Command performance
Hyundai Kona puts substance ahead of style
THE Hyundai Tucson has been Ireland’s bestselling car for over two years now, and its success has been phenomenal. Last year, we bought 4,893 of them and sales of a further 2,112 thus far in 2018 have seen Hyundai leapfrog Volkswagen and Ford to claim the No.2 spot in the manufacturers’ league table and claim a 10% share of the total sales market, beaten only by Toyota (though to be fair, when you add up VW, Skoda, Audi and SEAT, the Volkswagen group still is the boss).
With the arrival of the Kona, Hyundai’s place in the rankings looks assured. The Bsegment SUV – rivals include the SEAT Arona, Nissan Juke, Peugeot 2008 and its Kia cousin, the Stonic – surely is destined to be in the Top 5 in the end-of-year sales charts.
The looks have been divisive, but the first time I saw it in the metal, at the Frankfurt Motor Show last year, I let out a low whistle. I think it’s a cracking looking car, with vibrant body colours and optional contrasting grey or black roof. My test car looked red to me, but it’s actually a shade called Tangerine Comet and was described to me as ‘orange’, which I struggled to see, to be honest. It’s very vivid – the binman gave it a big thumbs-up! – but not the only attractive colour. The Pulse Red, Acid Yellow and Ceramic Blue are showstoppers in their own right.
You can also can get optional roof rails, which add a little more SUV character, though there’s plenty of that already with the big honeycomb grille, wheelarch mouldings that wrap around the taillights, and a bulging bonnet. I didn’t get the chance to put it to the test, but my test car also was full four-wheel drive, so it has genuine SUV credentials for those who would need them.
In standard driving conditions, it’s handles well, but I was surprised to see that the 1.6-litre turbo-petrol 175hp engine in my test car was capable of propelling the Kona from 0-100km/h in 7.9 seconds. It somehow didn’t feel that fast, maybe because I wasn’t wild about the automatic transmission, which never feels quite as smooth as a dualclutch system should. Certainly, I’d like to try the 118hp 1.0-litre three-cylinder engine for comparison, because some of those smaller units nowadays are absolutely terrific. For now, your only choice of engine is petrol, but there will be a 1.6-litre diesel later in the year and the promise of an electric model in the future.
Where the Kona falls down against some of the rivals is on the inside. Rear legroom is adequate rather than generous, and the 361 litres of cargo space (expandable to 1,401 litres with the rear seats dropped) is not best in class.
As often is the case with Hyundai, the interior plastics also are a little harsh, and the black isn’t livened up by anything contrasting, leading to an overall feeling of darkness quite at odds with the vibrancy of the exterior. Introducing some Tangerine Comet on the fascia would jolly it up no end. Also, the seven-inch touchscreen is mounted on the fascia, rather than recessed into it, and that’s another thing I don’t care for – purely personal preference that one, though.
As the top-of-the-range model in Premium trim, my test car came with 18-inch alloys, leather seats, door sill inserts, skid plates, blind spot detection, front parking assist, rearview parking camera, rear cross traffic alert, cruise control, lane keep assist and driver fatigue warning system. It also had Bluetooth phone connectivity and USB input for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, automatic climate control, privacy glass in the rear, automatic windscreen defogger, front fog lights, daytime LED running lights, and the roof rails.
The downside of this particular model is the relatively high running costs. Fuel efficiency of 6.7 litres per 100km is not unusual for this sort of engine, but the 1.0-litre engine uses just 5.2l/100km, and with emissions of 117g/km, you’ll pay just €200 a year in motor tax. Here, with emissions of 153g/ km, you pay €390.
Not having driven the other version, I can’t say hand on heart it would be worth paying the premium to move up to the bigger engine, so that would very much be a personal decision.
In a segment primarily driven by the visuals rather than performance though, there really is a Kona for everyone, and if the performance of the Tucson is anything to go by, then Hyundai has another massive hit on its hands. You wouldn’t begrudge them it, either, because this is a very fine car indeed.