Episode 438: 2026 Hyundai Ioniq 9, 2026 Acura RDX
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Term
EV
An EV is a car that runs on electricity instead of gas. It uses batteries to move, so it doesn't need fuel like regular cars.
Term
range testing
Range testing means checking how far an electric car can go before it needs to be charged again, especially in different weather like winter.
Concept
electric vehicle
An electric vehicle is a car that runs on electricity from batteries instead of gas. It doesn't need fuel like regular cars and is better for the environment.
Car
Hyundai Ioniq
The Hyundai Ioniq 5 is a small electric car that looks modern and has lots of space inside. It’s easy to drive and doesn’t use gas. People like it because it’s new and good for the environment.
Car
Hyundai Ioniq 9
The Hyundai Ioniq 9 is a new electric car that Hyundai will release in 2026. It's a big SUV that runs on electricity instead of gas.
Term
trim
A trim is like a package for a car that decides what features it has, like fancy seats or special wheels. Different trims mean different versions of the same car.
Car
Hyundai Palisade
The Hyundai Palisade Hybrid is a big family car that uses both gas and electricity to save fuel and pollute less.
Concept
spun off
Spun off means a company makes a new company from part of itself. Hyundai made Genesis as a new company for luxury cars.
Car
Hyundai Genesis
Genesis is a fancy car brand made by Hyundai. Their cars have nice features and look modern. People talk about them because they offer good quality for the price.
Car
Kia EV9
The Kia EV9 is a big electric SUV that can fit lots of people and runs on electricity instead of gas. It's a newer car from Kia that is designed for families.
Term
handling
Handling is how well a car drives and turns, especially when you steer or go around corners.
Term
suspension
Suspension is the part of the car that helps it go smoothly over bumps and keeps the wheels on the road.
Concept
tariffs
Tariffs are extra taxes that a country puts on things coming from other countries. This can make cars from other places more expensive to buy.
Car
Volvo EX90
The Volvo EX90 is a new electric SUV that’s safe and comfortable for families. It doesn’t use gas and has lots of smart safety features. People talk about it because it’s a new kind of family car.
Term
heated seats
Heated seats are seats in a car that can get warm to keep you comfortable when it's cold outside.
Term
third row seat
Third row seats are extra seats in the back of big cars that let more people ride along.
Car
Dodge Charger
The Dodge Charger is a big car that can go really fast and has plenty of space inside. The small number mentioned is probably about a tiny storage area inside the car. People talk about it because it’s both strong and useful.
Term
stopping distance
Stopping distance is how far a car goes after you press the brake before it fully stops.
Company
Michelin
Michelin makes tires that help cars drive safely and smoothly. They are a well-known brand for good tires.
Car
BMW M5
The BMW M5 is a fancy, fast car that can carry people and stuff comfortably. The wagon version is bigger and heavier, so it’s not as quick to turn but has more room. People like it because it’s both sporty and useful.
Car
Toyota A90
The Toyota Supra is a fast, fun car that’s good at turning and driving quickly. Sometimes, it might feel tricky when starting to move around sharp corners. People like it because it’s exciting to drive.
Term
traction control
Traction control helps stop your car's wheels from slipping when the road is slippery, so you can drive more safely. It slows down the wheels if they start to spin too much.
Term
drive modes
Drive modes are different settings you can pick in a car to make it drive better in certain situations, like going faster or driving safely in snow.
Term
battery capacity (kilowatt hours)
The battery capacity tells you how much electricity the car's battery can hold, which helps it drive farther.
Term
level two charger
A level two charger is a special plug that charges electric cars faster than a normal plug you use for home appliances. It needs special wiring and is usually set up in your garage or driveway.
Car
Land Rover Range Rover
The Range Rover is a big, fancy SUV that can go off-road and is very comfortable inside. It has a special shape with a roof that slopes down at the back. People talk about it because it’s both tough and nice to ride in.
Concept
Ioniq sub brand
Ioniq is a special group of cars made by Hyundai that use electricity or a mix of gas and electricity to run, helping the environment.
Car
Acura Rdx
The Acura RDX is a smaller fancy SUV that’s fun to drive and has nice features inside. It’s a good choice if you want something comfortable and reliable. People like it because it’s easy to use and feels sporty.
Car
BMW X3
The BMW X3 is a smaller SUV that feels sporty and nice inside. It's a popular choice if you want a luxury car that can carry people and stuff.
Car
Genesis GV70
The Genesis GV70 is a fancy SUV that feels comfortable and has lots of nice features. It's made by Genesis, which is a luxury brand from Hyundai.
Car
Lexus NX
The Lexus NX is a smaller SUV that is comfortable and reliable. It is a bit smaller than the Lexus RX, which is a bigger SUV.
Car
Lexus RX
The Lexus RX is a bigger SUV than the NX. It is known for being comfortable and reliable, making it a popular choice for families.
Term
plug-in
Plug-in means the car can be charged by plugging it into a power outlet. This lets the car drive using electricity for a while before using gas.
Car
Volvo XC60
The Volvo XC60 is a small fancy SUV that’s safe and comfortable to ride in. It looks nice and has helpful features inside. People compare it to other similar cars from brands like Mercedes and Audi.
Car
Mercedes-Benz GLC
The Mercedes GLC is a small fancy SUV that’s comfortable and has lots of nice features inside. It’s smooth to drive and looks good. People talk about it because it’s a popular luxury car.
Car
Jaguar Fpace
The Jaguar F-Pace is a small fancy SUV that drives like a sporty car and looks stylish. It’s similar to other sporty SUVs like the Alfa Romeo Stelvio. People like it because it’s fun to drive and looks good.
Car
Alfa Romeo Stelvio
The Alfa Romeo Stelvio is a small fancy SUV that’s fun to drive and looks stylish. It’s like a sporty car but with more space inside. People compare it to other sporty SUVs like the Jaguar F-Pace.
Term
infotainment
Infotainment is the car's screen and system that lets you listen to music, use maps, and connect your phone.
Car
Subaru Outback
The Subaru Outback is a car that can go on rough roads and has all-wheel drive to help with grip. The new model has better features and is good for people who like adventures. It’s known for being dependable.
