The Stonic borrows styling cues from the larger Sorento and Sportage SUVs and its overall dimensions with the small Kona SUV. At the front, it wears Kia’s signature tiger-nose grille, framed by a pair of sleek headlights sporting LED lighting signatures. It has a large lower air intake in its front bumper flanked by two foglights.
The car’s rear boasts two small brakelights with LED lighting signatures and a plastic bumper with a rugged grey skid-plate. There’s a range of personalisation options – with five contrasting roof colours available, allowing for up to 20 different two-tone colour combinations.
The Stonic’s spacious cabin is well put together with very few scratchy plastics and boasts lots of passenger head and shoulder room. Three adults can sit comfortably in the back and a flat floor ensures enough kneeroom for all of them – while the 352-litre boot can swallow up all their luggage. It gets the firm’s latest touchscreen infotainment system that comes standard with Apple Carplay and Android Auto.
Three petrol engines and one diesel will be offered – a frugal 1.0-litre turbo three-cylinder petrol, a 1.25-litre unit borrowed from the Picanto hatchback and a 1.4-litre petrol. The sole 1.6-litre diesel will be the least polluting of the lot and will return the best fuel economy. All cars are offered with front-wheel drive and mated to a manual gearbox as standard.
A range of optional active safety features are available, including Autonomous Emergency Braking with pedestrian recognition, Forward Collision Alert, Blind Spot Monitoring, Rear Cross Traffic Alert and Lane Departure Warning.