It is a tale of good and bad in the cabin of the Stonic. The good is the fact that it all feels very familiar and very Kia, which isn't a bad thing. The bad is it is feeling a little bit old school in places. There's no wireless phone mirroring, for example, so you need to plug in. And even then you need to plug in with a USB-A rather than a USB-C, despite having both plugs at your disposal. Some of the door materials aren't just cheap and hard plastic, they feel a bit flimsy in places, as well. Same with the centre console plastics. There are some elements where you could definitely lift up the ambience in the interior.

You can have your Stonic in three flavours, the S, Sport and GT-Line, with retail pricing stepping from $28,180, to $32,290, to the range-topping $35,740.

The S is pretty basic in terms of kit, riding on 16-inch alloys, nabbing LED lights and DRLs, cloth seats, manual air-con and a six-speaker stereo. Tech comes via an 8.0-inch central screen with wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto (but do pack a USB-A cable to make it work, which feels very old school), as well as a 4.2-inch driver display and a smart key with push-button start.

The Sport packs in plenty more. Your alloys are now 17 inches, you get LED front fog lights, and your cloth seats now have synthetic-leather trim. You also get centre console storage, single-zone climate control, a better feeling steering wheel and shifter and rain-sensing wipers. You also get a bigger 12.0-inch central screen, extra USB-C ports and access to the Kia Connect app and over-the-air updates.

Finally, the GT-Line rides on a unique 17-inch alloy wheel design, and nabs a sunroof, heated front seats, a heated steering wheel and ambient interior lighting. It gets the full Kia twin-screen treatment, with two 12.3-inch displays handling multimedia and driving data and you get a wireless charger.

All Stonics get the same powertrain. A clever three-cylinder, 1.0-litre turbo-petrol with 48-volt assistance. That means 88kW and 172Nm (up from 74kW). It has a seven-speed dual-clutch auto transmission.

The Kia Stonic is a five-seat small SUV with surprising space for back seat passengers. You could fit two adults in the back for longer road trips without hearing howls of complaint.

We don’t have an official 0-100km/h time for the Kia Stonic, but I’m estimating in excess of 10 seconds. Top speed is around 180km/h.

The 48-volt system in the Kia Stonic helps drop fuel use and C02 emissions with use now pegged at 5.0L/100km and 116g/km.

The Stonic’s 45-litre tank should deliver a theoretical range of circa-900km.