Hyundai Kona| Starting price: $19,500

Hyundai has grown and now has vehicles in most market segments. It has just plugged one of its few remaining holes — the subcompact SUV — with the new Kona. This clever vehicle is fully prepared to make its mark in the automotive landscape.

So what exactly is a subcompact SUV? Basically, it’s a vehicle with the footprint of a subcompact sedan that has been vertically stretched providing more interior space and a cargo area accessed from a rear hatch. The appeal of these vehicles is this… you get a small vehicle that is fun to drive, roomy because of its height, versatile because of the cargo space, easy to park and drive because of its size, and has great visibility, runs cheap and is affordable to buy. If you can find one that has great styling, like the Kona, that’s even better.

As fuel economy and emissions are high priorities in automotive design today, that means you can have your Kona with either a 2.0-liter 4 cylinder with 147 horsepower and a 6-speed automatic transmission or the turbocharged 1.6-liter with 175 horsepower and a 7-speed dual clutch setup. They both get about the same average 30 miles per gallon fuel economy for the front-wheel-drive models, but the turbo is faster. An AWD or all-wheel-drive option is available on all models which reduces economy numbers to an average 27. If you lived in an area with snowy winters, an AWD Kona with its small size, great visibility and added ground clearance might be an interesting combination.

The new Kona is offered in four models: the SE, which starts at $19,500; SEL; Limited; and the Ultimate, which can set you back $30K. The base SE has a 7-inch LCD touchscreen, rear backup camera, Bluetooth, cruise control, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, 16-inch alloy wheels, auto dim headlights and keyless entry. The Ultimate adds niceties such as leather interior, 8-way power seats, proximity keyless entry plus a push-to-start button, heads-up display, 18-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights with auto headlight dimming, sunroof, Infiniti premium audio system, and wireless device charging plus USB plug-in.

For this class of car, the interior is pretty roomy. There is sufficient legroom in the rear seats unless you’re really tall. The somewhat elevated seating position gives very good visibility plus easy entry and exit. With rear seats up, the rear cargo area is just a touch over 19 cubic feet and with the rear seats folded, the number expands to over 45. It’s responsive, nimble and offers a high level of optional equipment for its class.

From a safety standpoint, to get all the newest electronic driver aids, you’ll have to choose the Ultimate. This includes blind spot warning, lane change assist, lane keep assist, rear cross traffic alert, forward collision avoidance with pedestrian detection, parking distance warning and driver attention warning.

The Kona is attractive, well thought out and nicely executed. Look for the all-electric Kona arriving in 2019.

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Gmc Terrain| Starting price: $25,900

The former GMC Terrain was a compact crossover vehicle with seating for five people. It was a derivative of the Chevy Equi­nox. The new Terrain is truly NEW in most every regard. GMC now has a sharp sword that it can use to do battle in this very popular market segment.

The new Terrain is a carefully crafted optical illusion. Proportionally, the vehicle looks much larger than it is. In fact, if you saw photos of the Terrain and the larger GMC Acadia, you would think they were both large SUVs. In reality, the Terrain is a compact and competes with the Toyota Rav4 and Ford Escape. In fact, the Honda CR-V actually has 15 cubic feet more cargo space than the Terrain… but it sure doesn’t look it from the outside. Nicely played, GM.

This two-row SUV seats five; the front seats are broad and comfortable and the rear seats are easy to access. The readouts are easy to see and the new infotainment system is operated with intuitive touchscreen controls. Both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are offered plus onboard Wi-Fi. Interestingly, the gear selector is a set of push/pull physical buttons on the center console.

Those buttons control the vehicle’s 9- speed automatic transmission, which is found on the standard 170 horsepower 1.5 liter turbocharged 4-cylinder engine and the optional 252 horsepower 2.0 turbo engine. A 6-speed automatic transmission comes with the efficient and powerful 137 horsepower 1.6 liter turbo diesel, which is rated at an extraordinary 39 mpg highway fuel economy. All models and engines can be equipped with front or all-wheel drive.

GMC offers four choices: the Terrain SL, SLE, SLT and Denali. The sheer array of equipment choices is very broad. Features like a “full suite” of modern safety technology, hands-free programmable liftgate, a memory seating and adjustment package, 8-inch infotainment with navigation and Bose audio, four USB ports plus two more for charging, onboard Wi-Fi, an SD card reader, proximity lock sensor with remote start, automatic humidity sensor, 120 volt AC power plug, and active noise cancelling system controls are available.

The Terrain’s price ranges from about $25,000 to nearly $45,000, which is high compared with competing Rav4s and CR-Vs. But GMC offers more upscale options. GMC offers three engines — one being a diesel — and two transmissions. The Terrain bridges the gap between the $25,000 crossover world and the $40,000 luxury crossover world occupied by BMW and Audi. There is space in the marketplace for the GMC Terrain’s approach to compact crossover SUVs.

For more information on these and other vehicles, visit MyCarData.com.