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, between the smaller Venue and the 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 Joilon.
The second-generation Kona came here in 2023 with a larger and chunkier body adding extra cabin space, together with upgraded safety, security and convenience features.
Kona comes with the choice of 16 different variants including naturally-aspirated petrol, turbocharged petrol, petrol/electric hybrid and fully electric powertrains. Equipment levels are base Kona, 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.
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.
STYLING
The design of the Kona petrol and hybrid models could almost pass for their EV sibling with its thin LED light bar at the front that spans the entire width of the vehicle at both the front and the rear.
The exterior style does vary depending on variant but overall is neat and compact with a z-shaped crease along the sides.
Kona’s star attraction is that narrow LED light bar which features at both the front and rear that we first saw with the Hyundai Staria people mover. Hyundai calls it a Seamless Horizon Lamp, and combines LED daytime running light and a positioning light.
The base Kona runs on 17-inch alloy wheels, Elite and Premium go 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 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 skirt.
INTERIOR
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.
ENGINES/TRANSMISSION
Power and torque from the 2.0-litre IC engine is 110 kW at 2600 rpm and 180 Nm 4500 revs. The 1.6-litre turbo-petrol generates 146 kW and 265 Nm at 6000 rpm.
While the engine in the petrol/hybrid variant that we tested produced 77 kW and 144 Nm together with 32 kW and 172 Nm from the electric motor for the combined system putting out 104 kW and 265 Nm.
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 from the 2.0-litre is listed as 6.6 litres per 100km, the 1.6 at 7.6 L/100 km with the hybrid dropping to 3.9 L/100 km.
All use 91 RON fuel.
INFOTAINMENT
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 air-con is via a series of buttons and knobs on the centre stack, not the touchscreen.
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 the Elite and Premium variants.
Base Kona and Elite have a six-speaker audio system, Premium gets a BOSE eight-speaker unit.
SAFETY
Standard safety features start with seven airbags, including one between the front seats.
There are 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 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.
DRIVING
Entry into 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 20km/h to 30 km/h.
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 courtesy of its battery and that does affect its ride quality. At 38 litres, the hybrid’s fuel tank is nine litres smaller.
Claimed fuel consumption with the hybrid is just 3.9 litres per 100km on the combined urban/highway cycle with Co2 emissions of 61 g/km. Over the fortnight of our test, we averaged 5.4 litres per 100km 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 cover eight years and 160,000km.
SUMMARY
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 the next size up.
It offers the full choice of conventional petrol, turbo-petrol, hybrid and fully electric 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 its small SUV segment that clearly isn’t discouraging buyers who have it sitting on the top of the sales chart.
RATINGS
Looks: 9/10
Performance: 8/10
Safety: 8/10
Thirst: 8.5/10
Practicality: 8/10
Comfort: 7.5/10
Tech: 7/10
Value: 7.5/10
