2025 Hyundai Kona Electric Review | All the EV you Need?
[Music] [Applause] we previously reviewed and very much enjoyed the Hyundai Kona the gasoline version we’re driving the electric version is the EV Kona all the EV you need we will discuss but first here’s how much the Kona electric costs [Music] this interior looks so nice the sage green and like this neon yellowish green i would have never thought those two colors would go together but it looks so good this doesn’t feel like a cheap sad place to be like inexpensive cars in the previous decades might have felt i should note that those soft door panels are specific to the Limited and Endline trims of the Kona Electric so there is one available in an EVE spec if I spill matcha all over it I can just wipe it off again it’s not just wipable it’s EV wipeable beyond modern style we have a very functional space the thing that I like the most is this open concept center console it’s a really clever reconfigurable space and when you flip out those cup holders they make a really fun sound if you have a metal cup in addition to these pop out cup holders there is room for a bottle in the door additional storage in both the lower and upper part of the door as well as this generous dash nook we’ve also got a handy phone zone with a wireless phone charger and adjacent charge ports moving to the seats I am also impressed there no pressure points and an impressive amount of lateral support that doesn’t impede my arm movement it suggests a sportier demeanor than maybe we actually do experience i’ll talk more about that in a moment but I really find these to be comfortable and supportive the only part of the seats I dislike is that I find this headrest intrudes a bit for me that might be the seat’s way of saying recline just a little no sweetie lives with the body posture of a mircat and you’re not going to change that seated behind my ideal front seat position there is an impressive amount of rear seat knee and headroom that middle seat is also fully microworthy 5 foot 10 long torso poofy hair we got that flat floor so there’s plenty of leg space for me we also have a two- position recline that is not a ubiquitous feature in the subcompact SUV segment ko what about you how do you find sitting in the back of the Hyundai Kona electric i think the seats are nice and big and comfy and then what about climbing in and out of the Kona any challenges um no challenges we have rear vents in our tester those do not come on the base trim but all the other ones do and then standard on all Kona electrics are uh dual USBC ports moving rearward we’ve got 25.5 cubic feet of cargo space which is competitive for the subcompact SUV segment 60/40 splitfold seats come standard i really appreciate the adjustable floor on it you can have it in the lower position so that your cans don’t roll out you can have it in the upper position to have a smooth transition when you have the seats lowered yeah and you got that underfloor area where you can hide some stuff whatever your terrible dark secrets are slide them under there i hope they’re small oh and exclusive to the Limited trim that we’re driving here is a smart opening tailgate where if you stand back there with the key in your pocket for 3 seconds it will magically open up sweetie what’s the car seat situation there are three top tethers as well as lower anchors in the outboard positions based on the overall dimensions of the rear seat I do not think that there would be room for three car seats across and installing the latches are a little bit finicky because of the narrow opening i’m 5’2 behind a workable front seat position for myself there is room for a rear-facing car seat as for safety the NHTSA rates the Kona Electric four stars overall which is a little surprising because the IHS gives it the top safety pick plus rating and normally the IHS is a little bit more stringent look I’m no crash test scientist but I do know that we have a full suite of active driver assist technology standard plus uh what do we got six airbags in here yeah it feels like about six family what do we think is the Hyundai Kona electric familyfriendly small familyfriendly small familyfriendly rear window test and all the way down woo [Music] armrest test driving in a comfortable eight and four easy access inboard and outboard a little bit better squish factor inboard than over here on the outboard i’m going 85% inboard 75% outboard i feel like I’ve been saying inboard and outboard way too many times here inboard and outboard moving onward to style when I look at the Hyundai Kona I think “Oh man that’s kind of what we would have thought cars would look like in the future uh when we were growing up in like the ‘9s.” So you always thought the future would look like aspirin tablets kind of sleek smooth i really like that lighting treatment with that thin line but the real headlights are below it i also like the contrast between the smoothness of the hood and the crisp lines that are all along the side for a base $33,000 asking price for the Kona Electric you cannot say that they’re not giving you Boy I’ve got a layer upon layer of negatives here but you can’t say they’re not giving you enough style i think I got there yeah okay okay that makes sense two scoops of style for you to give you a little extra time to appreciate the Kona’s sweet style sweetie is going to do a full lap with the camera and while she does that I’m going to wear these matching Flying Eyes King Fishers the narrow ones with the mirrored amethyst lenses [Music] functional comfortable and stylish that applies to both the Kona and to flying eyes although only one of those was meticulously engineered for pilots you’ll never guess which one if you’d like to learn more click the link in the description