The Kia Niro: A Hybrid Crossover That's Worth Considering

As I sat down with the new Kia Niro, I couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement and curiosity about this latest entry into the compact crossover segment. With its unique blend of features, including an electric motor, six-speed dual-clutch transmission, and advanced hybrid technology, the Niro is definitely not your average CUV. In fact, it's a bit like nothing you've ever seen before.

One of the first things that struck me was the exterior design of the car. The water pump design has been changed to accommodate the hybrid system, which is a testament to Kia's commitment to innovation and technology. But as I looked closer, I realized that this change comes at the cost of added complexity - not just for the engine, but also for the cooling system itself. This is just one example of how the Niro's hybrid design adds layers of complication, making it more expensive to repair and maintain in the long run.

Despite these complexities, Kia has managed to create a driving experience that feels surprisingly smooth and engaging. With its six-speed dual-clutch transmission, the Niro is able to deliver high fuel efficiency without sacrificing performance. I was impressed to find that I was getting an average of 46-47 miles per gallon during my test drive - not bad for a car that's also capable of producing 139 horsepower from its electric motor.

But what really surprised me was how well the Niro handles on the road. With its sporty driving mode, the car feels more responsive and engaging than I expected - almost like a CX-5 or Acura CX-3. The steering is not quite as good as those cars, but overall, the handling and solidity of the Niro are impressive for a CUV.

One area where the Niro falls short is in its front-wheel drive-only configuration. If you're looking for an all-wheel-drive system, this might be a deal-breaker - especially if you prioritize traction and control on slippery roads. Additionally, some people may find the Niro's smaller size to be a drawback; after all, who needs a car that's only slightly larger than a hatchback? Still, I think the Niro's compact dimensions are part of its charm.

As I spent more time with the Niro, one thing became clear: it's not just about the hybrid technology - it's about creating a driving experience that feels like a traditional CUV. The programming seems to have done just that, with an engine response that's smooth and predictable, even in sport mode. Whether you're cruising down the highway or taking on twisty roads, the Niro feels surprisingly at home.

