Best SUVs of 2023 and 2024

CLINT SIMONE: This goes here, that-- not quite in. Easier just like in the demonstration. [MUSIC PLAYING] The Hyundai Kona is a tiny little SUV with big appeal. And for 2024, the Kona is new, with funky exterior design, more interior space, and better technology. Shoppers in this segment don't want to spend too much money, but they want something that feels nice. So my question today is has Hyundai nailed that sweet spot? Let's take a first drive and find out. If you're a fan of what we do here on the Edmunds channel, do us a favor and like and subscribe. And if you're in the market for a new car, like the Kona, for example, and you need to your used car, head over to edmunds.com/sellmycar. Hyundai is pretty good at this stuff. The new Kona looks very different from the car that it replaces. But that's an illusion, or at least kind of an illusion. This car sits on the same platform as it did before, and a lot of the components beneath the skin are unchanged. And with that, we get the same powertrain lineup as the old Kona, too. We have a 2-liter 4-cylinder, a 1.6-liter turbo 4-cylinder, and an upcoming all-electric version. For today's video, we're going to be spending all of our time in the 1.6 turbo. And because this is the official first drive, we'll be in a bunch of different cars as well. So if you see interior and exterior colors changing, that's why. All right, starting off with a bit of a bummer before we get into the good news. If you look at the powertrain specs, at least on paper, they're not very impressive. The base engine, the 2-liter 4-cylinder, it makes 147 horsepower, the exact same as the old Kona. And this one with the upgraded 1.6 turbo makes 190, which is 5 less horsepower than the old Kona. But at least we're getting worse fuel economy. Yeah, that's right. This does worse fuel economy across the board. So you might be wondering what's going on here. This car is not only a little bit bigger, but you throw in some increased emission standards, and that's where we end up, a car that's not any more fuel-efficient and doesn't have any more power. Like I said, bit of a bummer, but we start to get into the good news now. There's a new 8-speed automatic transmission that replaces the old 7-speed dual clutch, which we're hoping should be a more reliable option. But here's the bigger news. Hyundai went through great lengths to make this powertrain feel much better. One of the biggest knocks I had against the old car is that the engine would never shut up, no matter what. This time around, it's nice. It's in the background. We're cruising at highway speeds right now, no problem at all. When you're driving a car at this price point, those small refinements make a big difference to make it feel more premium. If I had a gripe-- right now we're cruising at about 40 miles per hour, you have to put your foot down pretty hard for everything to wake up and kind of get going. There's a bit of a gap there. But you know, what that's a small price to pay for what is otherwise a really nicely improved driving experience. Just take one look at the Kona. Hyundai has done a phenomenal job making this look very different from its predecessor. I love the look of this car. Let's start with a car nerd fun fact. So Hyundai says they designed the new Kona with an EV-first approach. This car has an engine. But if you direct your attention here, you'll see there's still these little slats that open and close. That would be used to cool the battery in the EV, still here on the combustion car. I kind of like that consistency across the model lineup. Now let's talk about this LED light bar that goes across the entire front of the Kona. Very Tony Stark sort of Iron Man vibes with this. Whether you like it or not, get used to it because this is also on the new Elantra and the Sonata. So Hyundai is making it a point to keep this on their future models. In the side profile, the biggest thing to point out is that there is more Kona for you. This car is 6 inches longer than the model that it replaces. As we'll talk about in a minute, that is going to do wonders for the back seat space. The designers are telling us that they tried to keep elements of the old Kona even in this design, like the body cladding here, for example, and the fact that the headlights and tail lights are down below, removed from this LED strip. One thing I have to point out, the inline version we were driving earlier has this nuts-looking spoiler on the back of it. For something that's a compact crossover like this, it's just silly, and I love that they like to have fun with their designs. Good things going on in the back area of the new Kona, starting with power tailgate. First time that's been available, very nice feature. There's just more space in general, 6 cubic feet more with the seats folded up. That's up to 25.5 cubes, a bunch more space. And when you fold the seats down, things get even better. So if you're a family, you're looking for a compact crossover but you just need more space to put things, new Kona is a much better option. They also have this really clever solution for people who don't want to have a cargo shelf in all the time, especially if you're carrying around house plants or things that are tall. You just take the shelf and put it down like this. And look, it stores, just like that. So you don't have to leave it in your garage. You can leave it in the car instead. If you are upgrading from the old Kona to the new one, your friends are about to like you a whole lot more. Because life back here in the second row is a lot better now. Three inches more rear seat legroom, and it pays off big-time. I am 5' 8". That means headroom isn't normally a problem for me. But your taller friends might start running into the roof pretty quickly. Another big thing I want to point out back here, rear seat air vents. Not every car in this segment has those. And on a day like this where it's 100 degrees outside, I am very thankful for them. Last thing here, two USB-C ports and a really convenient place to store your phone. Big win back here, Hyundai. A lot to love up here in the front row as well. We are in a fully loaded limited trim right now, so some of these features are specific to that model. Still, we got heated seats, ventilated seats, heated steering wheel. For this money, I love to see features like that. Thing that I really draw my eye to, though, is this center console design. I feel like they took a lot of inspiration from the Ioniq 5, which has that floating console that moves back and forth. Everything here is open. In fact, the only part that's completely closed off is this little tray right here at the top. But otherwise, you can reach all the way back in here to keep your stuff. These cup holders also go away. So if you need to put something larger in the middle, like a purse, you can do so. This might be my favorite feature in the new Kona, across the board-- the tech suite. In front of me here are two 12.3-inch displays. I have a digital instrument cluster over here and a touchscreen here in the center. This one comes standard on every Kona. This is also one of the first Hyundai models to get over-the-air updates. And one of the first things they'll be adding next year is wireless Apple CarPlay and wireless Android Auto. Every Kona is going to have those two things with the wired connection. But it's nice that they're giving customers the choice to go wireless if they want to. Beyond that, we have two USB-C ports now instead of USB-A-- that's a nice improvement-- and a wireless charging pad for your phone here. Another first they've added to the Kona is more updated parking cameras, including a front-view sensor. So this is some of the optional tech you can get that makes the car feel a little bit better. The new Kona's price jumps by about $2,000 at the base level. But this car is bringing its A-game, with a long list of standard features that make that price bump a bit of an easier pill to swallow. Don't get me wrong. I'm not thrilled that the fuel economy is worse than before. But even with that downside, this is a much improved car that still doesn't break the bank. We'll give you our full verdict on the new Kona when we get it in for a range of Edmunds testing. But for now, we think this is a winning recipe. Thanks for watching. Well, when they explained it, it made so much more sense. [GRUNTS] Close enough. [MUSIC PLAYING]