Hyundai Kona Electric Review & Prices

The Hyundai Kona Electric is a spacious family SUV that’s perfect if you want to make the switch to all-electric motoring in a car that’s not too out-there – its design is smart but not wildly in-yer-face, while the interior is high-tech but fuss-free.

There’s a hybrid-engined version, too, so the Kona is a bit like a hotel breakfast. The hybrid is a fry up and the EV is eggs Benedict, because they appeal to different tastes but both will ultimately leave you feeling satisfied.

Just like that breakfast menu, there are some tasty alternatives to choose from, too, such as the Kia Niro EV, Nissan Ariya and Smart #1. The Volvo EX30 is slightly smaller but another excellent option.

Where the Kona Electric makes a strong case for itself is just how practical it is. You get one of the bigger boots among those cars listed above, matching the Nissan Ariya but out-spaced by only the Kia Niro EV. It’s also really spacious for those in the cabin – if you tried the old Kona and found it too small, this model is much bigger.

Along with this extra space, the Kona Electric has a pretty good quality interior. Most of the stuff you touch feels nice enough, but there are scratchy plastics to be found if you go looking for them.

Despite this, the twin-screen setup for the infotainment and digital instrument display feels suitably modern. The infotainment is pretty intuitive to use thanks to the bank of physical buttons that help you switch between menus more easily than a fully digital setup.

However, while the chunky buttons are useful for the infotainment system, they do give the interior a faintly old school vibe. The Smart #1 has a more modern look overall.

Out on the road there can be few complaints, though. The Hyundai Kona is comfortable over bumps and the silence of the electric motors means it’s quiet and refined on a long motorway drive. It’s a viable option for long-distance drivers, as the big battery option has an official range of 319 miles (compared with the smaller battery’s 234 miles). The light steering makes it easy to drive around town, too, but does mean it’s not the most engaging car to drive down a twisty road.

Few complaints, but there is a key one – Hyundai’s safety assistance systems are some of the most annoyingly intrusive of any car maker. The Kona Electric bings and bongs at you constantly as you drive down the road. You can turn the offending systems off through the menus, but they reset every time you switch the car off because of EU rules. Irritating.

That alone could be a deal-breaker for some, but if you can get into the habit of switching everything off before driving away there’s a lot to like about the Hyundai Kona Electric. It’s spacious, comfortable and competitively priced.

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Prices for the Hyundai Kona Electric start at around £35,000, increasing £5,000 to the mid-spec N Line trim. At the top of the range you’ll find the Ultimate and N Line S trims, which are an extra £3,000-plus, depending on which option packs you go for.

This makes the Kona Electric competitively priced among alternatives. The Kia Niro EV, Smart #1, Volvo EX30 and Volkswagen ID3 all fall around the £35,000 to £50,000 price range, while the Nissan Ariya is a bit more expensive thanks to its £40,000 starting price, with top-spec models just shy of £60,000.

Whisper quiet and easy to drive around town, but the constant bings and bongs from the assistance systems will drive you up the wall

In town

The Hyundai Kona Electric is most at home when being driven around town. The punchy electric motors, light steering and decent visibility mean threading your way through traffic is a breeze. Standard fit front and rear parking sensors help with tight manoeuvres, too.

Thanks to its soft suspension, most bumps in the road pass by with little fuss, so that unavoidable pothole won’t have you wincing. As a result, though, it can jiggle back and forth a bit over uneven surfaces where a Smart #1 will be a bit more settled.

The general driving experience is great though. The main complaint is actually some of the hyperactive driver assistance systems, such as the speed limit warning and lane-keeping assistance, which are constantly beeping away as you drive around. You can at least set a shortcut button to make it easier to turn the worst offenders off, because they will come back every time you switch the car on thanks to EU rules on the matter.

On the motorway

If you do a lot of motorway miles, you’ll probably want the bigger battery version, because that has an official range of 319 miles, which is one of the longest ranges of any car at this price.

Regardless, the Kona Electric is a comfortable option for motorway driving. There’s little wind and road noise and the suspension is comfortable on smooth motorway Tarmac – though it is more susceptible to transmitting sharp thuds through the cabin than it is at lower speeds.

Adaptive cruise control is included as standard, which keeps a steady distance to the car in front and has a ‘stop and go’ function to make heavy traffic less of a hassle.

On a twisty road

The Hyundai Kona Electric has more of a focus on being a comfortable family car, and the result is that it’s not the most fun car to hustle down a winding road. That’s not to say it’s not capable, as you can be fairly aggressive with the steering wheel and the front tyres will grip the road. However, the car leans over a bit when you turn and there’s not much sense of how much grip the tyres actually have, so it’s tricky to really let loose and have fun. The Kia Niro EV is a bit more enjoyable in this regard.

The boot’s pretty big and cabin’s really practical, but there’s not a huge amount of storage in the back seats

Those in the front will find that the Hyundai Kona Electric is plenty spacious enough, and there’s a good range of adjustability in the driver’s seat and steering wheel, so finding a good driving position isn’t too tricky.

