Hyundai Kona Hybrid: Style wins converts

What is it?

The Hyundai Kona is a small SUV that has been on sale in Australia since 2017.

It is the second smallest member of the Korean company’s five SUV options, sitting between the smaller Venue and larger Tucson, Santa Fe and Palisade.

Not only was Kona Hyundai’s best-selling vehicle in 2025 but it also topped annual sales in its highly-competitive market segment, ahead of cheaper Chinese rivals such as the MG ZS, Cherry Tiggo 4 and Haval Jolion.

The second-generation Kona arrived here in 2023 with a larger, chunkier body adding extra cabin space, together with upgraded safety, security and convenience features.

What’s it cost?

Kona comes in a choice of 16 different variants including naturally-aspirated petrol, turbocharged petrol, petrol/electric hybrid and fully-electric powertrains.

Grades range from the base Kona, to Elite and Premium, each with an optional sportier style N Line.

Most models are front-wheel drive, although AWD is available in the Premium N Line turbo-petrol model.

Prices start from $32,950 for the front-drive 2.0-litre petrol powered Kona, topping out with the Kona+ N Line Extended Range electric at $62,000.

We’ve reviewed the Kona EV recently so we’ll look at the petrol and hybrid models here.

Our test car was the Kona Elite turbo-petrol hybrid, priced from $39,950 plus on-road costs.

Petrol and hybrid models could almost pass for their EV sibling.

The exterior style varies depending on variant, but overall it is a neat, compact with a z-shaped crease along the sides.

Kona’s star attraction is the narrow LED light bar which spans both the front and rear that we first saw with the Hyundai Staria people mover.

Hyundai calls it a Seamless Horizon Lamp, and it combines LED daytime and positioning lights.

Base Kona runs on 17-inch alloy wheels, Elite and Premium step up to 18-inch, with N Line variants getting 19-inch machine-finished alloys with a sporty multi-spoke design.

Options on Premium variants include a wide-glass sunroof ($1500), metallic mica paint ($595) and Light Shale Grey/Sage Green interior ($295)

The sporty N Line option package adds optional black side mirrors and a roof, wing-type spoiler, more aggressive front and rear designs with wing-shaped bumper to emphasise a lower stance, distinctive 19-inch alloys, twin muffler and silver side skirts.

Like most vehicles in the Hyundai range Kona comes with a 12.3-inch dual-screen high-resolution full digital set-up.

Pleasingly, climate control aircon is via a series of buttons and knobs on the centre stack, not the touchscreen.

It also has over-the-air software update capability.

Standard media features include AM/FM/DAB+ radio and wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto connectivity.

Satellite navigation is standard on Elite and Premium variants.

Base Kona and Elite have a six-speaker audio system, Premium gets a Bose eight-speaker unit.

Standard safety features start with seven airbags, including one between the front seats.

There is autonomous emergency braking front and rear, with pedestrian and cyclist detection.

Also included are driver attention monitoring, blind-spot monitoring and assist, lane keep assist, safe exit warning, high-definition reversing camera, plus front and rear parking sensors.

All turn on automatically on start-up but the usual suspects, including driver alert and lane correction, can be turned off fairly easily.

What’s it go like?

For a small SUV Kona provides a surprising amount of interior space with excellent headroom all round and generous leg and shoulder room for rear passengers.

Boot space with rear seats in place is 407 litres, expanding to 1241 litres with the seats folded.

A temporary spare wheel can be found under the boot base, which is height adjustable.

The entry level Kona gets cloth seats and two-way lumbar support. Elite and Premium add leather trim.

There are the usual two screens, a 12.3-inch multimedia touchscreen in the centre of the dashboard and a 4.2-inch instrument cluster display in front of the driver.

The gear selector is located on the right-hand side of the steering column wheel. It’s a large, rectangular control that tilts up for Drive, down for Reverse and pushes in for Park.

Importantly its location frees up space on the centre console for a pair of cup holders, smartphone wireless charger and more push button and other physical controls leading to less reliance on the touchscreen.

There is interior LED lighting across the range.

The Hyundai Bluelink system is standard across the Kona range offering features such as remote locking, remote climate control, and vehicle diagnostics.

The optional N Line pack interior adds ambient mood lighting, leather appointed seating with Alcantara inserts, along with red highlights and N logos.

There’s also an N Line steering wheel, dark metal door handles, plus leather dashboard tray and highlights, black headlining and pillar trims.

Power and torque from the entry 2.0-litre petrol engine is 110kW and 180Nm.

The 1.6-litre turbocharged petrol model generates 146kW and 265Nm at 6000 rpm.

While the engine in the petrol/hybrid variant that we tested produces 77kW and 144Nm together with 32kW and 172Nm from the electric motor, delivering a combined system output of 104kW and 265Nm.

The Kona hybrid is mated to a six-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission with Shift By Wire paddle shifters

Fuel consumption on the combined cycle for the 2.0-litre is listed as 6.6L/100km, the 1.6 at 7.6L/100km with the hybrid dropping to 3.9L/100km.

All use standard 91 RON fuel.

Entry to the Kona is impressively easy for a relatively small vehicle.

With the driver’s seat at a mid-level setting, there was plenty of headroom.

As with most hybrids the push-button start fires up the electric motor with the 1.6-litre petrol engine kicking in at around 20 to 30km/h.

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Unlike several vehicles that we’ve tested where the positioning of gear selector control on the right of the steering column could accidentally be bumped out of gear, the control on the Kona twisted either up or down and worked perfectly.

The hybrid is 70kg heavier than the petrol model courtesy of its battery pack and that does affect its ride quality.

At 38 litres, the hybrid’s fuel tank is nine litres smaller.

With claimed fuel consumption of just 3.9L/100km, over the fortnight of our test, we averaged 5.4L over a range of road conditions.

Kona comes with the standard Hyundai warranty of five years and unlimited kilometres.

It can be extended to seven years provided that all scheduled servicing is done at an authorised Hyundai dealership.

The lithium-ion batteries in the Kona electric and hybrid models is covered for eight years and 160,000km.

What we like?

Spacious interior
Takes standard unleaded
Low fuel consumption
No range anxiety

What we don’t like?

Smaller fuel tank
Temporary spare wheel
Costs more than competitors
70kg heavier than petrol model

The bottom line?

Kona is proving a major success for Hyundai and it’s no surprise.

The head-turning design combined with its clever use of interior space makes it feel like a vehicle that is the next size up.

It offers the full choice of conventional petrol, turbo-petrol, hybrid and fully electric powertrains, as well as a range of colours from bright to conservative that clearly is attracting buyers right across the generations.

While it’s priced at the higher end of the small SUV segment that clearly isn’t discouraging buyers who have it sitting on the top of the sales chart.