Our new Kia feels us leaving super-Stonic

Yellow cars are incredible, it’s a fact. It was a pretty damp morning on the collection day of our latest long termer, but the canary-coloured Kia Stinger sat in the corner kept things looking bright.

That’s not what we came for though, instead my new machine lay tucked away at the back underneath a fabric sheet. Pulling it back revealed the latest compact crossover contender to come from the South Koreans – the Stonic.

Perhaps more relevant to the real world is the claimed 56.5mpg – which sounds impressive – while emissions of 115g/km CO2 mean a reasonable first year tax rate of £165. As for practicality, it offers 325 litres of boot space while seating five.

As for looks? It’s no pageant winner, but it’s far from the ugliest thing on the road. It’s a well-proportioned design – if a little oversized. Parked next to my own Suzuki Swift, it looks like a monster truck. It does help red cars might be my favourite thing on the planet though, and this particular hue is one of the better examples out there.

The price for all of this? £17,540 on the road. It’s a lot of car for the money, especially when you factor in Kia’s seven-year or 100,000-mile warranty (although we’re not expecting to have to exercise it).

So, customary dealer handover photoshoot over, it was time for me to get behind the wheel of our new long termer. A short, but extremely wet drive from Hendy Kia in Portsmouth and back around to our Gosport HQ offered some positive first impressions behind the wheel.

What are we expecting to learn from our time with LF18 NKM? Well, with the compact SUV market more crowded than ever, it’s intriguing to see if this can stand out. There’s also the question of equipment – with this such a relatively low-spec machine, it’s almost asking if there’s a need for some of the luxuries we’ve come to expect on cars today. Although built-in navigation would’ve been nice.

Highlight of the month: Taking the covers off LF18 NKM. Literally.