Ioniq 5 N - Hacking the impossible? Hot hatch alternatives?

Ask the Hackrs
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Hi Everybody. Happy Sunday and eve of the last day of the month until new months’ lease terms and tarrifs and who knows what else. :slight_smile:

I’ve been trying to replace the Blazer EV. I’ve found the Blazer EV to be a quirky but functional appliance to get your from place A to B. I’d like to have more.

So with the critera of:

  • AWD
  • Electric
  • Fits five for an hour or two roadtrip
  • CarPlay (I thought I could live without it but it really is that nice to have)
  • Quiet cabin - one where you can’t hear the pedestrian warning noise (I don’t listen to music and my commute often includes bumper to bumper-to-bumper super slow traffic where the pedestrian noise applies)
  • Some sense of occasion when the mood hits
  • Ideally in the $700 monthly price range

I’ve always tried to find a one car solution, but its often evolved to sports car paired with a family car. Sports cars don’t fit the family when say the 5 of us want to go to dinner – and the hot hatch has always intriquged me, but they never seem to have much power. Station wagons are interesting too but not my cup of tea. Ultimately SUVs with couch like drivers seats are nice.

So in my quest to replace the Blazer EV, here is what I’ve come up with:

  1. Ioniq 5 N (put a smile on my face and the family fits … boy the lease rates are spectacularly bad)
  2. BMW iX 2026 with M Sport (not yet out)
  3. Q8 e-tron (no one pedal, a little slow, and fees a bit outdated)

Interesting
4. Polestar 3 (a little weird all around)
6. Lexux LZ - seemed nice, but limited avail so haven’t been able to test drive
7. i4 (too small) … i5 and i7 I haven’t test driven but the bigger they get the less sporty they tend to be
8. Macan EV (too expensive and too small)
9. R1S (impressive but too big)
10. VW Bus (hard to get in and out of)
11. eX90 (what the wife has - and its great but not 2)
12. Q4, Q6 (too small … and the pedestrian noise on the Q6 is quite loud … if it weren’t for the pedestrian noise on the Q6 … I’d be more interested in it … yes its small but workable and has one pedal … I suppose like the Blazer EV maybe it can be disconnected? Can’t change the size, and its exterior design isn’t my favorite

Not interesting
14. Genesis GV60 (not a fan of the looks)
15. EQS - not a fan of the looks
16. ID.4 - didn’t have one when I went, and presumably too small

Haven’t checked out Acura or Honda in large part because they are the Blazer EV underneath.

The Cayenne EV will likely be awesome - but also terribly expensive. And in my experiance, Porsche’s tend to lease poorly, except the occasional low-demand loaners or short lease returns, which would put that 2-3 years further into the future. And who knows about the cabin noise level.

Ok - this has gotten long … anyone else found a good balance of a one-car solution?

And to ‘hack’ the Ioniq 5 N - since the lase rates are spectacularly bad - the suggestion floated out there is to lease and then plan to purchase after you;ve benefited from the $7,500 incentive. But aren’t you beholden to Hyundai Financial to give you any sort of favorable lease buyout? Have people actually succeeded in getting out of the bad lease by getting a favorable lease buyout that removes the markup?

Additionally, is it remotely possible to turn in a Blazer EV to Chevy and get any money back? In a few rare cases I’ve been able to initiate a new lease from a dealer network that also has a dealership for the car I’m trying to offload and had postive lease equity so it worked —especially important these days now that CarMax isn’t able to 3rd party lease buyout as much. But that’s a tough scenario to find a dealer that has both. Has anyone navigated this successfully or have any easier options than marketplace lease offloads?

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Why does it have to be a 2026?

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I don;t think there is anything such as a favorable lease buyout unless the manufacturer offers some type of lease pull-ahead program. Otherwise the buyout cost is set at the start of the lease. There is no way a Blazer EV lease with the inflated residual is going give you equity. Might be better off trying to transfer it if the payment is low enough.

It is going to be interesting to see what happens to used car prices once tariffs hit. Leases that are usually underwater throughout the lease may suddenly have some equity if used car prices spike like they did during COVID.

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The 2025 iX does not have the M Sport seats.

My BMW iX notes after an extended test drive:

Highs: Carplay, drives well, amazing acceleration (in the 50, how will the 45 compare?), the HUD is useful and not intrusive, HVAC, no pedestrian noise when under 15 mph as far as I can tell.

Lows: Looks (black hides much of that), seats, brakes are not great, suspension (w/ air) dives, cup holder is in a weird spot

Overall: At the right price it’s a fantastic vehicle but my complaints are largely what is being reported that the 2026 edition fixes … the question is are the M Sport seats the way to go. That answer seems to be yes.

thus 2026

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None of the cars you listed are hot hatches unless I’m missing something. Polestar 3 is a hatchback and that’s about it.

