With the electric pace-setters still to show, this ‘old school’ edition is the top dog choice. 

Price: $64,990.

Powertrain: 1596cc inline four cylinder turbo petrol, 146kW/265Nm, eight-speed automatic; 8.5L/100km, 194g/km.

How big: 4385mm long; 1825mm wide; 1580mm high; 2660mm wheelbase.

We like: Upsize improves all aspects; good driving feel; high equipment level.

Not so much: Incessant driver alert bonging; low tow rating; small boot.

BOLD statement cars are Hyundai’s remit these days, and one that strikes a particularly strident note is their latest Kona.

X-Factor looks are an obvious ingredient. While the latest styling is of such strength to doubtless split opinions, the fact that it proposes to look quite different to anything else is not necessarily a bad thing.

After all, while the Ford Ranger one-tonne ute continues to often be the country’s best monthly seller, on overall volume sports utilities are by far and away the sales front-runners.

The compact sector in which Kona resides is especially well-subscribed. Regardless of whether a car’s looks are considered good or bad, just being different can be highly useful to ensure opportunity to stand out in the crowd.

About that. Regardless that battery car sales are in a bit of a pickle at the moment, it’s obvious that electric is a big part of our future and the industry as a whole is not only committed to battery products, but is also at a point where it has cemented these as a priority.

That status has definitely been accorded the Kona. Primarily,  battery considerations drove the whole design process to point that, whereas the old car was created foremost as a internal combustion model, but with easy conversion for electric, the new followed an EV-to-ICE process. Also, elements of the new look tie it far more closely to Hyundai’s lead bespoke electrics, the Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6. The former especially has clearly influenced this Kona’s design, which is a now lot neater and features a ‘pixellated seamless horizon lamp’ at the front. 

With all that in mind, it might seem a bit odd that the Kona on test here isn’t the fully electric kind, but instead is of the variant that, logically, will have to be one day sacrificed: The petrol turbo that leads the petrol types that have been here since the end of last year.

When those first wave Konas came, indication was that the electric would land in February. Given it’s now April, and there’s still no sign, something is clearly going on. But what exactly that is has yet to shared. 

Is electric still important? Of course it is. It’s the future, like it or not. That the whole ad campaign with Kona has a tie-in not just to the car being sporty but also to electric sporty; as it features top rally driver Hayden Paddon and the battery-reliant competition car, based on the old Kona, which is claimed as the world’s first electric rally car (which it strictly speaking isn’t, but never mind) suggests Hyundai knows it is, and wants to leverage accordingly.

On the other hand, it IS a strange world for car brands right at this moment; interest in electrics has certainly taken a significant knock since the Clean Car rebate was dropped, but in reality the whole new market is in a depressed state. So, as much as it’s definitely not a good time to release a new electric product, it’s simply a hard time in which to convince anyone to buy anything.

Still, electric urge has been an important sales ingredient for past Kona; in the Clean Car period the full electric one was become Hyundai NZ’s second best-selling BEV of 2023. The new improves by delivering a new 65.4kWh drivetrain that, while still a 400v architecture rather than the 800v used by other latest Hyundai EVs, improves range to a WLTP-assessed 490km, recharges faster and has vehicle to load capability.

In the meantime, there are petrols and hybrids, to take on the Toyota Corolla Cross, DNA-related Kia Niro and a variety of Euros, included Citroen, Peugeot, Opel and Ford product.

It’s good to have any Konas here, because in accounting for up to 30 percent of Hyundai NZ’s annual sales mix, it’s also consistently the brand’s third strongest-selling vehicle locally, behind Tucson and Santa Fe.

The stock on NZ turf represents all the petrol-involved drivetrains and the N-Line enhancement that, having previously been available to just the 1.6 Turbo in the old range, is now optionally across all grades.

On launch, the latter car gave the best vibes. It continued to do so in this test. The Kona in general is hard to fault in respect to how it handles, but it still has a slightly reserved chassis. The turbocharged type’s 146kW/265Nm engine is noticeably more effervescent than the other options and operates snappily in marriage with an eight-speed transmission. 

The turbo is also the only Kona here with all-wheel-drive and, as it also has the sportiest suspension tune and performance-themed rubber, there’s a clearly felt performance, dynamic and traction edge. 

While this engine has the biggest thirst and highest CO2 output, neither is too is extreme. The cited 8.5 litres per 100km is manageable and the 194 grams per 100km emissions count isn’t of concern now there’s no penalty on emissions.

Even in this form it’s no substitute for the sportiest Kona that is no longer being built: That amazing 206kW/392Nm  2.0-litre turbo Kona N that only sold here for 14 months, achieving 91 sales, is unlikely to ever return. With the 1.6T, is more about delivering just enough oomph to make it interesting, but not anything like enough to scare. 

Even though it is less brutal and road dominating, the 1.6 Turbo is still fun. The engine has sufficient pull even in the Eco mode, but Normal will do for most activities, so Sport can be reserved for occasional collar-loosening moment. It also realises the benefit of this car’s new K3 underpinning, that beyond being beneficial for packing batteries also provides the car with a more natural stance, frees up additional cabin space and lends the design team a better basis on which to build a look that’s derivative yet obviously new.

