The diminutive Kia Sonet punches above its weight. In a bracket with stiff competition from the Toyota Raize and a slew of competitively priced and specced Chinese crossovers like the GAC GS3 Emzoom and the Changan CS35, the Sonet brings the prestige of a Korean brand along with features normally reserved for pricier cars.

Whether you get the base LX or this top-of-the-line SX, the standard engine is a normally aspirated, 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine rated at a healthy 113hp and 144Nm of torque. An Intelligent Variable Transmission (technically a CVT) is fitted to the SX and the LX, but you can also still opt for a five-speed manual with the P758,000 LX.

You don’t get paddle shifters at this price point, but the IVT still gets you a manual +/- gate if you’re feeling frisky. In most situations, the standard transmission programming (Smart) is smooth and biased for fuel efficiency, but Sport enables higher revs and there’s a simulated step in ratios akin to having actual gears.

Now, 113 horses don’t turn the Sonet into a rocket, and a full load and a steep gradient will have the engine revving its little heart out, but it gets the job done and has just enough spunk to keep overtaking a relatively stress-free chore. Urban fuel efficiency is in the 9.5-10km/L range, and around 15-16km/L on traffic-free expressways.

Nominally a five-passenger car, it’s best to limit yourself to four adults if you can help it. There’s decent legroom and headroom for Asian-sized adults, but it’s still a narrow car at just 1,790mm wide. Fit three adults in the back and things will probably get, um, intimate.

As always, the best seats are in front. No power adjustments for this car, although it’s easy to get into a comfortable driving position. The seats are amply padded, with modest side support.

The flat-bottom steering wheel has a thick rim with some polished silver accents, with ergonomically shaped bulging at the 10 and the 2 o’clock positions for your hands. The shifter is similarly shaped to feel good in the hand.

Overall, the cockpit materials from the upholstery to the plastics look decent and have a nice, tactile feel. Kia persists in using hard plastic for the door panels and the lower dash areas, and though it does look cheap, experience with my 12-year-old Sportage tells you that it’s durable and easy to clean.

Like the Hyundai Stargazer and the Mitsubishi Xforce, the Sonet has this blocky, one-piece housing for the two 10.25-inch screens for the instrument panel and the infotainment. I don’t see any aesthetic appeal in it as it just looks cheap, especially with the black bezel that visually connects the touchscreen to the IP. Meh.

The touchscreen itself is easy to use with uncomplicated menus and a bright display. You can manage the driver-assistance functions here, activating and deactivating functions to your liking.

From here, you can turn on (or off) the lane-keeping assist, the lane-following assist, the forward-collision avoidance assist, the high beam assist, and the driver attention warning.

As usual, the lane-keeping assist is more annoying than useful, and I turned it off every time upon startup. The high beam assist, on the other hand, is great since it automatically turns on the high beams if there’s no oncoming traffic, switching to the low beam when there is.

As you can tell from the relatively tiny 16-inch wheels, the Sonet is not especially tuned for lively handling. It’s comfortable for everyday driving, with shock absorbers that are well-damped for our crappy roads and free of the wayward floatiness that bedevils the Chinese, but the tires scream bloody murder if you push it too hard in the corners.

They also look under-tired in profile, especially with the Sonet’s high roof design, so an aftermarket upgrade is in order if you want it to have more attitude. Braking performance from the front and the rear discs is strong, but the steering feels toylike in its lightness (although it does firm up as you gather speed).

Aside from the advanced driver-assist features, the SX gets you a smart key with remote engine start, LED lights (including fog lamps), a sunroof, a rear camera display (but not 360° coverage), rear A/C vents, leather upholstery, and wireless charging.

All that at a price that’s palatable for a middle-class buyer, while offering one more cylinder than the Raize. And of course, if you just want the bare minimum, you can still save a couple hundred thousand pesos with the LX.

No wonder there’s a waiting list for this car, and it packs so much goodness in a small package that we’d understand if buyers waxed poetic about it.