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2018 Hyundai Kona SEL 2.0-liter Quick Spin Review | Slow down and save money

The 2018 Hyundai Kona has certainly impressed us, at least in its turbocharged, all-wheel-drive form. It makes healthy power — 175 horsepower and 195 pound-feet of torque — to hustle around town and up on-ramps. It also has a playful chassis and suspension that provide responsive handling with minimal body roll. But Hyundai also offers the Kona with a naturally aspirated 2.0-liter four-cylinder making just 147 horsepower and 132 pound-feet of torque. And no matter what engine you choose, if you pick a front-wheel-drive Kona it'll be saddled with a primitive torsion-beam rear axle instead of the AWD's independent multi-link setup. All of this sounds like a recipe for disaster, but as it turns out, the 2.0-liter Kona is mostly as good as its force-fed iteration, just slower and cheaper. Just like the turbo Kona, the naturally aspirated models feature the same distinct styling. It's not for everyone (though this editor quite likes it), but you'll never mistake it for anything else. No other compact crossover fits so many creases, angles, gills and materials onto one vehicle. The naturally aspirated models, SE and SEL, do have smaller alloy wheels than the turbo versions, but the alloy wheels are a standard feature regardless. Inside, the interior is nearly identical as well, using the same plastics and most of the same colors. You will have to make do with cloth seats, but that's OK in our book because the houndstooth upholstery is way cooler than the plain black leather seats of the Limited and Ultimate turbo models. Ride and handling are also nearly identical to the turbo all-wheel-drive Kona. The ride is on the stiff end of compliant, the steering is quick, and turn-in is eager, even though feel is lacking. There isn't much body roll, and you can carry a decent amount of speed in corners. Admittedly, the Turbo feels more planted and confident in corners thanks to its rear multi-link suspension, but the non-turbo doesn't feel unsettled on a bumpy, curvy road. There's just no getting around the fact that it's noticeably slower than the turbo Kona. Whereas the turbo engine will whisk you away fairly effortlessly on a wave of low-down torque, the naturally aspirated engine will be buzzing away at high RPM to get you moving. While we're thankful that the engine itself has a reasonably deep note and is fairly smooth, when you ask for some oomph it gets pretty loud. Passing vehicles and running up on-ramps can be a bit grating.

Hyundai spotted testing Prius-style hybrid

The Toyota Prius has become an automotive icon – maybe less so among actual automotive enthusiasts than with the public at large – to the extent that most anyone on the street would recognize its five-door hatchback form and immediately identify it as a hybrid. Little wonder that Honda tried to emulate it with the second-gen Insight, but while that didn't work out so well for Honda, it looks like Hyundai is preparing to go down the same road with a dedicated hybrid of its own. Our paparazzi on the ground in the Arctic Circle have spotted this protoytpe and tell us what we're looking at is a new Prius-fighter from the Korean automaker. Snapped up high on a transporter truck, you can see the orange high-voltage cables underneath and a label with the letters AE HEV – the latter standing, of course, for Hybrid Electric Vehicle. We wouldn't be surprised if the AE stood for Advanced Experimental or Alternative Energy or something of the sort. Tipped to be based on the same platform as the next-generation Elantra, the new Hyundai hybrid is said to pack a 1.6-liter inline-four working in parallel with an electric motor juiced by a lithium-ion battery pack. It's expected to begin production in the second half of 2016, with a plug-in and possibly other variants to follow a year to a year and a half after its initial launch.

Hyundai recalls over 419k vehicles in three campaigns

General Motors is the undisputed king of recalls for 2014. No one is going to contest this point. The American company is far from the only one with vehicles that need fixing, though, as Hyundai has announced another recall totaling 419,000 vehicles in three separate campaigns.
The majority of the vehicles affected come from the Santa Fe family, where 225,000 of the model year 2001 to 2006 CUVs will need their front springs replaced. It seems that the early Santa Fe's coils can rust and crack when subjected to frosty temperatures and the road salt that so often accompanies them. Should they fracture, it's possible that a crash would be the end result.
As this is an issue linked to road salt, only Santa Fes sold in 20 states - from Maine to Iowa and Wisconsin to West Virginia - are affected. Vehicles sold in Washington, D.C. are also covered in the recall.