My new Kona Electric and my first impressions

Discussion in 'Hyundai Kona Electric' started by Domenick, Jan 19, 2019.

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  1. Probably not yet, but it will as people read this.

    Sent from my moto x4 using Tapatalk
     
    CJC likes this.
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  3. E-Shark

    E-Shark Active Member

    Go take the Bolt out for a test drive, then take out the white Kona, then make your decision if you like either or neither. I think the white looks amazing, and if you do your roof and mirrors black and get black rims, you will get that non normal look you wanted too.
     
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  4. Brennan Raposo

    Brennan Raposo Well-Known Member

    Being an owner for a month now, I would absolutely hate to see you miss out on this incredible vehicle just because of a few incompetent employees. I was in a similar situation, lies and deceit and took the situation into my own hands by hunting down stock at another dealership. I don’t blame Hyundai corporate for my ordeal, I blame my original dealership. It felt great to call them up and tell them to cancel my order because I “did their job for them” and found my own.

    Bite the bullet and buy the white one! It’s the colour I initially ordered but settled for a red one. I think you’d be disappointed in the Bolt. I say this as a Kona owner and someone who spent about an hour really thoroughly looking at the Bolt at the Toronto Auto Show last weekend. It just can’t compare.

    My 2 cents :)
     
    Wildeyed likes this.
  5. Thanks. If you read further you'll see I resolved things and I'm currently about 2 hours away from picking up my Blue Kona!
     
  6. Awesome!
     
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  8. Brennan Raposo

    Brennan Raposo Well-Known Member

    Yes!!! Congrats!
    Sorry, haven’t been on in about a week so just slowly making my way through the forums again.

    Congrats and welcome to the family! I hope Hyundai Canada took proper care of you.
     
  9. All right. In the spirit of recording true first impressions I will jot down some in point form. And after that I'll have some questions for you veterans. Here goes:

    I really liked the colour. So did my two companions. It was sitting in the sun and was delightfully blue.

    Dealership was nice, prepared and contrite. Also delighted to be selling their first unit. Took my pic for website. Say of five orders two cancelled due to price. Two ordered Preferred and not happy waiting until May.

    Super happy they give paper owners manual!

    Door sticker says Dec 21st build. Isn't that the day they released the price? Jeez.

    Winter steel rims look crappy. I snapped on my new black and silver PVC wheel covers to solve that ugliness!

    XIce i3s very quiet. Curious about OEM tires. 6 more weeks to Spring!

    Dealer installed incompatible TPMs. Will swap out soon. No biggie.

    The interior is light and airy. Everything I'd hoped for. The blue accents are very blue to me, the seats are all but white and the various "grey" accents read more like silver/grey.

    First sunroof ever for me. Didn't want it. I really like the extra light and no problem with headroom.

    Many multi-function buttons!

    Driver's seating feels tight. Minimal man-spreading possible.

    Back hurt instantly. Hoping I adapt. Heated lumbar helped. Nice high seating position. Good visibility.

    Thank goodness for the lane keeping assist. I was swerving like a drunk when I got caught up in the button pushing. It pulled me back into the middle several times.

    Regen system is good and not quite what I had anticipated. I like coasting at 2 and stopping by pulling to 3. I could get used to driving without brakes pretty fast.

    Mirrors are good and big.

    Back-up camera is not bad though already blurred with salt.

    I accidentally shifted into neutral while driving! I guess I rested my hand on the console. Scared holy hell out of me. I had no idea why I had no power. Spotted the "N" on the display and figured it out. Embarrassing. Worried what the dog could do!

    Car's now in shade. No blue colour apparent at all. Yuck.

    Very quiet inside. Being stopped is eerie.

    Not sure why I have to push power button twice to be "on"? What's with the blue light and then green light?

    Blue Link not ready. Will take until at least Tuesday, apparently. Sigh.

    Checked out many screens and menus. Left most on factory settings. Turned on the active Regen. Will fiddle later with more personalized preferences.

    Delighted by HUD. Very bright and handy. Adjusted to suit my posture.

    Haven't settled on favoured drive mode or dash board configuration yet. Not sure yet what info I want displayed.

    Leaving Winter mode on all year? Why not?