LIVE
Hello, and welcome to the Unnamed Automotive Podcast.
My name is Sammy Haj Asad,
and with me as always is my good friend
and fellow automotive journalist, Benjamin Hunting.
Say hi to the people, Ben.
Greetings, human listeners.
Greetings to everyone.
If this is the first time you're listening to our podcast,
thank you for listening, and thank you for your patience.
Me and Ben actually hung out last week,
and we're unable to do the podcast at the same time.
We actually just did the podcast in real life
with each other, but without any of the preamble,
without any of the recordings,
and pretty much without any of the real consumer advice
or reviews that we usually give in the show.
Sammy's describing friendship in meat space,
I guess is how you would put it.
Does that not say meat space anymore?
Is that a thing?
No, when you say meat space,
do you mean like meeting somebody or meat like flesh?
Meat like flesh, I don't think anyone has ever,
I mean, maybe there was a dot com
called meat space like 20 years ago,
but I don't think anyone has used it
in that context in a long time.
Okay.
Well, yeah.
I'm just getting like the Cronenberg long live
the new flesh type of meeting.
What does, yeah, I guess so.
Now that's the voice of Ben, Benjamin Hunting,
of all people who is my good friend
and fellow automotive journalist.
He says hi to everybody, every show,
mostly corporeal people, non-robots, non-ghosts.
That's what you're saying.
I don't want to paint ghosts with a big brush like that,
so I'm going to forget that you said that.
Do you put ghosts in robots in the same?
Here you go.
Anyways, Ben, I would love you to plug
a couple of the latest publications
that you've been writing for.
You can find my work at Motor Trend,
at Inside Hook, and at driving.ca.
And you can find my work at auto trader.ca
and driving.ca.
One more random thing,
I actually for the first time was interviewed
by NPR this week.
What does NPR stand for again?
National Public Radio.
Not something record?
What?
Not policy record?
I don't know what you're talking about.
I'm not talking, I'm just trying to come up
with three other words that start with NPR.
I'm glad you went with the funniest words
in the English language, policy and record.
Noodle, pool, removal.
You were interviewed by them.
I had written something for Motor Trend
about EV driving in the winter
and essentially range testing.
And I think one of their producers found it
and wanted to talk about the impact
of cold weather on EV.
So it was strange.
I can tell you it's strange to be the interviewee
instead of the person asking the questions.
But what was more interesting to me
was the host that I talked to,
I was speaking with them about just,
I mentioned that I was in Southern Quebec
and they were like, oh, so whereabouts?
And I'm like, you know,
I'm about five miles from the Vermont border.
And then they were like,
oh, so you were in the Eastern townships then.
And I'm like, how do you know that?
And they revealed that they were secretly from Montreal.
So that was funny.
It was very random.
They live in DC right now.
And that's, I mean, right now,
that's where they live permanently.
And they come back to visit Montreal
like one or two times a year.
So kind of the world feels very small sometimes.
What does it feel like to be on NPR,
which is a national public radio?
And they interviewed you,
obviously they interviewed you about your knowledge
and expertise on something,
but also because you were in Motor Trend
and wrote something really cool in there.
It's, you just try not to sound like an idiot, I guess.
I think the opposite of this podcast.
That's how it felt.
How easy is it for you?
Well, the fall I spent, I would say 20 hours
being interviewed on podcasts
for my comic book that was coming out.
And it was very similar to that,
except they couldn't be as off the cuff
because they also had to remember facts and figures.
So I have a little bit more empathy for,
even more empathy for the people that I interview
who are on the spot and have to come up with
like coherent answers in a live setting.
So this week then,
we've got a pair of electric vehicles
that are actually the same electric vehicle
that both of us have driven.
Yes.
Are you comfortable doing a joint review on this?
What choice do I have?
Well, I mean, I could just let you do all the talking.
I put myself in this position.
Yeah, that's a lie.
I mean, I've driven,
I think I drove the car several weeks,
maybe almost a month ago.
And you didn't like it.
And that's why we're talking about it now
because you had a very different experience than I did.
Yeah, so we're talking about the 2026 Hyundai Ioniq 9.
I drove the range topping calligraphy, ultimate calligraphy?
Ultimate with the calligraphy package.
Okay, I don't think that's a trim, but...
Sorry, hold on.
It's called the...
Preferred with the ultimate package.
Preferred all-wheel drive plus
with the ultimate calligraphy package.
That's what the full name is in Canada.
If you're in the States, it's just calligraphy.
It's exactly the same.
They know how to treat the people with trim names.
It's just odd that it's presented as a package here.
Hyundai does this on a bunch of their electric vehicles.
We're like, they have two trims,
but also there's packages,
which are technically trims, question mark.
Ultimate calligraphy package.
Anyways, I drove this in one of the snowiest weeks
I've ever had a car this year.
And I also got an opportunity to compare it
to the Hyundai Palisade Hybrid,
which we talked about in a previous episode.
And I found a couple of things,
driving the two cars back to back,
I found a few things that stood out to me in favor,
maybe not in favor of the Palisade,
but things that knocked the calligraphy,
the Ioniq 9 down a peg in my mind.
Because I think from a distance, it's a really cool car.
I think it continues the really good ambitions
of the Ioniq sub-brand, which the 5, 6, and the 5N,
and I think there's a new 6N coming,
all really have impressed in terms of their design
and driving dynamics.
And I think that this one,
this one didn't hit the mark for me
in terms of driving dynamics, in terms of range,
the price point really felt high.
And in terms of interior appointments and technology,
I found even the Palisade to be a little bit better.
So that was my, I was like,
I don't want to just knock this car
when I had it a month ago,
but I knew that you were gonna have it
and it would make for a really good discussion.
Not that I think that you're generally positive
on the Ioniq 9 in all ways,
but when you were driving it,
you did tell me that things were going a little bit more
your way.
Oh, I feel completely the opposite that you do.
It's not even like a question of degree, I think.
And I also don't think it's comparable to the Palisade.
No, I mean, I think it's only comparable
in the mission statement of being in a three row SUV.
There's even, you can even get more seats
in one of the cars, I think in the Palisade.
