The 2024 Hyundai Kona N-Line Is A Spunkier Grown-Up Turbo Small SUV

Roughly six years ago, Hyundai began a rapid expansion of their SUV portfolio in America, and it kind of started with the introduction of the Kona. Remember, this vehicle was designed to be smaller versus the already smaller Tucson in Hyundai's North American lineup. Now, as you guys know, SUV buyers continue to pick these vehicles up like crazy, which is why Hyundai offers a total of eight different models to choose from. And today, we're driving one of the littlest SUVs, which has been fully redesigned. This right here is the brand new 2024 Kona. It's larger on the outside, it has all new styling, and it also has more interior space with all new tech features. Today, we're actually out here just outside of Baltimore, Maryland, my home turf, to drive the all new Kona. And the big question I want answered, if you guys are in the market for a new small electrified or fully electric SUV, how does the brand new 2024 Hyundai Kona stack up? Stay tuned to find out. Now, before we start talking about the all new styling for this 2024 Kona, let me go ahead and pop the hood and show you what's powering this thing. Now, I mentioned in the introduction, electrified. However, I need to clarify because here in the US, the electrified version, the Kona Hybrid, which was also introduced in Korea, is not coming to the States. Here in America, we're going to have a choice between three different powertrains, two gas engines. There's a base two-liter naturally aspirated four-cylinder paired with a CVT making 147 horsepower. This is the upgraded engine that's included as standard equipment on the N-line and the limited trim. This is the N-line that I'm showing you. It's a 1.6-liter turbocharged gasoline direct injection four-cylinder, part of their SmartStream engine family. Hyundai says they've tweaked the emission system. So this is compliant, of course, with the latest emission laws and now makes 190 horsepower and 195 pound-feet of torque. Now, if you're keeping score, that's about five horsepower less versus the previous generation. Again, it lost that power because of the emissions changes, but it also got a big transmission change. The old Kona had a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, which wasn't always the smoothest in day-to-day driving. That's been replaced by an eight-speed torque converter automatic. So Hyundai is claiming it's going to be a smoother driving vehicle. Front-wheel drive is standard. All-wheel drive is available for around $1,500. This particular one here has all-wheel drive. The sad thing about the switch, of course, to that eight-speed auto is the fuel efficiency went down for this powertrain. It's ready to get 24 in the city, 29 on the highway, around 28 combined, depending on if you guys go for front or all-wheel drive. The all-wheel drive version is going to get 26 combined. That is a pretty significant reduction of around three to five MPG compared to the prior generation. So that's something that I didn't want to see. And it really would have been addressed if Hyundai would offer the hybrid powertrain that they have in Korea. There's also an electric version, which we'll include as a separate review that offers two different battery packs and offers up to 261 miles of range on the bigger battery pack. That only comes in front-wheel drive. Hyundai doesn't claim a zero to 60 performance for this vehicle, but I believe we got the mid seven-second range in this car's platform, the revised Kia Seltos. Towing is not recommended on this vehicle. Remember, it is a subcompact SUV. And in terms of the curb weight, this car, as it sits, weighs in at just under 3,400 pounds. So this is about a couple hundred pounds heavier versus the prior generation. But let's go ahead and close up the hood, which as you can see, is actually held up by struts. That really surprised me. And taking a look at the styling of the all-new Kona, you can see a lot of influence here from Hyundai's IONIQ family, their family of electric vehicles. In fact, the company claims that when they were designing this vehicle, they designed it as an EV first and then had it accommodate a battery electric platform when they were designing the exterior. And it really shows. You can see it has their latest corporate design language. You have this kind of continuous LED light bar. That's the LED daytime running light. It's actually pixelated. If you guys go and look at the electric version, there's the new Hyundai logo here with the kind of like stainless steel look to it. I really liked the design. And then you can see here, active grill shutters. Right now the grills are opened up, but they can also close off to improve the aerodynamics. Hyundai says this vehicle, the gas version, has a 0.30 coefficient of drag. That's an improvement of 0.2 versus the prior generation. And the beauty about the new Kona is every trim comes standard with full LED headlights, which I believe you had to get an upper trim. But you can see here it has LED low and high beams. The turn signals