 Let's go surfing now, everybody's learning how to come on a safari with me. What is up you guys, welcome back to another one. If you are new to the channel, I am Gold Pony. I do new car truck SUV reviews on YouTube. And today we are in the new 2021 Hyundai Kona courtesy of Jack G. Umbalvo Hyundai in York VA. Quite excited to be in this one for several reasons actually. First off, Kona was the winner of the Kelly Blue Book SUV Best Buy Award. Has above average reliability. According to Consumer Reports, America's best warranty as well, being five years, 60,000 mile bumper to bumper, 10 year, 100,000 mile powertrain warranty, as well as three years of complimentary maintenance, which Hyundai just started doing this February in 2020. So all those reasons do make me quite excited to be checking this one out. So what do you guys say? Let's just go ahead and jump right into it. And as always, let's start with pricing. And so there will be several different trim levels, of course, for the 2021 Kona. First one being the SE starting at $20,400, which, by the way, is a modest $100 increase over the 2020 model year. SEL starting at $23,340. SEL plus starting at $25,190. Night edition, which is a new trim level for the 2021 Kona, starting at $26,740. Limited for $27,340 and ultimate for $29,190. By the way, that was all for the front wheel drive configuration. If you wanted to add all wheel drive, simply add $1,400 to any of those prices. And so as you can imagine with all of this trim levels, there are a couple different engine configurations available as well. First one belonging to the SEL and SEL plus being a two liter naturally aspirated inline four cylinder, 147 horsepower in this one at 6,200 RPM, 132 pound feet of torque available at 4,500 RPM, power sent to front wheels or all wheels through a six speed automatic zero to 60 time comes in at approximately 8.3 seconds with MPG numbers coming in at 27 city, 33 highway for the front wheel drive, 25 city, 30 highway for the all wheel drive. But so then the next engine configuration belonging to all other trims being the night edition, limited in ultimate is going to be a 1.6 liter turbocharged inline four cylinder, 175 horsepower at 5,500 RPM, 195 pound feet of torque available from the power band of 1,500 to 4,500 RPM, power sent to front wheels or all wheels through a seven speed dual clutch. Another big difference between the two engine configurations is actually the transmission setup that comes with them. Zero to 60 time for this one comes in an approximately 7.5 seconds, which is dang impressive, especially when you compare it to some of the competition like the Honda HRV, for example, zero to 60 on that one, 9.6 seconds. So really either engine setup is going to blow that one out of the water. MPG numbers come in at 28 in the city, 32 highway for the front wheel drive, 26 city, 29 highway for the all wheel drive and once again, taking regular unleaded fuel. And so before we do any kind of acceleration test in the Kona, I did want to mention there are drive modes, of course, coming with the Kona and actually just two of them, normal mode, which is what the Kona naturally defaults to and also sport mode. And so the drive mode button, by the way, is located just in the upper left hand corner of the shifter there. But when you press that, it will adjust things like the shift points, the throttle response and actually the steering sensitivity as well. So let's go ahead and press that there. So it definitely holds RPM's in a much higher level. It is going to give you more power on demand. So that is definitely a plus without driving mode. I can tell that there is a slight noticeable difference in the steering sensitivity, not all that much, but ever so slight difference there. So that is going to be there for you as well. But now having said that, I do believe you guys know what time it is now. Let's go ahead and find a straightaway here. Let's do an acceleration test. Keep in mind we do have the naturally aspirated two cylinder engine. So it is going to be not as quick as the 1.6 liter turbocharged one. But let's go ahead and do an acceleration test here and let's see how quickly we can get the new 2021 Hyundai Kona. Here, up to speed and here we go. It's actually not bad. Pretty much as expected, I will say it's not the quickest thing in the world. You're definitely going to have a better acceleration with the turbocharged engine. But it's not bad. And honestly, it's going to be definitely reliable for you. That's the that's the plus side of naturally aspirated engines are always going to be slightly more reliable than let's say a turbocharged engine. But the trade off is not as much power typically. So but again, it's not bad. You're not going to have any issues emerging onto the highway or anything like that, but to go along with that acceleration as always breaking is equally important. And so up front, you will find 11 inch ventilated front discs in the back 10.3 inch rear discs. As far as the 60 to zero stopping distance goes, that actually comes in at 132 feet, which quite honestly isn't the best when you compare it to the competition. For example, that same Honda