Kia Niro EV (2022 on)
Niro so called EV
A high price for mediocrity.
For ambient lighting what you get is an odd patch of light from the dashboard in front of the passenger, and a gear selector that changes colour. No illuminated door strips, or footwell lights.
This compromised theme runs through the rest of the car.
A converted petrol car chassis: the NiroEV is awful.
What this means is that you don't get EV benefits. It’s more like a car from yesteryear that's still trying to catch-up.
The ride, handling and noise suppression are way below par, and it charges yawningly slowly.
Live with the Niro EV long enough and you’ll realise it’s an exhausting car to drive with a shocking chassis, bogged down with that battery weight. The car is an ungainly behemoth, and not one to try and have any sort of driving fun.
The sat nav is hopeless on a long journey making it essential to plan your route thoroughly by working out any charging stops on your own wits.
All the Niro does is produce a massive long list of places to charge with no indication of where they are in relation to your journey which, is stupid and pointless.
Other less expensive EV’s work all this out for you.
When the Niro software needs updating (which is frequently), you have to take the car to the dealership for a day. Who has the time to do this?
No over-the-air updates available. Blimey.
I had rattles in the boot (common fault apparently)..
The heater suddenly blows out cold air and freezes your hands, and you can’t stop it.
The plastic passenger seat when empty, rattles and vibrates.
The headlights are odd, and make it hard work to drive at night.
The windscreen is nasty and distorting. The automatic wipers work only sometimes. Impossible to rely on them.
However the battery and motor are nonetheless efficient.
The stop/start cruise control pulls away in traffic like a chauffeur except that the brakes creak.
The dashboard rattles, or the drivers door rattles or likely both.
Hardware faults, software bugs, glitches, rattles, suspension thumps and several actual breakdowns later, I sold the rotten thing on before I’d had it much more than a year.
And good riddance to it; the constant cacophony of warning bongs, and beeps topped off a horrible driving experience.
My Niro EV was awful, and horrendously overpriced.