 1800mm wide with 1390mm between the rear wheel-housings.

That means it can carry up to two standard 1165mm-square Aussie pallets, two 1000mm x 1200mm Euro pallets or up to three 800mm x 1200mm Euro pallets.

And with its 1328mm internal height, it offers a competitive 5.9 cubic metres of load volume.

It’s also equipped with six load anchorage points plus bright LED lighting and a large handle at the front of the side-door opening to assist access.

Cabin storage includes a bottle-holder and bin in each front door, plus smaller bins above and below. There are also bottle/cupholders on each side of the dash and the driver has small bins on each side of the steering column.

There’s also a single glove box and a slender storage shelf above it for small items. And the centre seat’s backrest folds forward and flat to reveal a small work desk, with two more cupholders and an elastic strap to hold documents or laptops in place.

The cabin is very practical too, despite its sportiness. There’s good storage spaces, including a pair of cupholders and a tray built into the centre console.

There’s also USB-C charging ports in the front and back of the cabin to keep small electric devices charged, as well as a smartphone wireless charging pad.

By relocating the controls usually found on the door (windows, mirrors, unlock/lock buttons), the door pockets have been sculpted out to create more width and space for the front seat occupants.

It’s comfortable and roomy too, especially in the back, where Hyundai has taken advantage of the Ioniq 6’s bespoke electric underpinnings to have a flat floor with good knee and legroom.

The boot measures 371 litres, which is on the smaller size for a mid-size sedan, and well short of the class leaders, like the 524L Toyota Camry.

While it pushes the boundaries in terms of performance, it also stretches the appeal of Hyundai as a brand. Priced from $115,000 plus on-road costs,  it’s the same price as the Ioniq 5 N but that still makes it one of the most expensive Hyundai’s ever sold. Only the $119,750 Ioniq 9 is pricier.

For the asking price, beyond the performance elements, standard equipment includes LED headlights and tail-lights, 20-inch alloy wheels, dual-zone climate control, an eight-speaker Bose premium sound system, a 12.3-inch multimedia touchscreen, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and Hyundai’s Digital Key2.

There is only a single specification and the only option is the choice to delete the sunroof, free-of-charge (although, given carmakers typically charge extra for a sunroof, it seems a little sneaky to not get any discount for removing it).

However, if you want to make your Ioniq 6 N more special, there is also a carbon package available through the accessories department. It adds an even larger rear wing and unique front splitter and side sills (all in carbon fibre, of course) for an additional $27,000, pushing the price past $142,000 before on-road costs.

While it may be expensive for a Hyundai, in terms of how many dollars for how much performance, it’s arguably one of the better value performance cars on the market. Would be rivals include the $187,900 Mercedes-AMG C63, $156,990 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio and $169,100 BMW M3, although the latter will get a full electric vwersion in its next generation.

Our test vehicle has a permanent magnet synchronous electric motor which produces up to 150kW of power and 330Nm of instant torque, delivering drive to the front wheels via a single-speed transmission.

The driver can select three levels of regenerative braking intensity. We used the strongest setting to ensure optimum battery top-ups when driving. This setting also requires minimal use of the brake pedal, due to powerful retardation each time the accelerator is released.

There’s also a choice of three drive modes. ‘Eco’ ensures minimal battery drain but performance is restrained and speed is capped at 90km/h. ‘Normal’ offers a good compromise in engine response and energy use, with speed increased to 120km/h. ‘Power’ is also capped at 120km/h but offers the most energetic performance and consumes the most energy.

As mentioned earlier, while it may be expensive for a Hyundai, if you want a car capable of making 478kW and 770Nm you’ll typically need to spend a lot more than $115,000. This makes the dual-motor electric powertrain the star of the show in many respects.

Those figures are the maximum performance available when you use 'N Grin Boost', a 10-second burst of ultimate power. The ‘normal’ performance is a still an incredibly impressive 448kW and 740Nm.

These come from a 166kW front motor and 282kW rear motor, to give you all-wheel-drive capabilities.

That’s enough for the Ioniq 6 N to do the 0-100km/h sprint in just 3.2 seconds with N Grin Boost activated (0.2 seconds faster than the Ioniq 5 N). Top speed is limited to 257km/h, which is obviously too much for the road, but Hyundai is pitching this as a track car and in that sense it will struggle to keep up with some supercars at the end of long straights, but that’s probably a minor quibble in the grand scheme of things.

Like most electric cars, the Ioniq 6 N has a single-speed transmission. But like the Ioniq 5 N, Hyundai has developed an artificial ‘manual’ gearbox, which it calls N e-shift. By torque limiting the engine to create a false ‘rev limit’ there are eight virtual gears for you to use via the paddles on the steering wheel.

