The Kia Stonic enters the small SUV fray looking to pinch customers from the likes of the Nissan Juke and Citroen C3 Aircross, but has its work cut out if it’s going to make a real impact. Based on a shared platform with the Kia Rio hatchback, the oddly-named Stonic is only an average performer – so while it’s perfectly adequate in all areas, it’s truly compelling in none.
That’s potentially a problem when there are so many more characterful competitors on the market. All is not lost, however, as the Stonic is good to drive and that famous Kia seven-year warranty is hard to ignore, too.
The Kia Stonic is unashamedly setting its sights on buyers who want a small SUV with a bit of style and panache, but it’s not as characterful as some in the sector. If you don’t want a car that’s too ostentatious, you might think that’s a good thing.
The Stonic isn’t frumpy or dowdy though, especially in brighter colours and with the two-tone roof treatment that comes as standard on the First Edition model. The crossover shares it’s ‘Tiger nose’ grille design and swept-back headlamps with its Rio stablemate, but in-keeping with its SUV pretensions the bodywork is more muscular and beefy. Black plastic sill guards and wheelarch trims, along with standard-fit roof rails, all help create a slightly more adventurous look when contrasted with bright paint.
Inside, the Stonic benefits from a functional and attractive design, as well as impressive fit and finish for this class. However, although the fascia appears extremely well manufactured and impeccably screwed together, Kia has gone heavy with hard and brittle-looking black and grey plastics, and we’d like a bit more attention paid to lavishing the interior with more soft-touch materials. That said, you can upgrade with colour-coded interior packs that add your choice of grey, bronze, orange or green trim highlights, and definitely give the cabin ambience a bit of a lift.
Sat-nav, stereo and infotainment
The seven-inch touchscreen navigation system that’s fitted as standard to First Edition models is well-placed at the centre of the dash, and straightforward to use. In the 2 trim level, you still get the screen but it’s a display unit only with no touch functionality, or sat-nav.
Both set-ups are Bluetooth compatible with your smartphone, and include Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with voice control. All models feature a six-speaker audio system with steering wheel controls and DAB radio.
The Kia Stonic is pretty competitive on the road, as engineers have re-tuned the Kia Rio’s rather average suspension set-up to handle the Stonic’s higher centre of gravity. In doing so, they’ve also created a car that feels more agile, is relatively roll-free and handles in a composed and tidy fashion. The steering is well weighted, if lacking in feel, and the gearchange is light and slick too.
The downside is a ride that’s fidgety, especially over the myriad smaller imperfections that characterise UK road conditions. It’s a characteristic that’s doubtless amplified by those fashionable over-sized 17-inch alloy wheels, but no helped by the firm suspension. Larger bumps are soaked up in more accomplished style, but if most of your motoring is away from motorways and A-roads, you may wish for a more refined set-up.
The Stonic offers a generally refined driving experience in other respects, however, with the cabin that is well isolated from wind noise. Even the road noise from the big tyres isn’t intrusive.
Engines
Performance won’t be startling whichever model you choose, although the 1.0-litre three-cylinder engine is by far and away the pick of the bunch. In spite of its small size, it is the perkiest in the line-up.
The downsized turbo unit makes 118bhp and delivers its power without too much noise and fuss. You’ll need to rev it quite aggressively to access the performance, but with maximum torque delivered from 1,500rpm, the engine responds well to everyday driving demands. The 0-60mph time of 9.9 seconds is not too shabby, and top speed is 115mph.
The 1.4-litre four-cylinder petrol engine is bigger but less powerful. With just 98bhp and only 133Nm of torque, it feels more sluggish too. The 0-60mph dash takes 12.2 seconds, and the top speed is capped at 107mph.
If you’re looking for diesel power, the 1.6 CRDi model offers 108bhp and 260Nm, which is enough for a 0-60mph in 10.9 seconds and 112mph, but we feel the 1.0 T-GDI petrol is better suited to most drivers’ needs.
Independent crash testers Euro NCAP haven’t got round to the Kia Stonic yet, but recent Kia models including the Rio have performed well – with the caveat that some of equipment required to make the full five-star rating is optional and not standard. We think you can be pretty confident the Stonic will perform in similarly impressive fashion from a passive safety/structural perspective, but once again Kia has chosen to make some of the safety highlights optional.
