2023 Hyundai Kona review: N-Line Premium 1.6T

Hyundai's presence in the small SUV segment has, since the introduction of the first-gen Kona back in 2017, been a bit on the tiddly side.

Not in terms of sales, mind you – it’s always been a popular thing – but rather in terms of its physical size, which trailed many of its segment rivals.

But the arrival of a new-generation Kona fixes that. It’s bigger, flashier and decked out with more equipment than before, but some compromises come with that – ones that impact your hip pocket. Let’s dive into that.

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JUMP AHEAD

• How much is it, and what do you get?
• Interior comfort, space and storage
• What is it like to drive?
• How much fuel does it use?
• How safe is it?
• VERDICT
• Specifications

How much is it, and what do you get?

We start on a bit of a negative slant because price is perhaps where the Kona loses some of its lustre.

At a retail price of $46,500 (before on-road costs) in N-Line Premium form with the turbo-petrol AWD mechanicals, the Kona’s price tag is on par with that of, say, a seven-seat Nissan X-Trail ST-L. Add $1500 if you want a panoramic glass roof.

But you do get a lot of gear for your spend. Besides the racy body kit ad 19-inch alloys that are part of the N-Line spec, this configuration also comes with heated, ventilated and power-adjustable front seats, heated outboard rear seats, power tailgate, a premium audio system, blind-spot camera monitoring, a 3D parking camera view, remote monitoring via a phone app, heated/power-folding wing mirrors, integrated sat-nav and dual-zone climate control. There’s even more than that too – see the spec table below for the full equipment list.

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Interior comfort, space and storage

The inside of the Kona is a nice place to be – particularly in N-Line Premium spec.

The seats are upholstered in a combination of grey Alcantara and black leather with red contrast stitching, and they hug the torso with a pleasing squeeze. Perforated leather wraps the steering wheel grips too, which also boasts a red contrast stitch, and a red accent stripe bisects the dashboard.

It presents very well, however, run your fingers across the dash and door card uppers and you’ll find hard plastic, not soft-touch materials. It’s not a total vibe-killer – they don’t look shiny and unpleasant, after all – but at this price point it’s not unreasonable to expect nicer materials in these areas.

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With the flip-out cup holders retracted and the divider removed, slotting in a full-size laptop, large handbag or even a rotisserie chicken is easy

But the Kona wins us back with what’s between the front seats. A long open-topped tray stretches from the base of the centre stack – where a generously-sized wireless phone charging pad sits among the ventilation controls and drive mode selector – all the way to the rear seat air vents, with removable trays and dividers to help you manage cargo.

With the flip-out cup holders retracted and the divider removed, slotting in a full-size laptop, large handbag or even a rotisserie chicken is easy, greatly boosting the Kona’s convenience factor. Two things enabled this feature: a 25mm increase in width compared to the old model, and the relocation of the gear selector to the steering column (in all models bar the base Kona).

In the back, there’s ample space. To address criticism that the first-gen Kona offered meagre second-row passenger accommodation, Hyundai stretched the wheelbase of this new model by 60mm and extended the overall length by 145mm.

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That creates 77mm more back-seat legroom, and it’s used to good effect here.

A two-position backrest also gives your passengers a comfortable degree of recline for those long-distance trips, and the aforementioned heated rear seats are a great feature to have.

Boot space also benefits from the dimensional growth – at 407 litres with the rear seats up, there’s plentiful room for cargo. The boot floor can also be dropped to a lower position to liberate a few more litres, and if you’ve got tall cargo there’s even a dedicated stowage position for the parcel shelf to keep it out of the way.

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What is it like to drive?

Locally-developed suspension tunes are no longer the go-to strategy for Hyundai Australia when it comes to tailoring ride and handling of new cars for our roads.

Our country still receives a unique suspension calibration, but now it’s just selected from a global ‘menu’ of suspension bits rather than developed from scratch by Hyundai’s Australian engineering team.

Does that result in a compromise? Arguably not, for the new Kona strikes a good balance been comfort and cornering composure that should suit the majority of Aussies. There is one potential issue, though: the 1.6-litre turbo Kona N-Line doesn’t feel sporty enough to match its athletic looks.

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It works pretty well in town and on highways, but we would have liked a little more engagement factor

Sure, the turbo might receive a more sophisticated multi-link rear suspension set-up rather than the simple torsion beam axle rear end of the naturally-aspirated 2.0-litre and the upcoming hybrid, but the spring and damper settings are skewed towards “soft” more than “sporty”.

The engine lacks a sharper edge too, even when the drive mode dial is turned to Sport, though the critical numbers of 146kW and 265Nm are indeed plentiful enough. It works pretty well in town and on highways, but we would have liked a little more engagement factor to match the aggressive styling.

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How much fuel does it use?

Hyundai claims an average fuel burn of 7.6L/100km but during our launch drive, we couldn’t edge it under 8.6L/100km.

Granted, we were pushing hard over some fairly dynamic roads, but the route included a fair chunk of highway cruising that should have balanced some of that out. More accurate real-world numbers will have to wait until further testing.

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How safe is it?

The new Kona has yet to be rated by ANCAP, however standard safety features on this top-spec variant include seven airbags (including a front-centre bag), autonomous emergency braking with junction mode and reversing mode, blind-spot cameras, driver attention monitoring, lane-keep assist, rear cross-traffic alert, front and rear parking sensors, a 3D parking camera view, and adaptive cruise control.

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VERDICT

If there’s one fault of this particular Kona spec, it’s that it doesn’t deliver on the sporty pretensions of its exterior.

However, it delivers pretty much everywhere else – and particularly when assessed from a day-to-day usability point of view. It’s a good size, filled with gear and has a likeable mechanical package, but that sticker price will be hard for some to get their head around, and understandably so.

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