2021 Kia Stonic review: Mild hybrid, mild mannered

Singapore

APPARENTLY the thing to do with assets is buy low and sell high. With no mainstream new car could you pull off such financial wizardry, but the Kia Stonic can at least help with the former part.

At S$91,999 (with Certificate Of Entitlement) for the top-of-the-line variant, it would be churlish to dislike the Stonic, given how it asks relatively little yet delivers so much. It's not a big car, but in terms of how many modcons it comes with, it is a giant.

Such niceties as a glass sunroof, auto headlamps and wipers, parking sensors front and rear and an 8-inch touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay (or wired Android Auto) make life pleasant in the Kia. Blind spot monitors, rear cross-traffic alert and six airbags try to preserve it.

By and large, the cabin plastics are cheap, but they appear capable of withstanding a North Korean missile strike, and the areas that your fingers tend to come into contact with feel slightly more pliable and upmarket.

Yet, the Kia's claim to fame is its new mild hybrid system, which arrived with a mid-life facelift. Slow down in the Stonic and it captures energy to store in a 48V lithium-ion pack. Speed up and it uses it to give the 1.0-litre engine a boost, thereby reducing fuel consumption.

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Cleverly, the hybrid system also lets the Stonic freewheel along with the engine shut down, much the way cyclists can glide without moving their feet.

Full hybrids have much larger battery packs that enable short distances of electric operation, but with a mild hybrid the whole idea is to whittle away at fuel consumption.

Efficiency concerns aside, the Stonic's mild hybrid system seems to have made it mild-mannered. Before its facelift, the Kia had a zippy and eager personality, not unlike a puppy's. Now it's more feline, almost languid in the way it picks up speed.

A new driving mode selector defaults to an Eco setting whenever you first start the car, and that generally dulls its reflexes. Choose Sport instead, and it becomes like the Stonic of old, scampering along with some vim while its three-cylinder engine burbles lustily away. Ultimately, it can still pounce as long as you know which button to press.

Yet, it's not all roses. The Stonic's new engine vibrates surprisingly strongly at idle, and whenever the engine shuts down as you freewheel, the air-conditioner no longer supplies conditioned air.

Still, hybridisation is here to stay, and some see it as something of a gateway to full battery power. "It acts as a catalyst for local consumers to transit towards more eco-friendly vehicles, such as a full hybrid and ultimately a 100 per cent electric vehicle," says Royston Soh, the divisional manager of multi-franchise operations at Cycle & Carriage Kia.

If you have your doubts about the technology, it's worth noting that one car company has said it intends to make every one of its combustion cars a mild hybrid. It's called Mercedes-Benz.

KIA STONIC 1.0T MILD HYBRID SX

Engine 998cc, in-line 3, turbocharged Power 120hp at 6,000rpm Torque 200Nm at 2,000-3,500rpm Gearbox 7-speed dual-clutch automatic 0-100km/h 185km/h Top Speed 10.4 seconds Fuel Efficiency 4.7L/100km Agent Cycle & Carriage Kia Price S$91,999 with COE Available Now