Hyundai Kona Electric - is it a keeper? (6 months in: Part 1)
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- Опубликовано: 24 июл 2024
- After six months of ownership, we try to think of things we don't like about the Hyundai Kona Electric, and don't come up with much.
This video and the one that will follow provide our thoughts on what we like about the car and what could be better.
I have provided a summary near the end of this video where I list the positives and the not so positives. For us it comes down to the simple answer that it is a great car, but it is expensive for what you get, but the Federal tax credit makes the equation balance a little better. Range anxiety isn't an issue, mind you we have been stuck at home for the best part of a year, and we rely almost entirely on charging overnight in the garage, only having to use fast-charging a couple of times.
The market for electric cars is changing at a rapid pace. When we bought this car it was one of the best offerings out there in my opinion, but already there are more alternatives that are just as attractive.
Chapters
0:00 Introduction and we visit the drive through
1:29 Kona Electric: What's great about it?
2:27 Kona Electric: Adaptive Cruise Control and Active Lane Keep
3:12 Kona Electric: Heads Up Display
3:28 Kona Electric: Available torque and passing acceleration
4:19 Kona Electric: Heating and cooling and its impact on range
5:50 Kona Electric: Ventilated front seats
6:15 Kona Electric: Rear seat room
6:55 Kona Electric: Navigation system
7:55 Kona Electric: Finding the front of the car
9:08 Kona Electric: Road noise
9:41 Kona Electric: Cost to date
9:51 Kona Electric: BMS Recall and dealership experience
12:00 Kona Electric: Charging experience
13:33 Kona Electric: Sunroof
14:08 Kona Electric: Back-up camera and touch screen
15:15 Kona Electric: Adaptive Cruise Control
16:00 Kona Electric: Summary - what we like and what could be improved
If you like these videos, please like and subscribe and comment below. Check out more about Track Rekord's driver services at www.trackrekord.com.
Track Rekord was born out of a need to provide consistent, high quality trackday driver instruction across the US and Canada with the ultimate goal of reduced risk, improved safety, increased enjoyment, faster lap times and reduced track insurance costs. 
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Haha I love the beautiful and humorous aspects of your relationship in this video. 😄 ❤️😊👍 also I love the Kona I've ordered the Ultimate Version in a metallic red colour. I can't to get it at the end of July. Been waiting almost 6 months in the UK.
Just signed a deal on a Kona 2021 39 kWh here in Denmark. Picking it up this Sunday, your video really assured me that this purchase was the right thing. Subscribed :-)
Thanks. Hope you enjoy
Great series and thank you for the information! I love my 2020 Kona SEL Plus. Got the AWD model with the NA 2.0 engine. Handles great, gets through crappy Nebraska weather. Seats have taken some getting used to but it is returning over 30 MPGs.
Glad you like them!
Happy birthday Julie!
Hi there just a note from a fellow Brit living in Canada. You mentioned the poor resolution of the backup camera and slso the poor or none existant P.D.I. when picking up the car . If the did not fill it with w/washer fluid and did not take the protective film off the interior you may want to check the rear camera lens as i am sure you will find it still has its protective blue plastic over the lens 🤔😉😀 I had mine a few months before finding this out. I thought mine may have had condensation inside but on closer look found the offending plastic. Its like 4k resolution now 👍
Well you had me all excited there so I ran out to the garage, only to find no blue plastic film! The resolution is OK during the day, it's really at night that it suffers. Not a patch on the Genesis GV80 I got my hands on last week - that had a crystal clear back up camera!
I lived in Canada for more or less 20 years before moving to the States - where are you?
My Kona in the UK has parking sensors on the front which I use to park in the garage and out and about. good videos, Thanks
I’m waiting for my secondhand one to arrive so watching all the videos. It’s my understanding also that there are sensors on the front but unless you are in reverse (which you won’t be if you’re going forward!!!!!) you have to manually turn then on with the sensor switch which toggles through various options...
I will have to take a look at that, but after a year, I haven't found it!
I'm in the same boat (ev) lol love it and can't find anything wrong with it, well the trunk on the fob does nothing 🤦🏻♂️🤷♂️ thanks for these videos 👍
I have had to use the trunk button on the fob a couple of times, but you are right, it generally opens as long as you have the key on you.
Really appreciate your videos,you keep it in a nice tone while talking and not those over exaggerated feelings/gestures while trying to let us viewer know what you think. Me as a long weekly commuter ( 250km single way)have been looking on a new car. My Volvo is getting old,so of course I've been steering my views towards electric. Negative thing here in Scandinavia is that it can get a bit cold in the winter months. But so far i have kept the Kona EV and the Model 3 long range as possible cars to buy. The upside of the Kona is that i have a authorized dealership 60km from my house,while nearest authorized Tesla is about 280km. So I'm still swaying back and forth between the two. So my question,with you having the experience in this car and driving it,is this car (Kona) a more stable buy compare to the Tesla?
