We already had the Hyundai Kona in a three-cylinder petrol version and it blew me away. Now we have it in a hybrid version. It wasn't bad either, but I didn't like it that much.
First the exterior
It swells with power from the front, the big catfish mouth is ready to bite. The thin headlights and running lights are really sporty. The reflector is lower, and then the fog lights are all the way down. Looking at the front, it could even be a beast with hundreds of horsepower. The nicely bulging hood also emphasizes the front.
The car is 4165 mm long, 1800 mm wide, and 1565 mm high. It's not that sporty from the side, but it looks very good. The black plastic covering of the fender arches makes the already large 18-inch wheels and wheel arch even bigger. The alloy wheels are a masterpiece, although I wouldn't like to polish them... The beltline, the dynamic lines of the roof, the black roof, all radiate strength. There are many design gags in it, but it's still uniform.
From the rear, the subtle, black roof spoiler with the tinted glass radiates seriousness. The thin rear lights also fit well. The combination of the lower reversing light, indicator, fog light and prism with the gray frame is a bit too much, a bit bazaar for me. But overall, the rear section is powerful and harmonious.
In short, the exterior of the Kona is impeccable. The exterior is definitely a buyer-attracting factor.
Let's sit down.
The seats are comfortable, but not outstandingly so. They have good lateral support and the seat is not short, but I have sat more comfortably. But I have to admit that I fit comfortably at 193 cm. Sitting behind the front seat next to me, this cannot be said. My head touches the roof and my knees touch the front seat. It's no use, this is not a big car.
However, the steering wheel has a very good grip. The thickness and shape are also appropriate. Nowadays it is fashionable to flatten the bottom of the steering wheel, but Hyundai did not take this opportunity here.
By the way, we can even control a spaceship from the steering wheel...almost. From here, you can control the cruise control (there is no adaptive cruise control), the stereo, telephone, and infotainment system.
The central 7-inch display is typical of the concern. Apple Car Play works perfectly with our phone. There are certainly no complaints about the Android system either. What I especially liked was that it skillfully handled multiple phones at the same time.
My little son's favorite was the Hybrid window, where it shows whether the battery is being charged, whether the 32 kW electric motor is driving the car, whether the 105 hp 1.6 GDI Atkinson engine is driving the chassis, or whether it's giving it its all and producing a total output of 141 hp.
The dashboard is also very cool and shows everything you need. On the right is the speedometer, which is scaled up to 240, although according to the factory, it only ends at 160, I think it's 180 km/h...
On the left, it shows whether we are currently taking power from the system or recharging it. In the middle is the infotainment.
What I especially liked was that the climate control can be controlled with knobs and buttons and not from the touchscreen.
The interior of the car is characterized by sophistication. This is further enhanced by the Krell stereo, which sounds really nice.
As I mentioned, the space in the back is more like a small car and the trunk is not very large, 361/1143 liters.
Let's go
Most of the time we set off in silence, the 1,56 kWh battery has enough power to carry the 1376 kg Kona for a while.
If we step on it, the petrol engine kicks in, sending power to the front wheels via a 6-speed dual-clutch automatic. The car operates in ECO mode by default, but if we pull the gear lever to the left, where we can also shift with the lever, or start shifting with the paddle shifters behind the steering wheel, the car switches to sport mode. In this case, the throttle response is much more direct and it also spins the gears better. Acceleration is 11,2 seconds to 100, but I found the gearbox so reluctant that I didn't like it. The 3-cylinder manual gearbox was a much more lively companion, although its acceleration was even a few tenths worse.
However, the chassis is still very good. This was already convincing with the petrol engine. McPherson in the front, multilink double wishbone in the rear. But it's just right. If you force it in a corner, both the front and the rear start gently. It can be coordinated very well, it's not dangerous, but it's safe. Maybe a little tighter than it needs to be. But I would rather say that we sacrifice safety at the expense of comfort.
And here comes the consumption. The factory combined figure is 5,01 l/ 100 km. I didn't fiddle with it for a minute, I overtook a lot, I drove in the city, but mostly on country roads. And my friend from Pali drove it down to Balchik. But the average was 5,6, which is a very good value. It's a rare moment, but I have to say that the factory figure is available in eggshell mode.
And the price
The Kona Hybrid's starting price is HUF 7.699.000 at a discount. The price of the test unit was a little over HUF 8 million. And is it worth the money? I would rather buy the gasoline one for HUF 2.5 million cheaper. It doesn't consume much more and is significantly cheaper. If it's electric, the Kona Electric starts at HUF 8,5 million with state subsidies. There's a green license plate with all the advantages and a range of around 250 km. (However, the large battery is much more expensive, starting at HUF 12,5 million.) We're really environmentally friendly there. The Kona Hybrid is the middle ground, but I think it's a bit complicated and expensive. But you don't have to worry about finding a charger.
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