Kia Stonic (2017-2020): Opinions

Extravagant and elegant, the Kia Stonic is ready to challenge the established leaders of the youth compact crossover segment. With the introduction of the Stonic, Kia has repeatedly emphasized that this eye-catching compact crossover should be the brand’s new flagship in the B-SUV segment.

It is called Baby-Sportage and in reality it replaces Soul which does not respond to the demands of modern youth, thirsty for lightness, dynamism, and individuality. But all this is now implemented in the Kia Stonic. Seriously, Kia did a great job with his task.

And after its update it received not only a renewed body and better equipment, but also a new, very dynamic and economical engine with a “soft hybrid” clutch, in general, it is a very successful car. Therefore, in this article we will tell you in detail about all aspects of the Kia Stonic.

Inside

The interior of the Kia Stonic is not that impressive. It is also made in a youth style, but without any special ornaments. On the other hand, you can see that the interior designers have put a lot of effort into optimizing ergonomics and space in general. For such a compact car (4.14 x 1.76 x 1.52 m), there is a lot of “air” in the Stonic’s cabin.

There are no expensive finishing materials inside, but everything is well assembled and the ergonomics are at a good level. Plus many options and customization options. Visibility is also good. The young audience will be happy

The legroom of front and rear passengers is 1070 and 850 mm, respectively, the distance from the seat to the ceiling is 996 and 975 mm, and the transverse distance between the walls of the cabin is 1375 and 1355 mm.

Dry numbers, of course, say little, but in practice, the front riders feel really comfortable. The seats are also comfortable, although they do not have good lateral support. The main thing is that the back does not get tired during long trips.

On a global level, there is nothing to criticize. However, there is a short center armrest between the front seats and the absence of one in the rear. But this, for a minute, is a car from an almost budget segment, so it would be foolish to count on much.

Kia did not skimp on electronic equipment

Even in the simplest version, the multimedia system is compatible with the Android Auto and Apple CarPlay interfaces, and a rear view camera as well as navigation are available as an option.

Additionally, the Kia Stonic can be equipped with single-zone climate control, 3-level heated seats, “cruise” and leather-trimmed seats. The steering wheel is heated traditionally for Kia by default.

A whole complex of assistants is also on guard for active safety: an automatic braking system, lane marking monitoring with lane keeping, dead zone monitoring and automatic switching from high beams to low beams.

• For the B-SUV segment, the equipment is absolutely enviable.

Also, the trunk cannot be called large, but 352 liters are enough for a couple of bags. And if you fold the rear sofa, the hold will increase to 1155 liters. In the second row of a compact car, by definition, it may not be super spacious, but behind front passengers of average height it is quite comfortable.

It has enough room for your legs, above your head, if you are not a basketball player, there will also be a little. For three, the rear sofa is, of course, narrow. There are no separate deflectors of the air conditioning system here either, but there is a USB port disguised as a cigarette lighter, since it is convenient to charge “devices” on the go.

Moving

The Kia Stonic shares a platform with the new Rio, which in turn shares a lot with the Hyundai Accent, and that formed the basis of the Hyundai Kona, a sister model to the Stonic. Kia says the Stonic and Kona are built on different platforms.

We can’t confirm or deny this information yet (although we’re sure they have a common platform), but there’s definitely at least one difference: the Kona is offered with all-wheel drive, while the Kia Stonic is exclusively front-wheel drive.

However, It has 16 cm of actual ground clearance and plastic cladding is present around the perimeter of the body, meaning it is still possible to get around on an easy country road. Just very carefully.

On the other hand, it is difficult to assess how the suspension performs on good roads, but the small patches of bad asphalt you encounter will make it clear that the Kia Stonic’s suspension (McPherson struts on the front and rear beam) is composed. Thanks to which, among other things, the car obeys the steering wheel perfectly.

It is stable during active maneuvers (proven by slalom), holds the road steady at speeds close to maximum (tested by Autobahn). In other words, you can rely on it and it doesn’t get tiring when driving.

The lightweight steering doesn’t shine with a lot of feedback, but the chassis’s responses to corrective inputs are reasonably quick and accurate. The pedal assembly to match the steering wheel: minimal effort, but the information content is present, which is especially important in the case of the clutch pedal. And the manual gearbox lever can be moved with almost a finger.

And the engine?

The engine will please you with good traction in a wide rpm range. In fact, it has no particular problems with dynamics, whether at city or highway speeds, although “according to the passport” this is one of the slowest units in the range – 12.6 for the 100.

