Kia Niro Review 2024

The new, second-generation Kia Niro aims to double down on the huge success of the old model. Adding extra desirability inside and out, it continues the traits that make the old model so popular; namely very low running costs and the choice of hybrid, plug-in hybrid and electric power. In this review we'll see if the new Kia Niro can again hit the spot. 

Did you know how important the Niro is to Kia? The hybrid and electric SUV is the second most popular model Kia sells in the UK - only the bigger Sportage has outsold it. 

Not only that, but the fully electric e-Niro has been the second most popular EV in Britain for two years running. Only Tesla has pipped it after its remarkable recent growth. 

You don't want to mess up a car with that weight on its shoulders. But the new Kia Niro's positioning is a a bit confusing at first. You see, Kia now sells the Sportage with two types of hybrid, and also sells both the Soul EV and (rather excellent) EV6 as its electric SUVs. Oh, and there's also Stonic and Xceed to cover the smaller SUV sectors. 

So where does the Niro fit in? Well, it's the most affordable properly electrified Kia, if we forget the mild hybrids. And as the Sportage has grown in size, it sits in that in-between space by being much more practical than a small SUV but cheaper and easier to park than a chunky large family SUV. It's also lower to the ground, more like a tall hatchback, which benefits efficiency.

Key rivals for the hybrid Niro include the Honda HR-V, the Toyota C-HR and the Renault Arkana E-Tech. In this review we'll be focusing on the two hybrid versions of the Niro, but you can check out our new Kia Niro EV review here. 

As before you can choose your flavour of hybrid. The cheapest, simply badged Niro Hybrid, is the type of self-charging hybrid made popular by the Toyota Prius. As well as being affordable it's a lot lighter than the plug-in modes, doesn't require any effort to charge and delivers consistent fuel economy. 

Then there's the Niro Plug-in Hybrid (PHEV). It's a good deal more expensive to buy, but it's noticeably faster, offers a pure electric range of up to 40 miles and - if your journeys keep within that distance - will barely use a drop of fuel. But its main appeal is with company car users thanks to huge benefit-in-kind tax savings. 

The new Kia Niro is larger, more generously equipped, more desirable inside and out and has a much bigger arsenal of tech than the old model. But, as is the way when a new car comes, it's also more expensive. Can Kia justify the extra cash? Read on to find out. 

Want a second opinion? Check out heycar's review of the new Kia Niro.

The Kia Niro has never been about razor-sharp handling, and certainly that's the case here. But it's competent enough for most people's needs, majoring on smoothness and comfort.

If you want to hustle it along you can select Sport on the handy wheel-mounted drive mode selector on both hybrids. The dials switch to a moody red glow, the steering gets heavier and the throttle pedal and gearshifts are more eager, but it doesn't change the car's easy-going character that much. 

The Niro's steering is probably its weakest area. It's precise enough and easy around town, but the lack of feel and lightness means you don't have full confidence in it on twisty roads. The plug-in hybrid's steering is more weighty and confidence-inspiring, but the trade off is it weighs 120kg more than the base hybrid and leans over more in the bends. 

The standard hybrid has better body control, but neither offer a fun driving experience. Happily, what matters more in a car such as this is a comfortable ride, and the Niro offers that on either variant. Top models with 18-inch alloys are a little more disrupted by potholes, but not drastically so. 

Refinement is good but not outstanding. There's a little road and wind noise to be heard, while the engines can get pretty vocal if you stamp on the throttle (more on that below). 

We'll have a separate review for the all-electric e-Niro, so this just focuses on the two hybrid Kia Niros. 

The base self-charging hybrid comes with a 1.6-litre petrol engine mated to a six-speed dual-clutch transmission and an electric motor powering the front wheels. Putting out 141PS and 265Nm of torque, it'll do 0-60mph in 10.4 seconds (10.8 in 3 or 4 grade with bigger wheels). 

Performance is best described as modest, or acceptable. It'll mooch around nicely at town speeds, flitting between smooth electric only power and the petrol engine quietly firing up unless you're really gentle with the throttle. Cruising is fine, too, but overtaking moves need to be planned in advance and working the engine hard makes it sound quite thrashy. 

