Hyundai Ioniq 5 N vs Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio: is EV or petrol more exciting?

For a long time, performance electric cars have been one dimensional. They’re often so fast that all the meaning has been stripped from 0-62mph times; when you can walk into your local MG dealer and for just over £36,000 buy an MG 4 XPower that covers the benchmark dash in the same 3.7 seconds as an Audi R8 V10 RWD it’s easy to see why. Yet beyond the thrill of straight line speed, fun is often hard to come by. It’s one thing to bolt a shockingly powerful motor or two into a car; it’s another altogether to add chassis sophistication, precision and – most of all – genuine personality. 

As it stands, just one electric car has proven to be a glorious exception: the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N. On our early encounters both abroad and on UK roads, it has proven that EVs can have the qualities that thrill and excite, and Hyundai has taken some unconventional steps that even enhance those qualities further. 

To find out just how good it really is, we’ve brought along a benchmark from the internal combustion engine stable – and what a benchmark it is. The Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifolgio is one of the finest performance cars the brand has produced in decades, and it moves into 2024 with a series of small tweaks that aim to make it a better driver’s car than ever. If the Hyundai can offer even an ounce of the Giulia’s ability, it can be considered a huge success – but just how close can it get?

Hyundai Ioniq 5 N

Hyundai’s N division has already proven that it is a performance arm that deserves to be taken very seriously. With the i30 N and i20 N, it proved that it can live with the very best hot hatch competition, but the Ioniq 5 N is a very different prospect – not least because it costs £65,000. But more than that, it is its electric powertrain that might prove to be too much for some, so Hyundai has pulled out all the stops to produce an epic driver’s car.