As far as brief encounters go our meet-and-greet with Hyundai's new Kona was right up there.

Total drive time was about six minutes (and 29 seconds, but who's counting…), all of it confined to Hyundai's top secret Namyang research and development centre south of Seoul.

But in that time we traversed everything from cracked off-camber concrete and broad freeway stretches to undulating country roads and some challenging twists and turns.

The car we drove had the 1.6-litre four-cylinder turbo engine mated to a seven-speed twin clutch transmission driving all four wheels.

With 132kW it's not lacking in straight line go, revving cleanly to 6500rpm before slotting into the next ratio, occasionally hesitating in the process.

Select Sport mode and the throttle is far more sensitive, combining with a propensity to hold lower gears.

But with loads of low-rev urge it's unlikely owners will need to spin the engine to its maximum.

Learning more was a challenge, especially as the finer suspension and steering settings and different to what we'll see in Australia when the car arrives in September.

Through a handful of moderate corners the 18-inch Hankook tyres hung on well, albeit with some notable roar and occasional booming over selected surfaces, some, admittedly, designed to be tough on tyres.

Steering is overly light but not nervous on-centre, allowing for predictable adjustments.

It's clear the soft suspension is designed for a cushy ride, with residual floating over sharp undulations and dips joining along for the ride. Along with the steering, that's likely to be cured with some local tuning.

Inside, the Kona is towards the larger of the small SUVs, although on first blush we'd question Hyundai's claims of class leading space.

Rear legroom is average at best. Head room is more generous, though, mimicking the decent noggin space up front, and there's good breadth to the cabin, which bodes well for those looking to cram three across the rear.

First (brief) impressions, then, are of a small SUV that is spacious and strong on performance but in need of that crucial local suspension tuning to finesse its dynamics.

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