BASED on the Rio, the Stonic is Kia’s take on a jacked-up city car designed to make the most of the ongoing SUV craze sweeping not only across Australia, but the rest of the world too.

Slotting in below the Seltos, the Stonic shares its underpinnings and drivetrains with the Rio but throws in a loftier ride height, slightly bigger dimensions all round and some tougher, more rugged SUV styling cues.

On that last note, we think the Stonic looks great; different enough to the Rio that they won’t be confused for one another but still with some clear family resemblance. 

Priced from $22,990 driveaway, Kia Australia is offering five Stonic variants across three trim levels, with the range topping out at $29,990 for the flagship GT-Line.

To find out if the brand’s latest high-riding hatch is a worthy competitor within its segment, we spent some time putting the flagship GT-Line through its paces both in town and on the open road.