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Agreed—same take here. In my case, the buyout quote from A Car (which AFAIK is the same as GM Financial) for the Blazer EV is $41,883.72, while the purchase option listed on the lease agreement is $39,805.15 with 18 months to go. One dealer mentioned that put me somewhere between $6K and $9K in negative equity, though I can’t recall the exact figure. It’s a one-pay lease, which may also be skewing things a bit.

In nearly all of the leases I’ve done over the years, assuming the lease terms are decent, by around month 24 the equity position usually levels out or even goes positive. It helps that I put very few miles on them I suspect. My all-time favorite? A Toyota Sienna lease where CarMax gave $12K over the buyout.

Unfortunately, CarMax won’t take the Blazer EV, so that option’s off the table regardless

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I’m considering the Ioniq 5 N a hot hatch.

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Is there a TL;DR version? Just get a 2025 BMW iX.

The Ioniq 5 won’t lease well. What’s your budget?

EDIT:

I just saw this.

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It won’t be at that monthly expectation.

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1 - What’s a “pedestrian noise” - is that the sound they make when you run them over?

2 - Acura ZDX Type S? Even A Spec AWD is fairly fast and based on the same platform as your Blazer.

3 - MBZ AMG EQE?

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Why is Mach E missing from this list?

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Other than that I meant, since you listed Ionic 5 alternatives.

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You people are awesome! Really appreciate all the comments.

What’s a “pedestrian noise” - is that the sound they make when you run them over?
LOL—that absolutely made me burst out laughing.

I was referring to the “pedestrian warning noise” :slight_smile: the audible sound emitted under 25 for pedestrians. You’re not supposed to hear it in the cabin, but … In my experiance some vehicles are really well-isolated – or perhaps, depending on when the model was released the didn’t have that requiement. I don’t think the BMW iX makes any noise whereas the Blazer EV has the loudest and most irritating noise I’ve ever heard inside the cabin.

Acura ZDX Type S? Even A Spec AWD is fairly fast and based on the same platform as your Blazer.
I’ve been curious

“MBZ AMG EQE?”
I’m not a fan of the looks

“Mach E” → I tested the Mach-E with mag shocks about a year ago. It felt surprisingly harsh. I couldn’t understand why, and the salesperson just shrugged and said, “That’s how it is.” which made me scratch my head but another owner I mentioned it to agreed so it was enough for me to write it off.

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I had the Mach-E GT for a year. I would choose it over the Ioniq5 N (I have the regular Ioniq 5). The Mach-E was a more comfortable ride, much better seats, MUCH better handling, has a frunk, compared to I5, has a more cool factor (IMO). But the I5 would charge faster, and the UI is a bit better.

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That was my impression before I drove it too … I swear I must have test driven a defective car - or someone had jacked it to super sport+ mode … ?

It just occured to me one I am overlooking – Kia EV6 GT AWD … I wonder how much that compres to its cousin.

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That’s all preference. I drove an X1 M3.5 yesterday with the M sport seats, and earlier a 24 CPO X3M and HATED the M sport seats. It’s all preference. They didn’t bother me at the BMW PC in several different cars but these did.

I took the iX 5.0 off the list for many of the reasons you liked it. And Black does not hide its “post-Ozempic Lizzo silhouette”

I really liked the ZDX Type-S except the three-tone color scheme. I actually reached out to my (really @dukez) Tint/Wrap guy to see what it would cost to wrap enough of it to make it “good enough” for 24 months and put in that on the shelf. If that doesn’t bother you or you’d take a black one (every black car is my LAST black car, and my outgoing car is black) that hides the ugly better than the iX. Also the roof opens. Also Acrua let me test Supercruise on the test drive and I liked it, BMW wouldn’t let me test DAPP.

Good luck!

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The Dodge Daytona EV is a hatchback. It apparently has a ton of rebates and discounts, and might be supremely hackable.

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5N is almost a completely different car than an I5.

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So this evening I made my way to the dealer with an agreed 11.5% off MSRP for the 5N and a verbal of we’ll be able to give you something for an early turn on the Blazer EV through our sister dealership … and then came out with paperwork 20 mins after close for -14k equity for the trade. LOL

Guess we’ll see what tomorrow’s rates are. Fingers crossed.
:slight_smile:

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Did that 11.5% get you to a monthly number or was it still waiting on price for Blazer? I had a prelim call with a dealer on a 5N today and he quoted me 1250 a month for 36 months in LA and I just didn’t even write him back. Such a time waste.