Happily, the dual-clutch gearbox responds more naturally to throttle input than the more common hybrid CVT gearbox, allowing you to keep revs down and reduce the din. But you'll need revs if you want to get up to speed with any verve. 

If you go for the plug-in hybrid you'll get the same petrol engine and gearbox as the regular hybrid, but a more powerful electric motor and battery combo. As a result the power output increases to 183PS, enough for a 0-60mph of 9.8 seconds.

It actually feels a little faster than that, getting up to speed more effortlessly than the regular hybrid. It's still fairly vocal when you do floor it, yet the noise is a little more appealing. But is that extra pace really worth the big price jump? It depends on how (and where) you drive. 

The dual purpose paddle shifters behind the wheel are a neat touch. In Eco mode they let you adjust the level of regenerative braking between three levels, while switch to Sport mode and they instead control the dual-clutch gearshifts reasonably well. The brakes themselves aren't too grabby, either. 

It's hardly going to change your life, but a neat touch is that neither versions of the Kia Niro actually have a physical reverse gear. Instead they spin the electric motor in reverse, saving weight and ensuring smooth, silent reversing. 

Euro NCAP hasn't yet got its hands on a new Kia Niro to crash test, but we expect it to do pretty well on early evidence. 

The entry-level Kia Niro 2 comes with automatic emergency braking with car, pedestrian and cyclist recognition, along with the usual lane keeping aid and drowsiness detection. 

Step up to the Kia Niro 3 and you get Highway Driving Assist, which combines adaptive cruise control keeping you a set distance from the car in front with a more advanced lane assist which will naturally guide the steering within your lane. You also get Blind Spot Collision Avoidance. 

The top-spec Kia Niro 4 comes with a more advanced collision avoidance system that'll stop rear-end shunts and even detect an incoming crash at a crossroad junction. There's also Evasive Steering Assist to help you further avoid collisions. 

The Kia Niro isn't particularly great tow car but it'll tow small trailers, with a maximum braked weight of 1,300kg. 

Despite looking more like a tall hatchback than a 'proper' SUV, the new Kia Niro has a relatively high, commanding driving position. There's enough space and adjustment up front for those of all shapes and sizes to get comfortable, although we'd like a little more movement in the wheel for the really tall driver. 

Visibility is good all-round despite the thick rear pillars behind the door, while a rear view camera and rear parking sensors are standard fit. The seats are very comfortable for long stints at the wheel, and storage is good for drinks and other oddments - although the centre armrest stowage is shallow. 

The Kia Niro has grown in exterior dimensions a bit over the old car, with a length of 4420mm (an extra 65mm) a width of 1825mm (an extra 25mm) and an identical height of 1545mm. That translates to improved cabin space. 

There's absolutely loads of headroom in the front and rear, and that's regardless of whether you spec the sunroof - it's an old-fashioned small sunroof rather than a panoramic one. Legroom is good, too, with six-footers able to sit behind one another and just enough space for a third passenger in the middle. You can also adjust the rear backrest to recline it on top trims, although rather than a lever down by the seat base it's a fiddly one by your shoulder. 

The self-charging hybrid's 451-litre boot is larger than that in key rivals from Toyota or Honda, but not quite on a par with the Nissan Qashqai e-Power hybrid. That reduces to 348-litres in the plug-in hybrid Niro, mainly because you lose the underfloor storage due to the bigger battery pack. But there's very little load lip and the seats will fold nice and flat - if only in a 60/40 split.

Kia has translated some elements of the brilliant EV6 electric car's cabin to the cheaper Niro, with a similar dash appearance and tech layout. Generally speaking the fit and finish is sound and there's enough soft-touch plastics, gloss black and chrome elements to avoid the Niro feeling bargain basement. 

That said, there are plenty of harder plastics dotted about the place, particularly in the lower reaches of the cabin. We'd like a splash more colour around, too, but everything feels very well screwed together and shouldn't be pulled apart by unruly children. 

