Comment by pjc50
1 month ago
The Ioniq 5N is extremely funny on paper. It's not wildly expensive, nor is it greatly modified from stock, but the engineers decided to just completely overspec the torque on what is otherwise an ordinary family car. So you get a 0-60 time of about three seconds.
I'm slightly surprised there aren't more cheap electric "hot hatches", but I think that market is dead even in ICE cars - young people don't have much free cash, aren't interested, and the insurers won't let them either.
The Volvo EX30 / MG4 XPower would fit in the hot hatch / sub-compact crossover crossover. Both cars are the size of a raised VW Polo at 4.2m length while having over 400hp and around 3.5 secs to 60.
While not exactly cheap, you can get the MG for under 30k eur if you shop around for some discounts and the volvo at around 35-40k. considering a 300hp golf R is over 50k eur they're pretty great options for some cheap fun. Cheap as in total cost of ownership, not just purchase price.
Also, the SC01 people just announced that they plan to bring it to Europe [1] so that's gonna be a great option.
[1] https://insideevs.com/news/784884/sc01-electric-coupe-roadst...
Yeah, it does look like the Hot Hatch category is returning to Europe with strong EV options. (Nature is healing?)
At the moment US automakers are stuck in a "cross-over is the new hatchback" position because Americans got into a tragedy of the commons that has trended towards larger vehicles at the expense of everyone's safety (and energy efficiency and weight to passenger efficiency and general vehicle coolness).