This is a short review of our new Kia Niro Plus, the 100% electric version (NOT the Hybrid or the Plug-in Hybrid). Kia is a South Korean company. In 2024, Kia sold over 3 million vehicles globally.
Energy consumption of the Niro vs hybrid or conventional cars
My car odo is now 6385 km (4091 miles), with an average energy consumption of 16.3 kwh (kilo watt per hour) for every 100 km. If compared to a petrol powered/hybrid car of the same size, in USA fuel prices, the Niro EV uses about 45/75% less energy for every mile and costs less per mile than a hybrid/conventional cars respectively.
Niro needs less maintenance than a hybrid car
It is worth mentioning that fully electric vehicles (EVs) require simpler maintenance: there are no engine oil changes, no air filter replacements, no spark plugs, and no rubber belts. Since they use neither gasoline nor engine oil, EVs represent a significant ecological and financial benefit over conventional and hybrid cars.
Pros of the Niro EV:
- There’s lots of legroom and headroom, front and rear.
- The 451 liter trunk of the Niro can fit one large suitcase and a few smaller bags, or approximately 3-4 standard carry-on suitcases. Rear seats can fold down in a 60/40 split configuration (either one or both sides) to create a larger, flat cargo area, expanding the trunk space to 1,405 liters.
- Some cars require you to go through the screen to operate (mirrors, A.C., etc.) but the Niro still keeps things simple and conventional (A.C., Mirrors, Radio).
- Simple to operate – Engage Drive/Reverse/Parking with a Rotary Shift Dial located in the center console.
- You can set the behavior of various features in the car – if it greets you when you approach, when to lock the doors (as soon as you turn on the car, or when you start driving etc.)
- It’s got conservative design, inside and out (As opposed to some Chinese cars, but that is subjective I guess).
- It’s got adaptive cruise control.
- lots of space and conpartments to put things up front in the central console.
- Engine pulls nicely (About 200 hp), any everyday speed.
- Above 400 km range on Economic mode. 80% charge will allow you 355 k”m on Economic drive mode with A.C. on.
- The Niro EV can use 100 kW-level fast chargers. Expect roughly 100 km (60 miles) of range added in about 15 minutes of fast charging.
- Every time you use the regenerative braking, either by the brake foot pedal or the steering wheel paddles, it recharges the battery, and shows you the added distance in the gauge. That can add a number from a few hundred meters of distance to a few kilometres in long descents. Regeneration has three settings: 1 is mild, you hardly feel the motor braking, 2 is great for everyday and you hardly need to use the brake foot pedal (because regeneration braking kicks in as soon as you let go of the accelerator), 3 is great to slow the car down in long descents or getting to a stop before a turn or a stoplight.
- One of my favorite features is the steering wheel paddles, which let you adjust the brake regeneration level on the fly, regardless of driving mode (Eco, Sport, etc.). This gives you precise control over how the car slows down. For example, you can set high regeneration when approaching a stop or going downhill, or switch to zero regeneration when you want to coast down a slight descent, since there’s no engine braking like in gas cars.
- Pressing the conventional foot brake also activates regenerative braking, so you enjoy regeneration without the hassle of using hand pedals.
- Resume drive alert: when the car ahead started driving and you’re day dreaming, the Niro will remind you to resume driving (can be disabled) or as you shut off the car’s ignition, it displays a reminder to check rear seats for a child.
- Safety features as lane keeping assist and lane center assist if you drift outside the lane, the car will alert you and do minor lane corrections, that being said, the car will NOT take a turn autonomously. Most alerts can be adjusted in the settings.
- Autonomous braking kicks in automatically if it detects you’re about to hit the car ahead.
- All the goodies that I think most new cars have: Keyless ride, Auto lock, folding mirrors, Android auto and iPhone connect, rear camera display and more.
Cons or What not to expect:
- It’s not a sports car, you can certainly feel it especially in a sudden change of line that challenges the suspension and damping abilities. It’s higher than the average car, that means high center of gravity. The Niro starts to feel uncomfortable in speeds over 140kph. 125 and Under that, it’s cool.
- No USB in the rear (but two USBs up front + a 12-Volt Accessory Outlet) .
- No spare tire (but it does come with a repair and inflate kit).
- Adaptive cruise control goes into waiting mode when the car comes to a halt for more than a second. To resume drive it requires you to lightly step on the accelerator pedal. A minus in very heavy traffic.
- Cabin is relatively quiet on fine asphalt and in the city, but a bit noisy on rough asphalt or milled asphalt or high highway speeds.
- Battery type is best at being kept between 20% and 80% charge for optimal long-term battery health, meaning potential range is lowered if you want to keep the battery health optimal. While occasional full charges are safe (e.g., for road trips), avoiding frequent close to 0% battery or 100% extremes helps reduce long-term wear.
- For those who love everything is settable, the Niro is quite simple. For example besides setting the visual looks of the Infotainment System, like setting radio stations, which icons to show on main screen, etc., there’s no individual setting for the side mirrors, driver’s seat, steering wheel position.
- No front led lights but rather halogen. That being said, they give more than a decent light.
What made us chose the Niro EV
Before I decided on the Niro, I test drove the BYD Atto 3 and Geely Geometry. Both cars were ok, but had a few things I did not like: The BYD interior design is not my style in understatement, it feels tacky even toyish. It also made clicking noise while making a U turn left. The Geely had binary brakes (All or nothing, but that’s something I guess one can get used to) and left mirror did not work. I don’t know if that’s just coincidence or a reflection of the overall quality of Chinese cars, but it did affect our decision. There is the Tesla, and Hyundai Ionic 5, which should be good cars, but that was out of our budget and at the end we got a good deal on the Niro and the test drive sealed the decision.
Update (12Aug25): I’m currently in Austria, I’ve rented a Cupra Ateca 4×4, there’s no radio button to be found, it’s accessible via the totally unintuitive infotainment system (touch screen), to operate it you must dig through menu layers and try to understand where the radio can be, cause the menu items are not intuitive as well. And that my friends, is reversed evolution.
Update (14Aug25): I was able to find how to operate the radio via the steering wheel buttons, it’s a bit more intuitive, but it takes three different buttons to operate, four if you include the volume button. 2nd problem is that when it’s set to the radio, you can’t browse other functions like car info, etc. Niro’s radio is a dedicated one, one push dial for on/off/volume on the dashboard and a second one for the stations on the steering wheel or the touch screen which both driver and passenger can operate. It takes two steps to operate it – imo, that’s the way it should be in any car.