HRV that was quite slow in the acceleration actually comes to a stop from 60 and only 114 feet, which is probably the best in its segment. But really, when it comes to SUVs and crossovers, though, it's pretty much on par for the course. I know we recently test drew the new 2021 Volkswagen Atlas that came into 139 feet, so 132. It's not the worst. Definitely not the best, though. And overall, as far as the braking feel goes, it's perfectly fine. There's no brake pedal delay. It is a softer braking feel, of course, having said that. So there's still absolutely no issues with the braking itself, though. But touching down suspension and handling, though, up front, you will find a McPherson strut front suspension in the back. It is actually going to differ. Dependent upon if you go with the front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive configuration. So front-wheel drive is going to give you a torsion beam rear axle, not the best for handling and ride quality. However, if you want with the all-wheel drive, that's going to give you an independent multi-link rear suspension. Therefore, you will have a better ride quality and better handling if you go with the all-wheel drive configuration of the Kona. So I did want to mention that gas pressure, eye shock absorbers, of course, coming standard as well. And as far as the ride quality goes as I'm going over a speed bump, definitely not too bad. It's pretty much as expected for the Kona. So it's not bad. It's not the very best, but pretty much right on par for the course there. Steering feel is just fine. Again, you can adjust that steering feel slightly if you change up the driving modes. If you want a heavier weight, put it in the sport driving mode, of course. As far as cabin noise goes, it's pretty much as expected. It's actually a little bit quieter than I thought it would be. So I'm definitely impressed there. And touching on visibility, I can see perfectly fine out the back. So definitely not going to have any issues there. Did what I also mentioned, if you actually go with the ultimate trim level of the Kona, you will get a head up display as well. For this segment, that's kind of unheard of. So I really like that Hyundai put the head up display, at least on the ultimate trim level, so that is pretty darn cool. And that about rounds out the performance segment of this review, guys. Let's now go ahead and take a look at the exterior of this brand new twenty twenty one Hyundai Kona. All right, here she is, you guys, the twenty twenty one Hyundai Kona out here in the woods. And for anyone who was curious, there actually are some changes for the twenty twenty one model year. Color deletes include lime twist and sunset orange. And those colors are no longer available. However, like I was saying at the beginning of the video, Night Edition is a new trim level and therefore new colors are available with that one, including galactic gray, ultra black and chalk white. And there are some unique 18 inch gloss black wheels by Rays Engineering, which is a very well known Japanese aftermarket wheel company that is now being utilized by a lot of automakers like Hyundai and actually like Nissan and Infinity as well. But nonetheless, let's go ahead and start up front on the Kona here. Six point seven inches of ground clearance for anybody who is curious to the sides. Projector headlights do come with the S E S E L and S E L plus. And they do come with the automatic feature, of course, meaning when it starts to get dark at night, they will turn on automatically for you there. And LED daytime running lights also coming standard with that as well. Fog lights actually come with the S E L plus trim level and up. That is how you're going to go ahead and get them. LED headlights come with the Night Edition trim level and up. And for anybody who is curious, let me show you here. Headlight configuration is a little bit different on the Hyundai Kona. And they really pioneered this. And I think it looks good. The LED daytime running lights are found up top there. And you guys can see the projector headlights down below. That is where the headlights are actually going to be. So they are not up top. They are below the LED daytime running lights in case anybody was curious. And also for anybody who is looking at that little design queue up there, that is not a functional air vent. It is plastic behind there. So just in case anybody was curious about that as well. But let's now go ahead and make our way to the side of the Kona here. And so to start roof rails do come standard with the S E L trim level and up. Rear privacy glass once again with the S E L trim level and up. Black windows surrounds coming standard across the board. If you guys look towards the back, there is that floating roof line. Definitely a nice design element there. Body colored power adjustable side mirrors do come standard. They will also be heated for the S E L trim level and up. And again, for the S E L trim level and up, they will come with LED integrated turd signals as well. So that's definitely nice. So then taking a look down at the wheel setups, 16 inch alloys with the S E 17 inch alloy wheels for the