are incandescent. I believe some of the higher trims have an LED turn signal as well, but no fog lights in the vehicle. But you can see the headlights are mounted pretty low. So it almost looks like it has fog lights down here. You can see more actual openings, functional vents to allow for air to go through the intercooler. It's going to need that, especially on this super warm day. And then Hyundai also says they've raised up the height of this vehicle and the width. So it's about an inch higher and an inch wider. And this vehicle has around 8.3 inches of ground clearance on this all-wheel drive model, which is actually among the highest in the segment. Only the Subaru Crosstrek has about a half an inch more ground clearance. Now looking around the side profile, this is built on their latest generation K3 architecture. And the result of that is a much bigger vehicle. Hyundai says they've stretched the overall length by nearly six inches to just over 171 inches long. The wheelbase has also been stretched by around 2.4 inches at around 104.7. And I mentioned earlier, it's about an inch taller and an inch wider. It definitely looks like a bigger vehicle, but it also kind of has the look of a hot hatch, especially when you look at the N-line model. I really like the entire body colored surrounding of this vehicle. This is actually painted in denim blue, which is a nice dark grayish blue exterior color. Now looking at the wheels, Hyundai offers a choice between a 17, an 18, or a 19-inch wheel. These are the 19-inch wheels that you get on the N-line. You can see it kind of reminds me of the wheels that you find on the Tucson, which again is a vehicle step up larger. You have an independent front suspension. You have a torsion beam rear suspension on the front-wheel drive models. However, the all-wheel drive swaps it out for a multi-link independent setup. And then you have four-wheel disc brakes. They measure 12 inches in the front. Overall, the hardware is about what you expect for a vehicle in this segment. Now, other styling cues, you'll notice the wheel arches here. Hyundai actually calls this armor. It's part of a styling statement. You can also get this in a non-painted finish. On the N-line, it has the painted finish. Same thing with the electric. There's an N-line badge over here, along with a black painted side mirror, integrated turn signals. And then this vehicle also offers an ultra-wide sunroof, which the sunroof is definitely not a full panel roof, but I like the fact that it's a little bit larger than a standard sunroof. You have the roof rails that's included when you guys go for the SEL trims and up. And then you also get the tinted windows when you guys go for the SEL trim and up. So I highly recommend at least stepping up to that trim. And then moving around to the rear of the N-line, you can see it has a wide and much taller spoiler on the back, which I think is a huge styling statement. Remember, Hyundai offered a full-on N performance version, which they haven't announced if that's coming back yet. But this kind of gives me hints of that with this kind of taller rear spoiler, which is painted black. You also have a very interesting rear third brake light, which is kind of like a vertical orientation as opposed to a continuous light blade. However, you do get the continuous light blade on the LED taillights, which are kind of like a full LED or a partial LED. This model here you can see is actually not even LED. I believe the higher trims, the limited and the electric gives you the full LED taillight design. You can see it's kind of similar to the headlights where you have a separate portion here for the turn signals, for the reverse lights and such. You can see there's some badging back here where they boldly spell out Kona. H-track, that's how you'll know this is an all-wheel drive version here with the H-track all-wheel drive system. And then the N line also gets a unique specific sportier rear diffuser area, which you can see has some fake venting. And then you also have a twin outlet chrome-tipped exhaust. This is the only trim to get the sportier looking exhaust. All the other trims will kind of have a hidden exhaust feature. And then I mentioned earlier, this vehicle is not recommended to tow by Hyundai themselves. Now, looking at the trunk capacity, there is a power liftgate available, which is a new feature. It's also a hands-free power liftgate if you guys step up to the limited trim. As you can see with the N line, you don't get a power liftgate, but what you do get is significantly more cargo space this year. You can see here, Hyundai says you get a little over 25 cubic feet of space, which is an increase of about six cubic feet versus the prior generation. There's also some underfloor storage here along with a temporary spare tire. This floor here also has two different levels. So right now it's on the lower setting. I can also put it up on the higher setting. And then this little cargo cover here, Hyundai says you can pull it out. You can also kind of stash it. There are these little clips