The outgoing car’s styling was to point of being challenging after a mid-life facelift. This one is far more creative, being an almost extra-terrestrial look, though also leaner to point there’s none of the old one's puppy fat remaining.

Yes, it challenges. But overall it has to be saluted for being a sharp and balanced execution. There’s just enough similarity in silhouette to what we’ve known but also obviously more adventurous and honed.

At same token, it’s clear why the  N-Line enhancement that in the previous line only came on the 1.6 Turbo has now become a range-wide opportunity. The black mirrors, wing-type spoiler and optional black roof, wing-shaped bumpers and a silver side skirt are so crucial to the car’s vibe that you wonder why it simply wasn’t made standard.

The cabin has been a strip out and start again exercise, too; there’e very little carried through from the old car.

The driver-centric front row is now accentuated by a floating horizontal C-Pad with integrated dual 12.3-inch panoramic display screens and the shift-by-wire gear selector has been relocated from the centre console to behind the steering wheel, as per Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6, which allows more storage in the open console area. 

The level of information on the displays differs depending on grade - Turbo buyers get all that is going - but the base functions are smart and reasonably easy to navigate. 

Kona has the full suite of Hyundai’s Smart Sense driver assist systems, which are comprehensive but over-zealous in their competencies. 

The attention warning system will trigger if you so much as look at the main screen, the lane keep is just as trigger-happy and the latest speed sign recognition takes its duty way too seriously. You need be just 1kmh over the perceived limit and it sounds off an alert that’ll drive you to distraction. These can be deactivated for a single journey, but Hyundai won’t allow these functions to be permanently turned off. I fear this element alone could turn potential customers off the car.

Kona’s comfort features have also upgraded. The Limited grade brings alcantara and leather upholstery and also brings a sunroof and a decent stereo as extras to a recipe that, for the entire range, delivers nice alloy wheels, keyless entry, parking sensors for the front and rear, plus a high-definition reversing camera. 

Emphasis on durability is still evident, but it has nonetheless has stepped up to much more of a quality look and feel. Plastics with built-to-a-cost air are low down in the cabin, the major touch and focal points are excellent.

With a four-star (out of five) ANCAP/Euro NCAP rating, this Kona dropped a star compared to the outgoing car. That’s says as much about the test itself as it does about the car; the current test is much more stringent than it was in 2017, when the first gen model was appraised. 

Kona lost marks for lack of front knee airbags and chest airbags in the rear. Safety kit is decent as standard, all the same. It will brake automatically if potential to hit something seems probable and can automatically adapt the strength of regenerative braking based on the road ahead, slowing down the car if there’s traffic ahead. Blind spot monitors that show up on the instrument panel screen when you indicate are really useful.

Thanks to an increase in the overall size of the car, the passenger room is comparable to that of some choices in the class above. Hyundai admits Kona has a little more front legroom than the physically larger Tucson and, while the latter is larger in the back, the Kona is noticeably more spacious than before, easily accommodating adults now, when they might have baulked at the idea in the original model.

Kona's cabin is less design-led as the Ioniq 5's, but it feels modern and is just as dominated by touchscreens, on which the menu is easy to find your way around and there's are huge number of features to explore.

It has a noticeably wide and spacious centre console - helped no doubt by the location of the drive selector on the steering column. At the front of console are two USB-C ports (neatly switchable for recharging or media use) and a tactile little cover for the 12-volt power outlet. 

Under that section is a raised, rubberised wireless charging pad that effectively holds a phone in place and, further back, a large rectangular space that can be configured in numerous ways. The cupholders can be retracted, there are other dividers that can be moved and there's a small, covered box under the central armrest. Thankfully, the main glovebox is of a decent size, as are the door pockets.

On the practical side, you’re still having to cope with a smallish boot - Hyundai says the 407 litres’ capacity being down from the 488 litres cited elsewhere is due to NZ market cars taking a space save spare. The rear seat back splits 40:20:40 as standard and the boot floor is movable to a higher level if you want a completely flat surface and there’s some hidden storage underneath it.

Kona being a better car from getting bigger is undeniable; but it’s a pity Hyundai here has taken that concept to heart with pricing. All variants cost more than comparable predecessors. 

Increase-wise, the biggest hit is taken by the car on test, which costs which costs $10,000 premium over its predecessor, but nothing escapes;  in the the old range, the cheapest Kona came in at just under $36k. Now the cheapest is an Active 2.0-litre leaving $10 change from $43k. Ouch. Not just for buying in but trading from old to new.

Hyundai will argue the upside to that up spend is you get an improved car, with better design, quality construction, trims and features, that is bigger in every direction than the last Kona was. Still, it faces some decent competition, some of which delivers product just as handy in petrol form, for less money. That Ford Puma ST is a bargain compared to the Korean choice.

Regardless the climate toward electrics has chilled, it’s highly probable that technology is still going to be highly useful to keeping Kona in a good spot. 

Even in the interim, the hybrid in much the same trim might seem a better bet than a fully petrol car. Much the same torque, for half the fuel consumption, at a lower buy-in all sounds good to me.