S E L and S E L plus. That, of course, is what you guys are looking at right now. 18 inch alloys for the limited and ultimate. And like I was saying earlier, the night edition is going to give you those 18 inch raise engineering alloy wheels. But now let's go ahead and make our way to the back of the Kona here. So swinging around back up top, you will find a rear spoiler with an integrated brake light just below that rear window wiper LED taillights coming with the night edition, ultimate and limited trim level. So therefore we don't have them today. Do you have some Kona badging back there? All wheel drive badging if your Kona is equipped, of course. And just below it all, there is a single exhaust outlet. So I do believe you guys know what we have to do next. As always, here is that exhaust clip. It's open now since we are around back. When it comes to opening that rear liftgate, there actually is a button on the key fob to unlock it. However, it is a manual lift gates to simply just walk up to the back, lift up on the rubberized button located just above the license plate and it will open up for you. But once opened up, cargo capacity comes in at 19.2 cubic feet. If that was not enough space, you can actually fold those rear seats down by being that up to 45.8 cubic feet. And there is some in-floor storage back there for the Kona as well, along with some grocery hooks and a little bit of cargo lighting back there too. But then making our way up to the rear leg room that is going to come in at 34.6 inches. Again, for reference, I even even six feet tall. This is how much space I have back there. Rear seats actually do recline as well. That is definitely a nice little feature for a little added comfort. Rear center armrest with cup holders also back there. And overall rear seats were plenty comfy for me. This is the maker way to the front seats, manually adjustable cloth seating coming with the S-E and S-E-L. Heated front seats coming with the S-E-L trim level enough. These buttons are located just to the left and right side of the shifter there. Limited trim level adds leather seating surfaces. There is a black cloth finish, of course, to the night edition trim level. So it's pretty much as expected there. Overall, actually the seats were definitely quite comfy and even comfier than some of the luxury automakers that I've tested recently. So definitely no issues with the seating in the Kona. Taking a look at the steering wheel now it is in telescoping. It is leather wrapped for the S-E-L trim level and up. And so that is, of course, what you're looking at right there. To make your way to the startup, let me first start by showing you guys the key. You do have your Hyundai logo on the one side. I am going to leave the plastic cover on here, but trust me, it's there. On the other side lock, unlock the button to pop the rear hatch. But it is essentially all keyless entry with a push button start if you go with the S-E-L trim level and up. So once again, we do have that here today. So all I'm going to do leave the key in my pocket, put my phone in the break and press that engine start button, which is located just by the driver's right knee there. And so but then once started up, tachometer is all the way to your left. Speedometer is on your right. There is a small digital display front and center to control what is on that digital display. There are steering wheel mounted controls on the right side. They're giving you a ton of different options like your average miles per gallon. There is a digital speedometer, your outside temperature, how many miles you'll have left until you hit empty. There's some safety information and a couple of other things up there as well. Pretty much everything you would need within the gauge setup. That touching on overall interior quality, power sunroof comes with the S-E-L plus limited ultimate, but not the night edition. I want to specify that because you would think with it being a higher trim level than the S-E-L plus, they would have it as well, but it doesn't. But anyways, homely controls coming with a limited and ultimate aluminum pedals coming with the night edition only wireless phone charger coming with the S-E-L plus trim level and up automatic climate control with the limited and ultimate. And overall, everything is pretty much as expected for the Kona. We'll say that just in front of the shifter, you have a little bit of storage. Actually, you have kind of a dual level storage setup. That's pretty cool. Also, you will find a couple USB charging ports, an auxiliary port, any 12 volt power outlet as well. Another thing I wanted to mention, though, to the left of the shifter, I did tell you there was a drive mode button, but to the right of the shifter, if you go with the all-wheel drive configuration, there's actually an all-wheel drive lock button. So if you know it's snowing outside, perhaps in Pennsylvania, like quite often does, just go ahead and leave on that all-wheel drive lock button that's going to help you make it through it. And that's what I personally do in my own Hyundai SUV as well. So that's a pretty handy button to have there as well. Just behind the shifter, you