that are built into the seat back where if you need to move it out of the way, you can kind of stash it and it'll sit right here. Fold down that second row seat and Hyundai says it expands it out to just over 63 cubic feet of space, which is actually near the top of the class. That's an increase of nearly 20 cubic feet of space compared to the prior generation. So you can see Hyundai is really utilizing the increase in the exterior size to give you more practicality in the trunk. So with the all new Kona so much larger on the outside, this is where Hyundai was able to add a lot more interior space when you step inside the interior. Now, this one that we're getting in is the N line. I'll show you some footage of the limited later on because it has even more tech features versus this trim. But once you get in, it has a nice higher step in position because of the increase in ground clearance. As I shut the door, the door has a really solid sounding thunk. Remember this is built on their latest third generation K architecture. Now here's the key fob for the vehicle. You can see it's their new kind of egg shaped key that we first saw on the Ioniq 6. You can see also that's actually a Hyundai logo when you tip it onto its side versus like this. You have your usual buttons there for lock, unlock, a remote start, panic feature, no power liftgate because this model doesn't have it, but you can get the smart park feature that's available only on the limited trim where you can basically remote park this vehicle, move it forward and back in tight parking garages from whatnot. But starting to the club, you can see start stop button is right here. When I push the button, it has that traditional starter noise because remember this is not a hybrid or a mild hybrid. There is a fully electric version, which we'll be driving at a later date. I'll show you a full review on that. But overall the N-Line model you can see is very dark in here. The seats, let me first talk about that. These are unique to the N-Line where you kind of have this combination of this faux Alcantara with the H-Tech leatherette. These are also three level heated seats. I have a eight-way power driver seat with two-way lumbar support, which is definitely nice. Let me crank the AC down. It's a little bit loud. If you guys want ventilated seats, it is available on the limited trim. It only comes standard on the limited trim. No memory seats. However, remember this is still a Kona. It's on the lower end of the totem pole. The driver or the passenger seat here is fully manual, which is fine. It's kind of what you expect, but I do think these seats are comfortable and supportive. They're a little more aggressively bolstered. I also like the N badging there on the seat back itself. But then looking at the rest of the interior, you can see it's got the newest Hyundai design language here where it's very minimalistic, but also very functional. First of all, let me go ahead and talk about the materials. The door panel here on the upper portion is hard-touch plastic on this N-Line trim. Now I did read that the limited has softer materials, which I'll hop into after this. We'll go over that, but you can see it is padded over here and padded over here where my elbows address the windows. One touch for the driver and the front passenger. However, the rears are not the express up and down, so kind of keep that in mind. We'll test out in the limited and see if that's also the case. The controls here feel pretty high quality and tactile. You have a little additional storage here in the lower door panel, which is nice. You can see the steering wheel. This is unique to the N-Line model, and it also has Hyundai's design touch here where they're not putting an H logo in the steering wheel. This kind of helps them reduce costs because they don't have to put the logo on the actual airbag cover. Instead, you have the four little dots here, which is supposed to stand for H in Morse code. Now, these dots don't illuminate like they do on the IONIQ 6, but you can see it's kind of got like a cool design. This is a slightly more aggressive looking wheel with the N badges, the contrasting red stitching, the kind of fatter 9-in-3 grip, the paddles on the wheel as well. The horn actually sounds good. It doesn't sound puny and pathetic like on some competing vehicles like the Toyota Corolla Cross. The steering wheel itself has a manual tilt and telescoping adjustment. There's a good amount of adjustability and range. You also get these alloy sport pedals on the N-Line model, which again, give you the illusion that you're driving a full on N version. But remember, this is just kind of a sportier appearance package. The rest of the dashboard material, as you can see, has like this kind of texturized feel to it, and it's also hard touch plastic. You have a lot of additional red trim over here, a nice little storage compartment here, some aluminum looking like plastic trim over here, and then you can see looking at the displays. This is a really great touch because every version of the Kona, even the base version, has a big 12.3-inch display. This is among the biggest in the segment, especially when you compare it to something like the Corolla Cross, which has an 8-inch display, or the HR-V, which has a 9-inch display. This is standard across the board. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto is also included. When you go for the lower trims, I'm talking about the SE and the SEL without the package. Those trims, the lower trims, also have an 8-inch display, excuse me for that, have an 8-inch display for the instrument panel. This right here is the 12.3-inch display, which is included on the N line trim and the Limited trim. Again, it also looks very high-tech. It's kind of like I'd like that wall of screens. You can also get features like the digital camera review or the digital blind spot monitoring cameras on the Limited as well, along with a 360 camera not included on this trim. But however, when you guys go to the trims with navigation, which is the SEL with the convenience package it up, it will remove the wireless CarPlay and it'll be a wired connection. So you can see my phone is hooked up via the USB-C connector here. Hyundai did replace all the USB-A ports. That is frustrating to me that if you guys go for the navigation-equipped models, it goes back to a wired CarPlay feature. However, Hyundai did clarify with us that in early 2024, they're going to start doing a wireless over-the-air update to buyers who have this trim with the navigation package to include wireless CarPlay and Android Auto. That'll be coming sometime in early 2024 and it will be free. So you have to deal with a wired connection until that comes into play. So at least Hyundai again is listening to their clients. You can see this has the latest version of their Hyundai BlueLynx Telematics system where you can also have access to your smartphone. It has embedded GPS as well. You can see the GPS itself. It's pretty much what you expect from a lot of the Hyundai and Kia products. You can see it's pretty quick and snappy and responsive. It doesn't have the kind of Google Earth views for the navigation display, but you can see it's very useful. And if you guys don't want to use that, you can also use your smartphone. Hyundai CarPay is actually a new feature that they have in Korea where you can essentially have your car work as an Apple Pay on your smartphone where it's linked up to a credit card where you can just pay with your car. I'm not entirely sure how that works here in the States because again, it's been utilized in Korea for some time now, but they're launching it here in beta in the US. So if you guys do eventually buy this car and you use that feature, leave me a comment below and let me know how it actually works for you. There is interchangeable ambient lighting in this car, but only on the Limited trim where you'll have ambient lighting here and in the door panels. That's again, a really nice touch. Down over here in the center console, you can see there's two USB-C charging ports. There's also an actual 12 volt power outlet here. You have your big wireless phone charging pad over here, which is nice. Then you can see a lot of buttons over here for the three level heated seats. You can also get a heated steering wheel, not on this trim, only on the Limited. And then you can see here your camera display button is right here. You also have a few empty buttons where you can get ventilated seats on the Limited trim. And then this right here is your drive mode selector. So there's three different modes, snow, normal and sport mode. And then there's also a lock feature for the all-wheel drive system, which will lock it in a 50-50 torque split at speeds under 50 miles an hour. So again, nice little touches. The center console here has also been enlarged where you have a ton of storage space. You can also kind of remove the cup holders here entirely. If you guys want to get rid of the cup holders and kind of have a big center console area, just push that button. It brings the cup holder back. That's pretty nice. You have a padded center console area here. Open this up. You can see there's a little bit of storage here that you can kind of deem as covered, but mostly you'll remove that. You can see there's a big storage area over here, which is again kind of a nice touch. So Hyundai is really improving the storage capability in this car. And then above me here, you can see massive, or not really massive, but it's an ultra wide sunroof, which kind of gives you the illusion that you're in a car with a panoramic roof. You can see the roof does tilt open completely and slides back to again, let the fresh air in, which is nice. We're not going to do that today because it's literally over a hundred degrees. And if you want the shade, there is a power retractable shade. As you can see, once it closes, it kind of blocks out the sun, which is definitely nice because it's a really hot day today. Over here, you can see there's that storage area along with the glove compartment where I opened that. It's damped, but not lined with felt. It's