And while the space is kind of similar,
the price point is really, really not.
The price point is different.
The power is different.
The styling is radically different.
I feel like this vehicle is as close as Hyundai
has ever come to making a genuine luxury vehicle
since ever since they spun off Genesis.
Okay, I think that's a great place to start.
Why wouldn't they just make it Genesis?
Because this is it in Canada.
Because that's the beautiful thing.
They don't have to choose, right?
Like they can, I mean, you know.
What would be called GV90?
Well, I think it's something like that
has already been announced, yeah.
But the other thing about this vehicle
is it's not the first three row from Hyundai
because Kia came out with the EV9 last year.
Right, exactly.
I haven't driven the, I didn't drive the EV9 yet.
I drove it and I drove the GT line package
and it was the worst handling large SUV
I think I driven in years
because the suspension tuned for the rear end
was, I don't know, stiff to the point of being,
I don't wanna use the word dangerous
because I was not in danger.
But every time I went over a bump,
the rear end of the vehicle would lift up and move around
and I have not had that happen.
Just a complete lack of control from the GT line trim.
And so when I got into the IONIQ 9,
I was curious as to whether it would have the same kind of
just hyper tense, unnecessary reflexes I guess.
And it was night and day.
They, I'm assuming took a lesson
from the tuning of that suspension
and when they went to the IONIQ 9,
they're like, no, this is something that
we're not even gonna pretend is a high performance vehicle.
We're gonna position it as a premium badge.
And I think that was a really smart move for them.
So you were talking about pricing.
The calligraphy in Canada is like around $80,000
before you add in like $2,000 worth of delivery fees.
In the States, it's about $60,000 in base.
There's a base rubble drive version.
And I mean like base base.
There's the only model that has rubble drive in the US.
I don't even know if it's available in Canada.
So that's 61 grand and then it goes up to 79 US
for the calligraphy design,
which is a calligraphy with different wheels
and different paint options.
So if you're looking at pricing,
the Canadian model at 80 grand Canadian
is a screaming deal versus 79 grand for a US calligraphy.
Like literally 30% less
with the currency exchange.
That is wild.
Yeah, absolutely.
The currency exchange really doesn't do the car a favor
in the US for sure.
And I'm wondering if it has anything to do.
I don't know where the Ioniq 9 is built.
So it could be that tariffs are pushing the price
up in the United States.
I'm not sure.
Because I know the Ioniq 5 is now built in the US
for the American market.
And that's how they're going to do it.
I'm just really uncomfortable with the concept
of a nearly, I mean, this is 80,000 in the US.
What are you uncomfortable about?
What does that make you uncomfortable?
I think at that price point, I'm trying to think of the,
I mean, the thing that's working out in the car's favor
is that there are so few good, all-electric three-row SUVs.
There are none that are not luxury other than the Kia.
Yes.
And from what I understand,
the Kia did not impress you very much.
Not the GT line trim.
I didn't drive any others.
But I mean, once you exclude the Kia,
you end up with the Cadillac Vistic
and the Volvo EX90 pretty much, right?
And I guess there's a, is the Rivian a three-row?
I think so.
It feels smaller though.
I have no, I'm not sure.
In any case, you're much more expensive.
Right.
Like the most expensive version of the Ioniq
is roughly the starting price for all of those vehicles.
Exactly.
I think that's an important thing to talk about.
But of course, you're spending money on a couple of things
that are meant to be more premium.
I mean, so for starters, the interior is really high-end
for a Hyundai.
It does really edge on the,
it does really land on the edge
of a premium vehicle, I think.
So that's, sorry, that's the one area
where I thought it was less impressive.
Like I liked the dashboard and the calligraphy.
I thought the design and the inlay of the,
I guess it's supposed to look like marble or something.
Yeah.
It's pretty cool.
But then you end up with,
you know, your switch gear is still Hyundai
and the screen on the dash is just kind of there.
And you know how I feel about that kind of thing.
Yeah, it's got that same double 12.3 inch screen.
They hook up together.
They just make this blank black plastic on the dash.
It's really like, it's okay.
I think it's really okay.
It's super mega okay.
But like to your point about pricing,
like that's one area, like everything is fine inside.
The appearance wise.
One thing that impressed me a lot,
like, I don't know, maybe go on with your,
you're talking about the aesthetics
so we can get to seating maybe later on.
No, no, I think we,
I was about to talk about seating now, right now.
Okay.
Because I think the interior is where we should really
discuss this car.
In my test, I found that it had almost identical
interior space to the Palisade with the exception
of I think one measurement with all the seats up.
I think the Ioniq has more overall space
but not by like a whopping amount.
So I used the vehicle on an airport run.
Okay.
And I was able, it has basically 22 cubic feet
behind the third row, so every seat is occupied.
But most of that space is vertical.
Still, I was able to take my gym bag,
lengthways and I could touch the seat back
and not touch the hatch.
So like that's decent.
And if you have roll on luggage that's tall,
it fits in there really well.
So it's still useful.
And then if you fold down the third row,
it basically doubles the amount of space you have.
Okay.
So from then on though,
there's a few like interesting,
how do you describe them?
Quirks about the technology and the vehicle.
Well, are we still talking seats?
Cause I wasn't finished with seats.
Yeah. Talk to me about these seats.
What I really thought was cool.
The third row has power recline.
You don't find that in a lot of SUVs period,
like electric or not.
Yeah. And not only that,
but you can actually adjust the seats
from the driver's seat through the touchscreen.
This is something that I found was common
between the Palisade and the Ioniq.
So you can kind of prepare the cabin
if you're picking somebody up, which is pretty cool too.
And not only that, if you're in that third row,
there's multiple ways to get in and out of it.
If you're sitting in the third row,
there are buttons that you can use
to move the second row forward and backwards.
There is a pole ripcord that you can pop the seat out
from the second row moorings and flip it forward.
And if you're getting in from the side,
there's another set of controls on the side of the seat
that will do all of that plus the normal seat position stuff
for the second row.
Sometimes when I get into a three-row vehicle,
the back row can feel like a prison
because it's not clear how you can escape it
if you need to, right?
