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From Family Time to Night-time with the Guys

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"Papa, it looks like a bumblebee!" my daughter exclaimed as she saw the car for the first time at the Alexandra showroom.

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We were out for the test drive weekend we won from the #JudgeMe contest, eager to try the new Kia Stonic! We had a schedule in mind and were keen to stick to it. But safety comes first, so I had to transfer the kids' booster seats from our own car. As I approached the Stonic with a seat on each arm, I remembered the Kia rep telling me the smart key could sense when I was near. I simply told the missus to help open the doors, without a need for me to fumble for the car key. Simple convenience. (Missing from my own euro-model car)

From the showroom we had planned to head to Habitat, the Honestbee retail and restaurant warehouse. I wasn't sure where it was exactly, just remembered it was in Pasir Panjang. The good wife however had it long figured out. With a glint in her eye, she looked at me and said, "Hey SIRI, take me to Habitat by Honestbee."

Boomz! The car's touchscreen came alive with a coloured map display and I heard SIRI's voice and directions coming from the car speakers. In the time I took to figure the buttons on the steering wheel, my wife had already connected her phone using the Apple CarPlay and turned up the a/c. So off we went, with our favourite drive tunes playing from wifey's iPhone and the occasional interruption of GPS directions to Habitat.

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The drive itself was a smooth experience with no sudden acceleration, which is sometimes expected with a turbocharged engine. The steering was light and responsive; almost like driving a go-kart. I remarked to my wife that she would love this car and the easy way it handles. When we arrived at Habitat, there were many cars and we were faced with a narrow parallel parking lot. But this wasn't a problem for a car fitted with rear parking assist. What proved to be really fun for me was using the guidelines on the display to reverse into the lot properly. Easy-peezy.

With lunch and a fair bit of shopping done, we took a long, scenic ride along the MCE-TPE to our home. This gave me a chance to try out the Auto-Cruise which turned out to be a no-brainer. A few clicks on the steering wheel console and we were set, very useful when you need to keep to 70km/h inside the MCE tunnel and then 90km/h along the TPE. Upon reaching home, I couldn't help but notice that the bright yellow car was certainly an eye-catching sight in stark contrast to the white walls of my apartment. Took a few photos to remember its sleek lines and curves.

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The next day was a simple family drive to Decathlon at Kallang. With the sun up and lovely weather, the kids couldn't help but try the sunroof. Don't do this in a moving car of course! After our mini road trip with the roof open, it was sadly time to head back to Alexandra to return the car.

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Hang on. Wait a minute. I had the car for the weekend and that's all I did? Well actually...that's only the family stuff done and dusted, before I really dropped off the car.

Because when you have a chance to drive a car that asks you to "Judge me", you do exactly that with three other friends and in the middle of the night! Unfortunately (or fortunately), the next segment contains no photos due to the "graphic nature" of what we did.

What do you do when you have a compact SUV to judge?

You find three big friends to pack into the car to take a trans-island drive to Boon Lay Power Nasi Lemak! It only makes sense that you let the big ones sit in both the passenger and the driver's seat.

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Verdict from 1.9m Friend:
"Plenty of room at the back even with the driver's seat and steering arrangements. How compact is compact? Not very, to me!"

What do you do when you have a 6-speaker sound system with AUX and USB connectivity?

You plug in your friend's Android phone and turn up the volume on some awesome EDM! Ok, it's not exactly your Ah-Beng doomz-doomz...but for regular family guys like us, it was a return to our younger selves.

What do you do when you have a 1.0 turbocharged engine to judge?

You get your 1.9m friend, a body builder, a scuba diver and yourself with a total combined weight of 360kg and you take it on a long drive from Punggol to Kallang to Boon Lay!

Verdict from all:
Smooth drive with nippy acceleration and no problems ferrying 4 huge dudes. We took it slightly faster on some famous curves on the PIE and the car handled marvellously! All 4 of us marvelled at the fact that this was a 1.0 litre engine. Four heavyweights in the car and it reached 90km/h easily at 2K rpm. Then we spent the night trying to figure out how to make the turbo kick in...and realised maybe it was just there all the time!

What do you do when you have a car with rear assist to judge?

You take it to a dimly lit carpark to try the reverse camera!

Verdict:
The image came up bright each time and guidelines made it super easy to reverse into compact Singapore lots.

Final Judgement
This is a compact SUV for the next generation. Definitely great as a first car for the young working executive or a young family. It's fun, it's hip and it's got a sunroof! Picture long drives along East Coast or cruising on the Sheares Bridge having a great time with your favourite music blasting.

For the guys looking to impress, this car has what it takes with a nippy drive and responsive handling. Don't mention the 1.0 litre engine and nobody would know. Or purposely mention it so that you get looks of incredulity! Take it for a drive and don't be afraid to kick it up a notch when you need to. Aesthetically it's got sleek lines and a manly front that screams machismo. Throw a bike rack and an aerobike on the top for that added ooomph-pa.

For the ladies, it's a great car that handles like a dream with a light steering. It's quick and it's agile and everything you need to move about smoothly. It's sporty when you need it to be and comfy if you're stuck in a jam. The car practically screams urban chic for the urban chick.

Last but not least, it's not a big family-sized car, but that's not what it was meant to be anyway. In fact, it's a family car for a young family of three or four like mine. It's for lazy Sunday picnics at the park and then a quick drive to McDonald's to pick some cravings. It's smooth driving for the kids to rest at the back but safe when it comes to the curves and turns on the road.

The Kia Stonic...is quite simply an A-STONIC-SHING car. And that is the final judgement.

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