Hyundai Kona vs Nissan LEAF

What's the difference?

The Hyundai Kona is the Korean car giant’s best-selling model in Australia, by a reasonably comfortable margin. And in 2025 it managed to battle its way to the top of the ludicrously competitive ‘Small SUV under $45K’ new-vehicle sales category.

Chery’s breakthrough Tiggo 4 Pro, GWM’s Haval Jolion, the MG ZS and close to 20 other well-credited segment rivals can all dream on because currently the Kona has their measure.

So, what’s all that about? Why are so many Aussie SUV buyers choosing to put a Kona in the driveway?

In an attempt to answer that question we slotted a Kona Hybrid into the CarsGuide garage, in this case a new mid-spec Elite version, to explore its relative strengths and weaknesses.

So, if you’re in the market for a compact SUV, with the Kona on your shortlist (and odds are it already is) stay with us for a detailed examination.

Here in 2021, it finally seems like Australia is ready to adopt electric cars, with interest on the rise and many, many new models of various shapes and sizes on the horizon.

Nissan, though, has been quietly chipping away at the EV market with its Leaf, which first launched in Australia way back in 2012 and was then refreshed with a new-gen model in mid-2019.

But even the latest Leaf is beginning to look a little dated compared to the likes of the Kia EV6 and Hyundai Ioniq 5, so what is Nissan to do?

Introduce the new Leaf e+ of course, which features a larger battery for increased driving range, as well as a more potent electric motor for peppier performance.

But is the Nissan Leaf e+ the electric car to buy?