Today driving Kia’s Stonic light SUV – launched last January, the Stonic is a high riding version of Kia’s Rio hatch with its own individual five-door style and interior.

It arrived in a light SUV segment that was dominated by Mazda’s CX-3, however in the last few months its quickly overtaken the Mazda in sales and is now a close second to Toyota’s relatively new Yaris Cross. However, the Kia Stonic is far better looking to the Toyota.

Front wheel drive only it kicks off at $23,490 drive-away for the manual S, $25,490 drive-away for the mid-spec manual Sport, both with a 1.4-litre four-cylinder naturally aspirated engine, with six speed automatic adding $1,000 to both.

The flagship Stonic GT-line gets a 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbo engine mated to a seven-speed dual clutch automatic priced at $30,490 drive-away. Having enthused over the GT-line earlier in the year I recently tested the mid-spec 1.4-litre Stonic Sport with a non-turbo 74kW four-cylinder engine and came away unimpressed – the engine lacking torque makes the transmission dance up and down the gear ratios at the slightest hint of a heavy throttle.

This disappointing aspect overshadows the Kia Stonic’s appealing qualities of a well sized cabin, very composed ride and handling and precise steering and braking. Good looking too with well sized 17-inch alloys and Continental tyres, Satellite Navigation and DAB plus digital radio.

I’m David Berthon.

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