Hyundai Kona Overview

The Hyundai Kona is a B-segment SUV that’s designed as a sporty, youthful vehicle. It manages to stand out in the compact SUV segment with its styling and performance, but is it a good vehicle? In Malaysia, the Hyundai Kona goes against the Honda HR-V, Mazda CX-30, and Proton X-50.

General Information

Variants

There are four variants of the Hyundai Kona in Malaysia. They are the Hyundai Kona 2.0, 2.0 Active, 1.6 Turbo, and 1.6 N Line.

Pricing

The price of a new Hyundai Kona in Malaysia starts from RM119,888.00 for the Hyundai Kona 2.0, RM236,888.00 for the 2.0 Active, RM146,888.00 for the 1.6 Turbo, and RM156,888.00 for the range-topping 1.6 N Line.

Colors Available

In Malaysia, the Hyundai Kona is available in eight single-tone and five two-tone colors. The single-tone colors are Chalk White, Galactic Gray, Misty Jungle, Pulse Red, Surfy Blue, Dark Knight, Dive in Jeju, and Ignite Flame. The Two Tone versions have the colored body paired with a black roof. The five colors available in Two Tone versions are Misty Jungle, Pulse Red, Surfy Blue, Dive in Jeju, and Ignite Flame.

Hyundai Kona Basic Features

Interior

The interior of the Hyundai Kona is well thought out and high quality for its price point. The base model 2.0 variant has a more basic kit with fabric seats, manual front seats, a 4.2-inch TFT LCD instrument cluster, and single-zone manual air conditioning. The 2.0 Active and 1.6 Turbo gets full leather seats and a 10-way power-adjustable driver’s seat with lumbar support while the range-topping 1.6 N Line has leather and suede seats with the addition of an 8-way powered passenger seat.

The 2.0 Active, 1.6 Turbo, and 1.6 N Line variants also have a 10.25-inch TFT LCD instrument cluster and fully automatic single-zone climate control. Features common across the range are 60:40 split-folding rear seats, electronic parking brake with auto hold, and anti-pinch function on the driver’s side window.

Exterior

The Hyundai Kona has a quirky and sporty exterior styling. In the front, it has a large cascading grille, and LED daytime running lights (DRLs) that are positioned above the headlamps giving it an aggressive face. On the base 2.0 variant, it has projection beam halogen headlamps, bulb combination taillamps, rear fog lamps, and LED DRLs. Other variants have full LED lighting with with dual LED headlamps, LED combination taillamps, LED DRLs, as well as front and rear fog lamps. The roof rack and two-tone body colors are only available on the 1.6 Turbo and 1.6 N Line variants. The 1.6 N Line also gets an exclusive N Line bodykit. 

Cabin Space

The Hyundai Kona is the smallest SUV in the segment. It measures 4,215 mm long, 1,800 mm wide, and 1,575 mm tall. It has a 374-liter boot which is expandable with its split-folding rear seats.

Infotainment system

The infotainment on the Hyundai Kona is controlled on an 8-inch touchscreen display with MP3 playback, AUX, USB, Bluetooth, voice recognition, Wireless Apple CarPlay, and Android Auto connectivity. It has six speakers.

Hyundai Kona Driving Performance

The 2.0 and 2.0 Active variants of the Hyundai Kona are powered by a 2.0 L 4-cylinder engine producing a max power of 149 PS at 6,200 rpm and a max torque of 180 N3 at 4,500 rpm. This engine is paired with a continuously variable transmission (CVT) with 8-virtual speeds. Fuel consumption is rated at 7.9 L/100 km.

The 1.6 Turbo and 1.6 N Line variants are powered by a 1.6 L 4-cylinder engine producing a max power of 198 PS at 6,000 rpm and a max torque of 265 Nm from 1,600 to 4,500 rpm. It’s paired to a 7-speed dual-clutch transmission (DCT). Fuel consumption is rated at 8.6 L/100 km.

Hyundai Kona Safety Features

The Hyundai Kona has the necessary safety features you would expect in a modern SUV including the Hyundai Smartsense advanced driver assistance system (ADAS). Standard features include six airbags, ISOFIX, Down Hill Brake Control (DBC), Hill-start Assist Control (HAC), passive cruise control, and front and rear Parking Assist System.

Hyundai Smartsense is only available on the 2.0 Active, 1.6 Turbo, and 1.6 N Line variants. Features in this safety suite include Blind-spot Collision-avoidance Assist (BCA), Rear Cross Traffic Collision-Avoidance Assist (RCCA), Lane Keeping Assist (LKA), Lane Following Assist (LFA), Smart Cruise Control with Stop and Go, Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist (FCA), High Beam Assist (HBA), Driver Attention Warning (DAW), Rear Occupant Alert (ROA), and Safe Exit Warning (SEA).

For its price, the Hyundai Kona offers unique styling, refined interior, and impressive performance. Although it’s not the spacious SUV in the segment, it can still be a good buy for buyers who want to stand out on the road.