Like once that second row seat locks in place,
you're kind of at the mercy of whoever's sitting
in front of you.
With the Ioniq 9, that wasn't the case
and I really appreciated it.
And it feels like maybe this is redundant
to have all these controls.
And how often are people gonna be sitting
in the third row anyway?
The fact that they paid attention to that is pretty cool.
And then I was impressed that,
well, maybe this is, now actually I never mind.
I was concerned that.
No longer.
I was concerned that.
I was impressed to concerned.
No, I was concerned that actually for a cheaper vehicle
the Palisade had in Canada heated seats in all three rows,
vented seats in the second row,
and some additional technology I think
in terms of like the embedded dash cam
and that weird UV sanitization doodad.
That doodad is useless though.
Let's be real.
Maybe if it sanitized the entire interior
at the push of a button,
I want a button that does that.
The Ioniq 9 does the first two rows are heated for sure.
I don't know about ventilated, question mark.
No, no.
Do you really need a heated third row seat?
When you've got a vehicle this large
and I think that's important.
Yeah, but if your kids are cold
and they complain and they're in the third row,
you're not going to hear them.
Yeah, I guess so.
It's fine.
It's totally fine.
One other thing about the, we're talking cargo.
So there's a frunk in the Ioniq 9,
but it is a lunchbox size.
Yeah, it's tiny.
It's only good for like a portable charger.
Yeah, it's 1.9 cubic feet if you have all wheel drive
and 3.1 if you have rear wheel drive.
Again, not sure if rear wheel drive is available in Canada,
but there is that one base model in the US
where you can get it.
And the reason I know the size of the frunk,
I don't often use them,
but we'll get to talking about the styling of this vehicle
later.
I had a problem where,
I don't know if this happened to you, Sammy.
So much snow and ice accumulated
between the windshield wipers and the cowl of the hood
that my wipers would not park.
That's interesting.
I didn't have that issue.
They stayed stuck up
and I tried to clean it out with a brush and I couldn't.
The cowl is so deep
that I tried reaching it with my hands.
I couldn't get it to work.
So finally, I had to pop the frunk and use my hands
to clean out the snow that had accumulated,
which is an ideal because once you do that,
you get so much snow that just falls into the frunk itself.
So if you do have something in there,
it's gonna get wet or like at least a little bit cold.
I have not had a vehicle
that had that kind of snow accumulation problem
which makes me feel like it's a design issue.
I had serious issues in the snow with this car,
like really uncomfortable issues
that really distracted me while I was driving the vehicle.
And I know that's really weird
because apparently you had driven it
in a similarly snowy weather.
Oh, far snowier, far snowier.
I believe our cars had different winter tires.
No, who can say?
I believe we had the continental, maybe?
I'm trying to remember now.
I'm sure I have a photo of it somewhere.
I don't know why they would have different ones.
I mean, I suppose it's entirely possible.
Fleets are gonna do their fleet thing, right?
Let me, I did do a close-up of the tire
because I had a problem with the wheels more than the tire.
So let me see if I can find that.
I don't think I've got photos of this.
Let me see.
Anyways, I just could not,
the stopping distances felt really, really long
in this car.
I was, and uncomfortably so.
I had Michelin, Michelin X-Ice.
Let me take a look.
I'm looking, okay?
So while you're looking,
I'm gonna address the point you just made.
A vehicle this size and this weight
is gonna take longer to stop.
And you add snow to that
and it's going to increase that stopping distance
even more.
Well, I mean, I don't appreciate you telling me that
as if I don't know that.
I'm telling our listeners that.
I'm not lecturing you.
You're supposedly looking at photos.
I didn't even know you were listening.
I bring it up because it's something
that I don't think we talk about.
Yes, X-Ice Alpine SUV or something like that.
Yeah, so we had the same tires.
Yeah, I don't know.
So people don't really talk about this
when they talk about EVs in the winter time.
I mean, we all know that heavier cars take longer to stop.
I think I mentioned it when we had the BMW M5 Touring,
which is like 5,500 pounds, something like that,
5,800 pounds.
I am going to guess that the Ioniq is in that neighborhood,
if not a little bit heavier.
Yeah.
And I never found the vehicle to be sliding past
where I was comfortable.
I did make sure to take more time.
There's, on my commute, when I come off my road
onto the main highway, there's a little bit of a downhill.
And many times, I have been caught out
by my own exuberance in not hitting the brake early enough,
and I end up sliding down that hill in the winter.
So I become much more careful with it.
And in the Ioniq, I was like, OK, this is going to take a while.
And I was just a little bit more judicious
with my brake application.
So the other thing is that added weight of this vehicle
just becomes so much more noticeable in the winter.
In the dry, it's way less of a concern.
But in the winter.
How did you notice it?
What was the main?
Like I said, the long stopping distances,
and even like cornering or turning,
and I'm not even going to mean cornering actually,
like turning at intersections, the car really
struggled to get front end grip and sort of like push through.
It felt like I was driving, I mean, obviously I was.
It felt like I was driving through slush,
but I had zero grip in so many situations
that like made me super uneasy with dealing with that much weight.
You had to drive it at significantly lower speeds
than I think other cars.
Well, I mean, I drove it back to back with a Palisade,
and I didn't feel that same feeling.
However, I will point out, there is one really interesting thing
about the Ioniq 9.
Size-wise, it's lower than the Palisade,
and it's got a much longer wheelbase, I believe,
and it just feels a little bit more car-like,
I think, on the road than a big wobbly, top-heavy kind of SUV.
So all of that weight is really down low.
And like I said, in the dry, totally fine-feeling car.
But once I had it in the cold, it really wasn't my driving style.
So my experience, again, was kind of at odds with yours,
where we had a couple of blizzards while I had it.
I ended up booting it pretty hard on some back roads.
Oh, yeah, I could not.
I could not pick up the...
I found the vehicle was completely fine in corners.
In fact, I was impressed by how controlled I have a vehicle felt.
The only time I really noticed the weight of the vehicle
when I was underway was on moguls.
There's some up-down motion of the chassis.
It's not enough to make anyone seasick, but it's definitely there.
Also, the car was really tough to get the rear end to kick out,
which is unusual for a vehicle like this.
