Kia Stonic Review 2026

Kia Stonic at a glance:

• Body type: SUV
• Price range: £21,845 - £25,645
• MPG: 49.5-51.3mpg 
• Number of seats: 5 (2 Isofix)
• Boot capacity: 352 litres
• Insurance groups: 8-14

Kia Stonic: Everything you need to know

The Kia Stonic: if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. This is one of many, many fish swimming in an increasingly crowded pond of small SUVs. The name, in case you were wondering, is a portmanteau of ‘speed’ and ‘tonic’. Make of that what you will.

What’s more important is the fact that Kia Stonic is a rival to the Hyundai Kona, SEAT Arona, Nissan Juke, Renault Captur, Skoda Kamiq, Suzuki Vitara and…well, the list goes on. The small SUV class is massive these days.

The Stonic has been around for a very long time, now, and during its lengthy lifespan, it's been offered in a wide range of different trim levels, all of them relatively well equipped for their time, compared with rivals. It's also been offered with a range of different engines, none of them hugely muscular, but the turbocharged three-cylinder 1.0-litre has long the pick of the bunch thanks to its strength, flexibility and smoothness.

New-car prices are nowhere near as low as they once were, but then again, show us a single product of any type that's as cheap now as it was almost a decade ago. Importantly, the Stonic is still reasonably competitive on that score with rivals. And although it's far from the freshest option out there, a major update in 2026 has brought it closer to newer alternatives. 

How we tested the Kia Stonic

Over the many years it's been on sale, we've driven myriad versions of the Stonic covering multiple engines and trim levels. Most recently, we drove two distinct versions of the 2026-on Kia Stonic facelift – an entry-level Pure model with a 100PS engine and a manual gearbox, and a mid-spec GT-Line with the 115PS mild-hybrid engine and an automatic gearbox. 

We drove the updated cars on a variety of roads in the UK, including low-speed urban routes, winding country roads and dual carriageways, with a mix of surfaces ranging from relatively smooth to so riddled with potholes and other imperfections that we might as well have been on the moon.

During these more recent encounters and whenever we've driven earlier versions of the car, the theme has been the same – of a car that's not quite as comfortable as we'd like. It's not terrible in that regard, but rivals are generally smoother, and some of them more fun, too.

We found the 1.0-litre engines fitted to the current models to be well-suited to the job of getting the Stonic around. They're nothing special, but don't feel underpowered, and return decent fuel economy. 

Over the years, we've loaded all sorts of items into the Stonic's boot and ferried around passengers of varying sizes, leading us to the conclusion that it falls short of what we expect for practicality in this class. The boot simply isn't big enough, and the Stonic is cramped for rear passengers. 

It doesn't help the Stonic's cause in terms of interior spaciousness that it has a low roof for an SUV, which also robs the Stonic of the kind of commanding, high-set driving position that attracts a lot of buyers to this sort of car. 

There's not much a facelift can do about an issue which is so baked into the car's structure, but Kia has been able to give the Stonic a big upgrade in terms of its interior design and infotainment tech. We found the latter to be particularly impressive and very easy to useduring our testing.

Is the Kia Stonic a good car?

We regard the Kia Stonic as a good car. It scores well on value, will be easy to live with, and is more desirable thanks to its recent makeover. The problem is, that doesn't quite cut it when there are so many very talented rivals we consider 'great', not just 'good'. The Stonic lags behind the likes of the SEAT Arona and Ford Puma in terms of practicality, for example, while the latter is much more fun to drive. 

What sells the Stonic is its value proposition. It's cheap to buy and well-equipped, even in its base trim grade, and there's the reassurance of Kia's seven-year warranty to sweeten the deal. We still think you're better off spending a bit more on one of the Stonic's better-rounded rivals, but if you're wooed by the car's low prices, it's not something we recommend against either.

This lower driving position is a little odd when you consider that many people see a raised driving position as a primary reason to buy a compact crossover.

