My new Kona Electric and my first impressions

drivingbythesun said:
One week of ownership, 4th time driving it, 204 miles on the odometer, just getting comfortable driving her. And I had to say goodbye. :(. Hopefully only temporarily. A deer ran into me. Lots of broken plastic - both light covers, front fake grill, plastic above tire, under door. Driver door and front quarter panel dented. Now waiting on insurance company approval for repairs. View media item 274View media item 273
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This is the time when they come out.
I wondered how Kona would react when deer appeared, with the radar and camera in front I was hoping for a better result, but it seems this is not the case.
I hit one deer in my Leaf last year and escaped with minor repairs.
Hopefully no occupants were hurt.
 
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Thank you. My wife and 2 boys were in the car. My wife and I have sore neck and back. The boys insists nothing hurts. Insurance wants us all to go see doctor tomorrow. Angry and upset about car. Worried that it can't be repaired. The rear door doesn't close properly. Concerned there is structural damage.
 
GL Ontario said:
Thank you. My wife and 2 boys were in the car. My wife and I have sore neck and back. The boys insists nothing hurts. Insurance wants us all to go see doctor tomorrow. Angry and upset about car. Worried that it can't be repaired. The rear door doesn't close properly. Concerned there is structural damage.
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Oh dear that isn't good i.e. the neck and back. Make sure you do see the doctor tomorrow. I would be angry too. I had a fender bender with $16,000 damage to my car last year when an idiot make a left hand turn in front of me when I was on a highway. He was 100% at fault, but I have a car with limited trade in value. The worse of it for me was the left over anxiety that I have dealt with at intersections. You will probably be very jumpy every time you are stopped and look through your rear view mirror. Maybe you won't have structural damage. I hope not!
 
Ugh! They look terrible. And my guess is that parts will be harder to come by than the car's themselves. Glad you're okay.
 
Wildeyed said:
Ugh! They look terrible. And my guess is that parts will be harder to come by than the car's themselves. Glad you're okay.
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I think a lot of these parts may interchange with those of the gas-powered Kona, so I think the wait shouldn't be too bad. Hopefully, we'll hear back about expected timeframe soon.
 
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Domenick said:
I think a lot of these parts may interchange with those of the gas-powered Kona, so I think the wait shouldn't be too bad. Hopefully, we'll hear back about expected timeframe soon.
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I have my fingers crossed for everybody. And I'll include myself as I have a tendency to hit things I shouldn't!
 
electriceddy said:
This is the time when they come out.
I wondered how Kona would react when deer appeared, with the radar and camera in front I was hoping for a better result, but it seems this is not the case.
I hit one deer in my Leaf last year and escaped with minor repairs.
Hopefully no occupants were hurt.
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I wonder if it's even working honestly, because I never have gotten an alert that I was getting too close to anyone. And I made sure it was on and set. The deer was to my left front of my car, and I swerved, but she made a wide turn when she turned around to go back the way she came which is why she get basically the side of my car.
 
Wildeyed said:
Ugh! They look terrible. And my guess is that parts will be harder to come by than the car's themselves. Glad you're okay.
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Yes, parts are the issue now. Hyundai can't tell us when they will be in or how much, but they are being optimistic with "possibly by the end of the month".
 
electriceddy said:
If a hack could be developed to make the virtual engine sound system create a sound like a pack of wolves that may put an end to the deer issue, not sure what to do about getting rear ended though
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Why can't we get those deer whistle things built into cars? I wonder if it had been a gas vehicle if she would have heard it coming. That's what my boyfriend thinks.
 
drivingbythesun said:
Why can't we get those deer whistle things built into cars? I wonder if it had been a gas vehicle if she would have heard it coming. That's what my boyfriend thinks.
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I used to drive over 400 miles a day, a lot of that on rural roads. Deer whistles never seemed to make any difference. I remember having fresh sets on the company van and the deer on the side of the road never paid more or less attention to me than usual as I drove by. Maybe others have had better results.
Also, they would only work for a short while in the summer anyway, as they'd fill up with bugs in a few days.
 
Wildeyed said:
What's up with the mention of a sliding cover (left to right) on the phone charger? All pics show the same spring loaded cover as in other Kona EVs.
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Oh, it's the CHARGING door they're talking about. Why on earth is it "awkward"? Sometimes they dig really deep to find fault.
 
Hi everyone. This is my first post. Kind of a pre-purchase post. My brief story: owned a Prius for 15yrs and loved every min. of it. She is aging out and it was time to take the next leap, all electric. I’m flying to CA on 10/26 to pickup my red Kona and drive it straight to AZ. I’ve mapped out my charge stops and am giving myself lots of time to complete the adventure. I’ll try to post updates and impressions along the way.
 
zoominbc said:
Well first day with the new Kona. I love it, will take a while to get all the features worked out but it's tight and drives well. For the locals, Jim Pattison Hyundai in Surrey had 18 delivered and a couple of people backed out so they have 2 on the lot available for sale right now.
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Good luck with your new baby, I got mine in February and still loving it! with our solar panels and Powerwall I’ve not paid a penny yet to charge it, that’s a saving so far of several hundred pounds. We live in the county next to you, East Sussex.
 
Kona Bill said:
I’m flying to CA on 10/26 to pickup my red Kona and drive it straight to AZ. I’ve mapped out my charge stops and am giving myself lots of time to complete the adventure. I’ll try to post updates and impressions along the way.
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Good luck!

And I hope you already know about the PlugShare website and/or smartphone app, to help you map out your charging stops.
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Abetterrouteplanner is also a great site as it plots the travel for you and even tells you how much to recharge at each station along with the estimated cost for the charge. And then there is an option to send the itinerary to Google maps.
 
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