Kia Sonet

When Kia came to India with their Seltos, it was specifically engineered for India and it actually out of the park it took Kia into the top view of the automobile sales charts. So, Kia launched a Compact SUV named Sonet in 18th September 2020. And now we are here with its review. Enjoy :)

 DIMENSIONS

LENGTH	3995mm
WIDTH	1790mm
HEIGHT	1642mm
WHEELBASE	2500mm
SEATING CAPACITY	5
BOOT SPACE	392 litres
NO. OF DOORS	5
FUEL TANK CAPACITY	45 liters

 

EXTERIOR

This car grabs eyeballs off the bat, this car looks very nice in fact it has a traditional Kia design elements which looks staggeringly good, detailing like the long grill and the surrounding chrome, the wrap around c-pillar, the 16 inch alloy wheels, and the eye grabbing Front & Rear headlamps set it apart and make it super stylish. The front headlamps are DRLs with white light and Fog lamp design is surrounded by chrome which looks kinda sporty. Door handles are chrome from the HTX variant to the top. It has non functional roof rails with shark fin antenna and Sunroof in some variants. Moving towards the back of the car, starting from the top there’s a wiper and a defogger. The rear lights look very nice but the indicators and reverse lamp is not LED, the brake light is LED rest are not LED. Then there are the reflectors which are not functional until and unless you throw light to it. Kia also provided a skit plate so that if you want to take this car for some off-road, you can definitely take it. The Sonet feels solidly built and all it’s parts work away silently whether we talk of the engine or the suspension. Potholes doesn’t feel much.

INTERIOR

Interior of the Sonet feels top notch. All the quality feels good on the inside. Soft finish for the top of the dash, lower part has a bit of hard plastic. Large AC vents laid out across the dash. There is the 10.25 inch touchscreen which takes center space. The car has a digital instrument cluster. The steering is the flat bottom sporty steering wheel with the controls for the touch screen, digital instrument cluster and even the cruise control. The car has a lots of storage spaces, beneath the AC controls, cup holders are there behind the gear lever and some more storage space inside the center armrest. There are 1 liter bottle holders in all four doors. Most importantly the top-end variant (GTX+) also comes with ventilated seats. The front seats looks fine. For the rear seat, a person of 6 feet can easily fit in. 3 passengers can be easily fit in the car, but there is no headrest for the third passenger. If 2 passengers are sitting at the rear, It feels even more comfortable with its center armrest which also has 2 cup holders. Kia Sonet can pack in quite a bit of luggage with its 392 liters of boot space.  

ENGINE & TRANSMISSION 

DIESEL            

ENGINE TYPE (MT/AT)	1.5L CRDi WGT / 1.5L CRDi VGT
DISPLACEMENT	1493cc
MAX POWER (MT/AT)	98.63bhp@4000rpm / 113.42bhp@4000rpm
MAX TORQUE (MT /AT)	240nm@1500-2750rpm / 250nm@1500-2750rpm
NO. OF CYLINDER	4
TRANSMISSION TYPE	Manual / Automatic
GEAR BOX	6 speed
DRIVE TYPE	FWD

 PETROL

ENGINE TYPE	Smartstream G1.2
DISPLACEMENT	1197cc
MAX POWER	81.86bhp@6000rpm
MAX TORQUE	115nm@4200rpm
NO. OF CYLINDER	4
TRANSMISSION TYPE	Manual
GEAR BOX	5 speed
DRIVE TYPE	FWD

(Normal petrol engine is offered only in HTE, HTK and HTK plus)

TURBO PETROL (iMT & DCT)  

ENGINE TYPE	Smartstream G1.0 T-GDi
DISPLACEMENT	998
MAX POWER	118.36bhp@6000rpm
MAX TORQUE	172nm@1500-4000rpm
NO. OF CYLINDER	3
TRANSMISSION TYPE	iMT / DCT
GEAR BOX	6 speed / 7 speed
DRIVE TYPE	FWD

(Turbo petrol engine is offered in HTK+, HTX, HTX+ and GTX+ )

On paper the engine looks quiet powerful.

Variant wise Price

                                    HTE

	Ex- showroom	On-Road
Petrol	Rs 6,79,000	Rs 7,63,000
Diesel	Rs 8,25,000	Rs 9,21,000

                                      HTK

	Ex- showroom	On-Road
Petrol	Rs 7,69,000	Rs 8,62,000
Diesel	Rs 9,19,000	Rs 10,47,000

                                    HTK+

	Ex- showroom	On-Road
Petrol	Rs 8,55,000	Rs 9,57,000
Turbo Petrol	Rs 9,49,000	Rs 10,56,000
Diesel	Rs 9,69,000	Rs 11,03,000

                                    HTX

	Ex- showroom	On-Road
Turbo Petrol	Rs 9,99,000	Rs 11,11,000
Diesel	Rs 10,19,000	Rs 12,08,000

                                    HTX+

	Ex- showroom	On-Road
Turbo Petrol	Rs 11,65,000	Rs 13,38,000
Diesel	Rs 11,85,000	Rs 14,03,000

                                    GTX+

	Ex- showroom	On-Road
Turbo Petrol	Rs 11,99,000	Rs 13,37,000
Diesel	Rs 12,19,000	Rs 14,43,00

 Price is quiet aggressive. It easily competes or even beats some of the popular compact SUV's like Hyundai Venue & Tata Nexon.

Do share your thoughts about this car.