Things i dislike about the Kona

[E-Shark]

I've had my U.S. Kona EV Ultimate for 10 days now, and I have two gripes so far:

1) Hyundai has decided we must use Android Auto or Apple Carplay if we want to use the address book from our phone for navigation. My 5 year old ICE doesn't have that issue. For some reason, the Kona only syncs phone numbers from your phone's contacts, which is great for making calls or sending/reading texts...but why not bring over the addresses? That's how my 2015 Audi A3 does it...

I don't like having to switch to Android Auto just to use my contacts. There's no reason a brand-new car loaded with tech won't sync addresses from a phone.

2) BlueLink remote-start: is it working? Maybe? Not sure? Even tech support doesn't know. Every time I try to use remote start, I get a message from the BlueLink app that says my request could not be processed at this time. But, when I get out to the car, there's a yellow light on inside the front grill badge, and the climate control lights are on. There's also a blinking light that looks like a steering wheel. Not sure what that is. But, can't really tell if the car is on (there are no lights on the main part of the dash, where the speedo is...) I've spend time twice on the phone with BlueLink support, and they aren't even sure what remote-start is supposed to look like (what will show inside the car), or why it keeps telling me it can't be processed.

Remote-start is for starting the climate in your car before you get there, ie AC or heat. The car isn't a gas vehicle so it doesn't actually start, you still have to sit inside and press the Start button. The light at the front tells you that climate is on and high voltage is flowing. The steering wheel looking light tells you steering wheel heat is on.

 

[CaliKona]

Remote-start is for starting the climate in your car before you get there, ie AC or heat. The car isn't a gas vehicle so it doesn't actually start, you still have to sit inside and press the Start button. The light at the front tells you that climate is on and high voltage is flowing. The steering wheel looking light tells you steering wheel heat is on.

Yeah, that's what I figured, but it still tells me the request could not be processed at this time, and their support folks weren't much help. The last person I talked to said she had no idea what the yellow light was, that it's supposed to turn on the daytime running lights (or something).

 

[Esprit1st]

Yeah, that's what I figured, but it still tells me the request could not be processed at this time, and their support folks weren't much help. The last person I talked to said she had no idea what the yellow light was, that it's supposed to turn on the daytime running lights (or something).

As you can tell, the dealers/salespeople are pretty much useless. You can find a lot of information here in the forum. Do a quick search before you ask because a lot of those questions have been asked before.

Welcome, and happy e-driving [emoji6][emoji106]

 

[Toolworker]

The velcro strap that secures my portable charge cord delaminated! #HyundaiBetaTester

 

[Wildeyed]

I have a home charger. I've never even seen my Hyundai charger. I keep meaning to check to see if it's even there!

 

[electriceddy]

I have a home charger. I've never even seen my Hyundai charger. I keep meaning to check to see if it's even there!

I still have not tried mine as I also use a L2 at home although I know its there because I had to move it out of the way a few times.
When I had my Leafs, I didn't try to use the factory L1 until about 4 years in when I was stuck in a remote area with no other way to charge the car- good thing it worked!
Thanks for the reminder...

 

[electriceddy]

Inside of my 335i convertible, gets hit all the time. I swear they purposefully aim and know what there doing . Lol

Definitely with you on that... roost location can be a major element:

Just hanging around for the next easy pickings

 

[Toolworker]

This conversation coming out of retirement reminds me that I found something to really hate three months ago, when my 2021 Ultimate passed its third anniversary and I discovered that although I have a navigation system, and can download the latest maps for free, I can no longer tell my nav system where to go without subscribing to Bluelink.

Technically, it's not something I hate about my Hyundai - it's another reason to hate Hyundai.

 

[Joey2121]

I updated my maps a couple of months ago and while alot about the GUI changed, the Nav still works. I have never had the Bluelink app. Mostly b/c the cost but also b/c where we live in the country, I'm pretty sure that the cellular equipment in the car wouldn't catch a signal. My phone generally won't.

I did need to spend spare time with the car parked climbing through the menus and tapping buttons to memorize the new menus. Now that I've been using it for a bit, it works well enough. Occasionally I mumble about things I would change to simplify things a bit. Maybe have a GUI choice - fancy (normal) or basic which would amount to lists rather than fancy graphics. The EV menu is the one that comes to mind. We see this cool picture of the car but the settings buttons are scattered all over the screen rather than along the left edge near the driver. And the EV energy screen which tells how much power the different systems are pulling is hidden in the drop down menu and can't be accessed while the car is charging.

The Nav is another one that could be improved. It works well but I can't put in an address quite like how I want to. I want to input "123 Main St 56743". Address and zip. What it wants is a long hand version of that. I don't rely on the Nav alot but that is what I recall.

I did ~350 miles in the Kona last night dealing with some family stuff. To a destination and back. Aside from my relatives' city lacking enough DCFC sprinkled through the suburbs - the Kona really shined again. Comfortable, efficient, great stereo, and the driver assist gadgets are nice to have. Last night was the first time I've really used the heat. It did not impact the range as much as I expected it to. I'm sure once the weather really gets cold, the heater will make a bigger difference to the range along with the cold battery chemistry.

Saw ~57 KW charging as I charged before leaving town (bad day to let the battery be a low state of charge) and 77 KW when I charged before coming home (battery was warm from all the driving).