The Stonic is based on the now-defunct Kia Rio hatchback, but it's actually a bit more satisfying to drive than that car, with a suspension that seems to prioritise handling over comfort. To be fair, though, the Rio isn't an astonishingly high bar dynamically, and compared with rivals, the Stonic is still a little dull to drive. Easy, yes, with light controls and excellent forward visibility, but there isn't much engagement to be had.

More importantly in a car like this, though, it's not as comfortable as many rivals, either. The flipside of the firm suspension setup is a ride that can be jittery and jarring on scruffy road surfaces, especially in cars fitted with larger wheels: these can feel really crashy over potholes and rough surfaces.

In the early days of the Kia Stonic, it was offered with a naturally aspirated 1.4-litre petrol engine with 100PS, or a turbocharged 1.0-litre three-cylinder unit with 120PS. Also on offer was a 1.6-litre diesel that was offered with outputs of either 110PS or 115PS at various different points in time.

The 1.4 wasn't awfully good, being breathless and a bit too gutless for the job of hauling the Stonic's body about, so it's best avoided as a used buy. Unless you spend most of your days on the motorway, so is the diesel. It's noisy, a bit slow, and lacking in character.

The 1.0 T-GDi turbocharged petrol engine is much more like it, though. It's a terrific all-rounder, offering a brilliant blend of performance and economy. It makes the Stonic quick enough to sprint between traffic lights in the city, but smooth enough to feel at home on a motorway. Some people might not approve of the at-times thrashy three-cylinder soundtrack, but we think it gives the Stonic some much-needed character.

Nowadays, the 1.0-litre turbo engine is all you can buy, although it's offered in two states of tune. The basic one has 100PS and 172Nm of torque, making for a leisurely but perfectly adequate 11-second 0-62mph sprint with the six-speed manual version. Speccing the seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox bumps the torque to 200Nm, but the 0-62mph time increases to 12.1 seconds. Either way, the top speed is 111mph.

If you opt for the GT-Line or GT-Line S, you get a mild-hybrid version of the engine, with a 48-volt battery providing a small boost and limited electric-only running (think of it as an extension of the stop/start system). The torque output stays the same, but the power output rises to 115PS. This enables a 0-62mph time of 10.7 seconds in the manual and 10.8 seconds in the automatic. The top speed on both is 113mph.

You can, just about, notice the difference between the two engines, with just a touch more urgency from the mild-hybrid cars, but the driving experience with each is awfully similar, and much the same as the earlier versions of the engine. The automatic gearbox is generally pretty smooth, but never seems in much of a hurry to swap cogs or kick down when you floor the throttle. 

The Kia Stonic has been awarded two safety ratings by Euro NCAP. One is for versions with the full suite of driver assistance systems, the other is for models without the kit.

With early cars, you needed to order a Stonic 3 or 4 in order to get a five-star car, or add the optional forward collision-avoidance assist and lane keeping assist to the Stonic 2. Otherwise, you'd have just a three-star car. As the tests were conducted in 2017 they have since expired due to more stringent protocols now being in use.

These days, all that stuff is provided throughout the range, along with more safety kit besides. That makes no difference to the NCAP rating, though: these ratings only apply for five years due to ever-increasing safety standards, and since the car was tested way back in 2017, its ratings have long since expired, and the car is very unlikely to be tested again.

So what precisely is the roster of standard safety kit these days? Well, all versions have Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist, Lane Keep Assist and Lane Follow Assist, Intelligent Speed Limit Assist with manual speed limiter, Driver Attention Warning, Rear Occupant Alert, Hill-Start Assist Control, front-, rear-, side- and curtain airbags with front passenger airbag cut-off switch, and outer rear ISOFIX child seat mounting points with top tethers and anchor fixings.

On top of that, GT-Line cars add Blind-Spot Collision-Avoidance Assist, while GT-Line S cars add a more advanced Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist system, along with adaptive cruise control with stop/go functionality and Highway Driving Assist.

You’re unlikely to do much towing in the Kia Stonic, but all versions have a maximum braked trailer weight of 1,110kg and maximum tow ball weight of 450kg.