You also get loads of storage, with a really useful tray that runs between the front seats. It’s home to retractable cup holders, so you can move them out of the way for more storage if needed. You also get a decent space beneath the armrest and the door bins are fairly large, though it’s a bit of a shame they’re not felt-lined, so items can rattle around in there.

Beneath the climate controls is a tray for your phone, which also wirelessly charges (on all but the base trim). Above this sits a pair of USB-C slots and a 12V connection.

Space in the back seats

It’s a similarly positive story in the back seats, where even taller passengers will find there’s plenty of headroom and kneerom. You can carry three people side-by-side without getting too cosy, too.

Storage isn’t quite as impressive, with door bins that will take a small drinks bottle and a small storage area between the front seats, though this area is home to two more USB-C ports, so there’s no fighting over which of your kids gets to charge their iPad…

Speaking of kids, the spacious rear seats mean it’s really easy to fit a bulky child seat, and the doors open wide to make access even easier. The only fiddly part of the process is accessing the ISOFIX mounting points, because they don’t sit flush with the seat cushion.

Boot space

The practicality wins continue with the boot, which at 466 litres is one of the bigger options among similarly priced electric SUVs. The Kia Niro EV offers a bit more capacity at 475 litres, and the Nissan Ariya has an identical 466 litres. However, most other alternatives are some way off, with 385 litres in the Volkswagen ID3, 318 litres in the Volvo EX30 and just 273 litres in the Smart #1.

Where the Hyundai Kona Electric really one-ups the competition is the front boot, as there’s 27 litres of extra storage under the bonnet, compared with just nine litres in the Volvo.

On top of the impressive space, the Kona Electric’s boot is really easy to access, with a low bumper and no lip to lift items over as well as decent underfloor storage. It’s a bit of a shame you have to reach in to fold the rear seats rather than use a lever in the boot, but when you do there’s a useful 1,300 litres available.

The Kona Electric’s interior has a cool mix of new- and old-school technology, but there are some cheap materials to be found

The Hyundai Kona Electric has a curious interior design, that in some ways feels quite basic and a touch old-school, but is dominated by a pair of decidedly new-school high-definition displays.

Measuring 10.3 inches, the infotainment screen is a good size for the Kona’s cabin, and although some of the graphics are a bit dark, it’s very responsive and the menus are logically laid out. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are fitted to all models, and you get a 12.3-inch digital instrument display behind the wheel.

However, there are also plenty of physical buttons, which is where the old school edge comes in. They are actually really useful, because they provide shortcuts within the infotainment system that are easier to use than prodding the touchscreen on the move, but their big, blocky design does look rather old-fashioned.

Quality overall is pretty good, particularly the parts of the cabin you regularly touch, but some cheaper feeling plastics are never far from hand. And while standard equipment is pretty good, music fans will want to go for one of the top-spec trims, which get an upgraded Bose sound system.

There are two battery and motor options on the Hyundai Kona Electric – the smaller battery costs less but won’t get you as far, while the bigger battery is more expensive but has an impressive range and the added bonus of a more powerful motor.

Only available with the entry-level trim, the smaller battery has a capacity of 48kWh, which provides an official range of up to 234 miles. The electric motor makes 156hp, which results in an 8.8-second 0-62mph time, meaning it should be quick enough for most.

The bigger battery has a capacity of 65kWh, which offers a range of up to 319 miles in the entry level trim. However, this reduces to 282 miles in the higher trims because of the bigger alloy wheels. On the Ultimate models, you can specify the smaller wheels to bump the range back up to its maximum, though.

That makes the Kona Electric pretty favourable among alternatives. The Kia Niro EV will do up to 285 miles with the same-sized battery pack, while the Smart #1 has a maximum range of 273 miles.

As an electric vehicle, the Hyundai Kona Electric has no Vehicle Excise Duty to pay, and company car buyers will face very low Benefit in Kind rates, making it an appealing option.

The Hyundai Kona Electric has been tested by Euro NCAP, scoring four stars out of five. It did well enough in the adult and child occupant segments, scoring 80% and 83% respectively, but was rated poorly for vulnerable road user protection (64%) and safety assists (60%).

Standard assistance kit includes forward collision avoidance, adaptive cruise control and lane-keeping assistance. N-Line S and Ultimate trims get some extra tech, such as parking collision avoidance, rear cross traffic alert and a 360-degree camera.

The Hyundai Kona Electric hasn’t been on sale long enough to get a strong picture of its reliability, but Hyundai has a good reputation overall, while the outgoing model proved reliable enough overall.

For peace of mind, Hyundai offers one of the best warranties of any car manufacturer in the UK. You get five years of cover with unlimited mileage, while the electric car battery gets eight years/100,000 miles of cover. Only the seven-year offerings from MG and Kia, and Toyota’s 10-year warranty, outdo it.