When it's driven quickly, it understeers more than anything else.
And even the understeer is super manageable.
What I did have happen is maybe similar to what you mentioned,
pulling away from a stop if you're doing like a 90 degree corner,
for example, like at an intersection,
the rear end will kick out a little bit in that situation.
Or you'll get a little bit of a shimmy if you get on the gas too fast
and it'll step out just a little bit.
But that was at lower speeds.
I found that in normal driving, I never had those problems.
And I found the traction control was really helpful versus being intrusive,
which is like I think back to when I had the leaf
a couple of weeks ago in the snow, when I would pull out from like, again,
that little hill that leads to the highway is it can be a little
hard stopping sometimes because once you've managed to break on that slippery
part, you have to pull out onto the road and hope that the traffic behind you
doesn't catch up to you, right?
If there's a lot of traffic because they're going fast.
So I would pull out on the leaf, but because the wheel was cranked to the left
or to the right, the traction control would really damp down on throttle.
And I would be in the situation where my foot is down and we're not accelerating
and cars are coming up really quickly behind me.
And I did not appreciate that in the Ioniq.
That did not happen.
It was much better at figuring out traction instead of just saying no power for you.
It would do its best to like find traction on one wheel and another wheel
and get you moving. So I was impressed by that.
There's a sport mode, which I didn't really feel the need to use.
Like I tried it out, but, you know, this is not a sporty vehicle.
There's a snow mode, which is supposed to smooth out your your inputs.
And I guess it works. I didn't find it to be necessary.
OK, yeah, I haven't changed it.
I didn't change any of the drive modes.
I just kept it, I think, in either the eco mode or the.
Snow mode, it's worth mentioning that that, like both Sammy and I drove
the most powerful version of the.
Yeah, I was about to get that.
We should start talking about the powertrain on the go for it.
So under the hood, we've got two two motors here.
I believe they're equally powered in terms of performance.
One hundred and sixty kilowatts at both end, basically at the front and rear axle.
Together, they make four hundred and twenty two horsepower and five hundred and
sixteen pound feet of torque.
This is a really punchy, responsive powertrain.
I think it's really impressive that they've made such a heavy, big car feel kind of.
I mean, I say this every time we drive an EV, but this is like among
the biggest EVs we've driven, safe for probably one of those like
Altium trucks, I guess. Yeah.
Um, the battery is also one hundred and ten kilowatt hours.
Yeah. And that's the same.
But so just to butt in on the power, there's also all the drive models
that don't have as much power. Yeah.
So the mid range models have three hundred and three horsepower and four
hundred and forty six pound feet.
And then the base model, the rear wheel drive is two hundred and
fifteen horsepower and two hundred and fifty eight pound feet.
Sorry, two hundred and fifty horsepower and two hundred and fifty eight pound
feet of torque. It still has a one hundred and ten kilowatt hour battery.
I do not think this car exists.
Like personally, I don't think I think this is just a paper launch.
Maybe for the range, right?
Because it's three hundred and thirty five miles of range for that model
versus three hundred and eleven for the one that you and I drove.
So that's yeah, that's not a big difference.
That's like eight percent, nine percent, maybe even less.
But they do it less than 10 percent.
Yeah. What was your struggle to get?
I really struggled to get anywhere close to 500 kilometers.
I got closer to four hundred.
Let me give you that in miles is two fifth around two fifty
miles per charge and oftentimes less than that.
So on the coldest day that I drove the vehicle,
I saw fifty five kilowatt hours per hundred miles of driving,
which is a hundred and ninety eight miles of driving range
that translates as the three hundred and sixteen kilometers versus the
expected five hundred kilometers for this vehicle.
So it's a drop of about forty three percent.
Now, that's a huge drop.
It's a huge drop.
But again, these were the coldest days I've driven.
Very cold, very cold.
I will point out, though, that I was driving the driving dot C.A.
Long term tester, which is primarily under the care of the editor there,
Renita and Irane, and she herself says
she barely ever gets over 400 kilometers in the winter.
This she has the the Ioniq calligraphy as the long term.
Yeah, basically, yes.
OK, she's had it since, I think, October.
And she says once the once it got cold, basically,
the that five hundred kilometer range really dropped.
However, she's also come.
She's a little bit different than I think you
who has a who's had a level two charger for quite a while now.
And I don't have a level two charger, actually.
I just used a should. I know I should.
I'm working on it this year. OK.
And I actually have one.
Sorry, I should point this out.
I have one. I just haven't installed it yet.
I guess I have to get it wired up in the garage.
Anyway, she is like it in and then like
but like have the cable go to the outback or something.
So your neighbors freak out.
So she says basically she was really concerned about that limited range.
Basically, like you said, around 40 was not that limited.
It's until she realized that, you know, you can charge this thing
every single day, get that 400 kilometers of range,
350, 400 kilometers of range, every single night
and not have to worry really about about long, long distance driving.
It'll do it'll do 10 percent to 80 percent
in 24 minutes on a level three charger.
I'm curious. Did you get that?
Did you get to test that during the I almost never DC fast charge?
It's just not necessary when you have a level two charger at home.
And I mean, with a big battery like that, level two takes a long time.
I mean, I'm peeking out at seven kilowatt hours, right?
So let's say you have 110 kilowatt battery.
If it was empty, yeah, you're looking at like 13 hours, maybe 14 hours.
I actually have the I have it here.
They say it would be a level of 220 volts or 240 volts
would be about nine hours and 40 minutes.
Now, see, that's not true because yeah, yours is a bit.
I mean, well, no, very efficient.
You have to understand there's different types of level to charge.
Right. Yeah.
So mine is generally electricians do not like you using
the maximum capacity of a particular fuse or or or or breaker
on your on your breaker box. Right.
So I can't remember the exact number.
I want to say something like 70 percent capacity.
Maybe it's a little bit less and they leave you some overhead.
So depending on what you already have coming out of the box,
your charger for level two in theory, there are there are level
two chargers that can go nine point two kilowatt kilowatt hours.
So sorry, nine point two kilowatts, 11 kilowatts, like at the extreme.
But you would almost have to have a box that's dedicated to the charger to do that.
