A couple of years ago, Kia released a concept called Niro that had crazy butterfly doors and the stance of a Baja truck. However, the production car is sober and conventional, exactly what most customers wanted.
It seems that the SUV body style has made it a lot more popular with European consumers than the Hyundai Ioniq sister car. But what kind of performance can the eco-conscious soccer moms expect from this Kia?
Well, the official numbers are as follows: a 1.6-liter GDI engine combined with an electric motor deliver a total of 141 PS and 170 Nm of torque (EU specs). That's 44 ponies from electricity and 105 from gas. Still, the 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) official time of 11.5 seconds makes this slower than most 1.6-liter diesel compacts.
However, this independent test shows the Niro reaching 100 km/h in 9.9 seconds. Even if it's down to errors in the speedometer measurements, the fact that the car is using winter tires at 5 degrees should cancel that out. Kias that are faster than claimed are not that common!
Of course, you don't buy a hybrid because you want to go fast, so we're doubling down with a second video, showing a fuel consumption test in the real world. The official number is between 3.8-3.9 l/100km around town or combined. But through conservative driving, it's averaging about 3.3 l/100km. So, Kia was conservative in both cases.
Until last year, there haven't been that many small, affordable crossover hybrids. But now what Toyota has launched the C-HR, the Niro will have a tougher time. However, the Kia model has a twin-clutch gearbox, while Toyota has an e-CVT. The latter is the more efficient solution, but I don't think 3.3 l/100km is a number you can't live with.
People keep saying that only Tesla has delivered on the promise of zero emissions. However, you have to consider what's happening downstream because an EV that's as powerful as a Ferrari probably isn't frugal. Still, we can't all be driving around in cars that do 10 seconds to 100 km/h - that would be boring.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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