Hyundai Ioniq car review: ‘Never ignore your electric car’

The help I get from strangers will run to many man hours by the end of this caper

The Hyundai Ioniq has its automatic gears on large, crude buttons that look as though they were designed to teach a baby how to spell. It doesn't seem likely that hitting D will result in a forward movement, but there she goes, smooth and silent, a cheerful blue predator. All that stuff I would normally notice (the exterior, the cabin, the satnav, the driving posture): forget it. This is one woman's struggle against her hybrid's battery life, like Leonardo DiCaprio and the bear in The Revenant.

I set off for Oxford, 57 miles, with my 107-mile fully charged battery. Acceleration is great, but nothing on the smugness. Road roar is a bit of an issue, especially when trying to listen to a tense podcast full of deep southerners making racist remarks sotto voce.