4 Of The Coolest Hyundai Ioniq 5 Features We Wish Every Car Had

Technology has always been a part of automobile creation. They are machines, after all. However, in the last 20 years, we have seen an explosion of technological breakthroughs in cars as we move ever more forward into the digital age. It seems as though every car now is packed with so many luxury features that would have seemed like a pipe dream or could only appear in the most expensive vehicles at the start of the 21st Century that we now take for granted. It takes quite a lot for a car to stand out.

Let's take a look at the Hyundai Ioniq 5. This electric crossover SUV from the South Korean automaker was one of the 10 best-selling EVs in the United States in 2022 and was the fourth highest-selling electric SUV. Considering the sales success of the gas-powered SUV Tucson, it shouldn't be much of a surprise that they have found similar success in the electric vehicle space, especially when Consumer Reports finds it to be the fourth most reliable EV.

However, reliability isn't the only reason to buy a car. It still needs features that make it tantalizing to the driver, and the Hyundai Ioniq 5 — or more precisely, the Ioniq 5 Limited trim — contains some fantastic features that will hopefully be standard issue, not just across all of the Ioniq 5s but all cars as well.

This first feature could be seen as somewhat of a double-edged sword. No matter who you are, there have been times when you are driving, and you lose track of how fast you are going or forget where the next turn your navigational system said will be. Our eyes can get stuck on the road. There are also times when we aren't looking at the road enough and find ourselves checking the speedometer frequently or looking over at some kind of screen.

For the Ioniq 5 Limited, Hyundai has created a feature called Premium Head-Up Display. With this enabled, it creates an augmented reality screen on your windshield, displaying things like how fast you are going or navigational prompts. Instead of looking around at different places in your vehicle, you can keep your eyes directly on the road and always know what you need while driving. For some, that is great. For others, the visuals on the windshield could be an unwelcome distraction to the driving experience because it is such a new idea. Either way, it would be good to at least have the option to try it out on all our cars.

Many cars have parking assistance functions, such as showing you a 3D view on your dashboard screen as to how close to the cars around you are. These are certainly invaluable features, but sometimes parking can be incredibly tight or complicated. You may be able to get into a parking spot, but you might not have enough room to exit the vehicle. Well, with the Hyundai Ioniq 5 Limited, you don't have to worry about that.

This trim offers a feature called Premium Remote Smart Parking Assist, which comes standard. With this feature, you can park your car remotely. That means you can be outside of your car and maneuver it into more challenging parking spots without worrying about whether you'll be able to get out. After all, you are already out of the vehicle. Also, if you happen to be a poor parker in general, this feature could be a major help. Again, this is a feature exclusive to the Limited trim, but it seems like it would be worth the upgrade.

All of us have devices that need charging, namely our cell phones. Modern cars have done a pretty good job of including USB ports to plug in your phones; some even have fancy wireless charging. However, sometimes we need to charge more than our phones. Maybe we need to charge a laptop for work, but we are on a long road trip that prevents that. A laptop usually can't be plugged into a USB port.

Below the rear seats of the Ioniq 5 Limited is a 120 V Vehicle-to-Load outlet that lets you plug in just about anything you need, like your laptop, high-tech camping accessories, or even a television. A car having an outlet isn't particularly novel. However, these outlets are usually more exterior-based, such as in the bed of a truck. These are for people who spend a lot of time outdoors and camping. Having a standard issue outlet in the middle of the vehicle's interior is a bit more rare. Again, this is just a feature for the Limited, not the rest of the trims. That shows you how rare and luxurious this particular amenity can be.

It can be incredibly annoying to be constantly changing the speed of how fast the windshield wipers are going if you are in a rainstorm where the frequency of how heavy the rain is constantly shifting. Hyundai has solved this annoyance with the Ioniq 5 Limited and its rain-sensing wipers. Once rain starts to pour down on your vehicle, it automatically triggers the windshield wipers to go off, and they will increase or decrease with speed, depending on how hard the rain is. Driving in the rain can be very dangerous, so having a system that takes away another thing you would need to keep track of while driving in dangerous conditions is a plus.

The SE and SEL trims of the Ioniq 5 may not have these particular features, but that doesn't mean they aren't packed with things like rear-view cameras or multiple USB ports. When it comes to the latter, it actually features five USB ports in total, including one data port in the front and two charging ports in the rear of the vehicle. As much as advanced technology has become commonplace in modern-day automobiles, you still need to pay a premium for some features, and the Hyundai Ioniq 5 Limited delivers those premiums. There's also the Ioniq 5 N coming soon, and we'll see what fancy features that vehicle gets us.