Now, to continue from from here.
With my barely-a-day-owned Kia Sportage already in the shop at the dealer, I was given a brand new Hyundai Kona as a loaner, until my new purchase was fixed.
I had looked at the Kona while I was shopping around online, comparing all the specs versus the Mitsubishi RVR I still had at the time. I liked the exterior styling, it was a nice blend of a Honda HR-V and Jeep Cherokee. Upon closer examination of one in reality, I was really disappointed with the black trim around the wheels. It had the touch and durability on par with a recycled plastic planter pot (of the same color). Other than that, I noticed the exterior fit-and-finsh was good and I really liked the rims.
I had looked at the Kona while I was shopping around online, comparing all the specs versus the Mitsubishi RVR I still had at the time. I liked the exterior styling, it was a nice blend of a Honda HR-V and Jeep Cherokee. Upon closer examination of one in reality, I was really disappointed with the black trim around the wheels. It had the touch and durability on par with a recycled plastic planter pot (of the same color). Other than that, I noticed the exterior fit-and-finsh was good and I really liked the rims.
Under the hood resides Hyundai's 2.0 litre, double overhead cam 4-cylinder putting out 147 horsepower and 132 lb-ft of torque. Despite having nearly the same performance (148 hp/145 lb-ft), this naturally aspirated Kona AWD Preferred felt under-powered, perhaps that was due to the Atkinson cycle engine (or the shock and awe factor of my new Turbo Sportage was clouding my experience). I couldn't even blame the let down on a CVT, since it came with a decently shifting 6-speed automatic transmission.
I never got to test out the AWD system off-road and since it was a loaner vehicle, I didn't think that would be the "mature" thing to do.
The interior was another chapter in the disappointing novel.
I don't like the look of the "tablet style" infotainment screen, the dashboard flexed a little too much under slight pressure when pressed with a finger, the door panels were hard, cheap touch plastic and the cloth seats were too firm (okay, the last one is mostly because the vehicle was still new, the fabric hadn't been "broken in" yet).
One stand out thing I noticed was the skimpy sound deading material that was used, easily hearing the 215/55R17 Nexen tires (the same brand that were on my RVR, but in a 225/55R18 size) as I drove around at city speeds. While cruising at a highway tempo, the tread echo was becoming almost unbearable. On a positive note, the stereo didn't sound too bad (almost capable of drowning out the road noise) and the instruments were easy to read.
One stand out thing I noticed was the skimpy sound deading material that was used, easily hearing the 215/55R17 Nexen tires (the same brand that were on my RVR, but in a 225/55R18 size) as I drove around at city speeds. While cruising at a highway tempo, the tread echo was becoming almost unbearable. On a positive note, the stereo didn't sound too bad (almost capable of drowning out the road noise) and the instruments were easy to read.
Overall the Kona wasn't a truly bad experience. For it's price point and if I all I wanted was a decently equipped, good on gas, brand new vehicle, the Kona would have been something to consider.
But, I wasn't interested in a Kona and once I went back to the dealer to see my Sportage out of the shop, I felt some relief that I had made a better (for me) purchase choice.
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