When I got mine just from a heat perspective and the fact that I know
I have heating in the garage, I have lights in the garage that is attached to.
I don't want to go crazy.
I don't want the the charger to trip a breaker and blow out, you know,
the power of my garage.
So it's set to seven or seven point two kilowatt hour,
which is pretty common for a lot of what you'll see for level two.
So when you see these kinds of things from manufacturers,
you have to interrogate like what speed they're they're going to pick
the best speed for them. Right.
Like if level two has max capacity of this, that's what they're going to go with.
Exactly. So anything else though that really is something you wanted to discuss
with this car? I think it looks great. I think it's a really I think this is
the thing when you look at this vehicle,
you mentioned that has that long wheelbase.
I also think about the roof line and how the roof line slopes to the rear.
This is very Range Rover. This is this.
I think I mean, again, I drove it back to back to a
what's it called Palisade and the Palisade looks super Range Rover.
I think this looks way more Range Rover. You're crazy.
Well, am I crazy? I just don't see it.
Okay. In profile.
I mean, if you look at the Range Rover, it has almost a cam back tail, right?
Oh, like the sport.
I'm sorry. The Range Rover sport or like the full size?
No, the full size.
I has it has a tilted roof at the rear.
Am I am I insane? Is there not a tilted roof there?
It's my I'm going to look it up right now.
I think it's a bit mild.
No, it's definitely pronounced.
It's definitely not.
I'm seeing it. I mean, it's definitely more so than the E V nine.
E V was the name of the other one.
E V nine.
Is it called the E V nine? Oh, my goodness.
I just find it looks it's it's it's a nice look.
And I think it makes an impression.
It's certainly
when you're building an E V, this is big.
I mean, if you look at the Volvo, it's very Volvo, right?
Like it really makes you think like, OK, this is in line with all the other
Volvos that are out there that we've seen so far.
And if you look at the Vistik from Cadillac,
it kind of looks like a baby escalated in some ways on purpose.
OK. But then you get to the Ioniq nine.
It does not look like an Ioniq six and it does not look like an Ioniq five at all.
It's its own thing. Yeah.
And I mean, I think that's I mean, I've talked to
Hyundai designers in the past about their design philosophy.
It seems like they're sticking through it with the Ioniq sub brand as well in that
they want every car to have its own unique identity.
That's cool. They say that they say that not everybody has
a lineup of those cars on their driveway.
They want a car that looks good no matter what. Right.
So sure. And there's one more thing I do want to bring up about this vehicle in the snow
and that I had these like multi spoke 21 inch rims in the end.
And they gathered snow like you would not believe inside the rims.
And I because of the size of the slots for the spokes.
There's no way I could say that again.
There's no way to put a brush in there and clean them out.
And I didn't want to use the plastic part of the brush
because the scraper because I didn't want to damage the finish on the rims.
Right. So over time, so much snow accumulated inside the wheel,
not just in the slots, but in the like these are very wide wheels in that area as well
that I had. I couldn't drive above 90 kilometers an hour without the steering wheel
shaking like crazy. I actually had to go get it washed.
Which is very, very rare where I have this problem.
Like the last time I think I had snow accumulation like this was the odyssey
and I was able to clean the odyssey out my hand.
But this I actually had to go and just get jets of water to melt all that stuff.
That's wild. OK.
And it just like created like a gnarly vibration.
Yeah, because the snow accumulates unevenly.
Right. So when you have the snow, when it starts when it's frozen
and there are chunks of ice in there and the wheels rotating,
it's essentially like adding weights to the wheel.
And so it pulls it's no longer balanced.
And so that's where you start to get bad vibrations in the front end.
Interesting.
It happens a lot if you certain rim designs just were not intended for snow.
Right. Kind of kind of the beginning and end of it.
So that's I guess our differing takes on it.
I just didn't love the driving style and I found it to be fairly expensive.
I know when you take a look at the the rest of the three row SUV
EV lineup, of which there is only really Akia and premium vehicles,
it it makes a little bit more sense, but it's a lot of money.
I mean, I just I just think the funny thing about money, Sammy,
is you like it more if you spend it.
Yes, I guess so.
It's more valuable when you spend it, I guess, I don't know.
And I wasn't in love with the driving dynamics other than
the feeling that it actually drove smaller than it was,
which is which is an admirable quality given the the weight of it
and just the practicality of it.
So there's another vehicle I wanted to talk about today.
And this is something that this vehicle caught me by surprise.
I when I was going to Toronto to visit Sammy and do other things,
I ended up driving an Acura RDX and the Acura RDX.
I don't know if we've talked about it on the on the show before,
or at least recently, it's on its way out.
They're making a new I want to say plug-in hybrid or hybrid
version of the vehicle that's going to be on a different platform.
Is that right, Sammy?
I believe so. Yeah, 2027, it's going to be a very different vehicle.
And as a result, the 2026 model year, it's unchanged from 2025.
I drove a 25 and I checked with Honda USA and I checked in Canada
and there's no difference between 25 and 26.
So I'm going to talk about it as though it's the current model year.
But even though even that, they're only making it for like six months.
They're just going to do enough to keep inventory on dealer lots.
And then it's going to be gone.
So I got into this vehicle thinking, OK. Weird.
I feel like I've driven a model year 26.
Yeah, it does. It's late last year.
I mean, maybe you did.
I don't know. It just there wasn't one here in Montreal.
So it doesn't matter. They're the same vehicle.
There's no differences.
I wasn't sure what to think of the RDX, because I've personally never
really found the vehicle to be super competitive.
I didn't have a problem with it, but it was the kind of thing where I'd be like,
why don't you just get an X3 or why don't you just get a Lexus?
You know, like the question about that. Why?
I what? Why not just get one?
Well, I'm about to tell you. Tell me.
This is actually a pretty good vehicle.
I I shocked myself.
There's one. There is one critical flaw.
Yeah, we're going to get to that later.
But this is one red flag, unmissable red flag.
This vehicle has what is it?
Two hundred and seventy five, two hundred seventy two horsepower
to recharge four cylinder. It's got a 10 speed automatic.