Thanks for the compliment. I’m not sure I can advise one over the other - I am biased towards the Kona, but I will be getting my hands on a Model Y shortly (hopefully). It doesn’t get that cold here, but our experience with the range reduction once we started using the heater should be something to think about - If the heat pump is standard in Scandinavia, that should reduce that worry. The Kona doesn’t have the ability to do over-the-air updates, so for a software update you will have to go to the dealer (as we did for the battery update). Tesla pushes all updates to the car remotely, so not being close to the dealer should be less of an issue. However, Tesla does have a poor quality reputation, so if something goes wrong, you may be stuck for a while before they get to you, or you get to the dealership. On the other hand, electric cars need very little maintenance, so not being close to a dealer may not be that much of an issue. My personal opinion on the Model 3 is I don’t like the styling, and it has a regular boot/trunk, while a hatch is much more practical (solved with the Model Y). I also don’t like the center screen set up and I think some of the “features” are gimmicks. That said, the range and performance are very good (if the latter is what you are looking for), and the charging network here is superior to the patchwork for non-Teslas (but we haven’t found a need for fast charging in the past 6 months), and that may be an issue for you, given the long commute and the reduced range you will find in the winter.
Not sure if this has helped at all, but I would also consider some of the other options that are coming to market, such as the Polestar 2, Ford Mach-E and Volkswagen iD3 and iD4, the next year or so should be interesting for someone in the market for an EV.
It has the heat pump. We have a Kona EV since August. We live in Sweden. The range was about 350 km when it was below -10 in Comfort mode.
Btw the 350 km was city driving
Thanks for the video. I just have the base model, it has cruise control but I have not noticed the adaptive setting. Regarding the cost of the car, I think in Arizona it's comparable to a Honda Civic or similar;
$7,500 tax rebate (looking forward to actually seeing that)
$5,000 over 5 years gas savings (SRP, AZ power company calculator on my commute and travel)
$3,000 AZ licence plate saving, cost me about $100 for 5 yrs compared to a gas car probs about $3k based on price.
$? maintainence costs
Agree with all your other comments. I'm taking it to Flag this weekend. Not sure how the cold will impact the battery, and climbing to 7,000ft.
Flag isn’t that much further than Sedona, but there is quite a climb between the two but getting there should be no problem as long as you can recharge once you are there- at least it’s downhill in the way back. Let me know how it goes!
I like your analysis - I would add in the cost of the home charger too.
As a KONA driver I would add: AWD would be a real asset. 150 kW and nearly 400 Nm seems too much for the front wheels. AWD would get a more balanced distribution of power to all wheels at the same time. Overall: love the car. Range is brillant, even here in freezing cold 🥶 🇧🇪
That is a very valid point. AWD is not something I really needed and as a result we have kept the car in ECO mode more or less all the time, partly because the torque overwhelms the driven wheels so easily in the other modes. Glad to hear the range is good in the cold!
i sat in the back of my friend’s Kona and could barely hear him speak from the front. It’s very noisy in the back and I noticed in your video that there was a lot of noise in the background also.
Yeah, it's tire noise on the video, but honestly I find it pretty quiet inside apart from that. Mind you, I haven't sat in the back!
Besides your poor experience with the dealership, how was it buying a car in California? We live in AZ and looking at buying in California. Do you pay CA tax or AZ?
You pay AZ taxes when you register the car. In order not to pay CA taxes, they have to physically deliver it to you out of state, which is why we had to drive across the state line and have the delivery notarized in AZ
I'd just like to clear up a misconception about the heat pump offerings in the US/Canada - The 2021 Kona Electric Essential does not come with the heat pump, however, the Preferred / Ultimate do. In the 2022 Kona Electric, they are only selling the Preferred and Ultimate model trims. The Preferred model of the 2022 is actually cheaper than the 2021 Essential model, and that includes a heat pump, and the choice between the Preferred and Ultimate trims.
Battery wise - I've heard differing stories in Canada of dealerships now replacing the batteries with a different model battery. It's still the same kWh as expected, they just drop the old battery, throw in a new battery, and replace the fluid colour. This shouldn't be an issue for future models either.
Hope that clears it up!
My understanding for the 2020 Kona was that Canada got the heat pump (as in Europe) but the US didn't - it seems that changed in 2021.
Still no news on the battery from Hyundai!
About battery,
Last week I received invitation from local dealership to check it and possibly it will require to replace it.
They checked and it will need to replaced, but it will happen in about month or more, “cuz it takes time”
Reason is it doesn’t charges fully.
It’s ok by me. I drive it for two years and now am getting a new battery!!!
Actually I don’t have problem with mine, mileage is ok. I live in small country so I don’t have long distances, for example recently longest I did was 380km battery was charged 96% -467km I drove 380km and at the end was 28% -128km.
Very good car, only complaint is that it’s too small for kids in the back, as l am a bit big man, and small trunk.
