The outgoing Kia Niro EV is a very well sensible vehicle, blending SUV practicality with an electric car’s environmental and price benefits, but it became so frustratingly dull. the brand new electric powered Kia Niro, renamed Niro EV, maintains all of the desirable bits, and stays eminently realistic but provides a hint of style and technology to boost its attraction. And it does that extraordinarily nicely.
At a Glance
The outgoing Kia Niro EV is a very well sensible vehicle, blending SUV practicality with an electric car’s environmental and price benefits, but it became so frustratingly dull. the brand new electric powered Kia Niro, renamed Niro EV, maintains all of the desirable bits, and stays eminently realistic but provides a hint of style and technology to boost its attraction. And it does that extraordinarily nicely.
There’s nothing particularly ground-breaking about the car. It’s got a decent 204hp electric motor powered by a 64.8kWh battery pack, but other manufacturers provide a similar package. Kia has brought together the different elements required in a family car, though, and created a package that’ll appeal to huge swathes of the population.
That means there’s no divisive styling, unfathomable generation, or compromised cabin spaces. It just receives on with being a practical circle of relatives vehicle without introducing something to interrupt the enjoy.
Key Features
Let’s talk about that odd panel towards the back of the car. You might think it’s there just for show, and the contrasting colours it’s painted in on many models back up that view, but there’s more to it.
It’s a clever aerodynamic device, channelling air from the sides of the car around to the rear to reduce the vacuum that occurs behind a vehicle travelling at speed. While the front of a car is relatively easy to design in a slippery way, the back is always troublesome, with manufacturers coming up with all sorts of tricks to minimise drag and increase efficiency.
Most turn to a simple spoiler, but Kia’s effort makes the car’s lines look cleaner. It also allows them to create a stylistic talking point, one which, to these humble eyes, doesn’t entirely work. Fortunately, if you’re not keen to highlight what is a posh spoiler bolted to the side of the car, then Kia will happily paint it in the same colour as the rest of the vehicle.
Performance & Drive
Within the nicest possible manner, the Niro EV is totally forgettable. There’s no criticism implied there; it’s simply so in a position and clean to use that there’s no steep learning curve, no harsh elements to interrupt the ambience, and no electric powered shenanigans that create headaches along your adventure.
Kia has forgone the opportunity to create a hard-accelerating version, so you gained’t discover sub-five-second 0-62mph times (it takes 7.eight seconds to do that, incidentally). There’s no excessive-overall performance mode available either, even one which requires more than one button presses and an age to precondition the battery.
Power is available immediately, all 204hp of it, which makes progress as swift as most will want, but also makes urban driving a cinch. Darting out of junctions and squeezing into gaps is easier when you’ve got a bit of poke, and a day spent shuffling around the centre of London proved that. Excellent visibility made it easier to spot road rivals, too.
Kia’s new K3 platform is pleasingly refined. The Niro EV sits on this new chassis, providing it with soft, quiet and supple suspension, absorbing most bumps in the road without drama. There is an issue with small cracks in the road surface that filter through to the cabin at urban speeds, leaving the ride feeling quite choppy on slower roads.
Interior
Our ‘2’ grade Niro EV is the access point to the range and has a small 8.zero-inch infotainment display screen slotted into the centre console, surrounded via swathes of matt black plastic. flow to the ‘three’, and you’ll acquire a pair of 10.25-inch monitors on the dashboard, one for the infotainment centre and one for the motive force’s instrument panel. It’s well worth the upgrade.
The safety-vital panel for the driver is customisable and presents all kinds of statistics, even though you can’t beat switching the whole lot to a virtual representation of traditional dials and just leaving it at that. it’s far crisp and clean, even though, and follows each other Kia’s simple design sample, making it familiar to many.
