New Hyundai Kona 2017 review ~ station of gear

14 Jun, 2017 9:45am John McIlroy

We head to Korea for a short first drive in the all-new Hyundai Kona SUV, can it beat the Juke, Captur and CX-3 on this evidence?

When even the car manufacturer admits its new model is late to the party, you know how much its sales network has been crying out for it. And that’s the case with the Hyundai Kona, a baby SUV designed to rival the Nissan Juke, Renault Captur and Peugeot 2008.

The Korean firm’s management acknowledges that it could - should - have brought this car to market earlier. But in an unusual move for a company that generally operates on five-year model cycles instead of the car industry’s seven-year norm, Hyundai has instead looked closely at potential rivals and, it claims, canvassed the views of existing and potentially new customers.

The Kona is the result. It’s a chunky-looking block of a thing, mixing some of Hyundai’s existing supermini styling cues (particularly the tail-lights) with swathes of body cladding and elements that will be “unique to Kona”, according to design boss Luc Donckerwolke. Pictures don’t quite do it justice, and the front end is particularly sharp, with its twin-headlight design - but there’s no doubt that the looks will split opinion much more than those of the ultra-conservative i20 and i30.

UK customers will get a choice of two petrol engines when the Kona goes on sale in November - a 1.0-litre three-cylinder, producing 118bhp and 175Nm of torque and a 1.6-litre turbocharged four-cylinder with 175bhp.

Engineers are also working on a 1.6 diesel with either 113bhp or 131bhp (it’s due in April 2018) but interestingly, Hyundai UK hasn’t decided whether it will bring either spec of the engine to British customers. It may prefer to offer the car with the two petrol motors and a pure-electric edition that’s also due before the end of next year. The smaller petrol engine gets a six-speed manual gearbox only, while the 1.6 comes with a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic.

The chassis comes in two versions. Regular Konas will get a relatively simple and cheap torsion-beam rear suspension set-up, while four-wheel-drive editions - the higher-powered diesel and the 1.6 petrol, basically - offer a multi-link configuration instead.

Our drive at Hyundai’s Namyang test facility shows that the Koreans have used the Kona’s extended gestation period to produce a pretty solid product. Our car was a 1.6 petrol with the dual-clutch gearbox and four-wheel drive (and thus the more sophisticated rear suspension).

Performance is punchy enough, as you'd expect from something with 175bhp. The dual-clutch gearbox shifts smoothly enough, although it doesn't always seem the cleverest when it comes to judging when to move between gears.

With a relaxed driving style you can expect upshifts at around 3,000rpm - and that's just as well, because if you do demand really rapid progress, you'll find that the 1.6 gets pretty harsh beyond 4,000rpm. Its best work is long done by that point, frankly.

At cruising speeds the motor fades nicely into the background, settling to just over 2,000rpm at 70mph. By that speed you'll hear a fair bit of wind noise from the side mirrors; indeed, the whoosh becomes quite noticeable from around 65mph.

We only had the briefest of runs through the handling course and our car was on Korean-spec dampers but it felt pretty firm regardless. We'd be worried about the EU’s more 'agility-focused’ settings on British roads. Korean spec doesn't feel spectacularly involving anyway, with pretty heavy steering that's not particularly communicative.

Still, on the evidence of this sort drive the Kona is going to be there or thereabouts dynamically in a class that’s more focused on image and practically than pure driving pleasure.

It should be in the mix on cabin space, at least. The Kona is a little longer than a Juke, and its short overhangs increase that gain when it comes to wheelbase - so there’s definitely more space inside than in Nissan’s offering.

In practical terms the car is just about capable of accommodating four six-footers, providing those in the rear don't mind their knees pressing up against the soft front seat backs. Headroom shouldn't be a problem unless you’re over 6ft tall.

The boot is a decent size (361 litres) and shape too - enough, we'd say, to move the Kona beyond all but the largest superminis when it comes to carrying bulky loads (and that’s not something that can be said for too many small SUVs). The Renault Captur’s boot is a bit more capacious, mind you.

The cabin finish is more plain and functional than the Kona's outlandish exterior. That's to say that there's a mix of hard plastics in areas that you're unlikely to touch and pieces of padding where you'll regularly interact. And that the design is entirely conventional; you could be sitting in a mid-spec Hyundai i30, were it not for the slim view through the narrow rear hatch glass.

The 8in screen is mounted proud of the fascia in a slightly ungainly housing, but it’s a crisp enough display and it has shortcut buttons to help you jump between functions. There's also an unusually large (8in) head-up display that, Hyundai claims, offers more functionality than any other in the class; it's likely to be an option on all but the high-end models in the UK, though.

Hyundai has taken its time to get a small SUV to market but it looks like it has thought things through to good effect. Assuming its European suspension settings aren't too easily upset by British roads, the Kona has real potential to be an appealing rival for the Juke and Captur, offering funky looks, a practical cabin and strong connectivity.

Model: Hyundai Kona 1.6 turbo petrol
Price: £18,000 (est)
Engine: 1.6-litre 4cyl turbo
Power/torque: 175bhp/265Nm

Transmission: Four-wheel drive, seven-speed dual-clutch automatic
0-62mph/Top speed: 7.9s/127mph
Economy/CO2: 38.7mpg/169g/km (est)
On sale : November

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