2019 Hyundai Kona Review – Long-Term Update 4: Pros and Cons

Hyundai says the Kona SUV is “smart on space.” In prior updates, we’ve confirmed it has a surprising amount of versatility for its size. Recently, though, my wife and I put it through its toughest test: moving an entire apartment.

When we signed a lease on a new home only 1.5 miles away from our current apartment, we thought it would be a good idea to just move all our stuff ourselves and not rent a moving van. The Kona should be able to handle almost everything we have except the mattress, right? The back seats fold flat, creating an impressive 45.8 cubic feet of cargo space.

At first, I thought that initial assumption would prove correct. We had a few larger pieces of furniture that would require a truck—our long-term Ram 1500 handled that, though an actual moving van would’ve been more convenient—but for smaller furniture and boxes, the Kona seemed sufficient. But as we transported load after load, we realized the stacks of stuff in the old apartment didn’t seem to be getting much smaller.

After a few days of watching the pile dwindle slower than desired, we realized the Kona’s limitations. Sure, it’s smart on space—for single trips. But when you have a lot to move, it doesn’t matter how smartly 45.8 cubic feet are packaged. Sometimes you simply need more space, and in this respect, my wife’s 2008 Honda CR-V outclassed my 2019 Hyundai Kona. No surprise there; it has almost 60 percent more total cargo volume, albeit without a flat load floor. Sometimes small, smart packaging is better than simply big. But when you just have to get things moved as quickly as possible, size does matter. Not that I would expect anyone to buy a Kona for regular use as a moving vehicle, but if, say, you need a vehicle that can pull double duty as personal city transportation and a delivery vehicle for your furniture repair small business, you’d be wise to also look at options a step up in size.

One more point in the Kona’s favor, against both the old CR-V and the new Ram 1500 (a competitive set no one will ever shop): its backup camera. When you’re packing boxes to the roof, you’re going to have quite a few blind spots. All new cars sold in the U.S. are required to have backup cameras now, but not all cameras are created equal. When creeping out of a driveway and hoping no cars are coming, a camera with a wide view is better; it gives you a bit more time to hit the brakes if a car is coming up in your box-filled blind spot. Personally, I found the Kona’s camera worked better in this regard than the Ram’s, though that likely depends on the exact nature of your load and the specific blind spots you’re navigating. My wife’s CR-V, on the other hand, predates mandatory cameras by a decade. We have an aftermarket unit from Pioneer that generally gets the job done, but it pales in comparison to the OEM offerings from Hyundai and Ram.