It's got the super handling all wheel drive that Acura is super proud of.
And it actually has decent styling, in particular, the interior of mine.
I had the A-spec and I believe it was the let me double check the actual model.
The in the States, I believe it's called A-spec Advanced
and a candidate's called Platinum Elite A-spec.
I don't know how many more descriptors they can fit into that.
So in Canada, it's about sixty six thousand before you get into delivery charges.
In the US, it is fifty five grand.
So the exchange rate hasn't really done what it has done for the Ioniq.
In this case, you can also get like a regular A-spec
that doesn't have as much of the luxury stuff, but I had this beautiful red
interior red highlights on the on the door panels, red seats.
It just looked it looked good to the point where other people
were talking about the interior of the vehicle luxury SUV owners
were actually being like, hey, that looks really nice.
I'm impressed by that. And that surprised me.
I hadn't really it had been probably five years since they last maybe more
since I last drove an RDX.
And the last time I drove one was also on a long trip.
I went up to Ice Race in Milton, is that Minden?
Minden, Minden, Ontario, with a shout out
to Russ Bond for hooking me up.
My dad and I did some door to door ice racing there, a lot of fun.
And we got lost a little bit on the way back on the secondary roads
in the middle of the night in this RDX.
It was it was, you know, in the snow. It was perfect. No issues.
I wasn't sure if this was the right vehicle for a long distance trip,
because as Sammy talked about, there's something about it
that is super retro and by retro, I mean, not really retro,
just gone in a decision that should never have been made
and that every other car company has walked away from since.
And that's the infotainment system.
Sammy, why is the infotainment system so bad on this vehicle?
Well, because one, it's not a touch screen.
And two, it's mostly a pair of I think it's a pair of touch pads.
It's a pair.
I couldn't get the second one to ever work, so we're going to say there's one.
There's two.
There's like a square one
and then a taller rectangular one beside the square one.
OK, and the taller rectangular one doesn't do anything
in any situation.
And that was frustrating.
But more frustrating is the fact that.
Not only has accurate given given us the worst way
you can interact with a vehicle while you're driving, because it's tough
to have the motor skills to pilot a vehicle, keep your attention on the road
and somehow like mouse around properly.
The the other issue, the the primary issue with it is you can't use it like a laptop.
It's not the same kind of movement, right?
Like, you know what I'm talking about?
Yeah, yeah, it's expecting you to do these really strong swipes
just to move a little bit like you can't just trail your finger around
and get to where you want to go.
It's like icon to icon to icon.
Oh, my goodness.
It is maddening to the point where I was using Android Auto
and normally I'm pretty good about reporting things when I see them on the road,
like if there's an accident or a speed trap or responding to prompts,
like, is this still there?
I gave up on it.
I just couldn't do it.
I was like, I'm not going to put myself in danger to use this system,
which is how it felt.
I'm assuming the replacement RTX will not have this quote unquote technology.
I'm assuming it's gone.
Everything else about everything else about the interior, I liked.
I went crazy in Toronto because I don't often get to.
I don't often go to Anglophone bookstores, English bookstores,
because where I live, primarily French speaking.
And so when I get to a large English speaking city, I buy a ton of books.
I went, I'm also starting to collect laser discs for reasons I don't understand.
So I picked up some for you.
Yeah, Sammy picks them up for me.
He met someone at a library in Mississauga.
Very safe.
And brought those to me.
You're not allowed to scream when you're getting mugged in a library.
So I had a bunch of those and had a bunch of blue rays.
And we also had, it was Lunar New Year.
So we had a ton of food that was coming back with us as well.
When we went to Toronto, I was able to put everything
behind the second row without any problems and a few things on the second row.
When we came back, I was like, oh, no, we have all this stuff.
Like, what are we going to do?
I don't like packing to the ceiling because I like being able to see out the back window.
Folded the seat, distributed everything, and I was able to just have it level off under the window.
And it worked perfectly.
I was impressed. It was really easy.
The RDX system, other weird stuff, like
on the dash, it has like a big knob
that you think would be for volume.
Oh, yes.
But it's actually drive mode.
The thing you do the most in your car is change drive modes on the fly.
Right? Like, no, you never do that.
It's never it's something you do once at the start of your drive
and then you turn and you forget about it.
You know, like, oh, I've been in eco mode for three days.
You know, like, I don't remember this stuff.
I put that in sport mode a few times.
It does change the response of the transmission, which I appreciated.
But I didn't really feel like I believe also sorry, it has a suspension effect
on the A-spec, the top tier A-spec.
In any case, I didn't really feel it to be necessary.
Like the acceleration is quite good in all circumstances.
Fuel economy, I got like 10 liters per 100 kilometers for the whole trip,
which I think is like 21 or 22 miles per gallon, something like that.
I think those numbers are accurate.
Let me double check, which is decent for the cold weather that we had
and the speeds we were traveling.
And the fact that the vehicle was so full of stuff on the way back.
I'm just going to make sure that those numbers are right.
Yeah, 9.88 was my was my most efficient and 10.8 was my average.
And I want to say that's around 22 for that level of power and all the drive.
I'm not complaining about that in the winter.
The adaptive cruise control worked really well.
It has a lane centering system that's pretty happy and pretty much all
weather conditions unless it can't see the lines on the road, in which case
it's not going to work properly.
But as a road trip vehicle, it was good.
I was impressed.
It's now a vehicle that I might actually start recommending to people.
Oh, wow. Super surprised me.
I can't do it with that.
It's yeah.
But here's the thing, Sammy.
We used to recommend the RX, which had that pad, right?
Yeah, that was a long that was a long time ago.
I think it just seems like a long time ago because of how traumatic it was.
Like, I think it was a little closer to the current reality than we'd like to think.
Definitely, this pad could be a deal breaker for a lot of people.
And I would I would have to make it a massive asterisk in my recommendation.
But I thought this was cool.
I'm willing to bet you can get them for a discount because of the fact
that this is the last model year and a totally different models coming out.
It's it's decent styling and it is useful.
It was a useful vehicle.
And I mean, if you're going up against like what's competing against this
X3, McCann, you know, like, wow, McCann is expensive.
Exactly. That's a very specific.
