For a car whose main draw might still prove to be its usability, there’s good news and bad to report about the Kona Electric’s cabin. The car is, as Hyundai claims, every bit as practical as a conventionally powered Kona. More’s the pity, however, that the fact hasn’t made this a particularly spacious car.
By the fairly modest standards of small crossovers, the Kona Electric offers pretty average passenger accommodation: just about enough space for two larger adults to sit in the back seats, or three young children. It’s certainly more accommodating and convenient than a Renault Zoe, but wouldn’t beat a Nissan Leaf or VW e-Golf, at least to any meaningful extent. And up front, the tallest drivers might find themselves to be slightly limited in outright head and leg room.
At a smidge over 330 litres, the car’s boot is somewhere between that of a typical supermini and a full-sized family hatchback for carrying space. Unless you take out the underfloor polystyrene storage trays for the car’s tyre inflation pump and charging cables, the boot’s lower split-level floor setting isn’t usable.
There is a choice of black or blue/ grey dashboard colour themes. Our test car had a black fascia with black leather seats and, despite all that new silver and light grey trim on the transmission tunnel, its interior gave the impression of being quite plain, and a little dark and uninviting.
Perceived cabin quality isn’t up to the standard you expect in a car that tops £30,000, either, with a few too many hard mouldings and cheap plastic fittings in evidence. Hyundai’s 7.0in digital ‘supervision’ instrument cluster falls short of the configurability of others out there, but it’s clear and it gives you all the information you need to manage the car’s electric powertrain to best advantage.
