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What's the difference?
As surely as night follows day, when there's a new Kia in a new segment, we're told we probably won't be getting it. Those lucky Europeans and then some months (this time years, as it turns out) later, we find out that actually we are getting it.
Not because Kia's Australian arm doesn't want the peculiarly named Stonic - we're still waiting for the reportedly excellent e-Niro. But when that new car is an SUV, even a tiny one, Kia can't make them fast enough.
However, as m'colleague Tom White reported in December, COVID stepped in. We're now in the strange position where due to a global pandemic and resulting economic calamity, a car Kia Australia thought it had to forego in return for the excellent Seltos, has in fact arrived to complete the range.
Fresh from the factory, my family scored a top-of-the-range GT-Line for a week to see what it's like in the urban rumble.
Small or compact four-door SUVs have found favour with those who might usually climb into a hatch but, for whatever reasons, are now looking to a vehicle with the ability, actual or otherwise, of being sporty and even a little bit outdoorsy. The reality is most of these vehicles will spend their time on city and suburban streets, which perfectly suits them, and their owners’ lifestyles.
However, some of these diminutive SUVs are better at their intended purpose – and do it with much more style – than others.
How does the base-spec turbocharged Holden Trax, the LS, hold up in a bustling market segment? To find out, read on.
Once over the little thrill of driving a car we weren't supposed to get (okay, it wasn't that thrilling), a few things became clear. You can now buy a compact SUV with a good long warranty, a bit of Kia flair and a roomy cabin, at least for its size.
It drives really well even if the transmission was a bit reluctant to do what I wanted. It's easy to park and will live very happily in the city while carrying reasonable numbers of people and their things. It may not be as bang up to date as some of its competitors, and the GT-Line's value is borderline, but it delivers plenty in its small package to a rapacious SUV market.
The Holden Trax looks nice enough and is pleasant enough to live with day to day. Like many others of its ilk, the Trax may be marketed as an SUV but that catch-call moniker, which has come to be accepted to mean that a vehicle is actually sporty and off-road capable, is misleading.
As an adventure vehicle the Trax falls well short – it needs a diesel engine and much improved capability (AWD) and space – but as a lively daily driver for a young starter, or a one-child family, then it’s perfectly adequate.
If you’ve got your heart set on a Trax and you’re patient, perhaps you’ll wait until 2020 when the next-generation Trax is due here.
The Stonic clearly looks like it is related to the Rio, but also bears a strong resemblance to the Seltos. Underneath is the very familiar small hatch Rio but Kia says every panel is different.
The panels might be, but have a look at the rear door and the way the glass meets the C-pillar and you can tell it's a Rio.
Which is fine, of course, because I think the Stonic looks really good in GT-Line form, with the bigger wheels, some well-judged cladding and some nice sculpting on the body.
If you plump for the two-tone paint job (which I think looks great), you will go without the sunroof. Also the sun-safe option, but I know some are fans of a hole in the roof.
The cabin is by-the-numbers Kia, which is to say it's well laid-out and looks good, but won't be troubling a beret-sporting art critic for superlatives.
Unlike the exterior, it's straight out of the Rio, which does have its downsides, which we'll discuss further.
It’s a small SUV and it looks sporty and outdoorsy enough in a generic sort of way. A nuggety stance, short-wheelbase and roof rails add to this Trax’s activity-friendly demeanour, without promising too much. Take a look and make up your own mind if it’s your cup of tea; I’m not your life coach so decide for yourself whether it’s cool or plain.
For a car this size, it's reasonably roomy. I can sit behind my driving position in the rear seat and while violin playing is off the agenda, it's not claustrophobic.
Front seat passengers have plenty of storage to play with, including a split storage box underneath the console for phone and wallet-chucking.
You also get two cupholders, even with the space-robbing conventional handbrake (I like a standard handbrake, though, so I didn't mind too much).
Each front door has a pocket for a decent-sized bottle, but not so rears. And your back seat passengers won't have an armrest or cupholders, either.
Boot space is an impressive 352 litres (VDA) with the seats up and 1155 litres with the seats down, although you don't get a flat floor with the seats folded and you do have a drop to the boot floor over the loading lip. Nothing terrifying, but the more you know...
Its interior is plain, but practical. The LS has cloth trim and expanses of plastic, which make it a bit ordinary to look at but very easy to live with in the real world because day-to-day life involves liquid spills, crumbs and dirt – lots of dirt.
Storage spaces include a narrow glovebox, narrow plastic door pockets, four cupholders in centre console (no lidded bin here) plus two in the rear centre armrest, and driver and front passenger seat-back pockets.
The rear cargo area is a 356-litre space with the rear seats in use and the cargo cover in place), or a 785-litre space with the 60/40 rear seats folded into the floor. For this to happen, the rear-seat bases flip forward into a vertical position and the seat-backs fold forward to make the ‘new’ flat floor.
The GT-Line tops a three-spec range, starting with the base model S manual at $22,990 drive-away (add another grand for the auto).
Then it's $24,990 drive-away for the Sport (plus $1000 for the auto) and $29,990 drive-away for the GT-Line, which is auto-only and has a turbo engine.
That's some pretty fancy footwork with the spreadsheets (which I know isn't a thing, imagine how dirty the keyboard would be).
If you've bought a GT-Line, your kebab short of thirty grand gets you 17-inch alloys, a six-speaker stereo, climate control, a reversing camera, keyless entry and start, rear parking sensors, cruise control, sat nav, auto LED headlights with auto high beam, auto wipers, fake leather bits and pieces, powered and heated folding mirrors, a sunroof and a space-saver spare.
The larger 8.0-inch media screen hosts Kia's updated and very excellent software, with its cool and subtle graphics, fast hardware and, as expected, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
The speakers are a bit tinny, but as long as you don't turn them up too much, you'll be fine. Handily, CarPlay is wireless and you can have two phones connected at once to the Bluetooth system. Try that in a Ferrari.