In conclusion, the Kia Niro is definitely worth considering for anyone who wants a compact crossover that delivers great fuel efficiency without sacrificing driving dynamics. While it may not be perfect - especially with its front-wheel drive-only configuration and added complexity - I think this car has a lot to offer. And as Kia continues to push the boundaries of hybrid technology, it's exciting to think about what the future holds for this innovative new CUV.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthis will be a quick look at the new Kia Nero an attempt to bridge the gap between a hatchback and a CUV and it's now becoming the anti ibrid even though it's a hybrid still now what do I mean by that now before you get bent out of shape I say this about plenty of models that is their ownership base can create stereotypes for them it doesn't matter what company it is in the case of hybrids well we've all been privy to seeing Priuses on the highway in the the left-hand lane that are just totally oblivious to faster moving traffic they don't move over or they drive more slowly and I think hybrid vehicles have now started to have this stereotype of being slow and stodgy now certain manufacturers have tried to inject some sport into them and it really hasn't worked but for the most part nobody's been able to challenge that formula and that is what kia is trying to do make a normal kind of interesting looking car without going off the deep end not being too boring with a focus on driving dynamics versus just straight-up you know a putter type commuter car now there's some really great elements about the Niro in general and that is a lot of people don't want an SUV or a bigger CUV and you take a look at like the cx-5 or the CRV the rav4 does have gotten extremely big and even myself when I'm driving and I'm like I me and I just can't justify as nice as it is just commuting by myself and this kind of bridges that gap this is kind of one step below that but the thing is there's not a lot of trade-offs in terms of usability for most people you open this up it doesn't have a power liftgate this lift gate is obscenely light I mean it is ridiculous I mean I could just throw this thing around it closes and opens easily without having all the electric motors and all that it's a nice feature the opening in terms of width and load floor are not compromised because of a battery pack despite this being a hybrid it really has as much cargo capacity as anything else and it's much bigger than most hatchbacks the other thing that is extremely cool about the narrow is the way that you get in and out the doors open I mean they they open extremely wide so getting in and out is a non-issue getting in it's super comfortable again this is one of those cars where it if you covered up the hybrid bed you would never even know that that's what it is no let's take a look at the inside and see what Kia's done with the Niro now you might be worried when I said this is below the Sportage that it might be kind of a cheap interior space and it's not now granted this is the premium trim level so there's more fluff the thing is one of the reasons why the Kia Optima is one of my favorite midsize cars is this they finally really got the interiors nailed down in terms of quality diversity materials everything feels well put together the input points are good all the controls are intuitive for the most part I mean like most most modern cars you're flooded with too many buttons on the steering wheel it takes time to adjust to things on the interior cabin but the things that you want to use everyday that you're going to use everyday like the volume knobs the the menu buttons are all physical there's no you don't have to use the touchscreen for anything HVAC controls are just classically laid out simple to use the only problem with that is they don't show you the temperature on the HVAC controls it relies on the head unit or that's touchscreen to show you what the temperature is so if you have a failure with the touchscreen eventually you won't know what your temperature is and that's really annoying that's something they got to fix but other than that you're really gonna appreciate this interior space it's very well done let me close the door and trap all the mosquitoes in here with me when I said that Kia is trying to make the anti hybrid well it's kind of weird because they have the Eco hybrid badges the gauge cluster says it but at the same time there's no weirdness in here for the most part you know I just got done with the Prius Prime plug-in hybrid and you just look at the interior and I'm like oh my god you know exactly who they're marketing it towards this is for people that may not want all that weirdness that just want good fuel efficiency a normal good handling vehicle and it just basically a normal vehicle operation with good fuel efficiency and that is what this entire interior cabin just represents normalcy I am under the Kia Nero this is a brand new architecture for Kia and Hyundai this was specifically designed to be a hybrid platform and an AV platform and to also to be affordable so let's take a look at some of the things they did here no Scott constantly talks about modern cars oh there's really nothing to see under here and they all look the same well there are definitely nuances of every manufacturer in the case of Kia you look at their vehicles as a whole they this generation is definitely covered up the underbody as much as possible with these composite or asphalt panels and they have dual purposes one it reduces road noise because it deflects or absorbs it so you don't hear it in the cabin the second thing it does is it smooths out airflow little things like these wheel spats this lip on the front it helps to move air around certain parts that create drag and flow it to the back of the car the goal here is not for performance but for better fuel efficiency and reduce road noise nokia said that they did something on this architecture to reduce weight there's more use of aluminum in terms of body panels control arms and you see that in the front now in the hub and the upright portion before you get to the strut it's all aluminum and the strut is still steel but you know there's more use of lightweight materials in this car than in the past now as we come to the back of the knee row there's some things you probably should know whether you're shopping for this car or you just want to learn about it as I said this is a new architecture dedicated to hybrids Eevee's and plug-in hybrids so when you look at the center section the trans and exhaust tunnel there's no room for a driveshaft here so that means they've designed this around fitting gas tank which is here and for the hybrids the battery pack is above this on the upper side of this frame on the interior space and the battery pack is about this thick but this tall and about this wide stuffed under here so it's super compact and they designed it that way on purpose for packaging the other thing that they wanted to do here purposely is make sure they fit all this and had independent rear suspension which is something that was missing on cars like the Veloster and the Kia Soul and it just they ride not good compared to this so this was a design focus making sure that this car rode and handled good and you know honestly let's face it I don't want to stroke them too much because this should honestly be in every car at