The Kia Stonic does an adequate job in this area, but little more than that. There's decent space in the front seats, but the rear seats aren't as generous. You won't have to be that tall to find yourself short of both headroom and legroom back there, and if those up front are in any way gangly, you'll struggle even more. You won't want to squeeze three in the back on a regular basis, either, because the cabin is too narrow to do this comfortably.

The boot isn't huge at 352 litres, either. What's more, there's a very high load lip that you'll have to muscle heavy items over and drop in the other side. Some rivals have sliding rear seats that allow you to sacrifice some rear legroom in other to boost boot capacity: you don't get these in the Kia Stonic, but given that rear legroom is already in short supply, that's probably not the worst thing in the world. Meanwhile, if you fold the rear seat bench, there's a total of 1195 litres of cargo space. Again, nothing special. 

You'd expect more from a small SUV in this area, and many rivals do it better despite being scarcely bigger or roughly the same size, as we'll explain when we get our measuring tapes out shortly. For example, a SEAT Arona has a larger 400-litre boot, a pretty much flush loading lip, and more space in the rear seats.

Kia Stonic Dimensions

2026-on Stonics have actually grown a bit, with the new front and rear ends contributing to a 25mm increase in length. It's still a very compact car, though, coming in at 4165mm in length, 1760mm in width (without mirrors) and 1485mm in height, or 1505mm if you've opted for the GT-Line or GT-Line S. 

This makes the Stonic marginally shorter than a Ford Puma (4186mm), a lot smaller than a Citroen C3 Aircross (4390mm), and near enough the same as a Seat Arona (4164mm). The Stonic is also 30mm lower than the Puma, and a whopping 50mm lower than an Arona. 

Having always felt on the cheaper side inside, not helped by all the hard-touch plastic used for the dashboard, things took a positive step forward with the Kia Stonic when it was facelifted in 2026. 

Newer models feel much more premium, with a cabin that's a closer match to other, more expensive Kia models in terms of its minimalistic design and use of soft-touch materials. You will still find cheaper plastics lower down, though, and on the interior door panels. 

All early Kia Stonics - even the entry-level Stonic 2 - featured a 7.0-inch touchscreen media display with DAB digital radio, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. You also got front- and rear USB ports, so there should be no squabbling over who gets to charge their smartphone on the move.

It’s a good system, helped in no small part by the large buttons flanking the crisp and clear display. If we had one complaint, it’s that it can be a little slow to respond to inputs. Sat-nav was fitted to Stonic 3 and 4 models, while a reversing camera was standard on all except the Stonic 2.

As of the 2026 facelift, all versions come with a much larger 12.3-inch central touchscreen with navigation as standard, alongside all the stuff we mentioned before. Range-topping GT-Line S cars also add a 12.3-inch digital driver's display and wireless phone charging, but either way, the housing is the same.

Pure and GT-Line models get a 4.2-inch driver display screen, which sits between various LCD elements used for things like the speedometer and fuel level, all integrated in a neat enough way for these models not to feel too much like a poor relation. 

The central touchscreen is impressive, with an easy-to-understand menu layout and good responsiveness. The Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity still isn't of the wireless variety, but an easy-to-access USB-C port means it's not that much of a hassle to plug your device in. It doesn't take long to get up and running, and the integration worked well when we tested the car with an Android device. 

These are the latest On The Road (OTR) prices for the new Kia Stonic as of March 2026 – prices can change, so please use these as a guide before checking Kia's latest price lists.

Is the Kia Stonic good value compared to rivals?

Value for money is the Kia Stonic's trump card. Starting at under £22,000, it makes the £24,265+ Nissan Juke look quite pricey, while the Ford Puma starts from £26,580.

The Juke we don't rate particularly highly, so the Stonic seems like a no-brainer against that car, but the Puma is a much better car overall, so there is a sense of getting what you're paying for. Then again, the gap is big enough that it's difficult to ignore the Stonic, particularly when Kia only charges a premium of £1000 on each of the prices above for the automatic gearbox. On a Puma, it's closer to £2000. 

