Kona replacement

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Paul DeLeon

Active Member
If Hyundai takes back my Kona, what to replace it with? I tested the Tesla 3,separate post, and it was cool but expensive. I've tested the Ford Mustang Mach-E, VW ID4, and the Kia Nero Premium. The Bolt flunked on reviews alone.
Of the three, the Mustang had the greatest range, but it was clunky to drive, had no heat pump, had very limited regenerative braking (with no adjustment), and was more expensive than the Tesla. Also not available. The VW drove well, had limited regenerative braking, no heat pump, decent range of around 260 miles. About the same price as our Kona. The Kia seemed a Kona clone, same battery and motor, but it has the heat pump. Even quieter than the Tesla, with all the gadgets we love on the Kona. Map was different, maybe not Tom-Tom, but seemed to work well.
Choice? Unlimited budget, Tesla. Impoverished me, Kia Nero.
 
I'm in the same predicament. For me it's either the Ioniq 5 or the Kona.

If things go perfect, enough time goes by until the Ioniq 5 is available, before I have to give up my Kona.

That would be the perfect plan for me.
 
I would be silly to give up on my Kona if I want to continue to own an EV, which I'm questioning because I drive far less now. For the moment it's still much cheaper (1/7th) to "fuel" an EV than ICE. If I get a new battery it'll be just like having a new car for me. Kona prices have gone up 5k while Model 3 prices have dropped 5k so the Tesla is 10k less. But the Model 3 or Y would be too tight for my urban driveway.

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Hi KiwiMe in Australia the new Kona highlander with sunroof is $71,000 aus about @76,300 NZ mine arrives in 2 weeks time, been waiting 6 months now.
the Tesla is a price i think before all costs are added as in aus there is about @7,000 more for shipping import road ets in taxes, and for most people the real world range of the tesla seems to be in the 350 km area verses the kona 450 km ,jim
 
My Kona isn't perfect, like any car, but there is nothing out there to touch it still after 2 years. Nor has anything gone wrong with it. Tesla models just don't achieve their claimed range, no matter what you read; Kona owners regularly cite how accurate they find their GOM.
Anyone who has read the JD Power reliability survey knows where Tesla ranked. Their fanboyz love 'em, but they are poorly designed and assembled, produced for the typical 5-7 year lifecycle of much that is Made in America. Who would seriously consider keeping one long term? They are the bling of the EV world, "flash trash"...
No doubt it is possible to do an ICE / EV running cost comparison to show whatever you like. I drive my Prius and Kona the same way - for the Kona, a recent, flat-running day trip (80%-10%) @90 over 330km cost 9.1 cents/km, for the Prius @90, Queenstown return at the end of April (3200km) cost 8.0 cents/km overall. A good hybrid, at least for local energy pricing, has the economy advantage over any EV.
I continue to see my Kona as a "keeper", for its construction, assembly, performance, and long term "bricks and mortar" manufacturer support...
 
Those were the same reasons why I chose Kona over Model 3 SR+.
Signifficantly more range, better build quality and support/service in Europe can be found everywhere.

Tesla build quality is still bad and post sales support almost non existant. A very bad combination with bad build quality as almost every Tesla needs some fixing straight out of the factory. And as they age things tend to go to the worse.

Tesla’s primary target is to keep boys at the Casino Wall Street happy. They do not care about keeping their customers happy.
 
Paul DeLeon said:
If Hyundai takes back my Kona, what to replace it with? I tested the Tesla 3,separate post, and it was cool but expensive. I've tested the Ford Mustang Mach-E, VW ID4, and the Kia Nero Premium. The Bolt flunked on reviews alone.
Of the three, the Mustang had the greatest range, but it was clunky to drive, had no heat pump, had very limited regenerative braking (with no adjustment), and was more expensive than the Tesla. Also not available. The VW drove well, had limited regenerative braking, no heat pump, decent range of around 260 miles. About the same price as our Kona. The Kia seemed a Kona clone, same battery and motor, but it has the heat pump. Even quieter than the Tesla, with all the gadgets we love on the Kona. Map was different, maybe not Tom-Tom, but seemed to work well.
Choice? Unlimited budget, Tesla. Impoverished me, Kia Nero.
Click to expand...

