• Fine for space up front
• Adequate rear seating
• Rivals have bigger boots

How much space is there?

The further back you go in the Kona, the less room there is. Even the tallest of drivers should be able to find a comfortable driving position, with plenty of head- and legroom on offer. There’s lots of seat adjustment and the mirrors give a good view of the road behind. Large rear pillars make the interior a little darker than it could be though, and limit over-the-shoulder visibility when changing lanes.

The rear seats, however, are notably tighter. Yes, you should be able to fit four six-footers in the Kona, but those in the rear seats probably won’t be too happy about it. Legroom will be tight as will headroom for taller passengers. Thankfully, the rear seats themselves are very comfortable, with good back support available. Like other Hyundais, the Kona has heated rear seats available on higher-spec models.

Boot space and storage

Boot volume is something of a let-down in the Kona, because the space is notably smaller than you’ll find in alternatives such as the Renault Captur. There’s 374 litres of room in the Kona, but the Captur has a sliding rear bench and 422 litres of space with the seats pushed all the way back. Even the smaller Hyundai Bayon isn’t far behind the Kona, with a 334-litre boot offered in a smaller overall package.

The Kona does have an underfloor tray for some added practicality, but this is shallow and not particularly useful. The back seats fold in a 60:40 split, and with all of them down there’s 1,156 litres of space. Again, this highlights the lack of room when compared with some rivals, some of which break the 1,300-litre mark with the seats down.

The boot has luggage hooks and higher-spec cars also come with a cargo net, while all versions feature roof rails as standard. So, if you need more carrying capacity, then you could add a roof box.

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Is it easy to park?

It may look like an SUV, but the Kona is still a pretty compact car, so you shouldn’t have too much trouble parking. The rear pillars, however, are large, making tight manoeuvring more difficult than it should be.

Nonetheless, all cars come with rear parking sensors and a reversing camera that features lines on the display to help you position the car. The raised driving position does provide a reasonably good view ahead, so gauging where the front of the car is should prove less challenging, although again higher-spec cars feature front parking sensors as standard to help you.

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Safety

• Five-star NCAP rating in 2017
• Top-spec cars are fully specced
• Lane assist standard on all models

The Kona was tested by Euro NCAP in 2017, when it earned a five-star test rating. However, the test has been made tougher in the following years, so the Kona’s score can’t necessarily be compared to newer models.

Following the the 2020 facelift, all new models come with autonomous emergency braking (AEB) as standard.

Six airbags, anti-lock brakes, a Driver Attention Alert system and electronic stability control are all fitted, as is a lane-keeping system. Go for a top-spec version of the Kona and you get the full suite of safety equipment, including rear cross-traffic alert and blindspot detection – there are no extra safety packs available on the rest of the range.