What is this obsession all car reviewers have with so-called "hard scratchy plastics"? What does it matter what the top of the dashboard is covered in?! Surely as long as those areas you touch are soft enough to be comfortable then who cares?
100% I’ve only ever had cars with hard plastics and it’s never bothered me. Yet all reviewers go on and on about it. For cheaper cars like this, what else do you expect?
I have a stonic. Love the new one, but I do love my diesel. I get regularly over 50mpg. Plus it has enough torque for what I want. It seems to fit in well with our rural location. Great review.
There’s more a 2025 model: few but noticeable differences are the auto folding mirrors, fully digital cluster lifted from the my23 entry level sportage, intelligent speed limit assist as per European July 2024 directive, improved lane follow assist, no auto blip of the throttle in sport mode.
Hey it’s Kirk I have to say I just love how you talk about car and the way you explain it and don’t sound so bias about the cars not just this one but many more cars But you need to wear more shorts in the summer time
Best thing about the engine is in the lower engine tune (and higher) it can be cheaply and safely remaped to 139bhp (up 40bhp) and 229nm of torque ( up 58nm)which transformed the cars get up and go in 2nd and 3rd gear. We have the same engine in our 2017 rio and the £199 remap has been faultless for over a year and car does 58mpg on a trip from Derbyshire to North Devon and back. Easily the best bang for buck ,40% power increase makes the little kia on par with a sporty fiesta.
This is an excellent review. Heres a thing...my wife has a 3yr old Stonic but as shes only 4'10' tall, struggles at seeing over the dash/bonnet so she is now buying another more suitable car. I am so smitten with her Stonic, i am having her car to replace my wonderful but ageing Freelander2. I am 6'3'' (yes, we do look comical together 😂) and i fit into the Stonic really well
Very good review! I have a Stonic and love it! Just feel that the revs are too high for gears - 6th gear and it's at 3k!😢 Can't be good for fuel efficiency? Classed as mild hybrid but I still can't see where the hybrid comes into the equation?
I drove the 1.0L 100 Hp 6 speed manual today, no mild hybrid just plain good O'l engine and the one with manual climate controls and I absolutely loved it, I currently have a Volkswagen Id3 Electric with all these screens, endless menus and serious distraction as well as crap software let down by VWs failure to offer OTA updates and not we're stuck on crap software VW said they are not upgrading any more for my model year...... what a joke, this is what I do not want about all this digital crap. Not to mention the car is 2.5 years old cost 41k Euros and Kia offer me 15,000 ? VW offered low 20s. Anyway, this is not a mistake I make again buying electric car, range, recharge times, you heard it all and from an owner it's very real. I really liked the 1.0L in the Stonic, plenty of power, lovely place to sit to be honest, comfortable seats too. If the Kia dealer had to offer me a decent price for my car I would have driven out in the stonic I really did like it that much + I really loved having an engine and changing gears, electric cars are incredibly boring and soulless , the lightness of the Stonic compared to my 2 tonne EV hatchback was really noticeable. It was quite good to drive. I found nothing wrong with the plastics, it's quite a nice car and way better than anything VW can come up with, their cockpit, digital cluster looks like something designed by screen addicted school kids, the same goes for many cars now today, even the Hyundai i20 has digital instrument cluster, not optional all this tech more and more forced upon us costing more and more. The only thing I would change on the Stonic and many other cars is to have dedicated radio presets and buttons without having to flick through menus but it's a far better system than my crap vw id3.
Thank you for your comment Kevin. Yes the Stonic is a cracking looking car. I hope the ICE car continues for Kia for a while yet, making it an easier car to purchase for more buyers. Maybe a fresh design with a more novel place to set the hybrid system.