have two cup holders. And just behind that, actually decent amount of storage for the size of the Kona within that center armor. So I did want to mention that as well. But now let's go ahead and make our way to the tech display. And so the standard setup when it comes to the tech display for all trim levels, but the ultimate is going to be a seven inch colored touchscreen display. Ultimate does give you an eight inch colored touchscreen display. But actually, either way, you still get the same information, just a different size. For example, either tech display gives you Bluetooth and audio streaming, Android, Auto, Apple, CarPlay as well, meaning if you have a smartphone, simply hook it up to the Kona. Therefore, you have free navigation displayed up on that tech display, as well as the ability to like and dislike your Pandora songs. And there's a couple other compatible apps as well. Factory navigation system coming with the ultimate trim level only can also check out your climate control information up there as well. For anybody who's curious, I did leave the plastic on this particular tech display. So if you see a little bit of writing that's not going away, that's what that is. You still get the plastic over it, but radio information is also available up there. Six speakers coming with the S-E and S-E-L, eight speaker infinity sound system coming with the S-E-L plus trim level and up. But of course, since we just have our S-E-L trim level here today, what do you guys say? Let's go ahead and turn the radio, see what we got playing today. And let's test out the clarity of this one. Really not that bad of a sound system for six speakers, quite honestly. More bass than I expected, more clarity than I expected. That really wasn't all that bad. There are better sound systems out there, of course, but for six speakers for a standard sound system, really not that bad there. Last thing I wanted to mention to you guys that want to detect display is when you do put the Kona in reverse, you will find a rear view camera across the board for all trim levels, letting you know who or what is behind you, which is always is going to lead us into safety. And so to start, IHHS top safety pick when configured with the LED headlights. Wanted to mention that. So IHHS top safety pick is definitely a good start. Front side, side curtain airbags do come standard in the back. You're going to have latch, a.k.a. lower anchors and tethers for children for the rear car seats, rear child door locks back there, tire pressure monitoring system. But all trim levels actually also come with four collision avoidance assist, lane keep assist system, which actually is really good on Hyundai. Not all manufacturers do it as well as Hyundai does when it comes to that lane keep assist. So I did want to mention that driver attention warning system as well. Then if you go with the SEL trim level and up like we have today, blind spot monitoring system with rear cross traffic alert. That's the little car icons in the side mirrors that let you know when somebody's in your blind spot. We do have that love that lane change assist. And then the ultimate trim level is going to add an addition to that. Parking sensors and forward collision avoidance assist with pedestrian detection. And so ultimately when it comes to my final thoughts of the 2021 Kona, everywhere I look, every publication is continuing to say it is one of the most reliable cars out there right now. So that is definitely a good place to start. Great safety with this one. Again, it's an IHHS top safety pick. Comes with America's best warranty. You get three years of free maintenance. That's definitely a plus as well. Overall, a very well rounded vehicle with plenty of trim levels, giving you basically whatever you would want in this particular price range. It's actually one I would definitely recommend. But one particular Kona I'm especially looking forward to. I don't know if you guys might want to wait for this one or not. There is a Kona N that should be coming within a year or so, I would say at this point. So and being the performance division of Hyundai and standing for NAMYANG, which is Hyundai's performance facility over in Korea. So they are going to suit this one up quite a bit. I am quite excited for that one. So hopefully I'll be reviewing that for you guys whenever it comes out. But I am excited for that one. Only constructive criticism I can think of really for the Kona is ambient lighting that would be kind of cool to have, especially at this price point. And of course, the braking could be a little bit better as well. Maybe a little bit firmer of a braking feel. Definitely an increase on the 60 to zero stopping distance would be nice as well. But let me know what you guys think of the Kona in the comments section below. And as always, thank you so much for watching. I definitely appreciate it more than you guys know. Feel free to hit subscribe if you are into new car reviews. That is what we do here on this channel. After all, feel free to follow me on social media if you like as well. And again, thank you so much for watching. And I will see you guys in the next video. Stay.