Hi Paul - can you tell me more about why you say that the Bolt flunked on reviews alone? I am considering one and haven’t seen that much negative press (for the 2021 model).



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hieronymous said:
No doubt it is possible to do an ICE / EV running cost comparison to show whatever you like. I drive my Prius and Kona the same way - for the Kona, a recent, flat-running day trip (80%-10%) @90 over 330km cost 9.1 cents/km, for the Prius @90, Queenstown return at the end of April (3200km) cost 8.0 cents/km overall. A good hybrid, at least for local energy pricing, has the economy advantage over any EV.
I continue to see my Kona as a "keeper", for its construction, assembly, performance, and long term "bricks and mortar" manufacturer support...
Click to expand...

I guess your electricity cost are pretty high. I don't have a hybrid to compare to but I can use our very economical gas Honda Civic as comparison.
Civic costs us 10.6 cents Canadian per kilometer to drive and the Kona so far comes in at 1.7 cents per kilometer. That equated to $3300 savings over past 17 months of ownership. Not to mention my work pays me 50 cents a km as travel compensation so that added another $12,000 into the wallet this past year. If I factor in income tax savings on the purchase price and continue drive it for another year or so, the car will be paid for and it will start making me money. I am obviously pretty happy with that.
 
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KiwiME said:
I would be silly to give up on my Kona if I want to continue to own an EV, which I'm questioning because I drive far less now. For the moment it's still much cheaper (1/7th) to "fuel" an EV than ICE. If I get a new battery it'll be just like having a new car for me. Kona prices have gone up 5k while Model 3 prices have dropped 5k so the Tesla is 10k less. But the Model 3 or Y would be too tight for my urban driveway.

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Holy Cow! $49k more to buy in New Zealand. I would drive a Kona there. In the US the Model 3 Long Range with AWD it is only about $1.5K more than the Kona EV if you don't add the self driving feature. You don't get the $10K in rebates for buying which is why we originally bought the Kona either.
 
My quirks. I value range, efficiency (m/kWh), quietness of cabin, heat pump availability, adjustable regeneration and seat comfort. Only the Kia ticks all the boxes for me.
 
Paul DeLeon said:
If Hyundai takes back my Kona, what to replace it with? I tested the Tesla 3,separate post, and it was cool but expensive. I've tested the Ford Mustang Mach-E, VW ID4, and the Kia Nero Premium. The Bolt flunked on reviews alone.
Of the three, the Mustang had the greatest range, but it was clunky to drive, had no heat pump, had very limited regenerative braking (with no adjustment), and was more expensive than the Tesla. Also not available. The VW drove well, had limited regenerative braking, no heat pump, decent range of around 260 miles. About the same price as our Kona. The Kia seemed a Kona clone, same battery and motor, but it has the heat pump. Even quieter than the Tesla, with all the gadgets we love on the Kona. Map was different, maybe not Tom-Tom, but seemed to work well.
Choice? Unlimited budget, Tesla. Impoverished me, Kia Nero.
Click to expand...

I think you already answered your own question. If in your position replace with 2022 Kona electric or the Kia Nero. In Canada website ID4 shows heat pump as standard equipment. Guess different markets have different standard equipment

Dan


Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs
 
apu said:
I guess your electricity cost are pretty high.
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They can be in NZ, depending on region. I'm paying $0.21/kWh off-peak (16 hours daily) while mid-octane gasoline is $2.40/litre, both NZ$ of course. Wages and income taxes can be numerically similar to N. America so the prices of 'fuel' and the cars are a shock to our disposable income just as these ratios might appear in your own currency. The average age of our car fleet (14 yrs) reflects that, as does our per-capita transport carbon footprint.
GeorgeS said:
Holy Cow! $49k more to buy in New Zealand. I would drive a Kona there. In the US the Model 3 Long Range with AWD it is only about $1.5K more than the Kona EV if you don't add the self driving feature. You don't get the $10K in rebates for buying which is why we originally bought the Kona either.
Click to expand...
We have no purchase subsidies at all but currently have an exemption for having to pay $0.08/km road tax for the remainder of 2021.
 
