Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so don't joke about looks.

So let's put it as it is: Even after the latest makeover, the electric Hyundai Kona looks like two cars have been cut lengthwise and then folded together so that the lights are kept from both of them on top of each other.

As strange as those fish with four eyes.

There is something.

Lukas Weber

Editor in the “Technology and Engine” section.

  • Follow I follow

On the other hand, the interior of the SUV from the small car segment with the space available in its class is solid, but a bit conservative, especially when you compare it with the smart design of the i30 from the same stable.

After all, the dashboard is padded, powerful pushbuttons on the center console that look like aluminum replace the selector lever, and there is a wide range of equipment: seats with electrically adjustable lumbar support, steering wheel heating and even a head-up display made of Plexiglas that looks a bit glued on , as well as the usual crowd of assistants, the most annoying of them for keeping a lane can be switched off with the touch of a finger.

We let someone else do his job, he allowed to read the newspaper in a traffic jam by beeping when the vehicle in front pulls away.

It's what's inside that counts, and the Kona has plenty of that. We drove the more powerful of the two versions with 204 HP (150 kW) and the large battery with an energy content of 64 kWh. The drive pulls the 1.8-ton car easily away and delights the driver with its low consumption: With a cautious driving style, we got 13.6 kWh and an average of just under 17 (WLTP 14.6) at the recommended speed on the autobahn 19 kWh, the on-board computer display is a huge understatement. A range of more than 400 kilometers is therefore possible in practice.

If the car is not used on the weekend, it is charged via the household socket, at the wallbox with an actually achieved 11 kW or with direct current up to 100 kW.

Exemplary: The recuperation can be set to three levels using the steering wheel paddles plus one level without any braking effect; if it is increased while driving, strangely enough, the accelerator will feel it.

With a few extras, the test car came to 48,450 euros.

That's not very cheap for a small car.