Love this car. Purchased Kona Ultimate in May for my daughter in college (upstate NY). Liked how it drove so much, purchased another Kona Ultimate in August for my youngest driver. Drove many cars before purchase including the Mazda CX3, Subaru Crosstrek, Subaru WRX, VW Alltrack, and Jeep Cherokee. Hands down, the Kona has the best driving experience and has the best warranty (5yr/60,000 miles bumper to bumper). It is small and hatch space is limited. Takes some work to stuff a bike in the back with the seats down. The 1.6T engine is fantastic and in sport mode is responsive and great for mountain driving. The all-wheel drive system has been unstoppable so far in the snow (did fit it with snow tires). What sold me on this car was the drive experience, warranty, and loads of safety features. The DCT is much more enjoyable than a CVT - especially in the mountains. I would NOT recommend it for off-roading though as it can overheat the DCT under heavy load. The look of the Kona is unique - either love it or hate it. My daughters love it and sets it apart from the sea of Subarus in our mountain town. Just my 2 cents.
Mark O Thanks, thinking of buying for my 17 y/o daughter. I don't know why any parent would buy a car for their kids w/o all the safety features offered today. Daughter wants it because of the crazy green color and quirky appearance. Son got the Rav4.
Hello, DW, your comment is now four years young. Do you still have the Kona and has it been reliable? I have the same engine in my Tucson 1.6T; the turbo cracked at 43,000 miles and it was replaced under factory warranty. Otherwise, no power train issues. And yours? Cross shopping against CX-30, RAV4, Corolla Cross hybrid.
Your reviews are so calming, I actually watch them on my lunch break and eat my food lol. I'm thinking "oh cool a new episode"! I can't be the only one who does that haha
@@shuritgaming8038 just picked up a 2023 Kona N-Line with the 1.6T. 195 HP & 195 TQ. Still in the break in period but so far I haven’t felt any power lacking for daily driving!
I love the Kona. It look muscular. Great proportions. Not too big. And with the 1.6L turbo it is zippy. Likes to corner thanks to Hyundai's own high strength steel. Which is why it is not so heavy yet stiff and nimble. I tried three time to get the Unlimited versions at three different dealerships. Sorry, my credit history didn't allowed it.
I tell you what...I bought this car and I DO NOT AT ALL regret that purchase. Mine is a lower trim but It still has more features than even some base model luxury vehicles. And last year when we had that snowstorm and every vehicle was stuck on the road unable to move, my Kona went through that snow like it wasn't even there. I can just imagine the WTF stares I got as I passed everybody who was stuck. The only thing I am disappointed about with this car is that they couldn't get me the color I wanted and how slow at take off it can be if not in sport mode. Definitely getting this car again when my lease is up (and in the color I want).
I love watching people complain about the dashboard being hard in a entry level vehicle and proceed to bang on it, like the average person ISNT going to do that or care....
@@seunghkim7 Sofyan was filming the infotainment/nav and the camera guy that does the exterior shots was in front of him, look over the hood during the infotainment part...
I didn't care for it at first but its grown on me. I like how Hyundai made it peppy enough to zip around in traffic. They do need to reduce the hard plastics inside though (and not just the upper door panels). Its selling really well from what I've read.
I understand everyone complaining about all the hard plastic inside. But let's be honest, they had to cut something somewhere. If you want fun and performance in this class, the Kona is the best....by far!! If interior quality is your top priority, buy the CX3. Apparently, you can't have both at this price.
I bought a 2018 limited 1.8 turbo fwd June 2018. Love it! Not one inkling of buyers remorse yet. I wanted a Mini Cooper, but reviews of the clubman are all over the place (plus the cooper I wanted was close to $40,k) so I went with the Kona. We call it the “Korean Mini Cooper”. It’s quick, comfortable, loaded with features, and gets really good mileage if you keep your foot out of it. This is my first Hyundai, and I’m still seriously impressed. I would replace it with another if something happened to ours.
Love the exterior design of these. Would totally belive the front is an Audi and the back is an Alfa Romeo. The Korean's are really stepping up their game.
I own a 2018 Kona Ultimate in Sonic Sliver. I'm a long time Hyundai owner so they were first on my list when I was looking for a smaller SUV with AWD. That said, I am a big fan of the look of the Kona. Hyundai has done a much better job with the "split headlight' design than Jeep did. The flat front grill IMO provides much more continuity between the upper and lower headlights. As opposed to to the triangular front look for the Grand Cherokee look that Jeep went with. I've written other reviews of the Kona, so I won't repeat myself here. Suffice it to say that for an MSRP of under $30K you get A LOT.
@@SonyEnthusiast So do you use a calendar to base your 0-60 times? LOL .. How about the "Sport" HRV? SPORT? LOL .. See, any car can be made fun of, just a matter of when people get a kick out of going to other car reviews and doing it to make a person feel good is what is bad. Grow up.
Saw one today in orange . It was good looking but when I saw it had a 1.6 with a turbo , it turned me off . Prefer a 2 liter without a turbo and no direct injection .
I'll bet this is an awesome car. I own the Kia Niro Hybrid and the only thing I'd change on it would be to add a turbo. The basic 1.6 non-aspirated model is pretty gutless and inefficient. I love everything else about it!
I wish someone would make a sub compact SUV with the good looks of the Mazda CX-3,the turbo engine of the Kona and the cargo space in the Honda. It seems like each brand has a little bit that is good but nobody has put it all together. If they did they would hit a home run with it!