below funny thing I was wearing the wrong sunglasses i was supposed to be wearing these white ones that perfectly match the car but uh I wasn’t here’s the ones I was supposed to be wear look at those yeah that’s that’s a matching set of sunglasses the most notable update for the 2025 model year includes the addition of an endline trim to the Kona electric lineup and it’s got a different kind of fascia thing going and then a spoiler it is not more sporty but it does look more sporty i actually prefer the look of this one on the list of shocking revelations that is very low we like the look of the Kona electric what do you guys think like it dislike it tell us in the comments also thank you for watching this video you could be watching a lot of other things right now and I hope I’m not reminding you to do so but we appreciate you spending time with us moving onward to in motion during my commute in the Hyundai Kona Electric I noted exactly the same kind of stuff that I noted in the gasoline version over big bumps and undulations it takes a little bit of a beat for the body to settle down with those movements but it’s not offputting interestingly if you go with the gasoline Kona in the lower trims actually the front frontwheel drive trims it has a torsion beam rear suspension and then the all-wheel drive versions get a multi-link all electric versions get the multilink so if we’re experiencing any level of improved ride quality that’s to what we could attribute it i feel like I used a lot of words to say it rides well why don’t you throw some quadruple negatives in there i don’t not unlike the good not bad driving when I steer huh that is correct kiddo we do have a fairly speedy steering ratio which might suggest that we have sporty handling dynamics but we really don’t we have competent handling dynamics you’ll be surprised to know that I actually prefer that to sporty dynamics again least surprising revelation ever it goes where you want it to go and uh that is perfectly acceptable for the category something we noted driving the gasoline version sometimes you would be lugging along in like a high gear and then you kind of push into it and then it’s like you’re getting too much acceleration and I also noticed off the line it took a beat for it to build up its head of steam all of the minor challenges that we experienced in the gasoline version have been addressed by putting an electric motor in here punchy acceleration off the line with immediate responses when you’re just cruising like this now one thing I have noticed is that it kind of eased into the acceleration rather than being a big punch and I believe that is because all Kona electrics only come with frontwheel drive so what they’re smartly doing is managing torque output so you don’t get a bunch of torque steer pulling the steering wheel this way or that way that’s my job if we’re going to drive stupidly I want to be the one doing it you’re doing a great job so if you’re wondering sending all the electric torque through the front wheels is that going to be a problem nah it’s fine they got it figured out through the magic of science down here we do have a drive mode selector with a few modes to go through uh we’ve been driving in normal mode there’s eco mode if you really need to get to that charger but uh leaving it in sport here for just a moment as I come out of this corner let’s just get into it just a little bit of tire spin and uh more prompt reaction so yeah if you really want to go with haste sport is the way to go and then we do also have a snow mode and as people who live in a place where it snows that might actually come in handy on the steering wheel we’ve got a couple of paddles and there’s uh various gradiations of uh regenerative braking i’ve activated eye pedal that’s the max and it should bring us to a complete stop but let’s see if it can go uh to that stop smoothly ooh that’s like micica smooth it is so smooth very impressive couldn’t tell when we stopped moving now I’m going to do the exact opposite i’m going to take the regen completely out of the equation and now I’m going to come to a complete stop doing the Misio limo test and see if I can do it with the brake pedal see if I can match the smoothness of I pedal that was awful i did a terrible job let me try one more time and oh still not as good not as smooth i got to hand it to Ipedal you have bested me that’s what I think about driving the Honey Cone Electric what does Sweetie think evie’s at the wheel uh roll out of here and see uh if you have the power you need wa little tire spin little chirpy chirpy but plenty of power we have a turn here tell me how does it feel steering the Kona Electric wee can you add some detail to that no that’s your job what she meant to say when she said we is that when she turns there’s actually a little bit of body lean and while that has been derided over many many years by automotive journalists just like myself i like it why do you like it i like it because it tells me something’s happening i think what you’re experiencing is uh a little bit of dynamism but at a very modest pace that sounds great i also want to say that I really appreciate that this acts like a regular car it doesn’t do all that electric car stuff where it turns itself on and off and the door handles go away oh like with the butts detector and that kind of stuff where it’s like I guess you want to go now you just hit the start button and then it’s on that’s what I want i don’t predict what I’m going to do i’m unpredictable what is this butt detector you speak of well kiddo you’d want to watch our Volkswagen ID Buzz video where we really dive into it eh too much work i’m joking any visibility challenges over my right shoulder there’s a really thick D-pillar back there tiny window