2024 Kia Sonet Review: The Ideal SUV For The Small Family?

The Kia Sonet is a sub-compact SUV that sits in the same segment as the Hyundai Venue, Maruti Suzuki Brezza, Tata Nexon, and Mahindra XUV300. It is the third car Kia launched in India, following the Kia Seltos and Kia Carnival. The Kia Sonet was launched in 2020 and in 2024, receives its first major update.

Design

The new Kia Sonet still looks like one of the sportiest options in its segment. For 2024, the Sonet gets a more aggressive front that includes new, much larger daytime running LEDs (DRLs), a part of which doubles up as the indicator lights. Full LED headlights, LED fog lights and connected LED taillights are offered with the higher variants of the Sonet. The reverse light is now located in the bumper, and can be difficult to spot for some.

The Sonet offers a long list of colour options, including black, olive, red, silver, blue, grey and two shades of white, along with dual-tone options and a matte graphite colour offered exclusively with the Sonet X-Line.

Interior

Inside, the Kia Sonet is easily one of the most premium cars in its category. Kia has used hard but smooth quality plastics and higher variants get generous amounts of leatherette upholstery for the seats and door armrests. The driving position is quite commanding and there is adequate space for users over 6 feet tall in the front seats.

The rear seat experience is slightly better than before with small touches such as scooped-out front seat backs and raised under-thigh support for second-row passengers. Headroom is generous as well, but it is a cabin best suited for up to 4 adults as the Kia Sonet does not have a very wide cabin. Interestingly, the cabin that many will find the most premium is that of the mid-range HTX (turbo iMT/DCT or diesel AT) and HTX+. These variants get a black and brown interior that looks very premium. In all there are 5 different interior colour palettes, that are variant specific: all black, black and beige, black and brown, black leatherette with white inserts, or black with sage green.

Boot Space

The 2024 Kia Sonet offers 385 litres of boot space, which is slightly lower than the original model (392 litres). The rear seat now splits 60:40, which wasn’t available earlier, leading to the minor change in measured boot space. However, the Kia Sonet’s boot is still very practical and capable of holding a full-sized suitcase, along with some small bags.

Features

The new Kia Sonet is a very feature-packed SUV and even entry-level variants such as the HTK and HTK+ come loaded with comfort, convenience, and safety features.

Feature Highlights & Observations

Other Features

Safety

Six airbags, ABS with EBD, electronic stability control (ESC), vehicle stability management (VSM), hill-start assist, rear parking sensors and a tyre pressure monitoring system come as standard across all variants of the Kia Sonet. Higher variants add front parking sensors, a rear camera or 360-degree camera, ISOFIX and while front disc brakes come as standard, higher variants get rear disc brakes as well. 

The range-topping GTX+ and X-line also get Level-1 camera-based advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), including: 

• Lane-departure alert

• Lane-keeping aid

• Lane-centering assist

• Auto-emergency braking

• Auto-high beam assist

• Lead vehicle departure warning 

• Driver attention warning

In our brief experience, we found the features to be reasonably friendly for Indian traffic conditions. The collision warning system sounds alerts at reasonable points and auto-braking isn’t triggered too quickly. Lane management features also operate effectively and aren’t too intrusive. That said, poorly marked lanes will often go undetected. The Kia Sonet does not get adaptive cruise control.

Performance

The 2024 Kia Sonet is offered with 3 engine options, all of which drive the front wheels only.

• 1.2-litre 4-cylinder petrol - 5-speed manual transmission (83PS/115Nm)

• 1-litre 3-cylinder turbocharged petrol - 6-speed clutch-pedal less manual (iMT) or 7-speed dual-clutch automatic (120PS/172Nm)

• 1.5-litre 4-cylinder turbocharged diesel - 6-speed manual, 6-speed clutch(pedal)-less manual (iMT) or 6-speed automatic (115PS/250Nm)
  

Ride and Handling

The Kia Sonet offers a comfortable ride and is balanced enough for both city and highway use. Bumps and potholes can be driven through without much harshness being felt in the cabin and the Sonet’s high-speed manners are also predictable. However, it can feel a little bit bouncy, especially in the rear seat over concrete highways such as the Mumbai-Pune expressway, while driving at speeds above 70 kmph.

For everyday use, the Kia Sonet is a very easy car to live with even for someone buying their first car. The steering is light enough to manoeuvre through traffic and makes parking convenient too.

Verdict

The Kia Sonet is a great option for those who want a car for themselves or for young/small families. It offers a wide range of features, top-notch interior quality, and a rich experience that makes it feel like money well-spent. Even the HTK and HTK+ variants are very well-loaded and feel complete as cars to drive home.

However, the higher variants are now quite expensive and for the price of a top-end Kia Sonet, you could buy a well-loaded (if not equally loaded) variant of its own big brother, the Kia Seltos or a comparable compact SUV (Creta, Grand Vitara, Kushaq etc). Most features for the money vs a little more size/space for the price - the choice is a matter of personal preference.