a bin style. It offers a pretty good amount of space. And then for you audiophiles out there, this model has the eight speaker Bose premium sound system, which is included on this trim. It sounds pretty good. Nothing super crazy good. Like you'll find in some of the bigger Hyundais, but it's nice to see that Hyundai is including a lot of upscale tech features. This, this cabin also feels a lot more open and airy in terms of the infotainment screens. This is now among the best in the business, thanks to it's two large 12.3 inch displays. So if you guys aren't a fan of all the sporty bits on the end line trim, I've switched over to this limited trim here in front wheel drive, and it's painted in this color called cyber gray metallic. You can see the limited has the non-painted wheel arches on the vehicle, which definitely make it stand out. But this interior is what I want to show you mostly. And you can see this gray exterior is complimented by a gray interior, which is nice because the end line only comes in that black interior with the red accents with the suede Alcantara, the faux and the leatherette. So you can see this is the full HTX leatherette seating. These seats are also eight way power adjustable, but as you can see, no two person memory or no memory seats at all. And then the door panel materials here are hard touch plastic, although it's soft over here and over here. So I'm a little disappointed to see that Hyundai didn't upgrade the upper door panels here to be soft. What I do like, however, are the seats, which are ventilated. So this is one of the few vehicles in the class that offers cool seats. And it's definitely a plus here in Baltimore where the temperature is well over 95 degrees, but getting inside, you can see the interior itself has a similar, but also slightly more upscale feel. I think it's mostly just the color. I really like the gray lighter tones of the interior. You can see you have the same 12.3 inch gauge display. You have a steering wheel, which has, um, non-contrasting stitching, although you still have the kind of same fat extension or bolstering extensions for the nine and three grip. And then down here, there's no end line badge. And then you still get paddles on the wheel to control the eight speed auto. The difference of course, being as when you, uh, with the limited trim, when you signal left or right, you can see this car has the blind view cameras that it shows in each side. That's really great when you have the 12.3 inch digital display. And then when you push this button over here, you can see it brings up a full three 60 camera, which is one of the few vehicles in the segment that offers a full three 60 camera with this kind of perimeter scan. This is very European. The graphics and quality is also pretty good. So that's definitely a nice little plus. You can see your heated and ventilated seat control is here. Your heated steering wheel control is over here. Uh, and then, uh, when you cycle the drive mode, you can see without all wheel drive, this only has normal and sports. So this model here that I'm showing you is only a front wheel drive model. But other than that, the center console is pretty much the same. It's the same material over here. You do have this kind of customizable ambient lighting. You can kind of see it down here and down here. The limited trim is the only trim to get that. And you can also kind of change the way the ambient lighting looks. When you go over here to the home display, switch it over to vehicle or setup, and then you go here to vehicle and you go to lights. And this is where you can kind of choose between 10 different ambient color lighting choices. There are preset colors, or you can also go to a custom color. This is very unique. I've never seen this before in the mainstream setup. So I like the fact that Hyundai is including that materials here on the upper dashboard are also a hard touch plastic. Uh, so overall you still get all the nice touches minus the fact that you don't get all the red trim. And then over here, you can see the gear selector is right behind the steering wheel. This is kind of taken from the Ioniq 5 and the Ioniq 6. You kind of twist it toward you to go to reverse. Uh, and then you twist it away from you to go to park and then, uh, or to go to drive park is accessed by pushing the P at the end of the stalk. So by moving it here to an electronic shifter, Hyundai was kind of able to free up the center console space, which again, gives you a ton of space to work with here. If you guys are looking for additional storage in the interior. Now, for those of you who want to use the new Kona as your family vehicle, this is where you're going to be really happy because Hyundai focused a lot of attention on the rear passenger space because this new model is so much larger. Thanks to that two and a half inch stretch in the wheelbase and nearly six inches longer. Overall, you have a ton more legroom space back here. In fact, this is among the class best at just over 38 and a half inches of total legroom space. You can see this is