But this is only part of the story, Hyundai has included a number of N-specific driving settings for the powertrain beyond N Grin Boost and N e-shift. N Torque Distribution has 11 different settings that allows you to adjust the torque split between the front and rear axles up to 95 per cent in one way or the other.

Then there’s N Drift Optimiser, which helps you do big skids, on the safety of a track, of course. Plus N Launch Control to shock your mates with V8s at the drag strip and N Track Manager to keep track of your lap times.

It all sounds very complicated but Hyundai has done a nice job of integrating the systems into the car and making the menu easy to navigate. And because these systems are largely digital, rather than mechanical, it actually helps make the car easier to drive in some regards.

LDV claims our test vehicle’s 77kWh battery can deliver a (WLTP) driving range of up to 318km. The battery was fully charged when we collected the vehicle and we drove 211km. This comprised mostly city and suburban driving, about 50km of which was hauling a one-tonne-plus payload.

At the completion of our test, the dash display was claiming average energy consumption of 26kWh/100km. So, based on that figure, LDV’s claimed range of more than 300km from a single charge (unladen) is credible.

The 77kWh battery takes about eight hours to charge from five to 100 per cent using an 11kW AC home charger, or around 43 minutes for 20-80 per cent using a 78kW DC charger.

To power this track-focused EV, Hyundai has had to upgrade the 84kWh battery with specialised heating and cooling systems.

Range is rated to 487km, which is good without being great. And, unsurprisingly, if you access all the power available you will end up using the battery quicker, much like you’ll use more fuel if you drive an internal combustion engine hard.

For track use, Hyundai suggests a ‘20-20-20’ cycle of 20 minutes of track driving, 20 minutes of cooling and then 20 minutes of charging to ensure you get maximum out of a track day. Although we were able to do closer to 30 minutes of track driving from a single charge.

To make this possible, there is a special N Battery mode, which is able to maximise track usage by managing the cooling and output depending on the scenario. There are Drag, Sprint and Endurance settings, with Drag making the battery warmer for sudden acceleration, Endurance trying to keep it cooler to extend on-track range and Sprint automatically applying N Grin Shift when needed.

It’s an incredibly complex system but it speaks to the challenges of making an EV capable of the rigours of high-speed driving consistently.

In terms of charging, the key detail to know is, with the maximum charger, you can go from 10 to 80 per cent charge in as little as 18 minutes, according to Hyundai’s claim, and is compatible with either 400V or 800V charging infrastructure.

There’s no handle on the driver’s windscreen pillar to assist climbing aboard, or a driver’s left footrest, both of which would be welcome additions. The driver’s seat is comfortable and the flat-bottom steering wheel with height adjustment provides ample space.

It has clear eyelines to the large door mirrors but vision through the central rear view mirror is obscured by the thick central join of the symmetrical rear barn-doors, which is wide enough to block vision of a vehicle travelling behind. Asymmetric doors would alleviate this.

Being a solid-walled van, there’s a huge blind-spot over the driver’s left shoulder, but fortunately the left door-mirror is assisted by blind-spot monitoring. And there’s rear cross-traffic alert when reversing out of driveways or loading docks. These active aids should be mandatory on all solid-walled vans.

We’re often critical of steering and ride quality in Chinese LCVs but the eDeliver7 has refreshing chassis refinement, from its responsive and nicely-weighted steering to its relatively supple unladen ride quality.

The single 150kW/330Nm electric motor provides an effortless surge of acceleration in all drive modes, with the Power setting producing enough instant torque to make the front tyres chirp on occasions.

Its near-silent operation also ensures deceptive acceleration, which is why the absence of a digital speedo is a glaring omission and needs to be included.

The EV silence, though, is largely negated at speeds above 80km/h due to tyre roar emanating from the rear wheel-housings, which can be intrusive enough to require raised voices. Noise-absorbing materials in the cargo bay (like the HiAce’s full-length roof-liner) would be useful.

To test its load-hauling ability, we forklifted 975kg into the cargo bay. Combined with our two-man crew, this 1155kg payload was less than 200kg shy of the van’s 1350kg limit.

The rear leaf-springs barely flinched under this loading as they compressed only 25mm, which engaged large cone-shaped jounce rubbers above the springs that provide a smooth-riding second stage of support.

Impressively, changes in ride quality and acceleration were minimal, as it proved more than competent in hauling this big payload on a congested city and suburban test route which typified the urban environments these vehicles are designed for.

To put it bluntly, the Ioniq 6 N is sickeningly fast. Literally, it can make you feel car sick from the passenger seat if the driver unleashes the power a little too frequently, which isn’t hard because the Ioniq 6 N offers near-instant torque.

The dual motors mean this swooping sedan launches out of corners with a ferocity usually reserved for supercars - it is that quick under hard acceleration. But pure acceleration is only part of the story when it comes to a proper performance car.

