N IS FOR NUCLEAR

If you think EVs are boring, the Hyundai loniq 5 N is the antidote

- Pablo Chaterji

There comes a time in every person's life when they're forced to re-think certain notions they hold, because evidence to the contrary is presented irrefutably; clinging on to the old thought simply becomes impossible. My most recent 'holy s**t' moment came when I pressed a large, red button marked NGB on a steering wheel the steering wheel of the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N, to be exact. I was cruising quite sedately down a motorway outside Seoul, South Korea, when I decided to give in to temptation and thumb that button; what happened next will stay with me for a long time.

I wasn't so much pushed back into my seat as punched almost through it, and my arms straightened so quickly that I feared elbow dislocation. The car seemed to move through some kind of portal one second I was here, and the next I was... there. This was because 641 bhp was instantly delivered to all four wheels for a full 10 seconds, alongside 77 kgm of torque, resulting in the kind of acceleration normally reserved for supercars with great big petrol engines. The soundtrack was also thrilling an angry wasp's nest orchestra that caused the hair on my neck's nape to stand to attention. That button did what it said on the cover NG(rin)B(oost) may be a slightly silly name, but it made me the grinniest grinner that ever grinned, I'll tell you that. The car's software made it go into a mandatory 10-second cool-off period after the initial 10 seconds of madness, and then I was able to press the button again, for a fresh burst of hilarity.