Hyundai Tucson vs Kia Stonic

What's the difference?

The updated Hyundai Tucson Elite Hybrid N Line offers families space, features and easy-enough handling for everyday stuff and the occasional weekend adventure pursuits.

The price point is higher than the previous non-hybrid model but you get a lot of bang for your buck and my family was comfortable this week.

All in all, the Stonic is a satisfactory daily driver, it’s just nowhere near ideal as a modern urban conveyance.

Sure, it’s reasonably priced in an increasingly expensive market, but it is very sluggish off the mark which is a solid negative against its overall rating. It also feels cheap inside and lacks contemporary driver-assist tech, such as adaptive cruise control.

The Hyundai Tucson has seen a minor facelift on the exterior but most of the changes are in the cabin.

The N Line pack means that you get 19-inch alloy wheels over the standard 18-inch version as well as extended body panelling instead of black plastic trims. There is N Line badging across the car too, but N Line option pack does limit you to just four exterior colour choices.

The front features new stacked LED DRLs which tie in with the fang-like design of the rear LEDs. The origami-styled panelling looks more severe than the previous model which helps it stand out in a class that’s heavy on rivals. 

The cabin features a completely reconfigured dashboard and now sports a large curved display panel that houses those upgraded tech screens and a new 6.6-inch climate control panel.

The centre console has been redesigned to look like it’s floating and now adds an extra-large storage cubby underneath it.

The upgraded interior makes the Tucson a leader for the mid-sized SUV segment and is very pleasant to spend time in.

I spend the lion’s share of my time in large and upper large 4WDs, so spending quality time in something like this little hot hatchbac… er, small SUV, is a revelation and a lot of zippy fun. Like driving a go-kart without the fumes and the prangs.

The 2025 Kia Stonic Sport is 4140mm long (with a 2580mm wheelbase), 1760mm wide and 1520mm high. It has a listed kerb weight of 1227kg.

This is a slick-looking hatchbac… er, light SUV, and it looks suitably sporty. 

Though ground clearance is unlisted, it stands well clear of the road surface, giving this hatchbac… er, compact SUV, more presence than it otherwise might have.

The cabin up front is spacious with plenty of head- and legroom on offer. You also won’t jostle for elbow room either when you have a passenger.

The seats are comfortable with their heat function but you might still get fatigue on longer trips as you only get adjustable lumbar on the drivers side and it's simple at best.

The back seat has really good space for the class and no matter the passenger, they were comfortable back there. The seats in the rear are well-padded and access to this row is good for sliding in a child seat as the door aperture is wide.

Other amenities are average with directional air-vents, a single reading light, and a fold-down armrest. My seven-year-old son found the window sills to be quite high, so he didn’t get the view he wanted.

The individual storage is excellent for the class with the redesign as you get a dedicated storage shelf in front of the front passenger and a massive cubby that easily fits a handbag underneath the mid-sized centre console.

There are two cupholders and two drink bottle holders per row but the rear storage bins are skinny. The rear row also gets map pockets but again, these are shallow.

The upgraded technology is a must have and the new multimedia system is easy to use once you spend time with it and looks great with its graphics. The system has built-in satellite navigation, over-the-air updates and wireless connectivity for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

Connecting the CarPlay is simple and maintains a strong connection.

Charging options are great with two USB-C ports per row and the front also gets a wireless charging pad and a 12-volt socket to choose from. The centrally located position of the charging pad is handy and the liner grippy - so no phone movement.

Rounding out the practicality is the boot, which has a wide aperture and a loading space level with 582L of capacity available with all seats in use, which is good for the class.

The back row has a 60/40 split but don’t fold flat – they sort of spring up a bit, which might annoy when you do a big Bunnings run. 

There is a 12-volt socket, a space-saver spare tyre underneath the floor and you get a powered tailgate in this model – which I always like.

The Stonic Sport’s interior is a practical space but it feels a bit dated and underdone in a car market increasingly packed with well-equipped, cheaper and more contemporary SUVs.