where I have the seat to drive. There's a ton of foot space underneath here. Uh, and there's also just a ton of space. There is a hump over here for the center passenger, because again, it needs the hump for the drive shaft. However, I was told on the electric model, Hyundai actually removes the hump over there. So you have a completely flat floor. The rear seat air vents are also a new touch this year, which is definitely nice. You have two USB-C storage or USB-C ports, which are also illuminated a little bit of storage as well. You have one storage cubby over here. And then in terms of the materials, you can see it's hard touch plastic back here, which I kind of expected. I'll check out the limited and see if that's any different. It is still padded over here where you're going to be resting your elbows and whatnot. So that's pretty nice. Um, the window controls also, they still feel pretty high quality. They're not one touch. Like I said, uh, when I was talking about the front and then you can see over here, the rear seat back actually gives you the option to kind of recline it a little bit to get a little bit more comfort. You can also kind of fold it down. As you can see when you fold it down, it doesn't give you a completely flat floor, but it's definitely going to expand that cargo capacity, which is nice. And then over here, you can see there is an armrest that folds down and gives you two cup holders. Uh, so overall, if you guys plan to use this as a family vehicle compared to the prior generation, you have around three inches more legroom and you also have among the best legroom in the segment. So this is definitely now usable as a family car. So here we are behind the wheel of the all new second generation Kona. And I must admit when I first drove the original Kona, I liked the vehicle, but I always thought to myself, you could just get a Tucson for a lot much more money. And I personally thought that was a slightly better vehicle. Now the big change with this end line version that I'm in is it now has an eight speed automatic, the 1.6 turbo makes a little bit less power, but let's go ahead and test out what we can get zero to 60 wise in this vehicle. We're brake torqued, it's all wheel drive. All right. Zero to 60 in 7.84 seconds. That's about what I expected. And it's pretty similar to the time that I got in this car's platform, which is the all new Kia Seltos or the revised Kia Seltos, the 2024 model that I last drove earlier this year. And I have to say the big change to the eight speed auto is going to really improve the drivability of this car. The dual clutch, even though it was quicker shifting, I imagine the dual clutch is probably almost a second faster than this. If I had tested the prior generation is going to make a big difference in acceleration, but this transmission is just so much smoother. It's not quite as jerky as the old transmission. In fact, I want to try it again really quick here. This time, I'm not going to brake torque. We're just going to floor it. 7.8 there. So again, very consistent number. And this car also has a pretty smooth feeling feel. The engine has gotten more refined this year. I can tell that Hyundai's added more sound deadening materials. It just feels like a more pleasant car. It feels less thrashy. It just feels more upscale, more premium, more refined. And that's really going to go a long way to improving the ownership experience with this vehicle. In fact, the all new platform with its wider body, with its revised suspension, revised steering, I'm sensing a much better ride quality in this car. Now, I really like how this car goes down the road, even this end line model, which technically doesn't have adaptive dampers. I imagine this model here is going to give you the firmest ride. It still has a really nice ride quality, kind of glides over this pavement here really nicely. And keep in mind, I'm driving the all wheel drive version, which has a fully independent suspension in the back. And that's going to give you that refinement that you're looking for. I don't think Hyundai has any front wheel drive models here for us to test, which have the torsion beam in the back, but I suspect those models will be slightly less refined in the overall ride quality. Now, as I go down the road here, I'm noticing also a few things. This car does come with adaptive cruise control and Hyundai's full suite of driver assistance tech. It also has front traffic alert, rear cross traffic alert with braking and junction assist, where you could see somebody turning and you try to turn or oncoming and actually will apply the brakes for you. The lane keep assist also works pretty well. The adaptive cruise control is only included when you guys go for the SEL and convenience trims and up. So it's not standard equipment like you would find on something like the Corolla Cross. However, Hyundai does give you additional features like the blind view camera, full 360 camera. You typically aren't going to find that in vehicles in this segment. So in terms of the safety tech, Hyundai has really