In crowded class, Kia's stoic Stonic stands out

Given the limitations of many in the class, the Kia actually can hold its head high, says Declan Colley.

THE small SUV market has, in my years doing this gig, gone from being a seriously underwhelming genre — think early Suzuki Vitara — to being one bursting at the seams with contenders, but not necessarily one which is home to a lot of class contenders.

The Suzuki, radical and all as it was at the time with its robust off-roader looks, was still largely a normal machine, what with a simple two-wheel-drive system and no differential trickery. Indeed, there was very little mechanically different between it and, say, a Toyota Starlet.