Both have ~64kWh battery packs, and lots of nice features like autopilot and utility mode. Very high spec and very attractive pricing. Range is 250-300 miles, people who own the Kona say it’s damn hard to get less than 250 even if you try. That’s Tesla beating for 1/4th the price.
I’ve got an order on an e-Niro due to next year. Kona is already available.
Competition is the soon to be announced Leaf 60 and Tesla Model 3 Short Range, which I expect will be cancelled because it’s not competitive any more.
I don’t have the facilities for an electric car right now, but I’m definitely interested in the kona. I saw the fully charged review of it, it seems like a solid vehicle.
I really like the idea of electric cars. Unfortunately the Kona for example, is £20,000 to expensive, and about £30,000 to expensive for a 64KWh battery
The Tesla system does a few tricks that the Kia/Hyundai system does not, for example lane changes and exit ramps. On the other hand it nags you a lot.
The Kia/Hyundai system is more stable and reliable for just following the road. The Kia version also has “highway mode”, where you can take your hands off the wheel for long periods of time without it nagging as long as you are on a highway (not a local road).
Oh and Tesla has parking assist which the other two do not. The Tesla system costs £5000, it’s standard on the mid spec Niro/Kona.
That’s the WLTP range. In practice with a little effort you can easily do 300 miles on the highway. In poor weather at high speed 250 is the lower limit.
It helps to think of it more in terms of how long a journey will take. 250 miles at an average of 65 MPH (optimistic) is just under 4 hours of driving. Realistically you would stop to charge after 3 hours, for a bathroom break and something to eat if nothing else. So even in the absolute worst case the car exceeds bladder range, so you don’t really need to wait for charging.
What most people do is stop every couple of hours and grab a bit of a charge along with a shorter stop.
Edmunds compared it to the Chevy Bolt and considered it the better car with the exception of rear passenger legroom and less intense regenerative braking.
It still doesn’t excite me enough to pull the trigger. I’ll probably wait until the Model 3 has been out for a year before finally making my decision. There will be more options, and current models will have had been a bit more refined.
Having driven a Tesla recently, I can honestly say I’m not at all excited about electric cars. My girlfriend’s aunt has one with AWD and I drove it on Christmas Eve, and that thing SCREAMS and doesn’t even break traction. But it just felt like it had no soul.
Just read a couple articles from October. Apparently the kona is going to be a CARB state only car, but if you want to order it from another state, you can, but you’d have to go to a CARB state to get a test drive.
Also, the NA model doesn’t get active battery heating, which is important for anywhere in the northeast or Canada.
So it sounds like I’ve found the single redeeming factor about carb…
Honestly, the Leaf rivals the Gremlin in terms of ugly status. I like the kona because aside from the lack of grille venting on the front, and the lack of engine noises, nobody would know its an ev.
I don’t want a car that looks stupid “because ev”
I’d auto manufacturers want to get evs into the hands of the masses, they need to make evs that don’t look ugly.
unpopular opinion the model S is a boring looking car, and the model 3 is pretty ugly.
