BEST SEVEN SEAT EV
SEOUL TRAIN
There’s been a dearth of electric seven seaters on the market until recently, but thankfully the Koreans have our backs
WORDS JASON BARLOW PHOTOGRAPHY CHRISTIAN BITTMANN
Nothing like a nice sunny afternoon and a bit of Run-DMZ on the stereo
This is actually an Aldi, they just love a bit of brutalist architecture round these parts
Jason’s never been one to let a military roadblock get in the way of a nice drive
It’s hours before he can get anyone to buy him some booze from inside the shop
Borders are strange things. Sometimes the only clue you’ve passed from one country to another is when your phone stops working as it hunts for a new network.
Not in South Korea. When you hit the demilitarised zone that separates it from the north, you know all about it. The DMZ spans 160 miles from coast to coast, and it’s almost three miles wide. OK, so you don’t hit a giant wall as you approach, or suddenly become besieged by suicide drones (yep, they’re a thing), but everything feels a little... other. First you spot a growing number of military vehicles and personnel. Normal traffic thins out to the point that there isn’t any at all. Eerie. Our all new, plus sized Hyundai Ioniq 9 – no shrinking violet, this – is now hiding in plain sight. Then you notice the so called ‘tank traps’, giant concrete blocks at strategic intervals on the roadside. These can be detonated to stop an invading force from progressing any further. This is what paranoia looks and feels like.