Hyundai Kona

Kona Overview

The only crossover in the current lineup of Hyundai in the Malaysian car market, the Hyundai Kona has been one runaway success story for Hyundai in many parts of the world, as it was the first model to bring forward the ‘sensuous sportiness’ design language in Hyundai family. Currently, in its first-generation version, the Hyundai Kona is being offered in two petrol engine options with two different gearbox options as well as five paint schemes of Chalk White, Ceramic Blue, Blue Lagoon, Pulse Red and Phantom Black.

Hyundai Kona Interior & Features

While the Hyundai Kona looks striking and too extrovert from the outside, the interior cabin has been given a laid back styling, which is high on quality and features, but slightly low on space, especially towards the rear with headroom being compromised. 

The driver’s cockpit of the Hyundai Venue looks sober and is comprised of a three-spoke multi-functional steering wheel and a simply laid instrument console with a small 4.2-inch MID screen in the middle. The pop-up style 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system has rounded upper edges and gets a series of buttons laid vertically on its either sides.

The AC vents in the Hyundai Kona have been given rounded effect, with the middle ones stretched horizontally just above the panel of automatic climate control. The AC vents and transmission tunnel below get colour coded surrounds, making the cabin look cool by adding a nice contrast to the all-black theme for the cabin. 

Kona Exterior

Wearing an evolution of the erstwhile fluidic design theme available in previous generation Hyundais, the Hyundai Kona looks quite extrovert and unique, with its not so heightened crossover stance gelling well with the rugged-looking bits throughout the profile.

At the front, the Hyundai Kona gets a cascading grille, which wears a horizontal grille strip above it. This complete layout gives a two-part grille effect to the front fascia of the Kona. In addition to it, there are slim LED daytime running lamps placed above the trapezoidal headlamps, the latter of which is encased in a different housing with cladding around it, thus giving the overall lamp assembly a split design effect.

The body cladding surrounding the headlamp flows down to the front bumper, which sports small fog lamps on either edges of the lower air dam. The Hyundai Kona looks like a typical crossover when viewed from the side, however, the heavy body cladding above both front and rear wheel arches add some rugged effect to the crossover, thus making it look like a small SUV. The front wheel arches have flared haunches which flow in harmony with the curves of the front bonnet, flowing sideways to the rear.

The Hyundai Kona looks as unique at the rear as how it manages to pull off an impression at the front, with the crossover being adorned with slim LED tail lamps placed at the lower edges of the windscreen. There is an additional set of lamps positioned just above the rear bumper, which are incorporated within body cladding extending from the rear wheel arches.

Hyundai Kona Ride & Handling

The crossover stance with aerodynamic styling at the front and slightly stiff suspension setup do make a solid balance to give the drivers a sense of confidence while driving the Hyundai Kona. What dilutes the overall experience is the too light setup for the steering, which could have had a noteworthy heft especially at higher speeds.

Kona Engine & Fuel Consumption

The Hyundai Kona shares its powertrain options with the Elantra sedan sold overseas. First, there is a naturally aspirated 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol motor which makes 149 PS of power and 180 Nm of torque and is married to a 6-speed automatic transmission. This engine is being offered in two different variants of Standard and Active. Then there is a 1.6-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol motor, which pumps out 177 PS of power and 265 Nm of torque, and is paired to a 7-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.

Hyundai Kona Braking & Safety

The Hyundai Kona gets a hefty amount of safety features, with the list of amenities here including front, side and curtain airbags, ABS with EBD and brake assist, tire pressure monitoring system, electronic stability program, hill start assist, vehicle stability management, traction control, front and rear parking sensors and Hyundai Smartsense package, which consists of a blind-spot detection system, rear cross-traffic collision warning, lane keep assist, adaptive cruise control, forward collision warning, forward collision avoidance assist, high beam assist and driver attention warning. 

Kona Verdict

A crossover usually looks like a compromise in front of SUVs when it comes to road presence. However, the Hyundai Kona manages to negate that impression with its distinctive and extrovert design. Adding to it, the excellent list of features and premium fit and finish do give it an upmarket appeal.