New Kia Stonic pricing and specs revealed

The all-new 2021 Kia Stonic enters Australian showrooms this week, with its competitive pricing and attractive specs published on the Korean brand’s website ahead of the light SUV’s official release on January 22.

Just three variants make up the local launch range of the Kia Stonic – the Sport manual priced at $24,990 drive-away, Sport automatic at $25,990 drive-away and, at the top of the range, the GT-Line DCT at $29,990 drive-away.

This positions the Stonic comfortably below the slightly larger Kia Seltos small SUV, which starts at $27,290 drive-away for the S and climbs as high as $43,290 drive-away for the GT-Line.

Kia will soon add another small SUV to its growing stable in the form of the Kia Niro, which will be the brand’s first all-electric vehicle and offered as well with plug-in hybrid and conventional hybrid powertrains.

The Stonic is the most affordable of all Kia SUVs and is available with the choice of two conventional engines.

At the entry level, the Kia Stonic Sport uses the familiar 1.4-litre four-cylinder petrol engine (74kW/133Nm) that combines with either a six-speed manual or six-speed automatic transmission, returning combined-cycle fuel economy of 6.7L/100km.

The Stonic GT-Line uses a more muscular 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbo-petrol engine (74kW/172Nm) mated with a seven-speed DCT dual-clutch automatic. It returns 5.4L/100km on the combined cycle.

A high level of standard equipment is fitted, whether it’s on the safety front or in terms of comfort and convenience features.

Driver assist tech extends to autonomous emergency braking (AEB) with pedestrian and cyclist detection, forward collision warning, lane keeping assist, lane following assist and driver attention alert with leading vehicle departure alert.

Other standard safety gear includes ABS brakes with electronic brake force distribution and brake assist, electronic traction and stability control, hill start assist, reverse parking sensors, a rear-view camera with dynamic parking guidelines, dusk-sensing automatic headlights, high beam assist, and six airbags – dual front, front-side and curtain.

As carsales has reported, the Kia Stonic has received a maximum five-star safety rating from ANCAP, although the result is based on the crash-testing of the related Kia Rio city car back in 2017.

Perhaps surprisingly, all Kia Stonic variants have 17-inch alloy wheels (and 205/55R17 tyres), with the sportier GT-Line differentiated by its body kit, unique grille (including dark chrome grille surround), rear diffuser, gloss black exterior mirrors and two-tone colour option.

Inside, the Stonic GT-Line also has ‘premium’ seats, a sports steering wheel, alloy sports pedals, satin silver trim (on the tiller and door handles), climate-control air-conditioning and rain-sensing windscreen wipers. A sunroof is optional.

All up, the lower-tier Sport variants don’t miss out on much. Every model comes with roof rails, remote central locking, keyless entry, push-button start, six-way driver’s seat adjustment, a multifunction steering wheel, electric windows, heated and electric-folding side mirrors, cruise control, a front centre console with soft-touch sliding arm rest, illuminated vanity mirrors, 60/40-split folding rear seats and a variety of other practical elements (cup holders, storage facilities, multiple 12V outlets, etc) throughout the cabin and in the 352-litre cargo area.

The latter extends to 1155L when the rear seats are folded.

On the infotainment front, there’s an 8.0-inch touch-screen, six-speaker stereo, satellite navigation (with 10 years’ traffic info/map updates), Bluetooth streaming, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity (both wired) and two USB charging ports.

A 4.2-inch ‘Supervision’ display is also included in the instrument cluster.

How much does the 2021 Kia Stonic cost?
Sport (m) – $24,990
Sport (a) – $25,990
GT-Line (a) – $29,990
* All prices are drive-away