Thinking about buying a Kia Niro!

I'm in the same boat. I like the look of it, quite spacious, drive is nice too, very quiet, relaxing. Did you test drive it?

Few things I don't like, no front parking sensors and headlights are Bi Projection headlights, so it seems not even xenons. I would expect these things on the car that cost 32500€

Dealer send me this about the headlights:

Projector headlights, a relative newcomer in the headlight world, as their name suggests they "project" light onto the road. The bulb here is mounted within a "projector bowl", which similar to the reflector housing, reflects all of the light towards the magnified projector lens.
The light then hits a piece of metal that is shaped like the pattern of light that will be projected onto the road. Why this is like this is some sort of marvel of science and magnets. The projector housing lives within the headlight.
Generally projector headlights provide superior light output with a sharp cutoff line and focused light.

kave2 wrote: »

I'm in the same boat. I like the look of it, quite spacious, drive is nice too, very quiet, relaxing. Did you test drive it?

Few things I don't like, no front parking sensors and headlights are Bi Projection headlights, so it seems not even xenons. I would expect these things on the car that cost 32500€

Dealer send me this about the headlights:

I had projection headlights in 1997 Fiat Bravo...

Why would front parking sensors be required on a vehicle thus small?

I've ordered one, should have it in early Jan.  It was a bit of a saga deciding which hybrid to go for; I had intended on the Hyundai Ioniq (as I have a Hyundai already) but after I was told by a Hyundai dealer that it'd start at €35k, I started looking at the Niro because it was €6k cheaper.  As it turned out, that dealer was wrong about the Ioniq but in any case, what I've heard since is that the Niro is the better car.
One thing I discovered in my research is that they're only doing one spec level here, EXL.  There'll be a version with Automatic Braking and Adaptive Cruise Control as well but pretty much every photo of the car, including on the Kia Ireland website, shows it with 18-inch alloys that are not available in Ireland.  The reason is the fuel economy and fuel emissions suffer with the bigger wheels; a few UK press reports have said they're not worth it.
Irish Niros have 16-inch "alloys" (I say "alloys" because they're actually pretty convincing hubcaps); they look a bit small on the car but the Niro just broke the Guinness record for fuel economy driving from LA to NYC - doing it with 183.6 litres of petrol (meaning you could do 5,979km in a Niro on less than €230 of fuel here) - while wearing those wheels, so they obviously work (https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2016/12/388_220313.html)!
Anyway, I had seriously considered a Prius but the Luxury spec was still a bit less than the Niro and was €4k more.  Plus Niros have leather seats, Apple CarPlay/Android Auto and seem way more practical.

elperello wrote: »

How did you get on with the Niro?

+1 Thinking of getting one too and would love to know what you think of it? I'm hoping to change from an ix35

Well wear!

Collected by Niro earlier this month and love it so far. It's very impressive, build quality is streets ahead of my old Hyundai and it's a pleasure to drive. One thing that concerned me was the fuel consumption, which didn't impress in the first week. Generally around 7.2l/100km, which is ok but nothing amazing and achievable in my old 1.6 petrol manual.

I took a 600km round trip two weeks ago and it managed 6.7, which was ok but from what I've read it's not much of a motorway cruiser. That's ok because I didn't buy it for that but still, surprising.

Then the following week, my 23km commute (half-motorway, half city traffic) dropped to 6.0l/100km and had dropped since, down to 5.5 today. It's a pleasant surprise and I'm not entirely sure what caused it. You can keep the binnacle display (between the dials) at a diagram of the power distribution but I've been keeping it at a real-time fuel economy display, showing an orange bar that shows how much fuel you're using that second and going blank if the electric motor takes over.

So I think I may have trained myself to drive more efficiently - or else the engine has bedded-in a bit better; I took delivery when it only had 8km on the clock and it's over 2,000km now so maybe that's what it takes to get the fuel economy down.

The interior is massive; it's kinda Tardis-like - way more roomy than it looks on the outside. The "leather" (I assume imitation, it doesn't smell like leather anyway) seats are very comfortable and the heated seats (and wheel) are absolutely brilliant in the recent weather. The touchscreen interface is the best I've ever used (no Apple CarPlay yet but it's coming to dealers within a month), so intutitive and quick, and the visibility is excellent.

Performance-wise, again I wasn't entirely chuffed with it at first. It's a heavy car for its size (1.9t) and my first overtaking manoeuvre was a chaotic mix of howling overdrive and delayed torque. Thankfully it's improved a lot since; again this could be me just getting better at judging how best to drive it but one thing the Niro is great at is quick overtaking at low speeds or whooshing up to the lights in city traffic. I think at speed, a gradual/brisk push of the accelerator works better than stomping in it. That seems to engage the electric motor to assist whereas any quicker seems to force the petrol engine to drop down a gear and howl with little results to start with.

Other than that, it's been a great car to drive and use day in, day out. Have yet to see another one on the road, apparently 49 were registered last month and I've one of only 6 grey ones! I'd highly recommend it!

I tried using Android Auto using my work phone, which is a Galaxy A3, but no joy. Not sure if it just isn't compatible or I need a software update.

Yup, no joy!

Well now, jca! The day I took delivery, the range was something insane like 815km. Given the tank is something like 45 litres, that'd be some fairly-amazing fuel economy like 5.5l/100km. I finished that tank with very little left (having done 5 days of a 45km commute and Dublin to Mitchelstown) and the trip computer was at 640km. So not amazing.

I got around 660km from the second tank and right now the trip computer is at 400km with an indicated 340km of range, which would indicate I'll get 740km this time. That'll go down as the range drops, it always does, but it still looks like I'll get over 700km from this tank. So that'll be €55 or so for 700km; for comparison, I got 705km from a RAV4 diesel I drove recently and that took €60 worth of diesel.

Right now I'm confident that I'm already exceeding diesel fuel economy (best I got from the RAV4 was 6.4) and adding to that the convenience of automatic (that and the electric mode are godsends in crawling traffic), the fact that diesel is probably going to be taxed more pretty soon and hybrids cost less to maintain (they don't go through half the amount of brake pads a regular car would, for example) and I think it's a good choice that'll keep making more and more sense as I rack up the mileage.

I've no doubt if I was driving at 50-80km/h for an hour, it'd drop to 5 or below but therein lies the path to hypermiling madness! I drive it pretty much like I'd drive any other car and if I get diesel-esque figures from it, I'm happy!

tk123 wrote: »

My blue Niro! Can't believe it's mine!

Awesome. Wear well