Yahoo Autos 2024 Hyundai Kona Review: Not as cheap, still quite cheerful
BALTIMORE, Md. – Hyundai’s spunky subcompact crossover is back for a second round. No surprise there; the original was pretty darned good. For 2024, Hyundai looks to correct some of the Kona’s inherent shortcomings by offering a bigger, roomier and more tech-laden car. Is it all for the better? Hyundai invited me to my old stomping grounds in Baltimore to find out.
2024 Kona details dropped earlier this year, but here are the basics. The car grew nearly six inches in length and an inch in width — still squarely in the subcompact size range but noticeably larger than before. This addresses one of the key complaints customers had regarding the previous model: a lack of rear seat room. With that extra length (and some cleverness in further clamshelling the front seatbacks) comes three inches of additional rear legroom. The cargo area got a significant upgrade too, offering an additional six cubic feet of space with the seats up, for a total of 25.2. Bottom line: It’s bigger, and you’ll notice.
The Kona EV returns for 2024, but production examples aren’t ready for showrooms just yet; nor is there a dedicated N model at launch. In fact, Hyundai hasn’t yet confirmed that it will return, whether as a hotter turbocharged four-cylinder like before, or something electrified. For now, we can only assume, but we can say this: Hyundai’s team is very enthusiastic about motorsport, and anything that can tie the brand to driving excitement is on the table. Cross your fingers.
The previous-gen car’s original two powertrains carry over pretty close to unchanged. The base engine (SE, SEL models) is a 2.0-liter four-cylinder that makes 147 horsepower and 132 pound-feet of torque. It’s paired with a continuously variable transmission. Meanwhile, the N Line and Limited trims get a 1.6-liter turbocharged four-cylinder that makes 190 horsepower and 195 pound-feet of torque. This motor is paired to an eight-speed automatic transmission. Bye-bye, dual-clutch; we hardly knew ye.
Hyundai brought two versions of the Kona for us to sample: the Limited and N Line. Both are based on the same 1.6-turbo and all-wheel drive powertrain, but the N Line looks sportier with a big spoiler, body-color fender cladding and a neat twin exhaust poking out under the rear bumper. Both come with the new, no-console-shifter interior treatment and dual 12.3-inch screens (the SE and SEL get just one alongside a smaller 4.2-inch color cluster; aww) along with Bose audio and wired Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. As in Hyundai’s other current offerings, the high-end infotainment lacks wireless smartphone mirroring, but in this case, Hyundai is on track to offer an over-the-air update to add it to navigation-equipped models starting soon (as in, expect it by the end of 2024).
I set off after fiddling with the driver safety features (of which there are a great multitude, including lane keeping/lane following, Hyundai’s basic Highway Drive Assist (No word on HDA II for Kona at this time), driver attention warning and the many other sundries we’ve come to expect as standard equipment. The route takes me north out of the city into the wealthy exurbs of Baltimore County, populated mostly by trees, impatient rich folks and speed cameras – clearly the impatient folks aren’t quite rich enough to outfox the Maryland legislature.
