Kia Stonic S (2021-2026)

Pros: -Cheap -Reliable (good warranty and Kia has a good reputation) -Economical -Plenty of space and good storage bins Cons: -Terrible transmission (jerky, slow, almost feels like a cvt) -Anemic performance (suspect likely due to cheap transmission used) -Bouncy suspension -Both android and iPhone car play has connection issue where device… Read more

will repeatedly cut out. -Horrible lane keeping assistance, constantly feels like the car is being pulled side to side instead of driving straight. Never driven another brand that has implemented it so badly. Automatically turns back on when you turn the car off -Beeps annoyingly as soon as you turn the car on, unless you buckle up first. -Hard plastic everywhere is uncomfortable -Infotainment isn't as annoying as Toyotas to use, but isn't great.

I have used this car for commuting, both suburban and highway use. Would only recommend it for use in the city, and only if other cars are not an option. My 2007 Mazda 3 Neo was much nicer to drive and more comfortable.

Another insignificant, unnecessary and underpowered SUV – I received this as a hire-car and drove it for a week, averaging an hour and a half each day through both busy CBD’s and motorways. Firstly, the classification- Kia has, as almost all manufacturers have done, sold their soul and started mass-producing SUV’s, which in itself is fine, as for some reason they sell in great numbers, but the Stonic… Read more

might as well be a hatchback- it gains no bonuses from its ride height, unless you enjoy boat-like swaying when navigating roundabouts.

For the price, I could buy a brand new Hyundai i30, which is more comfortable, more practical, more powerful, better handling and, well, you see where I’m going. Perhaps Kia will reason that the price is indicative of the safety technology, so let’s go through that shall we?

As many others have commented, the lane assist is so apocalyptically bad that I wanted to scream every time it kicked in and I realised that I had foolishly forgotten to turn it off. If this could be turned off once and forgotten, that wouldn’t be such a huge problem, but for some ridiculous reason, someone at Kia decided that they wouldn’t bother to implement such a feature, and that drivers would either enjoy fighting their steering wheel every day, or maybe, they might find it exhilarating to hold in a button on the wheel for a few seconds every time they start the car, or, presumably, after they noticed the car wasn’t responding to their input when going around a corner, having quite a big panic attack in the meantime. Additionally, if I am sat behind another car at a set of lights, surely the onus is on myself, the driver, to be aware of when the lights have turned green and the car in front has begun to pull away- however, Kia seem to think that their drivers are inept and cannot tell the difference between a stopped car and a car that is moving, and have rather kindly set an alarm to sound when the car you are behind has begun to move forwards- thanks for that Kia.

But by far my most favourite of all the unnecessary, heart-attack inducing alarms is when you turn the car on, and without fail, the car will beep quite loudly at you six times for no apparent reason, causing confusion and alarm, when in fact there is nothing that can be done.

Enough about all that anyway, how about power? Quite simply, it hasn’t got any- travelling at 40kph around a coastal town’s CBD, the Stonic performs fine, a little slow out of roundabouts but nothing to worry you. It is on steep uphills and fast motorways where you realise how much this small SUV is lacking: uphills are a nightmare and, quite frankly, embarrassing if there is another car behind you- even with your foot glued to the floor, the car will engage it’s highest gear, make a lot of noise and, if you’re really lucky, actually decelerate, which doesn’t do a lot to reassure me. Moreover, when entering a motorway and needing to accelerate, it will take an awfully long time to go from 60 to 100, where you will no doubt annoy the drivers you have to merge in front of. I drove the lowest spec version of the Stonic, but can’t imagine that even the GT-Line would have nearly enough power to be a practical and reliable car in most settings.

But what about the transmission I hear you ask? Well, it only comes in automatic, and is perfectly fine when you’re ambling along at 40 through a busy town. Once again though, when you need power, the Stonic disappoints. Accelerating is a chore, and the gearbox never quite knows when to change or when to hit its, ahem, ‘stride’ in what would be a power band in most cars. If you need a quick boost of speed, you have had it- floor it and after several seconds of thinking, the car will engage top gear at any speed and very slowly climb through all the very high numbers, think 80 or maybe even 90. Rather brilliantly, when night has fallen and you have hit the speed limit, the gearbox again forgets what it’s job is- instead of shifting to a higher gear and saving fuel, it will stay in a lower gear for a good ten seconds, making an awful racket before it remembers that it is indeed a gearbox and eventually shifts up to a cruising gear.

The boot space is rather pitiful- I could fit one large suitcase and a couple of small bags and that was it, with the rear seats taking additional small bags, and the room in the front is barely bigger than my hatchback, which is a lot more fun and engaging to drive than the Stonic.

The interior is incredibly bland and cheap-looking too- the dash has the classic ‘leather-look’ plastic, and the dials on the control panel are incredibly basic, and feel like they are left over from the early 2000’s.

There are a few upsides to this car, though personally they wouldn’t sway me to purchase one. Fuel economy is quite respectable- I averaged 6.4L/100km, which for a small SUV, isn’t awful. The ride height matches most SUV’s, so if that’s something you care about, knock yourself out.

