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Kia Niro Hybrid Makes Awful Noise While Creeping Forward in Review

Tired of hearing only good things about new cars? So are we. Sure, they are getting better every year, but every model has its weird quirks that you're going to have to live with. Wouldn't it be better to know about them before you buy?
Kia Niro Hybrid Makes Awful Noise While Creeping Forward in Review 1 photo
Photo: YouTube screenshot
Automatic gearboxes are so much more comfortable if you're stuck in traffic. The problem is that some of them aren't much good when it comes to crawling.

Here we have a review of the Kia Niro from Mat Watson. It arrives a little later than most, but we get the dirt we were looking for. If you want to slowly want to creep forward through traffic, the Niro makes a weird nose. It's obviously coming from the combination of regenerative and conventional braking.

You could say that crawling forward is not the way to drive a hybrid. But the reality is if you don't move with the traffic, somebody might cut you off, probably a taxi driver who's in a hurry.

That's not to say we don't like the Niro. It's an honest car that looks like a crossover but admits it's front-wheel-drive. The design isn't too overdone, like in the case of its main rival, the Toyota C-HR. All the controls are logically laid out and simple to use. There's a button for everything you might need, so this is clearly the work of some sober German engineers.

Mat says it handles a little bit better than a Toyota Prius. And because it uses an automatic gearbox instead of a CVT, the shifts feel natural. The trade-off is that the economy is not as good as that you'd get in the Japanese hybrid.

Plenty of other niggles are mentioned in this review, such as the parking sensors looking like zits, the old-fashioned foot-operated parking brake or the lack of a spare wheel. See if you can live with that stuff.

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About the author: Mihnea Radu
Mihnea Radu profile photo

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.
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