As the Sonet heads into its final month in the care of the CAR Magazine team, some interesting ‘Easter eggs’ have come to the fore.
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Time spent: Six of six months
Distance covered: 6 204 km
Average fuel consumption: 7.1 L/100 km
We like: Surprisingly effective ‘Sounds of Nature’ feature
We don’t like: CVT remains an acquired taste
In its six months with CAR’s long-term fleet, the Kia Sonet has been pressed into service as a daily runabout, an able companion to a couple of dirt-tracking weekends away, and has managed to shoulder an outsized Black Friday purchase in the shape of a 145 x 135 cm double-bed headboard, and a stable platform from which photographer Peet Mocke has snapped some fantastic tracking shots of cars for our road tests.
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But all of these errands have been interspersed with one thing in common to which most folks living in South Africa’s main cities can attest – soul-sapping traffic. Being one of those folks whose patience and ability to maintain calm on congested roads is sorely lacking – and digging a bit deeper into the Sonet’s bag of tricks on the cusp of its departure – I decided to give the infotainment-embedded ‘Sounds of Nature’ feature a go during a couple of rush-hour drives.
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I was surprised at how piping a combination of ocean/rain/cricket song into the cabin saw my white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel loosen, and the usual scowling at inconsiderate drivers largely evaporate. Soothing as these sounds are, they don’t quite cover the slight drone of the nonetheless smooth CVT.
Find the full feature in the April 2025 issue of CAR Magazine.
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