    Tried to schedule off-peak charging. Menus insist on scheduling charge/climate DEPARTURE before even allowing access to off-peak menu. And why are there two DEPARTURE schedules? And does scheduled departure override off-peak scheduling? Am I heating my car needlessly when I just want charging? Why would you schedule CHARGING upon DEPARTURE? Very confused. Is this a Korean/English translation mix-up? Hoping Blue Link allows clearer scheduling of off-peak charge times independent from this whole scheduled Departure nonsense.

    Have bit of a headache from all this. Looking forward to it all becoming second nature.

    Happy? Yes, I think so.
     
    Last edited: Feb 23, 2019
  10. E-Shark

    E-Shark Active Member

    Congrats!
    I find my Chargepoint charger allows me to specificaly choose the hours I want it to charge, without having to Schedule or change anything in BlueLink.
    Can you elaborate on pushing the power button twice to be on? Is that for starting the vehicle or something else?
    Most of us had to call BlueLink Customer Support to get it initiated. If you don't hear anything next week I'd call them to be sure they have all the right info.
    https://mybluelink.ca/support/contact
     
  11. When I get in ready to drive I push the ON button and (I think) the light is blue. The dash comes to life and I can adjust menus etc. But I can't drive. I have to push it again and it changes to green and then everything comes alive and I can drive. Am I imagining things?.

    I noticed it a couple times. Is the blue the equivalent of "accessory"?
     
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  13. I think if you just push it when you get in it will go to Accessory mode, but if you push it with your foot on the brake it will actually start straight to On. I never have to push it twice to get going. Unless you were doing th e foot on the brake already, then I have no idea!
     
    fiercely, E-Shark and Wildeyed like this.
  14. Of course! I was distracted by the newness. It's the brake that was missing. Thanks!
     
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  15. I believe the departure time scheduling just means the car will make sure that it completes charging for right before you leave, that way the battery is already warm from charging. So for example, you are leaving at 6am, you have your schedule set to start charging at 7pm off-peak, but the car only needs 4 hours to charge it will start charging at around 2am. Someone jump in and clarify if I'm wrong. I know my Volt would do it that way but I only just set up my Scheduled charging today so I haven't tested it yet lol
     
    Wildeyed likes this.
  16. That's okay and all if I AM leaving at set times but I'm retired. I don't have a schedule! I don't want the car pulling juice from the house for unneeded cabin heating when I just want charging. And, as I said, I'd like my charging to be off-peak.
     
  17. E-Shark

    E-Shark Active Member

    Ok I just went and tested it out because I don't think I experienced that. When I turned it on it was ready to drive. Try holding the power button for a bit longer and see if that changes anything. Is your e-brake button on? I will show you what I see when I turn it on.

    20190223_155938.jpg
     
  18. My schedule is all over the place so I just set mine to 630am for the charging. There is a setting for climate heating as well. Don't turn that one on and it won't heat the cabin but it will always be charged by the morning.
     
  19. For the days that I do work I will just use the Blue link app to start the climate settings to warm it up.
     
  20. Edit* Yup, Shawn was right. Blue is accessory setting. Pushing ON without the brake.
     
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  21. CJC

    CJC Well-Known Member

    Wildeyed I enjoyed your first experience with your new Kona. Sounds like us when getting started too. When you are driving around in "normal" mode, give the button a push to "sport" mode and wait for your eyes to pop out a bit with the acceleration. lol It caught me off guard. We couldn't figure out your two push to start comment, but then thought "ah ha we are used to starting with brake pedal depressed as we have a PHEV" and it will go into auxillary without the brake pressed. I laughed with your comment swerving like a drunk! lol Yep, I've done that too. We thought we discovered something new while driving home this afternoon. Hubby was above posted speed by about 20 kph and suddenly everything in the HUD starting flashing. We couldn't replicate it though. So glad you finally have your car.
     
    Wildeyed likes this.
  22. Mine doesn't seem to have separate charging and climate scheduling. It says charging and climate DEPARTURE scheduling. It has settings for hours and the days of the week. And there are two separate DEPARTURE choices. I'm sure I'm missing something.
     
  23. That's what I'm hoping to do too.
     
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