By Jan Sharkey & Gary Wiles
We bought our 2024 Kia Niro EX plug-in hybrid a year ago and have liked it immensely. We were in the market for either a high-efficiency hybrid, plug-in hybrid, or fully electric vehicle, but needed a smaller sedan or SUV to fit our narrow garage [Niro is only 72 inches wide – ed] and wanted total cost to be under $50,000. We rather quickly ruled out the Toyota Prius due to shabby customer treatment by our local dealership, a Tesla Model 3 because we didn’t feel comfortable with the online buying process, and various Hyundai models and a Ford Mach-E because we didn’t quite like the cars. Early in our buying experience, Jan rented a Kia Niro EV for two weeks of travel in northern California. She liked the way it drove but had problems finding convenient and functional recharging stations and decided that an EV wasn’t a good fit for traveling back and forth between our home in Olympia, Washington, and California. We eventually visited the Kia dealership near our home and after a test drive, decided that the Kia Niro plug-in hybrid was perfect for our needs. It provides about 33 miles on electric power before switching into regular hybrid mode, allowing virtually all of our local driving to be accomplished on electricity. Recharge times are 2.5 hours using a 240-volt charger and about 22 hours using 120 volts; level 3 charging is not available. On a recent trip to California, the car got 50 mpg while in gas hybrid mode. Note that the Niro is more of a crossover vehicle than a true SUV and none of its models are available in all-wheel drive.
There are many things we like about the car, but especially its drivability on the road. Gary considers it the best driving vehicle he’s ever owned. Driving through northern California during one of their atmospheric rivers, we were surprised to never feel any sway from gusts of wind and the car felt sturdy throughout. Switching from our old car, a relatively simple 2010 Prius, to the far more modern technology of the Niro has been somewhat challenging, but we love the backup camera, the sensors for safely changing lanes in heavy traffic, the heated seats and steering wheel, and the automatic lights that come on as needed. Also, the adaptive cruise control automatically slows the Niro down if the car in front of us slows, which is a great feature in freeway traffic. With the car’s lane tracking assist function, Jan found on a long 2-day trip that she was lightly holding the steering wheel and arrived the first night with her shoulders and arms feeling relaxed and having no sense of exhaustion after 8 hours of driving. The same on her second day. We like the size (10.25”) of the car’s touchscreen display, which does a good job showing the car’s many features. However, you need to set up your preferences before you begin driving, as the screen can be very distracting once you’re on the road. The car does provide a lot of information and we’ve joked that Kia should offer refresher classes on use of the touchscreen display. As it has turned out, we use relatively few of the available features and ignore the rest.
Several small issues exist that we don’t care for in the car, with the windshield wiper system being one of them. The Niro has automatic rain sensing wipers, but these don’t seem to match very well the amount of moisture hitting the windshield. The wipers have four intermittent settings, but we haven’t noticed a big difference in their wiping frequency. The Niro has only two trip mileage trackers, but we wish it had more and an easier method for resetting them. The car’s cargo area is somewhat on the small side and is actually just a bit smaller than we have in the Prius. Some of the safety features seem a bit excessive. For example, the car dings a warning about possibly icy roads when the outside temperature hits at 39°F. You get another warning if your hands are off the steering wheel and one when you’ve been driving too long and it thinks you need a break.
Switching to the Niro as our main vehicle has been a big change and has brought a steep learning curve, but that’s not a bad thing for an older person to learn. The Niro owner’s manual has 650 pages and the separate infotainment manual is another 350 pages. We haven’t fully tackled either yet, so the car undoubtedly has a lot more features waiting to surprise us with!
Ed. Note:] The Korean EVs have not historically been eligible for tax breaks in the US but have won devoted fans for their functionality and high quality. Tax breaks for all EVs will be hard to predict for 2025. The 2025 Niro comes in two “trims” (the EX is reviewed above); the upgraded “SX” trim adds $6300 to the MSRP price and adds: sunroof, power liftgate, premium audio, cooled front seats, heated steering wheel, heated rear seats, and auto-dimming rearview mirror. Both trims are the same size (61” H x 72” W x 174” L) and have 6.3” of ground clearance. They weigh 3250 pounds. Acceleration is sufficient for most mortals (0-60: 7.3 sec) but will fail to impress the adrenaline crowd.