The most obvious factors working against the Sport are its the 8.0-inch touchscreen multimedia (too small), the absence of wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and wireless phone charging and multiple hard plastic surfaces.

Sure, the touchscreen is easy enough to operate, but it sometimes takes a few finger stabs to hit the sweet spot you’re after, and thankfully there are dials and buttons off-screen as alternatives for air con controls, etc.

There’s a satisfactory number of storage spaces in the front including two cupholders between the seats, a few little receptacles for your everyday carry gear, and bottle holders in each of the front doors.

The back seat is short on cupholders – there are none – but there are bottle holders in the doors, and the passengers back there get a USB-A port, a map pocket (in the back of the front passenger’s seat) and flip-down grab handles. There are no directional air vents.

Back-seat room is satisfactory for an adult without being spacious, but fine for kids. What do you expect in a small SUV?

In terms of packability, the cargo area (with the rear seat up and in use) yields a listed 352 litres of space. The rear seats are in a 60/40 split fold configuration and with them folded down there is a listed 1155 litres of useable room.

The rear cargo area has bag hooks, a storage space in the left-hand inner wall, and tie-down points at each corner of the floor.

A steel space-saver spare wheel is under the cargo area floor.

The Kia Stonic is available in three grades – the S ($25,460), our test vehicle, the mid-spec Sport ($28,590) and the GT-Line ($31,780), all prices excluding on-road costs. All have five seats.

Standard features include an 8.0-inch touchscreen multimedia system (with wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto), satellite navigation, digital radio, two USB charging ports, single-zone climate control, six-way manual driver’s seat adjustment, a premium shift knob, premium steering wheel, and Tricot cloth trim seats.

It also has 17-inch alloy wheels, push-button start and rear privacy glass.

Standard paint is 'Clear White', but premium options including 'Sparkling Silver', 'Astro Grey', 'Aurora Black Pearl', 'Signal Red', 'Sporty Blue', 'Honeybee' and 'Snow White Pearl' cost $520.

The Elite Hybrid N Line model features a hybrid powertrain that combines an electric motor with a 1.6-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine. They combine to produce 172kW of power and 367Nm of torque. Which is more than enough to make the mid-sized Tucson feel spirited.

This particular variant is AWD and uses a six-speed automatic transmission, which can over rev at times but is mostly smooth with its gear changes.

The 2025 Kia Sonic Sport has a 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbo-petrol engine – producing 74kW at 4500-6000rpm and 172Nm at 1500-4000rpm – and that’s paired with a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. 

This pairing is a mostly punchy one, although definite lagginess is evident from a standing start often enough that it’s a disconcerting characteristic rather than a mildly annoying one.

This turbocharged engine used to only be offered in the top-spec GT-Line, so it’s a welcome addition to the other grades.

The official combined cycle fuel consumption figure is a low 5.3L/100km, and my real-world usage came out at 6.0L after doing a lot of open-road driving where hybrids tend to be at their least efficient, so that is an excellent result.

The Tucson hybrid is the second best for fuel usage after the Toyota RAV4 hybrid, which sits at 4.8L/100km for combined usage. Overall, the new hybrid powertrain has proven itself to be pretty frugal. 

Based on the official combined fuel cycle and 53L fuel tank, expect a theoretical driving range of up to 981km, which is great for a family road tripper.

Kia's official fuel consumption figure for the Stonic Sport is 5.4L/100km, on a combined (urban/extra-urban) cycle. And on this test I recorded 8.2L/100km.

The Stonic Sport has an 45-litre fuel tank so, going by my on-test fuel figure, you could reasonably expect a driving range of about 548km from a full tank. 

Fuel requirement is 91 RON 'standard' unleaded.

The new hybrid powertrain offers respectable power delivery that makes the Tucson feel zippy in the city and a relaxed cruiser on the open road.

There can be some over-revving when you’re trying to get up to speed and the accelerator and brake feel touchy at first until you get used to them.

