By Ian Strachan.
Kia’s attractive and well-built compact crossover, the Niro is becoming a common sight on our roads. And now it’s available as a fully electric vehicle and it’s no surprise that it’s very good indeed.
This electric Kia has a 64.8 kWh electric motor which, when fully charged, can give you a mixed driving range of up to 285 miles, and more if you are light-footed on city roads.
Driving an electric vehicle for the first time can be a strange experience, and in car parks you become very conscious of the fact that pedestrians can’t hear you coming. Some manufacturers use an artificial engine noise, but that doesn’t feature on the Niro EV. You just have to be patient with people.
As well as having environmental credentials not shared by its conventionally powered rivals, this Kia is an excellent compact crossover vehicle; a practical car which performs faultlessly, is well-specified and pleasurable to drive.
The Niro looks great, too. It has smooth sculpted lines with a high waist, large front wings with shark-like headlights. Its pleasing side-on appearance is helped with chunky 17 inch black alloys. The charging socket is centrally located where the front grille would be, which makes charging much easier. Charging time can be as little as 43 minutes for a full charge, depending on the charging meter.
The Niro I tested has Kia’s single-speed stepless automatic transmission which powers the vehicle seamlessly without missing a beat.
Inside the Horizon spec which I tested you get a real feeling of size, cosseted in very comfortable high-quality faux-leather heated seats and surrounded by easy-to-reach technology nicely packaged, with a 10.2 inch touch-screen to control pretty much everything including satnav. The driver’s seat is powered. The interior overall is roomy and light, with large, comfortable seats and an attractive facia which is as clear as it is big.
Generous rear seat space and good load carrying capacity provide plenty of practicality. Storage can be increased with 60:40 split rear seats. Plus there’s more than enough storage around the cabin.
Specification is impressive, with keyless entry, all round airbags, six-speaker DAB radio with Bluetooth and music streaming, front and rear parking sensors with reversing camera, dual zone automatic air conditioning, automatic stop/start, lane-keeping assist, smart cruise control, multi-function heated steering wheel and all round electric windows and mirrors.
You also get a solar windscreen, hill start assist, automatic LED headlights, rain sensing wipers, rear spoiler, roof rails, wireless phone charger and electronic parking brake.
The Kia Niro EV in Horizon spec comes at an on the road price of £37,995 which is impressively competitive for a fully electric vehicle and the well-equipped package you get. Another big advantage is Kia’s seven year 100,000 mile warranty.
I think we’ll continue to see more of Kia’s EV and hybrid crossovers on the road, and deservedly so.