Kia offers two levels of infotainment depending on the trim level you go for. The entry-level Niro 2 comes with an 8.0-inch central touchscreen combined with combination analogue and digital dials with a measly 4.2-inch display, but you can upgrade the latter. It comes with wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto plus DAB radio. 

The touchscreen at this base point works fine, and although the graphics aren't stunning it's responsive enough. But the smaller screen looks a bit lost in the glossy plastic bezel, which is why you might want to upgrade to the Niro 3 with its larger 10.25-inch setup. That also gets sat-nav and a wireless phone charger, while the screen looks crisper and is a little more responsive. 

If you want the full EV6-style twin widescreen setup you'll need the top-spec Niro 4. Both screens are 10.25-inches, while you also get a head-up display and a Harmon Kardon premium sound system. It's a shame you don't get the clever 360-degree surround-view camera system you'll find in an EV6 and some rivals, however. 

The cheapest Kia Niro Hybrid 2 is priced at £27,745. Every trim walk up adds exactly £2,750, so the mid-spec 3 is £30,495 and the top-level 4 is £33,245. 

These prices are a good chunk more than the old Niro, but then that was pretty exceptional value for the class. Now the Niro is merely on a par with key hybrid competitors, but it does offer a more generous equipment tally than most. 

As is always the case the Niro Plug-in Hybrid commands a price premium - in this case it's almost £6,000. £33,525 gets you the entry-level 2 grade, with the 3 and 4 trims at £36,275 and £39,025 respectively. The top-end PHEV model is knocking on the door of bigger plug-in SUVs such as the Peugeot 3008 hybrid. 

The considerable price jump between hybrid and plug-in hybrid trims mean the latter makes the most sense for business users, or some private buyers that can really make the most of its all-electric range. 

Some cars major on glamour and style, others on speed and handling. The Kia Niro's trump card is its low running costs, making it one of the most economical cars out there. 

The base Niro Hybrid should be affordable both to buy and own, with an official combined fuel economy of between 64.2mpg and 60.1mpg depending on spec. That certainly negates the need to buy a diesel, while even fairly spirited driving on our hilly rural road route yielded low fifties.

The Niro Plug-in Hybrid's 11.1kWh battery results in a range of about 40 miles (it's not been fully certified yet). That's around 25% better than the old version, meaning official economy is pegged at 313mpg. As always with PHEVs that doesn't mean much in the real world. If you top up the charge and only do shorter journeys you may not put a drop of fuel in it for months. But with the battery depleted, our car did just under 45mpg on the same rural route.  

We like Kia's inclusion of a new 'Greenzone' feature on the plug-in. It'll use data from the sat-nav and automatically push the car into electric mode when entering certain locations (known as geofencing). You can manually select areas, for example if you want to pick up your kids from school but not have the engine running. 

Insurance groups for the Kia Niro start at 20 for the base hybrid, rising to 24 for the plug-in hybrid in higher trims. Road tax is very cheap thanks to low emissions, while you get Kia's still-impressive seven-year/100,000-mile warranty. 

Opt for the entry-level Kia Niro 2 and you'll get standard equipment including 16-inch alloys, LED headlights, a variable boot floor, rear parking sensors and a rear-view camera, an eight-inch touchscreen with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, adaptive cruise control and forward collision avoidance. 

Stepping up to the Kia Niro 3 adds 18-inch alloy wheels with Continental tyres, part faux leather upholstery, a 10.25-inch touchscreen with navigation, front parking sensors, keyless entry and start, heated seats and a heated steering wheel. There's also privacy glass, adjustable lumbar support for the driver, reclining rear seats, a wireless phone charger and extra driver assists. 

The flagship Kia Niro 4 further brings a head-up display, a 10.25-inch digital dial display, heated rear seats and ventilated front seats, a 'premium relaxation' mode for the passenger seat, an electric tailgate, a sunroof, a Harmon Kardon sound system, electric front seats with passenger lumbar support, Remote Smart Parking Assist and Parking Collision Avoidance assist. Vegan leather seats also feature, while a contrasting colour on the rear pillars is optional.