Another competent Korean car—the Kia Niro EV, reviewed

The Kia Niro EV is a battery electric vehicle I've been eager to drive for a while now. Two years ago, I tried the $26,000 Niro, a 40mpg (5.9L/100km) hybrid that charmed my socks off. Last year, it was the Niro PHEV, a plug-in hybrid that beefed up the battery in exchange for not too much more money. Both of those still carried around an internal combustion engine; the $39,090 Niro EV does not. Aside from some subtle design clues, you might not know one from the other, but a blanked off nose grille and bits of blue highlight trim give the game away that this version ditches the ICE.

Instead, a 64kWh lithium-ion battery lives low-down between its axles. Under the hood lies a 201hp (150kW), 291lb-ft (395Nm) permanent magnet synchronous motor that drives the front wheels. If those specs sound familiar, they should be: the Niro EV shares its electric powertrain with another budget BEV from Korea, the Hyundai Kona EV.

As we discussed with the hybrid Niro review, Kia calls it a crossover. Whether you do depends on how sensitive you are to its visual height—as a shape, it screams, "I'm a mini SUV" much more softly than the Kia Seltos we looked at last week. You don't sit that high up—enough for a bit of extra situational awareness, perhaps, but still a couple inches lower than another Kia is-it-a-hatchback-or-a-crossover, the Soul. Pigeon-hole it where you like, that part is probably not as important as whether it fits with one's lifestyle.

Family car practicality

And, for a family of four, it should. The experience from the front seats is nigh-on identical to the hybrid and PHEV variants—the only thing that really gives the game away is a different center console that swaps out a traditional transmission stick for a rotary drive selector that falls much closer to hand. It also provides a much smarter selection of storage options between the front seats. The cupholders can be retracted when you don't need them and then pop out with the push of a button when you do, and there are pass-throughs for cables and covers to hide stuff from prying eyes when parked.

Backseat passengers might notice the change in powertrains if hopping from one variant to another. The Niro EV has to give more internal room over to its battery pack, and this shows up with the loss of about an inch and a half of head room (37.7 inches/958mm) and leg room (36 inches/914mm). But you can still fit two adults comfortably in the back, or more likely, a pair of car seats. Cargo capacity is similarly shrunk a little by the need to lug around so much lithium-ion. But at 18.5 cubic feet (524L) with the rear seats in use and 53 cubic feet (1,500L) with the rear seats folded flat, going all-electric doesn't mean you have to leave most of your stuff at home on long trips.

Smart driving

Driving the Niro EV is a lot like driving a Kona EV, thanks to what both OEMs call their smart regenerative braking system. Behind the spokes of the steering wheel are a pair of paddles, the kind you might use to change gears in a sports car. Here, they let you easily and quickly adjust the amount of regenerative braking that happens when you lift your foot from the accelerator pedal. Left increases regen, from zero so you can coast efficiently, through to three, which slows you at up to 0.25G. Right does the opposite, easing the lift-off regen setting. (The car also regeneratively brakes when you press the actual brake pedal, so you don't have to worry about wasting kinetic energy if you have to slow more suddenly.)

I can't remember what the Kona sounded like now, but my wife and I were both fans of the noise the Niro makes as you drive. Kia says the sound is "a fantastic techy whirring noise when moving that evokes speedy sci-fi craft," which is a pretty good description.

For stop-and-go traffic, I like to have as much regen as possible, for one-pedal driving. Conversely, if I'm cruising along—even at 25mph (40km/h) on now-empty streets—I prefer not to keep my foot on the accelerator the whole time once I've reached my speed. And sometimes you only want to slow a little, the way you might use engine braking on a conventional car. Kia (and Hyundai's) paddle approach makes it extremely simple to switch this up as conditions dictate, and I might prefer it to even the regen braking paddle of the Chevrolet Bolt EV.

The Niro EV has another efficiency-boosting trick involving regenerative braking, again shared with the Kona EV. It leverages the car's forward-looking cruise control radar to maintain following distances to a car in front when you're coasting. So if you're coasting along at 25mph and the car ahead starts to brake, you begin to regeneratively brake to keep the gap the same, so you don't need to apply the brake pedal yourself to avoid the risk of rear-ending them. The system will also vary the amount of regen when climbing or descending inclines to keep the rate of deceleration constant—again, similar to engine braking on a conventionally powered vehicle.

The Niro EV offers you four different drive modes—Eco, Eco+, Normal, and Sport. These alter the mapping of the accelerator pedal (and also the severity of regen), although Eco+ also limits top speed and the amount of total power draw from the battery, and it cuts off the AC in the name of maximizing range. In Sport, the accRead More – Source

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