New Hyundai Ioniq 3 price drops to £18,495 with EV grant
Hyundai’s new electric hatchback is eligible for the full £3,750 Electric Car Grant (ECG)
The all-new Hyundai Ioniq 3 is now available from just £18,495, undercutting key rivals like the Renault 5, Cupra Raval and VW ID. Polo by a few thousand pounds. This is thanks to the Star Trek-styled hatchback qualifying for the full £3,750 Electric Car Grant (ECG) from the Government.
Every version of the Ioniq 3 qualifies for the maximum grant as well. Customers get four trim levels to choose from – Advance, Premium, Ultimate and N Line Evo – plus two battery options that provide up to 308 miles of range.
Even before the government discount, the Ioniq 3 was already one of the most affordable electric cars on the market. But now, its starting price is the same as the Citroen e-C3, and the only EVs available for less are the Leapmotor T03 (£12,995) and Dacia Spring (£11,990).
The Ioniq 3 shares its underpinnings with the new Kia EV2, but that starts from £24,245, even after the £3,750 government discount. The Ioniq 3’s remarkably low new starting price poses an even bigger problem for the funky Hyundai Inster, which is a much smaller car that uses older tech and offers less range. It starts from a whisper under £23,000 and doesn’t receive any government discounts.
What standard kit do you get with each model?
That headline price tag is for the small battery car in base ‘Advance’ trim and with a single metallic red paint shade as a no cost paint option. Standard kit includes 16-inch alloy wheels, LED front headlamps and rear lamps, parking sensors, dual-zone automatic climate control, rear-view camera, adaptive cruise control and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. There's no driver's display however. All driving-related information is displayed on the 12.9-inch central touchscreen, like in a Tesla Model Y or Volvo EX30.
The entry-level ‘Standard Range’ 42.2kWh battery is only offered in Advance trim and provides up to 213 miles of range. Upgrading to the ‘Long Range’ 61kWh unit costs £3,500 if you stick with the base spec, while all the other variants have it equipped as standard.
Premium trim (available from £23,695 after the ECG) adds 17-inch alloy wheels, a 9.9-inch digital driver’s display, wireless smartphone charger and tinted windows, plus the option to add the £1,250 ‘EV Pack’ which includes an energy-saving heat pump and vehicle-to-load charging functionality.
Step up to an Ultimate model (starting from £26,195 after ECG) and you get 18-inch alloys, built-in sat-nav, matrix LED headlights with a dynamic welcome function, heated front seats, a heated steering wheel, air vents for rear passengers, reclining rear seats and ambient lighting. For an extra £2,500 you can also add the ‘Comfort Pack’ which includes heated rear seats, ventilation for the front seats, a Bose sound system and a smartphone key.
Finally, there’s the range-topping N Line Evo version. This starts from £28,195, with the grant applied, and comes with a sportier bodykit featuring a larger rear lip spoiler, N Line badging and 19-inch alloy wheels. Inside, there’s suede and cloth upholstered N Line seats, red accents all around the cabin, a larger 14.5-inch touchscreen, a 360-degree monitor and remote park assist.
On those screens there’s Hyundai’s new Android-based infotainment software ‘Pleos Connect’ – the Ioniq 3 is actually the first Hyundai to use this system. Offering a “modern smartphone-like user interface” according to Hyundai. Pleos Connect is based on Android Automotive OS and is designed to simplify Hyundai’s infotainment layout. We found it similar to Tesla’s user interface design with the car’s key information on the driver’s side on the screen and the rest of the display taken up by a large sat-nav map.
How fast does it charge? And get from 0-62mph?
The ioniq 3 sits on a shrunken version of the E-GMP architecture that underpins the Hyundai Ioniq 5, except it doesn’t get an 800-volt electrical system - like its brother from another mother, the Kia EV2 - so doesn’t charge nearly as fast.
Even so, the maximum charge speed for the Ioniq 3 with the 42kWh battery is 119kW, and a 10 to 80 per cent top-up will take 29 minutes. Oddly, models with the larger 61kWh battery can only charge up to 110kW, resulting in the same top-up taking exactly half an hour, Hyundai says.
It’s a similarly odd story when it comes to power output. Surprisingly, the cheapest Ioniq 3 is the quickest, as it has a 144bhp e-motor driving the front wheels and an 8.8-second 0-62mph time. Those with the ‘Long Range’ powertrain produce 134bhp and take 9.6 seconds to hit 62mph. However, both are slightly slower than the equivalent EV2.
During our test drive of the Ioniq 3 in N Line form we found the chassis well set up without being overly firm or wallowy - an electric hot hatch rival to the 223bhp Cupra Raval it is not, we’ll have to wait for the Ioniq 3 N for real excitement behind the wheel.
Bold design inspired by ‘Art of Steel’
Hyundai displayed the Concept Three at the 2025 Munich Motor Show last September and while there have been plenty of changes to make the Hyundai Ioniq 3, this new model is the realisation of that rather wacky concept.
The Ioniq 3 sits below the Ioniq 5, Ioniq 6 and Ioniq 9 as the smallest Ioniq-branded Hyundai. However, at 4.1m long, it’s not the smallest Hyundai electric car – that honour goes to the 3.8-metre Inster supermini.
Both the Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6 have pretty distinctive designs, so it’s no surprise the Ioniq 3 looks set to turn a few heads, too. Hyundai describes the model as an ‘aero hatch’ and while it sits higher than the Concept Three, the overall profile is familiar, with a low front end, swept-back windscreen and tapered windowline.
The overall surfacing of the Ioniq 3 comes from Hyundai’s ‘Art of Steel’ design philosophy, which is most evident in the creases down the side that point up towards the rear spoiler. Colour-contrasting wheelarches help give the Ioniq 3 a squat-looking stance (although not quite as extreme as the show car’s) and to the rear the upright form and narrow light bar have a whiff of the Alfa Romeo SZ.
As with the Alfa, Hyundai’s design is purposefully bold, with one designer telling us “the best thing for us is people not immediately loving it, we want a polarising design”. An element of the Concept Three that hasn’t made its way to the Ioniq 3 is the fake exhaust, which provided exterior sound on the concept. However, we were told that this feature might be something we’ll see on future Ioniq 3 models, such as a hot Ioniq 3 N.
How practical is the new Hyundai Ioniq 3?
The Ioniq 3 might look like the sleeker cousin to the EV2, but its 441-litre boot is bigger, once you remove the load-bay floor. With the rear seats folded there’s 1,213 litres back there. We found the interior isn’t quite as spacious as the EV2’s, particularly for rear headroom, but with a flat floor and slightly sunken rear seats it’s not uncomfortable back there.
The front features a big space under the centre console which can extend into a large flask storage area by removing one of the cup-holders entirely – a pretty nifty solution.
Get the latest and best car news and reviews, first! Follow Auto Express on Google today
