Kia Sonet Review - 7DCT Petrol GTX+

Hitting the bull’s eye every single time is not a joke – many things have to get right at once. Rewind back to 2016 or 2017, who would have thought a South Korean car brand like Kia Motors would be in the news Today in India? A fine product like Seltos (which we titled as a new benchmark for SUVs) introduced the brand Kia to Indians last year. Will the growth story of Kia Motors in India continue with the introduction of compact SUV like Sonet? Can Sonet win a new medal to Kia? We at GaadiKey drove this car for an entire day and what follows below is our review of Kia Sonet.

Design and First Impressions

Even before the media drive, we were quite familiar with the trim level nomenclatures like GTX, HTX, GTX+, GTline, Techline, also we were very quite sure the Sonet will be getting multiple engine and transmission options. (just like Seltos). We were right and the car which were asked to test was the top of the line GTX+ Petrol turbo-engine which was mated to a 7-Speed DCT automatic gearbox. The Beige Gold color of the car gave an interesting premium look and when seen from the front the “Wild by Design” tooth like structure is what we noticed at first. The Kia badging looked prominent followed by red patterns on the upper grille of the car. It is clean and simple, and has the character of a premium hatch. It doesnt feel big and bulky, it looks like a sweet simple, humble car prompting you to take it for a spin.

Sonet gets 16-inch wheels and has a cool well finished cladding surrounding it. When you look at this car from side, the red line beneath continues. at the bottom (that is how you know it is a GTline). The best part of this car is its rear, the heart-beat LED tail-lamps, the red reflectors which connects both ends, Sonet and GTLine badging placed exactly after sharp downward curve – the combination together works and makes you admire it. The car’s exteriors is further enhanced by roof rails and shark fin antenna.

Interior

The car’s cabin is well insulated from external noise – it feels like entering a very different world. You will be first welcomed by a huge 10.25 inch touch screen. infotainment system – it is very wide – very good to view 3-view Maps app while navigating. You also need not have Android Auto or Apple CarPlay to use Maps that is quite impressive – thanks to inbuilt UVO connectivity features.

The car gets Bose speakers, the music quality is premium. There are buttons placed beneath the infotainment system which you can use to control AC, to use features to ventilated seats, to change driving modes and tractions modes. The driver seat can be adjusted manually by pushing the knobs multiple times (could have been good if it had electric seat adjustment). There are multiple spaces for you to place small items, mobile phone etc in the central space or under armrest. The armrest could have been more reachable to driver. You will be getting a dedicated USB charging points both in front and the back. There is an electric sunroof, it is quite small and not panoramic. For passengers at back , there is a centrally located rear AC vents which also houses Air Purifier that displays AQI reading.

Dimensions, Comfort and Space

The Sonet is a compact SUV and the length of the car is just below 4 meters (3995 mm). The car’s width is 1790mm, height is 1647mm and wheelbase measures 2500mm. The fuel tank capacity of Kia Sonet is 45 litres. There is a good head room for passengers sitting at the back, the leg room is okay as well. The seats come with red stitches with GTline logos. The seats are well-finished and gives you a very comfortable feeling. If you are a driver or a co-driver you also have the benefit of using ventilated seats – which keeps you very chilled from the back even on a hot sunny day.

You can raise or lower the glass on windows just using voice commands. There are plenty of UVO connectivity features which can be made use of – the SOS button, towing button are provided below IRVM to face any break-down or emergency help situation. The boot of the car is spacious – it is well illuminated and has a capacity of 392 litres – good enough to store all your shopping bags.

Engine and Performance

The Kia Sonet which we drove was a GTline car meaning it offered us a very powerful turbo-charged engine. The car was powered by a 1.0 litre T-GDi petrol engine which was mated to 7-Speed DCT gearbox . The engine is BS6 compliant and churns out 120 PS of power at 6000 rpm and 172 Nm of peak torque at 4000rpm.

Drive Quality

The Kia Sonet which we drove is equipped with Hill assist (HAC) and it is very useful while negotiating the car on inclined surfaces and uneven complex roads – it worked as it was advertised keeping the car firm on the ground. For a driver, driving a car with DCT automatic is way too comfortable, the gear shifts happens very naturally.

The 1.0 T-GDi Petrol engine is very powerful, pickup is very instantaneous especially in Sports mode. Driving a car like Sonet in highways is a blessing, it vrooms to great speeds and there is no vibration of vehicle even after crossing the speeds of 100 or
120 Kmph.

The Sonet was Comfortable for single hand driving and for driving in congested city roads. Making U-turn in a narrow road was very easy as its length is very optimal- (< 4meters) – thanks to front and rear parking sensors with parking camera.

We were not so happy with Braking system of Sonet – we felt the brakes were hard and feedback was ordinary. The suspension system was good enough to take on rough roads. The road visibility from driver seat was okay, and driver seat adjustment was necessary to get the full view of the road in front. Driving the Sonet at the night and rain conditions were stressless, the role of automatic gearbox is commendable.

Should you buy it?

The Kia Sonet is expected to be priced between 9 lakhs to 14 lakhs (Ex-showroom). There are plenty of reliable and tested models in the compact SUV segment space like Tata Nexon, Maruti Vitara Brezza, Mahindra XUV300, Ford EcoSport and more. Sonet is feature packed, gets a nice powerful engine and offers all the transmission options (MT, Automatic, DCT, iMT) and gets petrol as well as diesel engines – these exhaustive options is not offered by its competition. If you are someone who is blown away by Kia Sonet’s “Wild By Design” looks and loves driving in Sports mode with new-age DCT or iMT, you should go buy this.