Kia Sonet Turbo: Fancy Shifting Gears With A Clutch? Be Prepared For Disappointment

• Kia Sonet 1.0-liter turbo petrol to miss out on a 6-speed manual gearbox, unlike the Hyundai Venue.
• It will only be offered with an iMT, the clutchless manual gearbox, and a 7-speed dual-clutch auto.
• The Hyundai Venue Turbo offers three transmission options: manual, iMT and 7-speed dual-clutch automatic.
• Diesel engine and naturally aspirated petrol motor part of the Sonet's lineup.

The specifications and variants of the Kia Sonet have come to light and a look at it reveals the carmaker has ticked almost all boxes. However, if you want a proper manual gearbox in the Kia Sonet Turbo, get ready for a bit of disappointment. Kia won't be offering a proper 6-speed manual gearbox in the Sonet Turbo. You can have it with either a 6-speed clutchless manual gearbox or a 7-speed DCT only. 

This is a bummer as the Sonet turbo won’t offer the joy of shifting gears manually by pressing the clutch. You still get a 6-speed clutchless manual gearbox that tries to fill in the gap. But let’s be honest, a proper manual gearbox along with a clutch pedal would be more fun to drive, especially for purists. The lack of a manual transmission also gives the upper hand to Venue, which utilises the same powertrain and comes with a 6-speed manual transmission. So, the Hyundai Venue Turbo offers three transmission options: manual, iMT and 7-speed dual-clutch automatic

The Sonet’s 1.0-litre turbo-petrol engine develops 120PS of power and 172Nm of torque. As mentioned above, this powertrain can be had with either a 6-speed clutchless manual gearbox or a 7-speed DCT. We recently spotted the Sonet iMT and you can have a look at it right here. 

The Sonet will come with a 1.5-litre diesel and a 1.2-litre naturally aspirated petrol engine. The former will also be offered with a proper 6-speed torque converter automatic, giving it an edge over its rivals. There’s also a Tech Line trim level that will be sold alongside the GT Line variant. 

While prices for the Sonet are likely to be announced in September, we expect it to start around the Rs 7-lakh mark (ex-showroom). The Kia Sonet will fight it out with the Hyundai Venue, Tata Nexon , Ford EcoSport , Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza and Mahindra XUV300 .