2024 Hyundai KONA Electric / It’s the IONIQ 5 Lite with Range and Features
Welcome to Everyday reviews earlier on this year we had a look at the brand new Kona if you haven’t watched that video I’ll leave a link in the video description because it’s all new this generation well this is the Kona EV and what’s interesting about the EV is that
The new Kona is built as an EV first and then made into a gas version which we have tested the previous version was a gas version converted into electric so this has a lot of advantages there’s a lot of goodness in this uh in fact I find a lot of similarities between this
Kona EV and our own ionic 5 uh obviously the size is different so I kind of almost want to call it like a a mini ionic or ionic light but there are actually some features on this K Eevee that our car doesn’t even have let’s have a Look All right let’s start with the exterior looks what do you think about it it’s definitely different it’s a lot edgier as mentioned this is built off an all new brand new platform for this second generation Kona it’s now grown in sides giving owners more usable space while maintaining still a fairly compact
Footprint the wheelbase has been increased by 2 in and the overall length is almost 6 in longer so quite a bit bigger and it’s about an inch wider as well this Eevee shares the same LED light bar and headlamps in the front which are pulled all the way to the
Edges has a very kind of like a cyber RoboCop type of look and the Eevee omits a grill because this is an Eevee but it does have active Grill shutters to allow air flow under the hood you will find a small front maybe good for your charging
Cable your v2l adapter which this has so allows up to 1,700 wats of power to be able to go the other way by directional so you can power a lot of your household appliances or to power your tailgate or camping activities on the side you’ll see the armor like wheel arches and
Sharp character lines almost the little ionic 5 like with some of those crease lines unlike the endline gas version though that comes with 19-in wheels the EV in this top ultimate trim gets 17in Alloys remember in EV land bigger Wheels equal less efficiency which equals less
Range open the back which is a manual lift gate I do get spoiled with the power lift on our ionic 5 and sometimes I wait for it to open after uh unlatching it cargo room has been increased by 33% you lift up the floor you have more
Storage space plus the floor has two steps so you can lower it for maximum room or you can raise it to the second level to be even when the rear seats are folded down cargo area with the seats up 723 3 l 183 with the seats down let’s
Hop in and go for a drive once you step into the new Kaa the first thing that you realize is just how much more room there is uh inside here compared to the previous generation of course we mentioned this is a larger platform It’s a larger vehicle and that extended
Wheelbase also helps as well but yeah you just you just feel like this is not a like a subc compact by any means or anything and you have so much Headroom and you know just lots of leg room we’ll talk about the rear seat legro in a bit
Uh so yeah it’s very very fresh looking and compared to the ionic 5 I think I like this interior better there are some very similar things for instance you get the dual 12.3 in screens up front but this has the new this is the internal
Code by the way the ccnc system and so it’s their new infotainment media system and the bonus of the system which we have seen also lately on the new ionic 5n as well as the new Hyundai Santa Fe which is coming out in early 2024 is
That uh first of all the graphics are so much more clear I really like the the interface you also get Wireless Apple carplay and Android auto that comes standard with it we also have a head-up display which is really really clear now this is the top trim and you get a few
Bonuses with the top trim like you get the Bose uh system we have a power roof we also get the 360 camera what I really appreciate from Hyundai is that they have not compromised just because this is a smaller vehicle I’ve always said this why is it that only larger vehicles
Or SUVs get 360 cameras every car regardless of size can benefit from that hands down I love that option for sure we also get heated and ventilated front seats a power driver’s seat a heated steering wheel now one thing that they’ve also changed uh for the new Hyundai’s coming out and this is
Different compared to our ionic as well is that where they’ve actually put the the the cruise control and the volume and their media buttons have been swapped over and it’s actually a more natural experience because normally you would reach with your right hand to adjust your volume if you have a volume
Knob which this does so now on the right side is a volume wheel love it no more toggle or or buttons for your volume a nice wheel and for your adaptive cruise control your your lane centering activating your highway driving assistant this which this is equipped
With it’s all on the left side I really do like that another thing that I like better on this is this center console area so up front you have wireless charging now you can control the USBs here whether you want it for just power or data and power but in front of that
You actually have physical buttons for your heated ventilated and your heated steering wheel that’s right beside your drive mode love that for sure now I’m on the highway right now just changed lanes this is also equipped with the blind spot monitor so as you change uh Lanes
Put your signal on it shows your cameras on the side once again a very premium feature also Remote Smart park assist we first saw that on on the their Flagship hydrogen nexo and now it’s worked its way down to aona yes so you can actually
Use the key fob to pull your car out you can do automatic parallel parking all of that is capable with this new K EV you have a nice Center trough and it’s configurable because if you don’t need the drink holders I do have my drink right here if you don’t need them you
Can actually fold them in and you press the button to retract them that’s also very nice with this new system as well digital key on this top trim so you don’t even need a key fob which by the way I got to say I am not a fan of these
Brand new keep fobs from Hyundai yes they do say the H but I prefer the older key fob I just don’t think they they just don’t look very good that’s my opinion but um anyways it’s a small thing this interior color by the way is
Called sage green I can see a little bit of green and it’s kind of a green gray I like the the yellow accents that you see here and and on the front it has a nice touch so onto the back the seat backs now have been carved out by 30%
Which gives you more room more leg room especially for the rear passengers and of course being an EV you have a completely flat floor also the padding in the middle seat is not curved which some vehicles are curved you know what I mean you know you sit in the back and