There are some other budget-friendly yet much fresher alternatives to the Stonic, though. The Citroen C3 Aircross is exceptional value at £21,445, and you can spec it as a seven-seater for £765. The Stonic does have a slightly plusher interior and better infotainment tech, though, and the Citroen doesn't have the draw of Kia's excellent seven-year warranty. 

Simply because it's been around so long, it's also possible to pick up early used examples of the Stonic for less than many rival cars. We've seen some going for as little as £6000.

If you intend to cover long distances or spend a lot of time on the motorway, a used Stonic diesel makes a lot of sense.

Not that the current petrol engines are unduly thirsty – quite the opposite. The 100PS petrol manages 49.5mpg when combined with a manual gearbox according to the WLTP Combined Cycle, or 50.4mpg with the automatic. For the 115PS mild hybrid manual, it's 49.5mpg once more, while the automatic is good for 51.3mpg.  

Insurance classifications run from group 8 at the lower end of the scale to group 14 at the upper end. With earlier cars, the lower-spec cars were actually in higher groupings than the high-spec cars, which is rare. That's because of the extra safety kit you got in the higher-spec cars, which the authorities decided made them harder to crash.

For VED road tax, you'll pay the same £205 annual flat rate as everyone else, but you can be sure that the expensive luxury car surcharge won't apply to you because the Stonic doesn't cost enough to be affected.

Kia has an excellent reputation for reliability, so hopefully the Stonic shouldn’t give you any headaches or expensive repair bills. What's more, you'll also be covered by Kia's famous seven-year, 100,000-mile warranty.

Kia Stonic: Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Kia Stonic?

The Stonic is Kia's smallest SUV. It shares much in common with the discontinued Kia Rio, and rivals cars like the Skoda Kamiq and Ford Puma. 

How much is the new Kia Stonic?

Prices for the Kia Stonic start at just under £22,000.

Which is better: a Kia Stonic or a Hyundai Kona?

The Hyundai Kona is a better car than the Kia Stonic, primarily because it's much newer. It was only recently launched, whereas the Stonic has been around since 2017, and the SUV is feeling its age. A significant update in 2026 has improved it, though. 

Having been on sale for so very long, the Kia Stonic has been offered in a wide variety of trim levels over time. For the majority of its lifespan, the core trim levels were (imaginatively) called 2, 3 and 4, but on top of those, a considerable number of special edition models have been offered along the way. Generally, each version is well-equipped compared with contemporary rivals, and equipment levels have been incrementally enhanced over time to keep the Stonic fresh and competitive.

Today, since the car's major facelift in late 2025, the trim levels consist of Pure, GT-Line, and GT-Line S. The entry-level Kia Stonic Pure comes with a generous amount of equipment, including:

• 16-inch alloy wheels
• front fog lights
• black cloth seat upholstery
• artificial leather steering wheel
• manual air conditioning
• automatic headlight control
• roof rails, rear spoiler and front and rear skid plates
• electrically adjustable and heated door mirrors
• electric front and rear windows
• 12.3-inch touchscreen navigation
• 4.2-inch driver display screen
• Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
• Bluetooth
• two USB-C ports
• six-speaker audio system
• driver and front passenger sun visors with vanity mirrors
• rear parking sensors with reversing camera system
• cruise Control
• hill-start assist
• central locking
• Thatcham category 2 security alarm and immobiliser

Next up on the trim structure is the Kia Stonic GT-Line, which adds:

• 17-inch alloy wheels
• ‘GT-Line’ exterior and interior styling
• LED headlights, rear lights and front fog lights
• gloss black folding door mirrors with LED indicators
• gloss black radiator grille and side sills
• black window surround
• privacy glass for rear windows and tailgate
• rain-sensing wipers
• black cloth and artificial leather upholstery
• automatic air conditioning
• alloy pedals

At the very top of the range sits the Kia Stonic GT-Line S, which adds:

• sunroof with tilting and sliding function
• heated front seats
• heated steering wheel
• start/stop button with smart entry system
• customisable ambient lighting
• 12.3-inch driver display screen
• wireless mobile phone charger
• digital key
• front parking sensors
• adaptive cruise control with stop/go functionality
• electronic parking brake with auto hold function

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