That's what I'm saying.
It's like the competitors to this vehicle.
I mean, obviously, I like the X3 more.
I like the Genesis GV70 more.
I don't know if I like the NX more.
Is this an NX sized vehicle or is this an RX sized vehicle?
I would say it's NX size.
OK, the NX is I'm on the fence with that.
It's it's good.
It has way more drive change, drivetrain choice.
You can get the plug in.
That's pretty cool.
But if you're looking for something that's quote unquote luxurious
and you don't want to buy like a Buick and Vision and the McCann is just too expensive.
I mean, you could do a lot worse.
What do you think?
You think I'm crazy?
I think it drives well.
I think it's very it's relatively spacious.
And I think that the the pricing is pretty decent.
My and it looks good inside and out.
My main issue is the is the infotainment.
And I think the use we said I said spacious,
but I meant specifically in terms of cargo space.
I think the rear seat space isn't as spacious as other compact crossovers.
And I only know that because I'm throwing in a rear facing car seat
in all of my press cars.
I remember when I had it with the
with the RDX, I felt like it was a little bit tight for the front passenger.
Now, there's vehicles like the GLC, the XC60 from Volvo, the Q5, you know,
I guess the Maserati Gricale, like that's technically a compact.
But would you take this over, say, a Stelvio or an F-Pace,
which is somehow still on sale?
I like both of those very much.
So now you really like the Stelvio.
Yes, Stelvio is cool when I think it looks great.
But I mean, you want to talk bad infotainment.
Yeah, that's true.
Dated infotainment for sure, absolutely.
But at least, you know, well, it doesn't work.
What about a Valar?
Oh, I love the Valar.
But could you recommend it in good conscience?
No, no, no, these are not for me.
None of these cars are for me.
Yeah, I mean, none of these cars are for other people.
They're for me.
I also feel like I can say that the RDX will probably be less
troublesome than many of the vehicles we just mentioned.
You know what I mean?
I think that's a good idea.
I've always really liked the RDX that came.
It hasn't really interesting history, where the first generation model
featured a turbocharged powertrain.
The second gen had a naturally.
Is it a turbo V6?
No, the turbo four.
And then the second gen had a naturally aspirated V6.
And then for this third gen, they've gone back to a turbo four.
It's just this weird like flip flopping they keep doing.
And then there's this whole super handling all wheel drive thing.
I'm assuming that maybe going back to the turbo four is a taxation issue
for other markets. I guess so. Yeah.
Yeah. So that's my bit on the RDX.
It caught me by surprise.
I didn't expect to like it as much as I did.
I thought it would just put in the put in a decent jobs work.
And I would forget about it.
And it wasn't like that.
It was something that I I enjoyed driving long distance
and on the twistier roads near my house, it was fine.
It was totally fine in a way that, you know, a lot of these vehicles
are not like SUVs of this size.
So and the I was taken with its styling over time.
And I think you can maybe even get it in some cool colors.
I'm not sure about that.
There's a nice red. I know that.
But like mine wasn't kind of like a frosty gray.
You can get a blue.
I guess there's only two colors.
There's blue and there's red.
And the rest is like black, three grays and a white.
If you get the base model, you're only getting in Canada.
You're only getting gray, white or black, which is kind of sad.
I think that's the case with so many, you know, vehicles just have like no
absolutely no palette, really.
It's just grayscale all the time.
Yeah. Yeah.
Anyway, anything else you want to talk about this week?
No, I think that's that's I'm an empty void now.
OK, let's tell the people where they can find all of our
our previous episodes and other things that we've been doing.
Where would that be?
You can head over to our website, unnamed automotivepodcast.com.
And while you're there, you can see all of our previous episodes.
You can click on links to any articles that we are sharing
of the cars that we talk about in our episodes.
And you can subscribe to our podcast that way.
Although, realistically, you should just go to whatever
podcast, podcatcher or podcast client that you're using and do it that way.
Additionally, you can go to our website and fill out a contact us form.
And that will send us some some great feedback right to our inbox.
We love it when we hear from you guys and we tend to use a lot of the question
that you guys send us to help our show just be a little bit more relatable,
I suppose. So send us all your your comments.
If you don't want to do it through the website, you go on to your your email
client, you put in the two field Benjamin at Benjaminhunting.com.
Thanks for specifying the two field.
I mean, we're 35 years into email, so we do need the refresher.
So he comes in, he reads those emails.
He sends them to me and I do my best.
Sometimes I miss the two field entirely and I just I just BCC everything.
And then additionally, you can reach out to us on social media.
I recommend that you hit us up on Instagram.
I'm at Sammy underscore how like you're laughing and Ben over there.
He's at Hunting Benjamin over there.
That's him. Sammy, what are we going to be talking about next week?
I don't think I've got a I don't think I've got a car to talk about
specifically next week.
Well, I've got a car that's going to curl your toes.
And that is the 2026 Subaru Outback.
That is the brand new Outback, Sammy.
I can't wait. All right.
I love this. Thank you for listening, everybody. See you.
About this episode
Sammy Haj Asad and Benjamin Hunting dive into their contrasting experiences with the 2026 Hyundai Ioniq 9, a premium electric three-row SUV. They discuss its pricing disparities between Canada and the US, interior quality, driving dynamics, and how it stacks up against competitors like the Kia EV9 and other luxury electric SUVs. The hosts also touch on the challenges of EV range in cold weather and share personal anecdotes about automotive journalism and podcasting. The episode offers a nuanced look at Hyundai's attempt at a luxury EV and the broader electric SUV market.
Original notes
The Unnamed Automotive Podcast arrives this week with a double review of the 2026 Hyundai IONIQ 9, a three-row EV that has our hosts offering completely different takes. Sami thinks the all-electric Korean crossover is too expensive, while Benjamin thinks it's plenty fancy. Sami feels it rode awfully in the snow, while Benjamin says it was surprisingly responsive. This many opposite takes means plenty of discussion, and we're here for it!
Then Benjamin shares his road-trip-road-test of the 2026 Acura RDX, which he says was surprisingly good, though has one fatal flaw. Is it enough to deter him from recommending it? Thanks for listening!
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