i would be concerned on the freeway fortunately in this trim we have a little camera that shows me what’s happening back there when I put on the turn signal even if you don’t have the highest trim with that camera blind spot warning does come standard if we were in the market for a small electric vehicle are there any game killers that would keep you from driving a Kona electric no game killers here and you said that with more enthusiasm than the way you always say it which lets me know that maybe you actually really like the car i really like driving this oh one last question you had to charge the thing any challenges charging the only challenges charging came from the charger not the vehicle the vehicle was very easy to set up cool i’m getting back in the driver’s seat moving onward to remarks infotainment we got a standard 12.3 in screen apple CarPlay and Android Auto wireless smartphone connectivity comes standard i like this display the icons are big they are different colors which makes it much easier for me to see what I’m pressing out of the corner of my eye there’s a combination of physical buttons and knobs here which I find very easy to use and I think for a comparatively inexpensive car this dual screen setup really looks elevated sometimes I wish we would get lower trims because they always want to get us in the higher trim so we could be dazzled by them and also see all the features that are offered i am glad we have the Lumined trim though because we have the 360° camera system it’s a really impressive feature in again a comparatively inexpensive segment and it really was helpful in me driving it around without damaging it hooray going back to this video’s original premise is the Kona Electric all the EV you actually need well it seats five comfortably in all seats like they’re fully adult worthy the base $33,000 version really does have all the essential features you need there is ample cargo space certainly for a small family and it looks cool unless your specific use case demands all-wheel drive yeah this is really all the EV you need feel free to fill our comment section with all the exceptions to the thing I just said and now a test inspired by my buddy Brian are you wondering hey does that Kuna EV have a frunk sure does there’s where you uh open up the little frunk space it’s not massive but it’s something and over on the left side that’s where you add the washer fluid and if you’re wondering what the Kona electric horn sounds like all right let’s talk engine choices as mentioned the Kona EV only comes with frontwheel drive the base battery is a 48.6 kWh unit but move up beyond the base trim and you get a bigger battery pack and more power for DC quick charging you can charge your Kona electric from 10 to 80% in 43 minutes at a max 100 kW rate if driving electric is not your thing you can also get a Kona powered by gasoline there’s a base 2 L 4-cylinder engine and then there’s also a 1.6 6 L turbo available in the Nline and Limited trims sweetie uh-huh please share our trim recommendation on it our trim recommendation is which trim will give you the essential features you’d regret not getting in a Kona electric but at the lowest possible price the base Kona Electric SE trim includes dual zone climate control those dual 12.3 in screens and smart key access even at the $33,000 base price it’s got the essentials but if it were us we’d move up one trim to the seal it’s a hefty $4,000 increase but that seal adds an 8-way power driver seat heated front seats and second row AC vents more importantly in every trim above the base trim you get a bump in power and a larger battery pack increasing range from 200 to 261 mi in an electric vehicle you will never regret having more range if you’re ready to buy a Kona electric of your very own click the Kelly Blue Book pricing link in the description below to learn what you can get for your current car on trade-in and what you should spend on a Hyundai Kona Electric small electric crossover competitors include the Toyota BZ if that’s a fun name and the Kia Nero in terms of price though the closest competitor might be the Chevrolet Equinox EV did we miss any remarks if so tell us in the comments section and now it’s our daughter’s time to shine child can you tell us what is your favorite feature in the Hyundai Kona Electric i like the radiant looking green trim i do too i like your use of the word radiant this is the sage green interior theme and it’s only available sadly on the limited trim i really wish you could get this in any of the trims cuz I think it really like adds to the interior of course if you look at the most recent Yamaha Revstar guitar I bought you would know that this is very much my style family I think we’ve done a good job reviewing the Kona Electric may I have a five and a five man you come get your high five blammo and now please enjoy our AI generated synopsis song about the Hyundai Kona electric cruising in the corner got space for the crew electric feeling fresh and so new every corner we turn it’s a breeze what a ride [Music] let the good times collide
The 2025 Hyundai Kona EV is a small electric SUV. In this video, we drive a Hyundai Kona EV Limited trim to review its positives and negatives from a family perspective.
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00:00 2025 Hyundai Kona EV Review
0:21 Interior & Features
1:21 Seating
2:25 Cargo Capacity
3:00 Car Seat Installation
3:27 Safety Ratings & Features
4:00 Arm Rest Test
4:16 Exterior Review
6:10 Driving Impressions
9:16 Evie Drives
11:13 Infotainment Review
12:28 What’s under the hood?
12:46 Powertrain Choices, EV Range, & Charging
13:20 Which Hyundai Kona EV trim is best?
14:15 Hyundai Kona EV Competitors
14:30 Kiddo’s Favorite Feature
15:06 AI Synopsis song
