Driving the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N for the first time was a revelation. It isn’t cheap, but the car is so fun to drive, it wormed its way into my brain and refuses to leave. In my initial review, I pointed out that the Ioniq 5 N makes about the same power as a Lamborghini Urus, which wasn’t necessarily meant to directly compare the two but instead point out how crazy it was that Hyundai had actually put this thing into production. Australia’s CarExpert, however, actually did compare the two — in a drag race. And the Hyundai won.
The lineup of cars included in this SUV drag race competition isn’t exactly common. Apparently, they have an incredibly wealthy friend who allowed them to borrow several of his more “exclusive” SUVs, including a Mansory-modified Rolls-Royce Cullinan, a Brabus-modified G-Wagen and a Lamborghini Urus Performante Essenza SCV12 Edition.
If you’re not familiar with that particular version of the Urus, you’re not alone. There isn’t even a Jalopnik post about it. According to Car And Driver, it’s an ultra-exclusive Urus that was only ever offered to customers who bought the Essenza SCV12 track car, and only 40 were ever made. Despite what the name suggests, it doesn’t have a V12 under the hood, but its twin-turbo V8 does make 657 horsepower.
Instead of racing all four cars at once, they decided to go one-on-one. Unfortunately for the Cullinan, it just didn’t have the power to really compete and got walked by the Brabus G-Wagen. The Urus then turned around and beat the G-Wagen, setting up a final showdown against the Ioniq 5 N. And wouldn’t you know it, the lowly Hyundai absolutely destroyed the Lamborghini. And then did it again in a rolling race.
If you’re rich as shit, this news probably doesn’t change anything for you. Maybe you’ll just pick up an Ioniq 5 N to drive every now and then when you’re not driving your million other cars. Still, it’s incredibly cool to see a $65,000 Hyundai beat the pants off several other wildly more expensive SUVs even if it was the only one that’s electric.