Automatic emergency braking, lane departure and rear cross-traffic alerts are standard on the First Edition, but the Stonic 2 must make do with its six airbags, ISOFIX rear seat mountings, stability control and hill-start assistance. Without any of the Driver Assistance Pack extras, the Rio only managed three-stars, so we await the Stonic’s NCAP results with interest.
The Stonic obviously hasn’t featured in our Driver Power survey yet, but the fact that is shares all its tech with models that have performed reliably bodes well and should provide reassurance to potential buyers.
Warranty
The Kia seven-year warranty is unbeatable, providing 100,000 miles of cover on all the manufacturer’s new cars. It’s undoubtedly part of the Kia brand appeal, and has also helped boost second-hand values.
Servicing
Servicing your Kia Stonic won’t break the bank, and you can spend £299 when you buy the car to cover three years of servicing under the Care-3 plan. If you’re planning to keep the car longer, a £599 plan will cover you for five years of servicing assuming you cover only average mileage. Higher mileage drivers will need to service their Stonic at 10,000-mile and 20,000-mile intervals for petrol and diesel models respectively.
We’ve already discussed the shortcomings in the Stonic’s ride quality, which will particularly affect drivers using urban and minor roads. Another area where the Stonic may fail to meet the desires of its potential owners is the seat height. Lots of buyers look to SUV-type vehicles for the reassuring and commanding driving position, yet the seats in the Stonic are set relatively low compared to most of its rivals. That said, if you after a sportier driving position, this car could fit the bill.
There are lots of practical touches when it comes to cabin storage though. You get big door pockets up front, a pair of cup-holders and a seven-litre glovebox, as well as useful storage built into the central armrest and console. There are cup-holders for the kids’ water bottles in the back too, and shopping hooks in the boot.
Size
Although it shares the Kia Rio’s platform, the Stonic is a little bigger all round thanks to bigger overhangs and wider track. The wheelbase is standard Rio though, and there’s only the one five-door body-style.
Leg room, head room & passenger space
There’s enough extra space in the Stonic for it to feel noticeably bigger than the Rio, and the taller body style means headroom for rear seat passengers is improved too. However, the wheelbase constraints mean there’s no more rear seat legroom than in the Rio hatch, which means it’s adequate but not luxurious – especially for taller passengers.
Boot
You get 352 litres of boot space in the Stonic, which is a little more than the Kia Rio hatchback, but significantly less than some of the Stonic’s larger rivals. The Peugeot 2008 has 410 litres, and you can have up to 455 litres in the Renault Captur with the rear seats pushed forward.
With the seats folded, you can get a maximum of 1,155 litres and a flat load floor, but again the rivals do better. At least the Stonic has a wide-opening tailgate so access is easy.
Whichever model you choose, there isn’t a Kia Stonic that’s going to cost a lot to run – and we think the 1.0-litre turbo petrol makes more sense than the diesel for most drivers. It will achieve a creditable 56.5mpg on official figures, which isn’t too far off the 67.3mpg that Kia claims for the 1.6-litre diesel model.
It’s true that you might have a better chance of achieving high numbers in the diesel than you would in the petrol, however, which thrives on a bit more revs in real use. Still, we expect the differences will be relatively marginal for anyone not doing stellar mileages, especially when you consider the diesel engine costs £1,000 more to buy in the first place.
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The entry-level 1.4-litre petrol comes in at 51.4mpg, and while all the Stonic’s efficiency figures are decent, they are by no means the best in class. For example, you should be able to eke more miles out of equivalent versions of both the Nissan Juke and Peugeot 2008.
For company car drivers, the Benefit-in-Kind (BiK) rates are similar for all versions of the Stonic, thanks to reasonably low CO2 emissions. The 1.4 petrol attracts a 24 per cent BiK, while the 1.0 petrol and 1.6 diesel are 22 and 23 per cent respectively. All models attract the same VED road tax charge of £140 per year.
Insurance groups
The relatively pedestrian performance of the Kia Stonic means it doesn’t get whacked with outrageous insurance premiums. Group ratings are 10 to 14 across the range, which is similar to the Renault Captur.
Depreciation
The old days of disastrous depreciation seem to be behind Kia. While the residual values of your Stonic won’t match the best in class (the SEAT Arona, for example), it should perform in the same ballpark as the Nissan Juke/Renault Captur pairing – possibly even a little better, according to some used car value pundit.
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