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2025 Car Mileage with the Best Gas Mileage2024 Toyota Corolla Cross vs 2024 Hyundai Kona
We compare two subcompact SUVs Hyundai Kona to the Toyota Corolla Cross to see which is the best fit for your daily commutes, road trips, and more.
Excellent Choices for a Small SUV
If you want a compact crossover SUV on the smaller end of the form factor, you can either go the tried-and-true traditional way or go for something a little more forward-thinking and futuristic. Such is the yin and yang dynamic behind the Toyota Corolla Cross and the Hyundai Kona.
One is the tried-and-true small crossover formula and doesn’t deviate from tradition, the other is a radical design that challenges conventions and tries to re-invent the wheel in some way. Only one can go home with an American family, so which one’s it going to be?
Specs and Driving Performance
The Corolla Cross and Kona are two sides of the same coin, especially in the drivetrain department. But unlike the Kona, the Corolla Cross has the courtesy of making its hybrid drivetrain available in North America. That’s right, the Kona’s 1.6-liter four-cylinder hybrid drivetrain is reserved for the British and the European Union. Over here, the Kona settles for the choice of a 147-horsepower, two-liter engine paired with a CVT or a 190-horsepower 1.6-liter turbo four-pot and an eight-speed automatic gearbox. All-wheel drive is also an option for even better road performance.
A lack of a hybrid drivetrain in North America is not an affliction for the Corolla Cross. Alongside a typical 169-horsepower two-liter four-cylinder engine and a combined 30 to 32 MPG, you can also choose a 150-horsepower hybrid drivetrain with a combined fuel economy in the low-to-mid 40s. Compared to the 31 combined MPGs the Kona works out, the ICE Kona and the ICE Corolla Cross are relatively on an even playing field in the areas that count the most.
Comfort and Interior
For two crossovers so interlinked in competition, you’d expect interior space to be relatively on par. As far as the Kona’s concerned, it definitely makes good use of its vaguely egg-like shape exterior to make more space inside. Rear legroom is solid with 38.2 inches to work with owing to thinner front seats in the last couple of model years over earlier ones. The Corolla Cross isn’t quite so adept in this category with only 32 inches of rear legroom to spare.
Cargo space is a bit more competitive, with the Corolla Cross gas-only model having 24 cubic feet behind the back seats and 61.8 cubic feet with the seats stowed. The hybrid model reduces cargo space, but it’s still a perfectly serviceable interior with 21.5 cu-ft behind the second row. Folding the back seats on hybrid model opens the same 61.8 cu-ft max capacity as the gas-only model. The Hyundai Kona is slightly better, with 25.5 cubic feet of cargo space behind the rear seats and 63.7 cubic feet with the seats stowed.
The Corolla Cross is clearly trimmed more like a traditional economy car, with fabric seat coverings for all but the range-topping XLE trim that nets SofTex vegan leather. The Kona is a bit more ambitious, with full-on leather seat coverings available, starting with the Limited AWD and also the N Line S trim. The standard N Line trim makes use of leatherette and Alcantara for its interior, and it’s all around a bit more futuristic in its layout. That’s especially true in regard to the infotainment, as we’ll now see.
Trims and Features
Further proof the Corolla Cross and Kona are polar opposites comes in the execution of their creature comforts and features. In almost every way, the Corolla Cross is a slightly modernized take on the small crossover formula we know and love, and that’s true on the inside as well. No massive infotainment screen resides in here, just a modest eight-inch touchscreen with the usual iOS and Android connectivity.
With an MSRP of $24,035 for a base L trim, the interior feels luxurious compared to base compact crossovers from the now-distant past. Starting with the XLE trim, a seven-inch digital gauge cluster joins the party. At the base Hybrid S trim, a 4.2-inch multi-information display gives real-time updates on fuel economy figures, trip computer data, and other important information. Two front and two rear USB-C ports are about standard nowadays, and a JBL premium audio unit is available starting with the LE trim at $26,365.
Only a few thousand dollars and change separate the Corolla Cross’s base L trim from the range-topping XLE, and ditto for the hybrids. You do get everything the modern driver demands from their new cars, even the cheap ones, and it’s executed very well. It’s the Toyota formula, essentially. No flash, all substance, and clever thinking.
Meanwhile, Hyundai is the exact opposite of no flash these days. Everything they do is bold, and everything’s styled like the sketch department has been working overtime. The Kona is no different, both inside and out. Apart from the more cyberpunk-inspired styling outside, the way Hyundai melds the Kona’s 12.3-inch center touchscreen with its 4.2-inch LCD gauge cluster is nothing short of an impact statement.
Sure, that’s a bit small for a digital cluster, but the base MSRP for the entry-level SE trim of $24,350 does at least bring good value. The SEL Convenience trim at $27,900 bumps the gauge cluster size up to 12.3 inches, and there’s every bit the amount of USB connectivity as in the Corolla Cross. Once again, a lot of the same from Camp Toyota and Camp Hyundai were just executed in ways that couldn’t be more different.
The Verdict
Did we hammer the point home about the yin and yang dichotomy between the Kona and Corolla Cross yet? They’re two polarly opposite ways of bringing a small crossover to market that wind up being so similar in the results they deliver it’s almost uncanny. Save for the lack of a Kona hybrid in the US, there’s really not much between them at all.
In truth, it’s likely that the stark lack of a hybrid in the market that matters the most to bottom lines makes declaring the Corolla Cross the winner here all the easier. Why Hyundai opted to Euro-lock the Kona Hybrid is a head-scratcher. You wouldn’t be a fool to buy either one of these two crossovers. But if efficiency is the be-all-end-all, and it’s becoming so more and more every day, well the Corolla Cross Hybrid wins by default.
