Hyundai Kona Iron Man 2019 review

Our schedule today started with a soccer game in the morning for my son, which was followed by dance recitals in the afternoon for my two daughters.

To be frank, I'm not the biggest Marvel fan, so upon viewing this car for the first time my initial impressions were mixed; part interest, and part dread that the windows weren’t more darkly tinted. 

To Hyundai’s credit, the exterior changes here are anything but token. The front fascia is unique to the model, and the headlights get special LED accent lighting to better approximate the superhero’s iconic mask. The bonnet features a special V-shaped Marvel logo, too, and there are plenty of smaller touches, like Iron Man centre caps on the wheels and Iron Man engraved on the boot above the licence plate.

It sits on 18-inch "Iron Grip" alloy wheels, and the body is painted in an eye-catching combination of matte grey and red (the only colour on offer) with the grey designed to match the original Iron Man suit from when the character first appeared in 1963.

The metallic red, used to highlight the car's key design features, mimics the shade used for the most recent Iron Man movies.

My kids' reaction on first seeing the Iron Man Kona was more excited and vocal than expected. The anticipation of being taxied around in something touched by Tony Stark was more than they could handle.

But their biggest response was saved for the Iron Man mask puddle lights, which proved a massive crowd-pleaser over the weekend, with my kids eager to show it off at every opportunity to friends and even strangers.

The excitement only heightened upon setting eyes on the cabin, with Marvel stamping its Iron Man design touches throughout the cabin. There is a liberal dose of Iron Man red used across much of the cabin including the seat belts, and the trim on the seats and dash.

Most of the design touches feature up the front, with highlights including front seats embossed with the Stark Industries' logo, a uniquely designed shift knob and Tony Stark’s “signature” penned on the dash.

Pressing the start button triggers the Iron Man-themed graphics in the heads up display screen, with the instrument cluster and tachometer both featuring Iron Man’s Arc Reactor as a background screen.

Standard features include a 7.0-inch screen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, climate control, rear privacy glass, proximity unlocking and push-button ignition. It also comes with a reversing camera and rear parking sensors, which were handy when parking the Kona in tight spaces.