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apu said:
I guess your electricity cost are pretty high. I don't have a hybrid to compare to but I can use our very economical gas Honda Civic as comparison.
Civic costs us 10.6 cents Canadian per kilometer to drive and the Kona so far comes in at 1.7 cents per kilometer.
Click to expand...
I have fond memories of filling a motorhome in Kamloops for 30cents/litre, but that, as they say, was back in the day..
You have nuclear power which seems to provide cheap energy in many countries, but only “clean n’ green” is acceptable here. However, our EV owners have power options as elsewhere, so kWh pricing starts at $0.00, up to 25c/kWh+25c/minute, mostly the latter. i have the main rate built into my TorquePro calculation, plus an allowance for charging inefficiency, to provide a fair comparison with fossil fuel pricing.
The Kona price I quoted was on that basis, but the actual cost was $0.00 being for a round trip from home, where I have an hour/day off peak free power...
 
Paul DeLeon said:
Maybe I will. But I'm curious what two years has brought to our favorite cars, aren't you?
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I can honestly answer that question as a second Kona Ultimate EV owner:
The newer 10.25" screen is much nicer, not as primitive looking as my 19 model (just don't do any updates), concerning SCC the front camera together with the radar sensor ( possibly software related) keeps the vehicle in the center of the lane (not on the left edge), nice to have all the software updates pre-loaded posted over the last few years, no battery pack worries.
https://insideevsforum.com/communit...ost-pics-of-your-kona.6276/page-6#post-113151
I think the general build quality is better, as the original models were rushed out to try to meet pre-orders as with any new model (cracked water pump bodies, brake noises, the list goes on . Of course that remains to be seen, but so far no issues, unlike my original model.;)
 
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Paul DeLeon said: ↑
Maybe I will. But I'm curious what two years has brought to our favorite cars, aren't you?

I had decided to replace my 2018 Kona with the new Series 2 when it came out. However when we got the first one back with its replacement battery, we liked it so much (again) that we traded in our ICE car instead. So we now have original and new and can compare.
Apart from the bodywork and wheel changes that you can see in the publicity photos there are not a lot of very evident differences. The charging port door protrudes further when it's open so I had to move the stop on the carport floor away from the wall by 9cms. The cruise control immediately sets the speed when you press the mode button, the HUD speed numbers change from white to orange and red when you exceed the posted speed limit, and the settings for it are from the centre screen rather than the steering wheel buttons. The position lights in the fenders in front of the front wheels are gone.
The centre display is larger and has more to adjust than the original, though I suspect it is like the last of the first series, and not like the small screen with the buttons on the side like the original. The new instrument cluster is quite different with the SOC bars shown smaller and horizontally and the power and charge indicator has moved from the left to a circular display on the right. The main beam level is manually adjustable, and a quirk for us in NZ, the indicators are now on the right stalk compared to the first arrivals. (So we have to be alert about which car we're driving or the windscreen gets washed on left turns :).)
The car was ordered in Atlas White with a black roof, but it arrived all white so the dealer had the roof, pillars and mirrors wrapped in gloss black vinyl.
That's my take on what time has brought to our favourite cars, that may not be evident from the publicity. Happy as!
 
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My wife and I have a Kona EV. I wanted a second EV but there seem to be a lot of great vehicles coming to market in the next 12 months. I decided to buy some time and bought a 2017 Ioniq EV. This meets all my requirements for daily commuting. It is extremely efficient. We have a Hyundai Sonata hybrid for long trips. I'm looking at the Ioniq 5, Nissan Ariya, or Byton M-Byte (in order of preference) for my next purchase in the next 6 to 9 months.
I also eliminated the Chevy Bolt based on the subcompact styling and poor reviews for the suspension, seats, and efficiency. Between Kia and Hyundai, I'll always choose Hyundai based on past experiences with initial build quality and difficulty resolving issues with Kia service. I'm not a fan of Tesla or VW. The interior style is too simple. They need to integrate their screens better.
 
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