This pint-sized sports utility has made an instant impact.

Price: $29,990
Powertrain and economy: 1.4-litre four cylinder petrol engine, 74kW/133Nm. Six-speed automatic transmission. Combined fuel consumption 6.7L/100km, 155 gm/km CO2.
Vital statistics: 4140mm long, 1520mm high, 1760mm wide, wheelbase 2580mm, ground clearance 183mm. Wheels 17-inch alloys.
We like: Appealing, if slightly conservative, looks; surprisingly roomy; accomplished ride and handling; high level of safety specification.
We don’t like: Engine thrashy under load; some road noise.

Stonic? Apparently it’s a combination of ‘Speedy’ and ‘Tonic’.

An appropriate name given how the vehicle has rapidly become one of the dominant players in what is now this country’s hottest vehicle segment.

Seemingly out of nowhere the Stonic has gone from being a new vehicle due to arrive in the midst of various vehicle assembly and shipping holdups caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, to instantly positioning itself as New Zealand’s eighth most popular passenger vehicle.

A marketing campaign undertaken by Kia New Zealand prior to arrival of the first shipment no doubt helped, because most of those vehicles would have been promptly delivered to customers who had pre-booked them. But it was still noteworthy that the vehicle recorded 267 registrations in March, which made it the second-most popular small SUV behind the Mitsubishi ASX.

It always fascinates me how consumers are happy to order a brand-new vehicle, sight unseen, before it even arrives. I couldn’t do it – I’d much rather physically experience a vehicle and kick tyres before making a purchasing decision.

But maybe in the case of the Stonic some of the buyers would have already driven the vehicle, because the compact Kia has been on sale in various European countries since the middle of 2017. The model now on sale in New Zealand is a facelifted version.

Arrival of the Stonic puts the finishing touch to what is now a rather impressive Kia SUV selection. At the top there’s the Sorento, and the range then moves down through the Sportage, Niro, Seltos and finally to the Stonic.

Sportage and Seltos have consistently been among the most popular medium-sized SUVs on the market – Sportage is running second in passenger vehicle sales with Seltos not far behind – and now there’s the Stonic which immediately appeals as one of the value packages in the small SUV segment.

It has entered the market with prices ranging from $23,990 for an entry 1.4-litre LX through to $33,990 for a GT Line with a 1.0-litre turbo triple under its bonnet.

The vehicle is here because it’s fashionable for manufacturers to have a higher-riding small SUV as an alternative to a hatchback.

Essentially then, the Stonic is a jacked-up version of the Rio hatch, complete with more outdoorsy body lines and chunkier wheels and tyres. It is built on the same platform as the Rio hatch, and while it offers its own distinctively SUV looks it shares the same platform, engines, suspension and even dashboard.

But it is a bigger vehicle in every dimension apart from wheelbase, and as such it has that one feature crucial to success as an SUV – more usable interior space than an equivalent hatch or sedan.

For a vehicle of this compact size there is surprisingly good shoulder width and head space, particularly for those in the rear seats where there is good rear legroom, too. Anjd that’s not being critical of the Rio either, because that little hatch also offers good room inside.

Thanks to the fact the Stonic’s body is 75mm longer than the Rio hatch, with 70mm of that going to extension of the rear overhang, the cargo room is slightly better at 332 litres with all seats in use, compared to the Rio’s 325 litres. With the rear seats down this cargo space increases to 1135 litres.

Stonic is a good-looking vehicle, albeit not as swept in bodyshell design as the likes of Ford Puma and Toyota Yaris Cross, but the looks appeal nonetheless, with particularly nice styling around the rear C-pillar to give it the appearance of wrapping over the roof.

The interior is pretty much a slightly enlarged copy of the Rio hatch, and ground clearance has been raised by 42mm in the sports utility tradition – even though the Kia remains front-wheel drive only which means the ‘utility’ extends pretty much only to the ease of higher seating hip points, higher-riding visibility, and improved ability to get up rough driveways without scraping the underside.

Standard specification is comprehensive. Stonic’s interior comes with Android Auto and Apple Car Play, and there’s a new 8-inch touchscreen which among other things features a reversing camera display with coloured dynamic guidelines.

Driver assistance systems aboard all versions include forward collision avoidance with pedestrian, vehicle and cyclist recognition, lane keep assist, driver attention alert, and a lane follow assist that I sometimes felt worked a little too well to the point of being a bit of a pain.

But, I suppose better to be there than not, huh? Every model also gets adaptive cruise control, while the mid-range Limited model we had for road test also features rear cross-traffic alert and blind spot monitoring.

There are five models in the Stonic range, three of them powered by a 1.4-litre normally aspirated four cylinder engine, and the remaining two with a 1.0-litre turbocharged triple under the bonnets. Our test vehicle, the Limited, has the 1.4 and is priced to sit right in the mix of numerous sub-$30,000 small SUVs.

For the money the Limited offers quite a lot, including satellite navigation and composite leather upholstery on the inside, and LED headlights and three-dimensional LED combination rear lights on the outside. The Limited also has 17-inch alloy wheels, and our test vehicle boasted a $500 optional two-tone look – snazzy Mighty Yellow paintwork with a black roof. Just the ticket if you’re heading to a Hurricanes footie match….

Those wheels are shod with Continental 205/55 R17 tyres, and they combine with a rigid chassis and Australasian-ised suspension and steering tuning to provide a secure, if a little firm, ride.

It’s a pity then that the engine doesn’t quite match its driving dynamics. The 1.4-litre features what Kia claims to be a world first – a continuously variable valve system which, for maximum efficiency, constantly adjusts the amount of time the valves stay open.

It all works fine if you are buzzing around town at 50kmh or cruising along the open road at 100kmh, during which the SUV’s six-speed automatic does a sound job in keeping the engine sufficiently relaxed to be able to achieve the stated official average fuel economy of 6.7L/100km. But under acceleration things begin to get somewhat thrashy.

That’s probably not an issue though, because owners of small SUVs powered by 1.4-litre engines normally aren’t the sort of motoring who plant foot – and it has to be said that when driven normally, the Stonic does perform rather well. More important with the Limited model are comprehensive comfort and safety specification, and looks.

And anyway, for those who do enjoy enthusiastic motoring, the Stonic range includes a pair of ‘GT’ models by a 1.0-litre turbocharged three cylinder engine that offers a more spirited drive.

Now that the Stonic is finally on the New Zealand new vehicle market and supplies are getting more secure, it will be interesting to say what contribution it continues to make to Kia’s overall sales effort in the passenger vehicle sector.

So far it’s played a big role – helping Kia steadily move up the sales ladder from around sixth place with a share of around 6 percent a couple of years ago, to second place year-to-date this year at 12 percent, which is just one percentage point behind leader Toyota.

Will the trend continue? That’s one of the fascinating questions as the 2021 year continues.