Here we brought you a quick review of the Hyundai Kona Hybrid. you might be familiar with the Hyundai Kona. it’s been around in both fully electric and as a standard petrol car for quite a while. but now the company has introduced a full hybrid version.
Overview
So here you’ve got a tidy looking small SUV. the Hyundai Kona Hybrid pricing starts at about $20,000. This car is complete with a 1.6-liter petrol engine, and a 1.56 kWh battery which combined gives this car 139 brake horsepower. Kona Hybrid provides an efficient economy of 56 MPG and CO2 emissions of 114g/km.
So that all sounds quite tempting. and certainly quite competitive with those cars like the Toyota CHR, which is a really popular car.
Electric Drive Performance
The Hyundai Kona’s full hybrid powertrain works by using the brake regeneration system to top-up the small battery. as we said above, this car is equipped with a 1.56 kWh battery. this in turn allows the Kona Hybrid’s 43 brake horsepower electric motor to power the car independently for short periods at low speeds. to state the obvious, you can’t plug the Kona in.
A full hybrid only ever tops up its battery using the car’s forward motion or braking energy. so ultimately you drive it just as you would a normal petrol car only with the benefit of a bit of electric running to improve the car’s efficiency.
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Efficiency
What I would say is that in the real world for hybrids like this. they are sometimes a bit disappointing in a real-world economy. however, my first impression of the Kona is that it’s doing well. we’ve done a few miles in it and it’s doing getting on for its official economy. so it’s doing low 50 MPG, even up to 55 mpg which is quite impressive. so that’s all the tech stuff then that’s how this card works. and we know that it’s efficient.
Performance and Handling
So to be honest that’s probably all that most people want to know. but it does matter whether this is any good to drive. to say it’s a bit middling it’s fine. but it can be quite noisy. so you get a 6-speed automatic gearbox. and gets a little bit noisy. the steering is really nice and almost kind of disconcerting sort of feel. there’s very little sense of connection. it’s quite a lot of lean through corners.
There’s nothing offensive about this car. it does 0-60 mph about 11.5 seconds. so you know it can get quite noisy and doesn’t go anywhere very quickly. but for what people are going to want from it. it is smooth enough and quiet enough. and just easy I guess. but I do feel like it could be a bit better for a car that looks like this certainly for instance the CHR drives with a bit more vim and vigor to it it’s a bit more fun. the ride is a little bit fidgety. it doesn’t settle too well at higher speeds but lower speeds.
Interior, Infotainment, and Specs
The interior of the Kona Hybrid is pretty good. it is very grey and bland. but if you can forgive it. that all the switches are bound quite nicely. it’s a very common-sense layout. you do get reversing sensors climate control and a seven-inch touchscreen even in the base spec car.
However, I think that premium spec is probably the sweet spot. because you also get a reversing camera. you get auto lights and wipers, and you get an excellent 10-inch screen that gets Apple car play and Android Auto as standard. honestly, it’s about as good as it gets in this class. the graphics are really good you get all the functions you would want. and it’s just really easy to use. so that is a highlight of this car.
You can go for premium SE which is even more well equipped. because that gets things like the head-up display, leather upholstery, even a suite of driver aids including traffic sign recognition, adaptive cruise control, which all ends up functioning is like a semi-autonomous mode. and is also very effective. but you’re talking about 27,000 pounds and up for that so I still think the mid-spec premium is the one to go for.
Space and Practicality
The Kona isn’t the best small SUV going when it comes to practicality. children will be fine in the back. but legroom is tight for adults and the boot is also a touch small compared to rivals like the Kia Niro. well fine for a small family, the Kona is still a car that you buy for the way it looks more than for its roominess.
Final Thoughts
So the Hyundai Kona Hybrid doesn’t blow me away in the way. and it’s also not as practical as you might imagine for a compact SUV. certainly, there are family hatchbacks out there that will offer you more space. I would also have a Toyota CHR over this in terms of the way it drives. but for all of that, the Kona is good value. it’s got loads of kit. especially if you go in the top specs and you get this amazing infotainment system. and it feels like quite a lot of car for the money. so yes it’s fit for purpose and given the price I think it’s easy to see that it’s a very worthy car.
You may also like to read: Hyundai Kona Electric Ultimate In-depth Review 2021
