VOTY 2021//Crossover Of The Year – Hyundai Kona Smartstream
The facelifted Hyundai Kona is a left-field option for those looking to stand out in a sea of X50s and Ativas.
Crossovers are increasing in relevance with every passing year. In the last 12 months, one special entry made completely in Korea and fully imported to Malaysia has flown under the radar due to prevailing market conditions. However, the dsf.my team has driven this vehicle, and we think it has all the boxes ticked and presents a great value proposition in the market.
It’s none other than the Hyundai Kona Smartstream. This vehicle has some seriously good styling and great driving character. It pushes the envelope in incremental ways, introducing a modern Atkinson-cycle, naturally-aspirated petrol engine and an Intelligent Variable Transmission – Hyundai’s latest iteration of the traditional CVT.
Those shopping in this segment are looking for head-turning styling and high perceived value and the Hyundai Kona has those in spades. This facelifted model was launched in April 2021 and despite being a CBU product, is priced attractively for what it offers.
Hyundai Kona 2.0i Smartstream Atkinson Specifications
Engine: 4-cylinder Smartstream
Power: 149bhp @ 6,200rpm
Torque: 180Nm @ 4,300rpm
Capacity: 1999cc
Transmission: Smartstream IVT Auto
Price: RM131,488.00
About the VOTY Awards 2021
The Vehicle of the Year (VOTY) Awards is sponsored by Allianz Malaysia Berhad and is judged by Daniel Sherman Fernandez, Ross Hadi, Amirul Mukminin and Subhash Nair from Drive Safe and Fast (dsf.my) and GohedGostan.com.
The selection process is simple and clean. All cars launched in Malaysia within 13 months of our cutoff date are eligible for entry. We contact all car brands officially operating in Malaysia and ask them for test cars for each of our judges. There’s no participation fee, no tables to buy, no package deals — nothing. Any judge who drives an eligible car gets to vote for it. A simple majority is all it takes for a vehicle to win in a given category.
The categories are kept as consistent as possible from year to year with some modifications when a certain category is not adequately represented or is over-represented in that particular year. You can view the categories over the years by looking through our “VOTY” tab on the dsf.my page.
Our title sponsor Allianz recognizes the integrity of our team and all players involved in deciding on winners and leaves all decisions to us regarding the winners. We hope our readers appreciate the efforts of all parties involved and provide us with feedback on how we can further improve on this.
About the Author
Subhash Nair Written work on dsf.my. @subhashtag on instagram. Autophiles Malaysia on Youtube.
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