All in all, the Stonic is a very uninspired, drab car designed solely to be sold to ageing people who have given up on life, and have no intention of using their brain when driving. The seats are uncomfortable after more than an hour, and the design is remarkably poor. If you are in the market for a small SUV and can’t be talked out of it, do the world a favour and do not buy a Stonic.

Not earth shattering – I have read a number of professional and owner reviews of this car before I bought a 2021 Stonic second hand. It was during the COVID shortage and I needed car quick, and therefore new cars were off the list. Many reviewers have commented on the engine - it is too small, its lacks oomph. If you can afford the top model it might be ok. The lane… Read more

tracking, frontal and reversing warning systems are annoying. The lane tracking you can switch off, but you have to switch it off everytime you drive. If you leave the lane tracking on, and veer from the lane it is pretty scary when the steering wheel just takes over - dangerous the first time it happened I thought. You can actually get the car to drive around bends itself without your hands on the wheel - but I am pretty sure that is not what was intended! All of these alarms and controls are too smart for their own good and set far too conservatively. Stop beeping at me please, I am trying to drive! The cabin is roomy, I like the door section for water bottles. The car is ok. Uphill on long drives it might struggle. When you push the accelerator hard it is slow to respond and very noisy. Luggage space is good for a car this size. The engine is thirsty and the kmpl is not great for a small car. Maybe the Hyundai Venue is a better option. The Stonic is ok, but not earth shattering.

Annoying to drive – I drive lots of different types of cars for work, all shapes and sizes and this is probably the worst car I've driven in a long time. We had the car for about 9 days as an everyday driver.. its extremely gutless (bordering on being a safety issue) and small things are annoying. An example is you cannot open the boot if the car is turned on. So,… Read more

if you have a car full of people and jump out to get something in or out of the boot.. it won't let you. The 'lane assist' pulls at the steering wheel too much and when your not expecting it.

Despite being a 1.0ltr it was using about 7.5ltr per 100km. Thats not great.

Cons: lots! Gutless, basic ride, thirsty (for what it is), just transport really.

Pros: Its a car. It worked.

Summary: There are lots of small cars out there. Why you would buy this one is beyond me.

A good All rounder – Rented this Cross over from East Coast Car Rentals Cairns over the weekend. My first impression is compact but a more tallish cross-over. The car rented had a central touch screen entertainment hub, Android Auto functioned both Wirelessly and Wired via the one USB port of the car, The Sound was excellent, But Apple Carplay did not work on my… Read more

iPhone:( no matter how much I tried turning the iPhone off and on again and using a different cable. Anyway, I found the Wireless Android Auto handy. Kia is Generous with features The Car has auto headlights, variable wipers, Lane-keeping technology, and Auto Steering capabilities on a Base Model!. It also had a Sports Matic transmission, The Steering wheel was well done and reminded me a lot of the Subaru Forester 2022 Steering wheel perhaps Kia and Subaru shared the same Steering wheel platform and Driver Assist technologies. I took this car for a spin from Cairns to Innisfail (Paronella Park to be exact) and to Port Douglas and we came across many different road environments that this car had to endure and I was impressed. Again i did the accelerator test on the bruce highway outside of Whiterock and trying to merge into traffic was fair enough maybe putting the car into Sports mode might assist in making the car go faster in overtaking, the car is set to fuel economy mode. Parking the car is easy with the rear parking sensors and rear parking camera,. making it easy to park backward the vision of the rear window was good better then compact windows in other cars. I loved the Steering wheel assist technically you not supposed to take your hands off the wheel whilst driving long distances but this technology help me drive there was also beeping and chirping to warn when i was doing the wrong thing when crossing lanes. The menuing system of both the Central entertainment hub and drivers info screen is very comprehensive again i feel that maybe Subaru and Kia might have shared this technology I love to customize a car settings. Now i didn't take the car up Kuranda Range road like my last review on the Suzuki Swift but taking this car on the bendy curves of the Captain Cook Highway between Palm Cove and Port Douglas i was very impressed how it hugged the curves if you feel confident to overtake in this car there are times where it's 2 way overtake its possible to switch to sports mode on the automatic stick to get that lower gear to overtake the annoying car in front, Otherwise, plenty of room in the cabin the seats were good all the adjustments required for the front driver, the boot fits two medium luggage bags but placed sideways, really this Cross over is a Kia Rio but a little bit SUV, there was room in the rear seats for kids and short adults, i didn't notice any 4wd features or high ground clearance in fact i was warned to take the exit driveway from East coast Car rentals slowly.The Car Key was well made, not cheap the ignition key is now the inverted key cut that folds in. Finally, the car could be a little thirsty it reported 709Km when taken from East Coast, I did around 450km and then there was 166km left it's possible putting the car into sports mode or use the air cond in the hot humid Cairns environment might have added to more fuel. if you considering renting a car you really don't have a choice what car they give you but the Kia Stonic is a really good choice, if your buying maybe go higher in the grades and i see you get start button tech oh i parked next to a fellow East Coast Car rental vehicle Hyundai Venue at Paronella Park and the Hyundai Venue was the Splitting image of the Kia Stonic just with some cosmetic changes.