First UK drive: the refreshed Hyundai Kona Electric is impressive value for money in 39kWh Premium form
There’s a good ride and handling blend in the Kona Electric. It’s all safe and predictable but still involves the driver. A sporty car it is not, but a well-judged one it is. There are no weird quirks or anything to spoil the generally comfortable, refined road manners, with the one area still ripe for improvement being the rather vague steering.
We drove the Kona Electric on a soaking wet, chilly day with the heater and heated everything blaring, and not with economical driving in mind, and got a 3.1 miles per kWh readout, suggesting a 121-mile range. We’d expect that to improve comfortably with more favourable conditions from past experience, as the Kona has been an electric car well capable of matching its official range in warmer weather.
Range is officially marginally better than before thanks to some new tyres that reduce rolling resistance, while the pleasing steering-wheel-mounted paddles remain to allow you to increase and decrease the amount of regenerative braking.While it may no longer be the freshest-looking model in the class, the Kona Electric still more than holds its own against newer rivals and retains its excellent value-for-money proposition.
That significant boost in range takes the 64kWh version into truly viable first car territory and addresses the biggest issue of this 39kWh model, which is its range.
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