You’re just kind of like up on this perch here it’s also flat too so kind of you still don’t want to be in the middle I don’t I don’t like to be in the middle but it’s still better than being perched up and for those wondering those rear
Windows roll all the way down perfect for kids that don’t like the half rolled up Windows all right onto the drive what is powering this EV well underneath us there is a 64.8 KW hour battery now that this is the larger out of the two in other markets you can get a smaller
Battery but in Canada this is the only option you get the the big the big battery and that’s powering 150 KW electric motor driving the front wheels only the Kona is only available in front wheel drive no all-wheel drive so you got 2011 horsepower and 188 lbet of
Torque it’s more than adequate you know and being that it’s an EV you get instant torque and it it feels it’s a great great Runabout for sure if you want more power and you want the all-wheel drive you will have to go to the ionic 5 even though it was designed
As an EV first it is not on the egmp platform the same as you see on the ionic 5 so this is built based on a 400 volt uh structure opposed to the 800v that the ionic 5 does but charging is still fairly quick from 10 to 80% charge
Uh with a DC fast charger will run you about 42 or 43 minutes or so and um yeah that’s not too bad at all range wise you’re looking at 420 km that’s a little bit more than than our iic 5 but you know this is a smaller vehicle and it’s
Only driving just the front wheels opposed to ours as all-wheel drive but it’s pretty good considering this is a smaller battery so smaller and you’re getting a little bit more range and for a lot of people that’s fine like I have a nephew that lives in California and a
Lot of people that live in California they don’t they don’t need all-wheel driver they don’t want all-wheel drive and you basically you get more range if you go with the two wheel drive for sure so this is a really really good option for a lot of people okay one thing that
This definitely beats out the ionic 5 for now check it out in the back yeah it has the rear wiper newer ionic 5 will have it like we we did test drive the ionic 5n that does have the rear wiper one of my favorite things and I don’t
Think it’s actually spoken enough of is I think Hyundai has one of the best regen systems on the market hands down why first of all there are so many options that they give you I can adjust right now I’m in auto mode that’s that’s
My preferred mode so when I come up to a vehicle it’s going to automatically start slowing down and it’s using the regen to do it so I don’t even have to have to press the break I can change the strength of that I can just go different
Levels of regen straight up or I can use I pedal which is one pedal driving where I don’t have to use a brake at all and um I’ve did a whole video on that by the way if you’re interested you can check that out in the channel uh but this new
System I believe it actually uses the navigation as well when you’re in auto mode and I have found that it is really it is definitely noticeably better than our Auto regen that we have on the ionic 5 uh like it’s it’s pretty amazing it really really is good Plus on this
System I could just use the left paddle if I’m driving around town and use a left paddle as a brake as well and it’ll come to a complete stop and it’ll just do maximum regen in case you’re wondering the tail legs do come on when you’re using the regen and you don’t
Actually have to come to like a a complete stop or anything I had my wife Cynthia following me and I asked her when the brake lights were coming on and even in a case like this if I’m coming up to a vehicle I let off and you can
Feel a little bit of braking she said it was coming on so there was an issue at one time not an issue but kind of like a a software thing and they’ have actually adjusted that and it’s changed on our ionic as well all right so I am hands
Off right now or I can be hands off I’m going to set my speed the headup display is so much better here it’s not the augmented reality that we get on the ionic 5 so that’s kind of a little bit special but it’s really really clear and there’s so much
Information that you get on here as well so my final thoughts who is this for there’s a lot of people this is for whether you’re a single you’re a couple you’re a small family you’re an empty nester this is for pretty well everyone if you have larger kids as kids get
Older they sat in here they didn’t mind it but they prefer the ionic 5 because there’s more room it’s a a it’s a bigger vehicle hey that’s fair but this might not be geared toward you know larger families for sure this would be a good second vehicle maybe you already have an
EV a larger one and you want a smaller one as a a more Runabout or a commuter perfect perfect car there’s no compromise as I mentioned you get all those features that you would get on a premium car the ventilated seats Head Up Display Bose stereo 360 camera you get
It all in this small package which isn’t that small anymore performance Wise It’s Nimble actually being smaller really do notice how much more Nimble this is in smaller parking lots compared to aonic 5 which has you know it doesn’t it’s not that Nimbo cuz that long wheelbase it’s
Makes it way easier to drive this vehicle for sure is the acceleration mind bending absolutely not would it be cool to have aona EVN absolutely but you know what we just drove the ionic 5n and that pretty well covers the base in terms of uh an N
Crossover SUV for sure and that thing was mindblowing by the way highly recommend you watch that video I I love watching that video every time but um anyways um yeah what do you think of this new Kona EV leave a comment below and uh we’ll see you on the next video ciao
Watch our KONA Gas Review here – https://youtu.be/1x2ux_jLI6M?si=RD_wog7G7cek_8n8
For 2024, the all new Hyundai KONA is all new. Built off a new platform, the new small SUV gets a lot larger. With a 2” longer wheelbase the Kona offers more room for cargo and passengers. Compared to the outgoing model, the new SUV offers up some new bold styling including signature light bars front and rear, rugged armour wheel arches and 17″ wheels.
The interior gets a complete redesign with dual 12.3” screens, a shift by wire gear selector, new dash. Our KONA Electric comes power sunroof, wireless charging, rotating cup holders, leather seats, Bose stereo and 360 camera. The front seat thickness has been reduced and along with the longer wheelbase, rear passengers are offered 3” more legroom.
The KONA Electric is FWD only so if you require AWD you’ll have to jump up to the larger IONIQ 5. Power comes from a 64.8 kWh battery driving the front wheels with 201 hp and 188 lb.ft. While this KONA was designed as an EV first, it is on a modified platform and not the EGMP so uses a 400V architecture opposed to the 800V used on the IONIQ 5. Charger times are still very quick
@RoadsUntraveled @HyundaiCanada
