U-DRAG RACE: Hyundai Ioniq 5 N vs. BMW M4 Competition | Acceleration, Quarter Mile, Handling & More

I'm Alistair Weaver, that is the legendary peddler Jonathan L. Farland, this is a Hyundai IONIQ 5N, that is a BMW M4 Competition rear wheel drive, and this is Edmunds U-Drags. Let's get on with it. And here we go again. That's right, today we have the 2025 Hyundai IONIQ 5N with 601 horsepower and Going up against the 2024 BMW M4 Competition with 503 horsepower and 479 pound-feet of torque. It's fitted with the Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S's. These two are going head-to-head on our Edmunds U-Drag track, which starts with a quarter mile drag, then they hit the brakes, do a 180, and power back to start finish. At the end of the first run, we'll swap drivers and lanes and do it again. So who's your money on? And do you want to buy one of these? Then head on over to Edmunds.com. So if you watched my Edmunds fully tested film about the IONIQ 5N, and frankly if you didn't, why not? Here's a cheeky link. Then you'll know that we're big fans of this car. So how do we set it up for the Edmunds drag racing track? Now I've pre-selected an N mode here, which gives me maximum attack in everything. Suspension into sport, steering, motor, electronic limited slip differential into sport plus, and stability control off. We also don't have any of the fake engine noises. We don't have any of the fake gearboxes going on. Just a very pure experience. But what we do need to remember is that on the way back, I can press the NGB, which is the N Grin Boost button. That gives me 10 seconds of extra boost and should help power me to the line. Enough of that, let's race. M4, awesome car. I've got just over 500 horsepower going to the rear axle. This is not an xDrive, so it's rear drive only. I have all my fast settings pre-programmed into this M2 button, so I just got to hit that twice. That turns everything up to the highest levels of dynamism. It turns off traction control and stability control, which is a prerequisite for launch control. Then all you have to do is knock this over to manual. Make sure that the drive logic control is turned all the way up to three. Hard on the brake, full throttle, and I'll get a little indication showing that launch control is being activated. It takes about, I want to say like four seconds for it to prep itself, and then it says it's ready. Boom, off we go. This is going to be a tough, tough match for the M4, but I think it still has a chance. Five, four, three, two, one. Oh, we're off. It always starts well. BMW! We're ahead of the BMW. Oh my god, that little ****. So fast. Here we go. Come on brakes. Right, it goes crazy on the brakes. Let's get this thing stopped. Made a hash of that. I'm ahead, I'm ahead, I'm ahead. I might win this. I'm still going to pull ahead. No, I almost had it. Oh, I could taste victory. Me and Mr. BMW almost had you guys there. Yeah, I made a bit of a hash at the bottom corner. I think the brakes might be getting a little bit hot in this, and he just overcooked it going into. I thought I braked actually pretty early, but he just overran a little bit. It's so hot out here. But then as soon as I went for the NGB, the N-Grin Boost button, you were toast. I knew it. I thought maybe I had the top end, but then you just started going, you just started walking. I'm like, oh man, there's no way. But it was so close. That was exciting. Yeah, this M, it's impressive. It continues to impress me. If it gets everything right, it really performs. It actually braked beautifully into the corner. These carbon ceramics actually did a really good job this run. It felt better. I think there's a little bit more heat in them. But yeah, I don't know. That was about the best race I could have hoped for this thing. That was a pretty lousy race for me. I think I've slightly cooked the brakes a little bit. Yeah, I thought I braked early, but I obviously didn't brake early enough. It still did the business. Right, let's swap. I'm looking forward to getting into that N. So that was probably my worst ever Edmunds U-Drags run in the Ioniq 5N, and I still won. Not holding up a huge amount of hope in the M4, but going to enjoy it all the same. I'm going to shut your eyes, visualize, visualize the run. Try not to visualize defeat. It's N time. I think this is my race to lose. It's got all the advantage. It's got more traction. It's got more power. It's got, surprisingly, more top end. Maybe the one thing it doesn't have is better brakes, but that's because the BMW is cheating with a carbon brake package, which costs a good fraction of this car. So let's go. Five, four, three, two, one. See ya. Come on, BMW. Fourth gear. Flick the gear stick. Oh, this is bumpy. Now that Hyundai's fast. Oh yeah, brakes are getting soft for sure. Ah, I just used the boost, just for good measure. Oh dear, what can you do? Easy win. Easy win. You weren't kidding about these brakes, man. I think they're pretty cooked, but as we saw, it didn't matter. No, I mean, my run, actually, the brakes on this, I think I was a little bit circumspect because I just had a bad experience in the Hyundai. I could have gone a little bit deeper, but I had a bit of fun though. I realized I was losing, so I gave it a little bit of an extra kick. Had a little dab of oppo. It's a fun thing, this. It really is. I mean, this, I believe, has a drift mode and I can hang it out, but it's not quite as natural as it is in that M4. It is manufactured, which to some may not matter. You're still getting the experience, you still have the speed, you still have all the performance that comes with a setup like this. Yeah, I mean, who'd have thought it? A Hyundai SUV EV would be beating not just an M2, but an M4 competition. It's crazy to think it, but that is a hell of a car. The more I drive it, the more time I spend in it, the more I like it, that IONIQ 5N. It is the entire package. I hate saying stuff like that because it sounds so uncreative, but it literally is. I mean, it's got space for you and if you have a family or if you have friends, plus luggage, plus everything. And then you can take it to a track day and whoop up on some M4 competitions. It's insane. Yeah, it's quite a thing. But I'm also still going to look forward to driving this M4 back to LA. So it's still a great, great car. And you won't have to stop and charge, which is also a bonus. That is undeniably true. Pretty close match. Here's the track conditions. And for the best numbers, 0-60 goes to the IONIQ N at 3.3 seconds. Quarter mile goes to the N again at 11.1 at 124.3 miles an hour. Max cornering goes to the M4 pulling 1.24 Gs. And the win goes to the IONIQ N with its best time of 33.2 at 134.4 miles an hour. If you want to check out the official leaderboard, head on over to edmunds.com The 5N did not beat its previous best time, so it stays in 12th. And the M4 comes in 17th with its best time of 33.8. So I think my first run in the IONIQ 5 was one of the worst I've ever done on the Edmunds Udrax course. But it's still one which just shows like how much extra performance that has in hand. I think we've cooked the brakes. We've done a few practice runs and a couple of other races. I think we've cooked the brakes a little bit. They've essentially rewritten the alphabet because now N comes before M. And on that terrible note, we will leave you as quickly as possible. If you like the Edmunds Udrax, please be sure not only to like and subscribe to the channel, also head over to edmunds.com slash udrax for our leaderboard and so much more. Check out everything else that Edmunds has to offer. Thanks for watching. See you next time.