Kia Stonic is the smallest of the Korean carmaker’s four conventional SUV range, sitting below the Seltos, Sportage and Sorento.
There are also three fully electric SUVs: EV5, EV6 and EV9.
Stonic was released in 2017 and arrived in Australia in 2020. It was upgraded in May 2024 with a more powerful three-cylinder turbo engine, added safety and tech features and a price hike.
Stonic is built on the same platform as the now discontinued Rio hatchback. It competes against vehicles such as its Hyundai Venue sibling as well as the class-leading Mazda CX-3 and Toyota Yaris Cross.
Three variants are available: S, Sport and GT-Line. Prices, before on-road costs, are $25,460, $28,590 and $31,780 respectively.
STYLING
The MY2025 Stonic lags behind most recent Kia models in terms of its relatively conservative appearance. All variants get Kia’s traditional ‘Tiger Nose’ grille, with the GT-Line getting chrome surrounds as well as a body kit that adds chrome beltline, gloss black radiator fill, chrome side mirror surrounds, rear diffuser, and a tilt and slide sunroof.
The S and Sport variants have halogen headlights and daytime running lights. GT-Line steps up to LED headlights, DRLs, front fog lights and rear brake lights.
The MY2025 upgrade also switched wheels from steel to alloy, 15-inch in the S and 17-inch brushed chrome on the Sport and GT-Line.
There are eight exterior colour options. Only one, Clear White, is standard, the others are $520 options.
INTERIOR
Inside, it’s functional and neat without much of the bling of its competitors.
There are the usual twin screens, an 8.0-inch colour infotainment touch screen in the centre of the dash and a neat sculpted instrument screen in front of the driver accessed through controls on the steering wheel.
There are two cupholders in the centre console and bottle holders for each of the doors.
Stonic S has key-in-ignition start, Sport and GT-Line have a push button smart key.
The driver’s seat is height adjustable and the steering wheel has both reach and height adjustment but there is no power adjustment in any model.
The gear lever is an old-style T-Bar shifter that takes up much of the space in the centre console with two drink holders behind it.
One big plus is that there are four physical knobs below the screen, two for audio controls and another two for the air conditioning. They are within easy reach of the driver and can be operated with minimal distraction from the road ahead. So much safer than the worrying, and dangerous, trend towards all features being accessible only through touchscreens.
Rear seat legroom is quite restricted for anyone from 1.8 metres upwards. Headroom is reasonable while a slight transmission tunnel intrusion will cause a problem for passengers in the centre seat. So not recommended for three adults.
There are 352 litres of boot space with the rear seatbacks in place expanding to 1155 litres with them folded. A space saver spare wheel is located under the boot floor.
ENGINES/TRANSMISSIONS
All three variants are powered by a 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbo petrol engine that delivers 74kW at 4500 rpm and 172Nm from 1500 to 4000 rpm paired with a seven-speed dual clutch style automatic transmission. A previous six-speed manual gearbox was dropped with the latest upgrade.
All models are front wheel drive.
SAFETY
Stonic hasn’t been tested by ANCAP since 2017 when, as Rio, it did receive the maximum five stars.
Although the test criteria has been tightened since then, so has the Stonic’s safety equipment so it should retain that top rating.
Standard across the range now includes six airbags, autonomous emergency braking (AEB) that includes car, pedestrian and cyclist detection. cornering brake control, front and rear parking sensors, driver attention alert, lead vehicle departure alert with lane keeping assist, lane following assist, rear occupant alert, blind spot alert and collision avoidance and hill start assist.
There are three child restraint anchor points as well as two ISOFIX mounts in the rear.
INFOTAINMENT
Infotainment consists of an 8.0-inch touchscreen, Bluetooth with audio streaming and multi-connection functionality for phone and media streaming.
Only Stonic Sport and GT-Line come with embedded satellite navigation which means that Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, which are standard in all models, is wireless in the S but wired in the Sport and GT-Line.
There are no wireless chargers in any model.
All models have USB ports in the front and centre consoles and another in the rear, together with a 12-volt outlet in the centre console.
DRIVING
The previous Stonic S and Sport models came with a fairly sluggish 1.4-litre petrol engine that’s now been replaced by the 1.0-litre turbocharged unit that was only available in the GT-Line.
That engine has now been re-tuned and it has made a noticeable difference to the performance of the little SUV. It’s still not sporty by any means but more than enough especially for routine urban conditions.
Its compact dimensions together with front and rear sensors make for easy parking.
The steering is nicely weighted, not too light and it locks down on centre without constant need for adjustment.
On the motorway Stonic cruised comfortably and handled the hilly terrain at the northern end of our drive route without too much effort.
Stonic comes with three drive modes: Eco, Normal and Sport. Eco rather than Normal is the default setting which is a bit presumptuous. We’d prefer it to start in Normal and then switch up or down depending on conditions.
As is the case with most Kia/Hyundai vehicles, the Stonic’s ride and handling are excellent.
Fuel consumption is listed at 5.4 litres per 100km on the combined cycle, 6.2 L/100km around town where most will spend most of their time. We averaged 7.2 L/100km over our usual mix of urban, rural and motorway roads – disappointing for such a small vehicle although regular unleaded fuel does soften the blow.
SUMMING UP
It’s hard to fault this little Kia SUV. It has an excellent range of safety and tech equipment, is easy to drive and park and is very competitively priced.
Add the seven-year standard warranty and it will tick most boxes for singles, young families or seniors.
RATINGS:
Looks: 7/10
Performance: 7/10
Safety: 8/10
Thirst: 8/10
Practicality: 7/10
Comfort: 7/10
Tech: 6/10
Value: 8/10