The Trax is a front-wheel drive small SUV and the LS is the base-spec variant.
Our tester – a MY19 LS with a 1.4-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine and six-speed automatic transmission – has a listed price of $24,490 drive away. The Trax LS is available with a five-speed manual gearbox, but it’s matched to a 1.8-litre non-turbo petrol four-cylinder engine. The turbocharged LS is the way to go, I reckon.
The LS has a stack of standard features for the price, including Holden’s MyLink multimedia system, with a 7.0-inch colour touchscreen, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and Bluetooth connectivity, USB port and power socket up front, cruise control, rear-view camera, rear parking sensors, as well as hill-start assist, hill-descent control, and more. No Trax has AEB.
Our test vehicle has 17-inch alloy wheels with a space-saver spare.
It has an Absolute Red paint exterior; prestige paint colours are available – including Mineral Black, Burning Hot and Abalone White – but they cost an extra $550.
The GT-Line is the only one of the three in the range to score Kia's rorty 1.0-litre, three-cylinder turbo, good for 74kW and 172Nm to haul its 1200kg weight.
A seven-speed dual-clutch transmission drives the front wheels and you'll hit 100km/h in about 10 seconds.
Our test vehicle has the 1.4-litre DOHC 16-valve four-cylinder iTi petrol engine – producing 103kW at 3000rpm and 200Nm at 1850rpm – matched to a six-speed automatic transmission.
The turbo gives the Trax a welcome kick in the automotive pants, making the turbo-equipped variant the pick of the bunch.
Kia's government-mandated fuel economy testing yielded an official combined-cycle figure of 5.4L/100km.
As I have found over the years with this engine, that's a fairly optimistic number, my week with the Stonic delivering 8.4L/100km in an almost even mix of highway and suburban running.
The Stonic has that rarest of things in a Korean car - stop-start, which helps rein in fuel usage around town. Happily, you'll be filling the 45 litre tank with standard unleaded.
This Trax has a claimed fuel consumption of 6.7L/100km (combined). We clocked up more than 300km of highway and back-roads driving, with a smattering of gravel-road driving thrown in. We recorded 10.7L/100km, which is much thirstier than claimed.
I must admit to being slightly puzzled by the Stonic. I've already driven the Rio GT-Line and there is one thing that is the same between the two cars and that's the seven-speed dual clutch's awkward behaviour in traffic.
The car I had was not at all keen to respond to the movement of my right foot on the accelerator, with my wife and I developing an in-joke about having to make a verbal suggestion about which gear to choose.
It also rolled back more than I'd like on slopes when starting from a standstill.
The other things I didn't like were the front seats. Straight out of the Rio, they are wide but not very supportive on longer trips, such as the one we took up into the Blue Mountains (a roughly 250km round trip from our home in Sydney).
Complaints about the seats are certainly mine, but I checked in with colleague Richard Berry, who didn't have the same hesitant transmission struggle, so it could just have been a drama with the car I drove.
The rest of the Stonic experience is really good. The 1.0-litre turbo is definitely the one to go for if you can stretch to it. The numbers don't seem big, but it's got decent punch in the gears and cheerfully climbed the Blue Mountains quietly and without hunting up and down the gears.
Around the city it also means it's easy to thread through the traffic, with good response from low revs when the transmission is playing well.
The steering is really nice, too, with just the right weight and speed to make city-wrangling easy. The extra ride height and softer suspension also make for a very comfortable ride around town without taking away from the body control. In fact, it's quite a bit of fun.
Driving position is high, steering is quite sharp and handling is tight and controlled, so there’s plenty of welcome driver involvement from the get-go.
The turbocharged engine makes for a lively and responsive drive and, combined well with the six-speed auto, this 1376kg Trax offers up plenty of zip from stop-starts and oodles of oomph for smooth overtaking.
Ride is very firm, bordering on harsh, with rear-seat passengers* especially feeling the lumps and bumps of irregular road surfaces by way of the tight suspension. (*I believe my children.)
Interior space is not an issue though as everyone can manage head and shoulders nicely in the tall cabin. The seats are lacking in full support though, making long trips not such an appealing proposition, and in-cabin noise builds early and becomes quite hard on your ears.
In a typical ANCAP quirk, the GT-Line does not (yet) have a safety rating where the S and Sport carry the Rio's five star assessment from 2017. When the rules weren't as tough as they are today.
The GT-Line, as with the rest of the range, scores six airbags, ABS, stability and traction controls and a reversing camera.
The forward AEB works with other cars between five and 180km/h while pedestrians and cyclist detection works between five and 85km/h. You also get lane keep assist and lane following assist.
The kids are looked after with three top-tether anchors and two ISOFIX points.
The Trax has a five-star ANCAP rating as a result of testing in August 2013.
The LS has six airbags (including full-length curtain airbags), dusk-sensing headlights, reversing camera, rear-parking sensors, hill-start assist and hill descent control.
Kia offers a seven-year/unlimited kilometre warranty, which is only shaded by Mitsubishi's caveat-filled, 10-year/200,000km warranty.
The Stonic demands a return to the dealer ever 12 months or 10,000km, which is kind of irritating as the non-turbo models are 12 months/15,000km.
As ever, Kia offers a capped-price servicing regime but the numbers aren't yet available on the website (yet).
Lucky for you, we've got them. Prices bounce around a bit and are as low as $283 and as high as $704 with the first seven years/seven services costing $3299, averaging out at $471 per visit.
Over the five years, it's $260 more than the 1.4-litre but you're servicing more often if you drive more than 10,000km per year.
The Trax has a five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty and service intervals are recommended at 15,000km/nine months.