On the hybrid side of things the Elite Hybrid has regenerative braking and there are moments of pure EV mode but it kicks in seemingly when it feels like it. When it is on, there’s practically no engine noise but when it's off, the cabin still remains fairly quiet.

My family went off the paved stuff this week and hit muddy and gravel roads on our quest to find a cool picnic spot, and the Elite Hybrid impressed with how it handled the different terrains. It’s not an off-roader but you can still do mini adventures.

The Tucson is mid-sized and has a very clear reversing camera with front and rear parking sensors, so it’s not too hard to manoeuvre or park.

The real negative feedback is that on three separate occasions, our test car randomly shifted into neutral while driving and to clarify, this did not occur while trying to shift into or out of 'drive' but while on the road, already in drive.

The first time it happened, I thought I had somehow bumped the column shifter but on the other two occasions, I happened to be watching my husband drive and he didn’t touch the shifter.

This is probably just a fault on out test car and not indicative of the model in general but it wasn't fun.

The Stonic Sport is a handy urban conveyance, but it is far from perfect.

It’s a small, light vehicle so it’s nimble for navigating through car-packed streets and convenient for tricky parking manoeuvres.

Steering is well weighted and precise.

And the turbocharged petrol engine is a welcome addition to the Stonic package, introducing a handy amount of power and torque which is sensibly harnessed and delivered – most of the time anyway – via the mostly clever transmission.

However, in stop-start, inner-city traffic or even a busy suburban area, the Stonic Sport struggles to get off the mark from a standstill, so much so that this one characteristic threatens to spoil the rest of the driving experience. 

Once the Sport is out on the open road, it’s a pleasant cruiser as this compact SUV simply rolls along.

Ride is firm – 17-inch wheels and low-profile tyres are the culprits here – and handling is impressive.

In terms of refinement the Stonic is mostly, um, fine but there is some tyre noise, especially over rougher roads out of the city, but it’s not terrible.

Every Stonic has three drive modes – 'Normal', 'Sport' and 'Eco' – each of which tweaks throttle response, engine output and transmission settings to best suit the driver and conditions. 

The Stonic is generally a reasonable daily driver, but the absence of adaptive cruise control is a let-down when it comes to highway running.

Not that you’ll be buying a Stonic with the aim of skull-dragging a 3500kg caravan along the highway, but it’s handy to know this Kia SUV’s towing capacities are 450kg (unbraked trailer) and 900kg (braked).

The Kia Stonic has the maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating as a result of testing in 2017, but that rating is set to expire in 2025.

Standard safety features include six airbags (dual front, front side and full-length curtain), as well as a suite of driver-assist tech, including AEB (with forward collision warning, car, pedestrian and cyclist detection), lane-keep assist, front and rear parking sensors and blind-spot collision avoidance. But it doesn’t have adaptive cruise control which is disappointing in this day and age.

Hyundai offers the Tucson with a five-year/unlimited km warranty and the battery is covered by an eight-year/160,000km warranty which is pretty standard for the class now. 

You can pre-purchase servicing for up to five years and the breakdowns are as follows.

Three years or up to 30,000km for $1240 (average $413 per service).

Four years or up to 40,000km for $1700 (average $425 per service).

Five years or up to 50,000km for $2040 (average $408 per service).

The five-year pricing is comparable to its rivals and not outrageous for the class.

Servicing intervals could get annoying if you put a lot of kilometres on your car as they sit at every 12 months or 10,000km, whichever occurs first.

Kia’s seven-year/unlimited kilometre warranty applies to the Stonic and you have access to roadside assistance for up to eight years as long as you always get it serviced at an authorised Kia garage.

Servicing intervals are set at every 12 months or 10,000km, whichever comes soonest.

Service costs start at $290 (12 months/10,000km), peak at $727 (48 months/40,000km) and finish at $578 (84 months/70,000km) and the total over seven years is $3367; an average of $481 per workshop visit (correct at time of writing). That’s rather pricey for something in the small SUV market.