@@lexmaximaguy8788 yeah of course that's true. I'm just agreeing with above comment. This looks like it could be mistaken for a cherokee by a less informed person outside the car community
I have a 2013 Elantra but I’m dying to get the kona. Right now I’m not into anything spectacular when it comes to cars and so far with my Hyundai for being 6 years old (I’ve only had it for a year) I’m very impressed with my Hyundai and would love to continue with this company. I had a mercury mountaineer and I do miss something big but I actually love the size of this
They brought back the plastics of the Honda Element, Pontiac Aztec, Jeep Liberty, Nissan Pathfinder and others. Those things are ugly when they fade due to elements like hot sun. Hopefully next years model won’t have so much plastic especially around the wheel arcs. Besides the plastic moundings, it’s a nice car.
These aren't bad but I wish that hyundai and kia would move the rear turn signals to the same level as the lights. In the UK you're gonna have a few near misses as they can't always be seen as easily as you think.
Keen on Kona's own eccentric/eclectic styling. My wife drove an Kona Elite demonstrater in '17 Hobart Australia & only opted for an Elantra Turbo (here an i30SR Premium Turbo 1.6 DCT 201hp) purely as it had 'radar' cruise control) at that time.
it would be even better if they take off take off some of that body cladding there just way to much for my taste they should have that as an option for people that go off-roading but for average consumers it should body colored cladding
2:57 - if they had only put cladding along the actual arch-lines, the plastic mass would have been reduced ~50% and resulted in a much handsomer side profile! (The silver streak @ bottom of doors could have gone away too -_-)
Given Kona's hight and short wheelbase, it's not the best setup for blasting through traffic on the highway. I'd play to its strength in the city or climbing steep grades, which requires the 2.0L engine with regular toque converter automatic. It'd be interesting if N version is good enough to upsell those who'd prefer the usability of the base engine.
At first i didnt like the juke-esque front facia. After seeing these run about, im a changed man. Dont know how well they will age, but i love the look of these little crossovers. I had the pleasure of driving a 1.6t and was pleasantly surprised. This car has a lot of character, which is the most important thing
My 2016 Ford Escape goes back in 6 months from the 3 year lease. I'm looking to get something smaller with AWD. I'm looking at the Kona and i kinda like, yea i do see the hard plastic, but the way it drives seems more important. I wanna look more into this car. The engine itself is a huge turn on
I think the Kona looks good. I really like the front styling and the plastic wheel wells. Ugh, no spare tire? Fix a flat doesn't work on side wall tire flats. The electric version of the Kona makes the vehicle a lot more appealing to me.
I have the Limited. I think they did the Cherokee but the way it should have been. It does have a spare tire (the donut) its just underneath that tray thing. He's definitely right when he says its like a lifted hatchback.
I wanna know how this 1.6t with 175hp and only 3100 lbs to lug around gets less MPG on the highway than a 2020 BMW M340i with 4WD and almost twice the displacement and power. Dafuq?
I don't like your negative attitude toward car. but I check out this at Car fair. It was one of the most popular car with pack of technology with nice looking and good price and good MPG. Seeing is believing.
Typically reviewers are given a car by the manufacturer, so it's the manufacturer offering up only the top trim as a marketing tactic. I would like to see more in-depth info on middle or even base trims, though. I'm hoping to ditch my Focus for a Kona in the coming months, but I can't decide if the Ultimate package is worth the extra $4-5k over the Trend, but so far all of the reviews are for the Ultimate and barely touch on the Trend, if at all.
To answer your question, I hate headlights and tail lights that are on the level of the bumper or are incorporated in the bumper, which makes for higher insurance costs if they get busted, otherwise I like the styling.
Bad review about design. The black plastics offer amazing protection, they are not judt ornaments! Those black plastics are one of the reason why people buy this car!
Quick tip. Want more power? Get the 2.0 and supercharge it. Thats what id do at least. Ive seen on other reviews that the transmission is terrible for any type of offroad and overheats like crazy. Idk if you got to test this or not
Given the lighter weight, hard plastic is secondary, especially when not highly priced. If Hyundai can figure out a way to shorten the over-hang even more (trunk space secondary), it'd destroy the competition. Length is a major factor for us big city slickers. An extra 6inch or so would do the trick.
I'm not too huge on automakers making full-on separate assemblies and locations for their lights at the front of the car and THIS car takes the cake for the most extreme I've seen so far. 3 separate lights? I would hope at the very least this makes the car easier to work on and isolate lighting issues but it just does not look good (at least not yet). Nissan did the same type of thing with the Juke and I hated it on that car. This is a step closer to the right direction, maybe, but jeez... seeing 3 different pairs of lights on the front of a 2018 car, and not all of them being LED just hurts the consistency and appearance overall.
Nope master the paddle shifters in S mode. Downshifting is the key and my 0-60 test is pretty good ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-y0mR9EB4cFs.html
@@SonyEnthusiast I like Hondas too, but the Kona has 174 HP and 195 lbs-ft torque vs. HRV 141 HP and 127 lbs-ft. The power difference is considerable and undeniable.
Dragon...your concern is understandable. But keep in mind that this transmission has been in Hyundai/Kia cars for more than 6 years now, and there haven't been any major problems. In fact, they have been constantly tweaking it to make it better. So, maybe not the best DCT. But not the worst either, and certainly more reliable than a CVT.