improved on that dramatically. Now, in terms of the handling characteristics, now this car, Hyundai says they've tuned it to be on the sportier end of the segment. And, you know, the last car that I drove in this segment was the all new Corolla Cross. I wasn't impressed with the handling dynamics of the Corolla Cross. I thought it felt really loosey-goosey and just kind of really soft and cushy. The Kona definitely gives you a sportier edge. It's kind of similar to the last Crosstrek I drove as well. The Crosstrek feels small and sporty and very car-like. And the Kona definitely gives you that feeling as I go around this corner here. The steering has some good heft to it. You don't really tell, you can't really tell what the tires are doing because it doesn't really transmit much in terms of the road feel communication. But you get a sense that this car feels like almost like a lifted hot hatch. That's what I appreciate about the Kona. So even though this car has gotten bigger this year, it still feels sporty. It still feels nimble. It still feels small, but it has much more refinement. I also really appreciate these seats. On the N-line trim, the seats are a little bit more aggressively bolstered. I like the Alcantara where it really holds you in place nicely. I wish they were ventilated though. You have to go for the full H-Tex, the leatherette material, if you guys want the ventilated seats, which is only included on the limited trim. But overall visibility is still very good in here as well. I can see out of the front very well, the sides very well. This pillar here, it could be a little bit thinner, but the view out of the back is good. That big spoiler in the back doesn't intrude on your visibility. I do wish that Hyundai offered their digital camera review mirror on this car, but again, everything's kind of to a price point. But I'm just really shocked at how much more refined and how much more upscale this new one, this new version feels. It feels like I'm driving a Tucson where it poses. The old one kind of felt like I was driving like a lifted up version of like the Hyundai Accident. It wasn't the most pleasant driving vehicle per se, especially on those longer highway drives. I took this car on the highway as well. And I also found that the highway road manners have been greatly improved. The overall acceleration, the engine again is smoother and quieter, especially when you need to push it. What's interesting about it is it doesn't really feel turbocharged. There are times where I was expecting a little bit of turbo lag. Mostly the lag that I'm feeling is from the transmission. It has been tuned to shift and upshift early to give you the best fuel efficiency, which it needs to. But at the same time, when I put my foot down, it takes a little bit of time for it to actually downshift. But once it does, it's smooth and it's responsive. There isn't that time where I'm like kind of waiting. So I'll slow down here and we'll just kind of slow down to like 20 miles an hour and then I'll floor it. There's a little bit of delay in the way it downshifts, but the dual clutch, I remember, would like almost kind of stumble upon itself when I was trying to pick the right gear. And then you'd also deal with the turbo lag. So this is definitely an improvement. The downside with this automatic, this eight speed automatic is Hyundai says it's heavier, it's slightly less efficient, and that's why the fuel efficiency has come down. Now I'll have to wait until I get one back home to retest, which I'm technically in my home area now, although this probably like an hour south of me, where I can do an actual range test as opposed to being on this shorter drive. However, the trip computer was telling me on a brief loop around 24, 25 MPG. That is definitely on the lower end. The Corolla Cross can easily do over 40 miles to the gallon, the hybrid version, of course, which is where, again, I wish Hyundai would offer the hybrid powertrain in the States. I think it would do really well here, even though I wasn't quite in love with the hybrid powertrain in the last Kia Niro that I drove, it still would be a welcome addition in this vehicle. So that's something to keep in mind. Now also keep in mind that the Limited that I showed you earlier in this video will pretty much drive the same because it has the same powertrain. Hyundai did not have the two liter naturally aspirated four cylinder with the IVT, the CVT transmission here for us to test at this program. Hopefully I can get my hold, my hands on one of those at a later date. But overall, the new Kona has a much better driving dynamic. It feels like a more upscale, more refined car. Its road manners are impeccable considering the class. And it pretty much feels like the last Crosstrek that I drove, which to me, I consider the benchmark in terms of driving dynamics. The only thing this car really doesn't offer that the Crosstrek does is an off-road oriented variant because Hyundai again favors on-road performance because most people in this segment don't really take their vehicles off-road. Although