The Car Connection Best Car To Buy 2024 finalist outdoes Model 3

The Hyundai Ioniq 6 electric sedan’s slippery shape reflects its reason for existence: it’s the most efficient electric car on sale now, alongside the six-figure Lucid Air. It’s also one of the more affordable, with a starting price of $38,615 for the single-motor version with the smaller 53-kwh battery pack and 240 miles of range. To get the larger 77.4-kwh battery pack and 361 miles of range, it’ll cost $43,565 this year. Those data bits are appealing, but its efficiency rating of 4.2 miles per kwh makes it more efficient than the Tesla Model 3, and its low cost of ownership makes it a relative steal. 

The Ioniq 6 is built on Hyundai’s 800-volt E-GMP platform shared with a bunch of electric vehicles, including most closely the Hyundai Ioniq 5 electric hatchback, a perennial Best Car To Buy category winner since it launched in 2022. While the Ioniq 5 might have a charming retro style, the lower, longer Ioniq 6 applies its daring design to aerodynamics. It’s all curves punched with pixels on lighting and trim elements. The rounded roofline and tapered tail with a duckbilled spoiler limit rear headroom and cargo space, but no electric sedan balances this level of style, efficiency, price, and packaging as well as the Ioniq 6. 

Revisiting it in November along with the other nine finalists for the The Car Connection Best Car To Buy 2024 further solidified its candidacy in the eyes of our editors. It’s quick in the way of electrics without being sudden, it sticks to the road in mountain twisties, and the cabin remains quiet and composed. 

Every Ioniq 6 comes with blind-spot monitors, adaptive cruise control, a power driver seat, heated front seats, dual 12.3-inch digital displays, and wired Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. It also includes a 5-year/60,000-mile warranty that comes with three years or 36,000 miles of free scheduled service.

It’s a compelling alternative in a growing field of similarly styled electric crossovers, and it excels at exactly what it set out to do: Be one of the cleanest, most efficient new cars on sale today—one that’s interesting to look at and engaging to drive, too. Is that enough to win our award? The jury is out until Jan. 3, 2024, at which point we’ll also announce the winners from our Best Car To Buy at Motor Authority and Green Car Reports.