I look for the next to Skoda Enyaq 80 or KIA EV6 looks really great
That’s my approach as well, as long as it doesn’t burst into flames, they can take their sweet time - will be more than happy to start over with a new battery, particularly as it will be difficult to sell as everybody is convinced it has a problem. In reality, it is a very small percentage of batteries that are defective. We just checked it in for a service to catch up on the recalls (apparently there are three), I think they don’t realize they already did the first battery check and software update. No mention of changing the battery though.
@@u.dobbermann9602 that’s actually amazing. More life to you and your car!
I thought you were not allowed to drive it? :-) great update! Hi from NZ where unfortunately the Kona EV starts at $80k! vs $32k for the ICE version :-(
She has relented somewhat! Thanks for the support. Wow, and I thought we paid over the odds for the EV vs the ICE here. Any idea why the EV is so expensive there? Are there any government incentives?
@@trackrekord Not yet but our government has lost the plot and is going all out to go green our transport minister has said expect some very attractive discounts coming soon. And banning all petrol (gas) imported cars by 2035 so it had better be a big discount!
Just for the record we do have a much more affordable EV and because we still have a free trade agreement with China we can get the MG EV SUV 44.5kwh for $49k vs a Nissan Leaf with it's 40kwh (38kwh usable) for $62k! So that MG with a decent government discount could become a very popular option.
Yes, but it's an MG (I'm a Triumph fan). As long as the electrics aren't by Lucas, you should be fine! What kind of range does the MG get? Around 290-300 kms?
@@trackrekord No where near enough as is the case with the 40kwh Leaf the MG claims 160 miles but around 130 mile real range.
Love the Kona and E-Niro as they have the minimum range needed for use as the main house car, any car with a 40kwh (38kwh usable) as with the 40kwh Leaf and the 44.5kwh MG (40kwh useable) or smaller is only useful as a second or city car, unless you do not mind stopping every 150km for at least 30-45 min. 300 miles is the sweet spot at least here in NZ as that is more than enough of range to not need to stop more than 1 time and then many accommodation places have at least 16amp 240v for good overnight charging with many shopping places offering 22kw free chargers. One huge problem for our country is all our non Tesla chargers so far are limited to max 50 kw and just 1 charger per town! Which is why having a long range EV here is a must!
But no I would not choose the MG at this time, Chinese cars need a few more years to hopefully match Korean and Japanese quality
Dump the low resistant tyres when they wear out, in my case with my lead foot they do not last long! And honestly cannot tell much difference in range, as well I care about safety more than saving a tiny bit of range. I would of thought they would have front parking sensors as standard, however they are easy to add and would make a big difference. If you have a look at the new model the interior is very different with new bigger screens, but yeah big fail on the rear air vents, my mums small 2009 Hyundai i30 has rear air vents!
I agree about the tires, range is so good that a small decrease would probably not be noticed and safety (and lap times, when I can sneak it out!) is improved. Agreed on the front parking sensors too.
What tyres did you replace the original ones with? We have only 6000 km on our Kona but good to know in advance what to look for.
Do the new 2020 have the heat pump?
Not in the US, no.
i would consider some of these if i could get the base model, but all they have in stock are the limited / platinum models. for those prices id rather just pay an extra 2k and get a tesla.
I agree, I didn't ant the top of the range - it has a lot of stuff that really isn't necessary, but as you say, it was all that was available.
No heat pump for us model ? Any source link ?
Not sure I understand the question
Only some models of the Kona have it standard, the Nero E has it optional.
The heat pump? In the US for this model year it wasn't available
I brought my 2020 Kona EV in for a software update for recall 199, "reduced braking power". I dropped the car off 07/15/2021 at 9 a.m. in the morning. Over 30 hours later the car is still in the shop. Unfortunately, Hyundai didn't invest in over the air update technology, which means owners of Hyundai EVs have to schedule maintenance appointments for software updates. Then after dropping the car off they have to wait for a technician to get around to it. Keep in mind the service center is also working on ICE cars as well so it might take a day, two, or three to get your EV back. I totally regret buying this car. Don't make the same mistake. Look at the other competitors, Tesla, GM, Ford, and so on.
I too am disappointed about not having over the air updates, but our experience at the dealership here was totally different - they only have one technician certified for the EVs but he turned around the software update quickly and efficiently. If it doesn’t need regular updates, which our hasn’t, not having OTA updates isn’t a deal-breaker.
I looked at the Kona before buying our 2nd BEV and was shocked when I tried to sit in the back seat, you couldn't swing a cat in the back! I bought a used Renault Zoe instead and was so impressed with the car that we are now on our 2nd Zoe. Check out Bjorn Nylands banana box test on RUclips. BTW the Zoe costs about 10k less.
There are so many electric alternatives available in Europe that we can't get here - too bad. Although I am not a fan of cats, I definitely wouldn't recommend trying to swing one in the back!
Lol, you say the fan can be noisy and the Mrs chirps up its your fault. That's so typical all over the world.
But you have to love them anyway!
@@trackrekord this is true brother.