The veteran behind the Ioniq 5 N says your petrol rocket is disappointing
With a CV that includes the original SVT Mustang and Ford’s F1 and WRC efforts, Tyrone Johnson isn't one to ignore, yet his latest comments could still be seen by some as a betrayal.
His message is clear: the age of the combustion performance car and its suite of sensory delights is over, and the Ioniq 5 N is the new benchmark.
Speaking to Car mag editor Colin Overland, Johnson doesn't bother with the glaze most execs would brush on thick when talking about the harmony between their combustion and electric models. To him, most combustion performance cars are a "disappointment" next to his electric behemoth.
It's a bold claim and easy to dismiss as marketing. To be fair, the Ioniq 5 N is an absolute weapon, but the question is whether it can truly satisfy the vocal pistonheads.
Johnson argues that drivers focused on top performance have always embraced effective new technology. Fair.
His point that “nobody wants manual gearboxes and handbrakes any more” sounds like a wind-up, but it’s backed by the brutal reality of the global sales charts.
But as he notes, buyers not wanting manuals doesn't mean they don't enjoy wielding the flappy paddles from time to time. The Ioniq 5 N lets them do this by simulating the physical sensations of shifting – and, crucially, it’s mimicking a DCT, not a traditional row-your-own manual.
In Johnson's view, Hyundai isn’t faking the past; it's enhancing the present. He’s saying the dual-clutch transmission has become the new baseline for sensory feedback in a performance car. Simulating the choreography of a manual shifter and clutch would be silly (tell that to Toyota), whereas mimicking a DCT is an entertaining and less ridiculous middle ground.
That's all fine. It’s his cold dismissal of the connection enthusiasts feel with the noise, vibration, and even the smell of performance that is a hard pill to swallow.
“I don’t understand the idea that performance cars are dying,” he says. “If you want to go fast, there’s nothing better than an EV. I don’t understand the nostalgia.”
Is this a reminder that a motorsport engineer will pursue results to the exclusion of the passion that pulls us into the seat? Were the thrills we enjoyed in his past performance models only a byproduct of a mission to get us from A to B as quickly as possible?
To his credit, Johnson concedes that sensory inputs like sounds and vibrations are vital for the human brain to understand a car’s behaviour, which is precisely why they’ve been engineered back into the 5 N. But... it isn't just about understanding. It's also about thrills. The sounds and bangs that make you whoop and holler!
For many, that "nostalgia" isn't about being stuck in the past; it's about the rich, analogue feedback that a combustion engine and a finely tuned chassis provide naturally. It's the very soul of the experience.
Plenty of visceral kicks in this one.
An EV can be monumentally fast and preternaturally composed as you chuck it around, and that's all bloody good fun too – but can its simulated sensations ever truly replace the organic character of a screaming V8 or a boost-happy turbo six?
Yes, the market is bigger than just us enthusiasts. We don't need another sermon at a launch event to be reminded that wagons and manuals are almost extinct because there aren't enough buyers for them anymore.
It's true that for most people, the Ioniq 5 N presents a near-perfect proposition: a practical, comfortable five-seater that also delivers breathtaking, accessible speed and handling. But for the dedicated enthusiast, the idea that it renders a 911 or an i30 N "disappointing" simply because they're not as fast... misses the entire point.
To say that he doesn't understand the nostalgia and lamentations?
Johnson has built a brilliant machine. But dismissing the desire for the sensory drama of combustion as mere nostalgia might be the one thing this 40-year performance veteran gets wrong.
Alright, good chat. xoxo.
Mike Stevens
Member discussion