Hyundai has certainly come a long way in the past few decades, if even mighty Porsche speaks highly of the Seoul-based automaker. From an enthusiast’s perspective, the Ioniq 5 N is arguably the most interesting electric car to come out of South Korea. Zuffenhausen has taken notice of the high-performance EV by benchmarking the first N model without a combustion engine.

 

In a candid interview with Australian magazine Drive, a higher-up at Porsche praised the Ioniq 5 N. Frank Moser, vice president of the 718 and 911 model lines, admitted that driving the spicy Hyundai EV was an “eye-opening” experience, adding that the engineers “made it really, really good.” He also particularly enjoyed the artificial engine sounds and simulated gear changes, known in Hyundai marketing jargon as N Active Sound+ and N e-shift.