Sonet

Overview

The Sonet’s headline is a one-litre three-cylinder turbo that makes 120 bhp and 172 Nm across a wide plateau, and it drives far bigger than the arithmetic suggests. Pulls away in traffic are effortless, a highway overtake at 90 km/h is a decision rather than a project, and the dual-clutch automatic on the top variants in this listing changes gear faster than most drivers do manually. The base engine elsewhere in the range is a quietly willing naturally aspirated unit, but the car’s character is the turbo, and that is the powertrain this record specs.

Kia’s real weapon, though, is the value of the options list. Even mid-level Sonets carry the kind of kit that rivals reserve for their top trims: a large touchscreen with connected features, ventilated seats, a powered driver seat, a cooled glovebox, and on top variants the full driver-assistance suite with adaptive cruise. The 392-litre boot is the largest in this catalogue’s compact SUV set, the cabin is wide and quiet for the money, and six airbags are fitted standard across the range.

The asterisk is the structure. The three-star Global NCAP adult score is the segment’s average rather than its best, and next to the five-star Tatas and the XUV 3XO, the showroom conversation always ends with someone quoting star ratings. The turbo is gruff at idle in the way of three-cylinder engines, the rear suspension is firm enough to report expansion joints to the second row, and the automatic’s low-speed manners are good, not torque-converter perfect. Judge the Sonet on what it is: the fastest, most feature-laden way into a compact SUV, with a crash score that should send a careful buyer to the top trim for the airbags it does get.

• 1.0 turbo-petrol with 172 Nm from 1500 rpm
• Six airbags standard across the range
• 392-litre boot and a segment-leading options list