There’s not much special about the Kona’s guts. Take away its Robocop-esque styling, and you’ll find the same small car and crossover platform that underpins the Kia Niro and Hyundai Elantra. It doesn’t even look radically different from the regular Kona, which is powered by a choice of four-cylinder gas engines.
Take a look underneath and it will resemble any small crossover made in the past 15 years, save for the big boxy battery that sits in front of the multi-link independent rear suspension setup. The Kona is front-motor, front-wheel-drive, and is set up in a way that’s similar to the small four-cylinder engines that would have sat in the motor’s place in the car’s ICE version.
To some, that’s a huge step back from the skateboard-like chassis and tiny rear-mounted, RWD motors found on modern EV platforms. But, in practice, the Kona’s conventional guts make for a conventional driving experience—and that’s not a bad thing. Consumers buy crossovers because they’re easy to drive and comfortable.
By and large, the Kona Electric keeps that same standard crossover energy going. On the road, the crossover is comfy, quiet and easy to drive.
Like all EVs, the Kona Electric is naturally heavier than its gas-powered sibling. Yet, Hyundai kept that weight gain in check. On average, the Kona Electric is only about 500 pounds heavier than the ICE model and about 150 lbs heavier than its predecessor.
If you’ve driven the old Kona Electric, you’ll find the 201-horsepower motor and 64.8 kWh familiar, but there are a few changes this time around. It might have the same power, but it lost more than 100 lb-ft of torque, from 291 lb-ft to merely 188 lb-ft.
On paper, the lack of torque shows. The Kona Electric is slower this time around. Its 0-60 mph time grew from 6.2 seconds to 7.0 seconds flat. Yet, in practice, I actually prefer the reduced torque of the new model. Despite being numerically slower than its predecessor, I never felt like Kona Electric was ever out of its depth.
Like most EVs, throttle response is instant, so the Kona still feels swift, albeit not fast. To me, the car never felt like it needed more power, but if you’re searching for the neck-jerking acceleration of other EV crossovers, then look elsewhere
Some of us live in places with snow, and FWD handles a lot better than RWD in those situations.
AWD
I’d love to see it, but that adds cost and gives a small range hit. I’m staying within 2 wheel drive options for the sake of discussion.
RWD handles better everywhere else?
Maybe. I’d bet most people in those places don’t really care. So let’s say you want to sell cars (or make cars that sell). Almost half your customers want front wheel drive because of snow, half don’t care because they just drive from A to B and don’t notice a difference, and a tiny sliver is like you and wants RWD for reasons. Having multiple options (other than maybe AWD vs FWD/RWD TBD) adds engineering and production streamlining complexities, so you need to choose one. What would you choose?
Rwd is just a less complex system, meaning it can be made cheaper. At it’s most basic, you have a single universal joint and a differential as the only “complex” parts. You dont have to worry about transmission of power to wheels which are constantly changing alignment.