And not the cheapest. But even so, the average fuel consumption over the two days of our test was 6.6 l / 100 km and, if we had wanted, it could have been reduced slightly if that task were maintained. On the contrary, we needed to understand how the Kia Stonic behaves in all conditions and modes.

As a whole, it turned out to be an interesting car. It even has excellent sound insulation, at speeds above 100 km / h you do not need to raise your voice, the wind does not hum, and the mirrors do not whistle.

How does the KIA Stonic look after the facelift?

The KIA Stonic facelift received not only a renewed body and better equipment, but also a supercharged engine with a “soft hybrid” and “by-wire” clutch. We are not going to hide (and there is no reason) that the KIA Stonic has not changed much after the facelift.

In reality, the Korean crossover only got a slight smoothing of wrinkles, a new appearance (LED lights) and new equipment. As well as the new 1.0 T-GDI 120 HP engine and electronically controlled manual gearbox. So, now we will tell you how to share on the roads:

Dynamic and economical

The 120 HP “three cylinder” gives you 200 Nm and it must be admitted that the car is very lively. The bottom gears are perfectly tuned for quiet cruising on the highway, but by using a lightly operating lever (and the drive mode selector) you can get quite a bit out of this Kia Stonic.

Without a doubt, the car is very pleasant to drive. At the same time, it is quite quiet (as long as there is no strong wind)so driving fast is no pain for the car or you.

As we mentioned the operation of the gearbox, it is impossible not to mention that the clutch pedal is not connected in any way to the gearbox mechanically. Thanks to this, the KIA Stonic can switch to route navigation mode, completely turning off the combustion unit.

If so, the delay in shooting is almost imperceptible. This is due to the “mild hybrid” system, which with the help of a small electric motor is able to reduce problems when starting or synchronizing the engine and gearbox on the road.

How much fuel does it consume?

The test week average for the Kia Stonic was 7.2 l/100 km, but there was a lot of fairly dynamic driving and traffic jams. In optimal conditions, Stonic is easily below 7 l / 100 km, and needs on average 7.5 l / 100 km in the city.

Even less on the road. At 140 km/h it is 7.3 l/100 km, and if it does not exceed 100 km/h it can drop below 4.5 liters. That is, the fuel consumption of the KIA Stonic 1.0 T-GDI 120 HP would be:

• At 100 km/h: 4.3 l/100 km.
• At 120 km/h: 5.2 l/100 km.
• At 140 km/h: 7.3 l/100 km.
• In the city: 7.5 l / 100 km.

However, the supercharged 1.0 unit has its drawbacks: the fact that it has a normal work culture, but, it is not the worst in this regard. It is much more disruptive to the “ritual” of starting the engine, since it’s not like you’re going to get in and shoot. The car must be in neutral (!) and the clutch as well as the brake must be depressed.

Decent driving with aggressive assistance

Since the KIA Stonic came to us with almost complete equipment, in the GT Line version, we were also able to take a look at the “support” work. Koreans, however, assumed that prevention is better than cure, so the car loudly reports many things such as:

• The fact that you are approaching an obstacle.
• That someone is leaving you (useful for those who reach for the phone in traffic).
• If you have someone in your blind spot.

There is also cruise control (classic, non-adaptive) and lane assist. This, in turn, suffers from slight hyperactivity. On the one hand, it works well. On the other hand, it is completely angular and gives you the steering wheel quite aggressively.

Then again, this is another car you forget to drive five minutes after getting out of it. It is good in this segment, because it means that it does not stand out with anything negative. It’s definitely not a very soft car, but it chooses bumps very efficiently.

In the tests carried out, I did not like that it was quite polite even on the cobblestones. His back didn’t hurt and there was no dizziness. The handling itself was also good, although for KIA cars, the steering surprised us.

Cabin

As we have been saying, it is comfortable to drive and convenient to use. Despite its small size, it was possible to find a decent amount of space, especially in the front. This was combined with quite comfortable armchairs. They don’t have lumbar support, but they are well contoured and don’t have short seats.

The same goes for the rear bench. The Kia Stonic’s rear seats appear to be much more comfortable, although there is clearly less legroom, but the seat is firmer and supports the thighs well.

On the other hand, if you consider the Kia Stonic in the context of a family car you should know that the boot capacity is 332 liters. This is the average value in this segment. Furthermore, it is almost a tradition, but we applaud the Far Eastern proposal for its ergonomics, since it really is simple and without monsters.

Here’s how to do it, without having to deal with an excess of touch screens. The equipment is also at the appropriate level. Heated seats and steering wheel, automatic air conditioning (but single zone), great multimedia from Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, or a rear view camera basically do not allow you to complain about the car.

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