the Crosstrek has proven that people really prefer that. I'll be driving the Crosstrek Wilderness here in a couple of weeks as well. But overall, if you guys are looking to upgrade from your old Kona or perhaps go to a smaller vehicle from an older Tucson, this new model definitely has some really nice new road manners. So in the subcompact SUV space, as you guys mostly know, the Subaru Crosstrek is the sales king. In fact, when the segment was essentially first created with the Crosstrek about a decade ago, a lot of manufacturers scrambled because I personally never really cared for the subcompact SUV. I always thought that there was a better value if you spend a little bit more and got a compact SUV. However, sales have really taken off in this segment. And as you guys know, the Kona is one of Hyundai's top sellers with the company at one point moving a little over 90,000 units back in 2021. So clearly there is a huge market for this vehicle. And after spending some time with the fully redesigned second generation Kona, I have to say a lot of the concerns that I had with the previous generation are mostly gone. As you guys see, the interior space has been hugely upgraded. There's more space in the trunk, more space in the rear, more space in the front. The tech features also greatly improved. I love the fact that the big 12.3 inch display is standard across the board on all trims. I am still sad that you have to wait for an over the air update to get wireless carplay on the navigation equipped models, but at least Hyundai is listening and they will be adding that of course, as we go on into 2024. And really what makes me sad about the new Kona really is the fact that they don't offer the hybrid powertrain here because in Korea, they offer it with the same hybrid powertrain that you basically find in the Kia Niro hybrid. I think it would have done really well in the all new Kona. So I'm hoping at some point demand will increase and Hyundai will see fit to bring the hybrid because that would really improve the fuel efficiency because that's kind of the biggest downfall with the new Kona. If you guys go for the turbocharged engine with all wheel drive, it has one of the lower fuel economy ratings, but as you guys saw, it also has one of the higher power specs and it should also give you a much more pleasant drive with that new eight speed automatic. Ride and handling is also on the sportier side. So I'm really hoping that Hyundai will eventually bring back the full on N version. As you guys know, there was a Kona and there still is on the previous generation, but we don't have any word yet if the actual high performance N is coming back. The electric model, I'll be able to do a separate review on a later date. It will be going on sale later, but if you guys are looking to get your hands on the all new Kona, this vehicle is just reaching dealerships as we speak. And the base price for the SE version with front wheel drive starts at a little over $24,000 minus destination charge. That's around a $2,000 increase versus the prior generation, but this car is so more sophisticated, so much larger, has so much more tech features. It's kind of worth that extra charge. If you guys want all wheel drive, it's around $1,500 extra. I also think that's kind of worth it for around $25,000. I highly recommend going at least to the SEL trim. The SEL trim is going to include some upgraded features, including rear tinted windows that most of you are probably going to want. That's like an extra $1,700 as well. The N line model is where the Kona will start to get expensive because that's the model that you have to choose if you want the turbo charged engine. That starts at just over $30,000, which is like a $2,500 increase versus the prior generation. The limited is another $1,500 more on top of that. But as you guys saw, it has a ton of features that are kind of unheard of in this segment. This particular one here with destination, no other options to add stickers for around $33,800. If you guys want the limited that I showed you earlier, that can approach $35,000. Now that is a big jump versus the prior generation, but remember, bigger, more sophisticated car, more tech features. And it's also right around the same price as fully loaded versions of the Corolla cross hybrid, for example, or the Subaru Crosstrek, which is also over $30,000. So really, if you guys are looking for a vehicle like this, you can get it for under 25, but most of you will be spending closer to 30, which I think is still a pretty good deal, especially considering just how good the all new Kona has become. But with all that said, I hope you guys have enjoyed my full overview on the brand new 2024 Hyundai Kona. If you're also looking to see the latest cars I'm testing, be sure to follow me on Instagram at Redlineunderscorereviews. Like us on Facebook. And as always, guys, please keep subscribing to the Redline Reviews YouTube channel for all the latest reviews. Thank you so much for watching. I'll catch you all in the next video. Transcribed by https://otter.ai