As impressive as the Ioniq 5 N is, it was always going to be handicapped by its taller SUV body, meaning the handling was somewhat dulled by its size and shape. The lower, more aerodynamic Ioniq 6 N is therefore noticeably more dynamic and responsive to drive.

The suspension and steering tune isn’t specifically tuned for Australian conditions, instead it’s based on the globally developed setup designed for the Ioniq 5 N, which Hyundai Australia did have input into.

Despite not being tuned specifically for Australia it still rides with impressive compliance for such a performance-orientated electric car. Even on the choppier back roads we tested it on, it feels controlled and compliant while still being responsive, without feeling uncompromising or uncomfortable.

But to really experience the true performance potential of the Ioniq 6 N, you need to hit the racetrack. Thankfully, Hyundai Australia allowed us to test it to its limits at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Free from speed limits the immense power can be unleashed and to make the experience even better you can use the N e-shift and the N Active Sound+ - three separate artificial soundtracks that are designed to mimic engine noise.

There is one that can broadly be described as ‘futuristic’ and another that is meant to sound ‘electric’ but neither are good enough to bother with. Instead, if you stick to the one that sounds like Hyundai’s petrol engine you’ll enjoy it.

While it is clearly an artificial sound, and there will be haters who just don’t like it (and they can leave it switched off), Hyundai has done a brilliant job mimicking the sounds of a proper petrol performance car. So much so that when you lift off the accelerator, you actually hear a ‘snap, crackle, pop’ from the rear of the car, as if there is an actual exhaust making the sound.

What the noise does do is really help you with a sense of speed, as does the N e-shift, not only helping you drive faster but also just making the experience more fun.

For the serious track-day drivers the amount of adjustability in the Ioniq 6 N is brilliant. In particular the N Torque Distribution system, which allows you to shift the drive split front-to-rear on the move. Experimenting with this system, there is a clear difference between the handling not only as you switch between modes, but if you’re really, really serious, you can even adjust it during your on-track run. As the tyres get hotter, shifting more drive rearwards helps the car rotate better and punch out of the corners easier.

However, while Hyundai may have designed it as a track-capable, ‘Corner Rascal’, as they like to say, the reality is, most of the time you’ll be driving, you won’t be on a racetrack.

Even so, N Road Sense is a special setting that is able to recognise a double curve road sign and urges the driver to activate N mode and have more fun, so it’s always looking to encourage you to have a good time.

But what about when you’re not driving fast? How does the Ioniq 6 N stack up as a daily drive? Well, one of the elements of  performance EVs that I personally appreciate, is how quiet and relaxed they are when you don’t need to go fast. Unlike an internal combustion performance engine, which can feel like a caged animal at suburban speeds, an EV with 448kW is as smooth and quiet as an EV with 148kW.

It means it plays both its roles - weekday commuter transport and weekend fun machine - with equal ability.

The Ioniq 6 N gets a comprehensive list of driver assistance systems, under the umbrella of Hyundai SmartSense.

Among the safety gear included is forward collision assistance, blind spot collision avoidance and the brand’s mild-autonomous functionality, 'Highway Drive Assist 2', which can both maintain speed and lane centring under certain conditions.

The car is also equipped with Hyundai Bluelink, the brand’s connected car service, which includes an ‘SOS’ function that can call the emergency services if you’re in an accident where the airbags deploy.

While there is no questioning the amount of technology Hyundai has put in the car, like so many other models in the range, the systems need more fine tuning to make them class-leading. There are still too many ‘beeps and bongs’ from the Ioniq 6 N, to the point of becoming distracting. While the lane keeping assist can be too uneven at times, needing more work to get it better calibrated for smoother driving.

The entire Ioniq 6 range has a five-star ANCAP safety rating, based on a 2023 test, and given there are no major structural changes (beyond some body stiffening), there is no reason to think the N model would be any worse.

LDV's warranty for the eDeliver 7 is five years/160,000km whichever occurs first, plus five years/unlimited km roadside assist.

The lithium-ion battery has a separate eight year/250,000km warranty.

Scheduled servicing is every two years/30,000km, with a capped-price of $1393 applying to the first three services up to six years/90,000km. That’s an average cost of only $464 every two years.

Hyundai covers the Ioniq 6 N with its usual seven year/unlimited kilometre warranty, with any non-competitive racetrack usage also covered. So you can do a track day, including the official N Australia organised ones, with peace of mind.

This applies even if you upgrade your tyres and brake pads in search of faster lap times, as long as you don’t enter into a competition, Hyundai will look after most mechanical on-track problems.

Service intervals are every two years or 30,000km, whichever comes first. Hyundai offers a ‘lifetime’ servicing plan that covers the first four years, but with only two services required - one for $645 and the second for $667.

As one of the best-selling brands in the country, Hyundai has an expansive nationwide dealership network, including extensive rural coverage and service centres trained to deal with EVs.