Who Made The New Kia Stonic Angry?

You probably literally never think about the Kia Stonic. It’s our job to write about cars, and we never think about it. Among a sea of worthy but entirely unremarkable small crossovers, it’s certainly one of them.

Anyway, should you need a reminder, however brief, that the Stonic – which has somehow been on sale for eight years without anyone realising – exists, it's has been given a major facelift to bring it in line with Kia’s beefy new family look.

That means it gets a similar frontal treatment to the company’s various EVs, with slim, pointy LEDs that make it look as if someone’s said something rude about its mum. It’s a similar story round the back, and the bumpers are new too, with a more rugged, boxy look to them at both ends. There are a couple of new wheel designs to be found, and two fresh colours – Adventurous Green and Yacht Blue.

The cabin gets an ever bigger overhaul, all of which also brings it more in line with other, newer Kias. It gets a new steering wheel – two, in fact, with the base model and GT-Line getting two entirely different designs – and Kia’s now-signature widescreen display incorporating 12.3-inch displays for both the instruments and infotainment into one big unit.

The old physical climate controls have, however, been binned in favour of Kia’s slightly fiddly system that uses a small touchscreen that you have to toggle between HVAC and audio. Booooo.

The powertrains on offer remain the same as before. There’s a 1.0-litre turbocharged three-cylinder making 99bhp, or the same engine hooked up to a mild hybrid system for 113bhp. Both can be had with either a six-speed manual or seven-speed dual-clutch auto.

No word yet on when the angry new Stonic will be on sale, but Hyundai says it’ll remain a global model, so it probably won’t be long before we don’t really notice it on British roads.