this point we had this stuff in the the early 90s and now of course it's coming back and it's a big deal so they have added it back here it's really nice to see because it does make a difference now this is the fuel tank when you start to get into the IV versions this disappears and you put a larger of course larger battery pack that will fit in here so it's all modular that's the point that's the point of doing a specific architecture for a specific purpose you can move things around change it to fit different models that's what they did so you have an aluminum hub again to save weight and you also have you know this is a hybrid because all your high voltage lines for the battery pack run under this panel and aside from that you wouldn't know it's a hybrid if you didn't see the orange thing there because it really does look like a regular typical internal combustion engine car only so they've done a nice job kind of integrating it both last but not least you have a manual parking brake that's cable actuated no electronic parking brake here which I really like I'm a big fan of that but let's take a look under the hood now that I'm under the hood of the Kia Niro this 1.6 liter has been changed yet again for a different application and when we talk about the modern world of cars this is proof positive how modular things have become they use this same 1.6 liter in eco platforms more normal car platforms and now they've repurposed it to be kind of the hybrid power plant so you can see the changes from the regular 1.6 liter they've had to redesign the intake manifold the intake stroke structure in general because typically the intake would be over there now they've had to shoehorn in the electric motor the electric cooling system the the drivetrain for the hybrid system including the six-speed dual-clutch transmission you can see the water pump design has changed because it needs to help cool the hybrid system as well it's just interesting to see all this there's complication here of course because you're dealing with kind of two different drive trains and that's one of my big Knox and hybrid technology and it's gotten so much better but you still you know to have that extra fuel efficiency it's not like you're just making the engine more fuel-efficient now you're adding the complexity of the batteries the hybrid drivetrain the cooling system the cooling system to the exhaust now for emissions I mean this stuff it's definitely gonna be more expensive to fix in a long run hopefully you don't have any issues with it but it's something to note that extra fuel efficiency you're getting it's not some magic formula it's all of this combined and the added cost and expense of all this to make that work let's take this thing for a drive and see how it performs getting behind the wheel of the qiyan arrow it was a bit of a surprise and I think most people that have experienced hybrid driving or if you've ever driven a car with a CVT there's this kind of smoothness about it yet boringness if you enjoy driving more and I think that was the biggest shock because the Niro uses a six-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission which has traditional gear changes now you might think well that's probably not as efficient and I was a little bit surprised over driving this car that I was able to get high 40 miles per gallon really pounding it around I was at about 46 47 miles per gallon the whole time it never went lower than that and you know the the Kia and Hyundai six-speed dual-clutch azar not the fastest thing in the world they're more designed for efficiency so you're not gonna pop off shift it's not gonna like be lightning-fast like that but in this case it works at least as a new vehicle I don't know how it's gonna hold up over time the programming seemed pretty good getting off the line was good in the overall driving experience was very non hybrid like and that's what I said right at the start there trying to make a car that doesn't seem to be a hybrid at all and the average person getting behind the wheel is never going to notice it the second big thing to note about this car is it drives somewhere between like a cx-3 on a cx-5 and i feel like those are kind of the two best crossovers in terms of driving and handling dynamics the steering is not quite as good and there in the nero but the overall handling and firmness solidity and lack of body roll is really good for kind of a CUV and you can tell Kia always Tunes their suspensions a little bit more on the firm side so if you're looking for something that's a couch like ride the Nero may kind of be a little bit too firm for you but I'll take the sporty driving part of this vehicle over something that would be a total snoozer and that is kind of the final thoughts of driving this is it's a big surprise that they were able to kind of not you having to make a hybrid it doesn't feel like a hybrid now in terms of the negative part about this car is well it's front-wheel drive only if you're looking for a CUV you're almost like what's the point of getting a see of you without all-wheel drive so that might be a problem for some people the other part is it's a little bit smaller and I think people are obsessed with size in this segment it's a pro annicon I like the size of it it feels more fitted around you but you know you're almost like why not just get a hatchback why do you need this kind of small CVM and you don't get all-wheel-drive it just it's strange then the last part is how is the hybrid part of this drivetrain gonna hold up you're getting great fuel economy but you know you still have the battery pack to worry about if it's something you're gonna keep long long term over like 10 years you know that's something you might address or if you're buying it used it's something to think about here I was impressed with the car I like the interior overall it's an interesting entry into the CV segment I don't think anybody else is doing this like them so it's worth putting on your list because it drives like a regular car gets great fuel efficiency but it's just gonna be something you're gonna have to decide which would you rather take a traditional CUV or an SUV over kind of like this hybrid design and that is kind of the last words about the Kia Nirothis will be a quick look at the new Kia Nero an attempt to bridge the gap between a hatchback and a CUV and it's now becoming the anti ibrid even though it's a hybrid still now what do I mean by that now before you get bent out of shape I say this about plenty of models that is their ownership base can create stereotypes for them it doesn't matter what company it is in the case of hybrids well we've all been privy to seeing Priuses on the highway in the the left-hand lane that are just totally oblivious to faster moving traffic they don't move over or they drive more slowly and I think hybrid vehicles have now started to have this stereotype of being slow and stodgy now certain manufacturers have tried to inject some sport into them and it really hasn't worked but for the most part nobody's been able to challenge that formula and that is what kia is trying to do make a normal kind of interesting looking car without going off the deep end not being too boring with a focus on driving dynamics versus just straight-up you know a putter type commuter car now there's some really great elements about the Niro in general and that is a lot of people don't want an SUV or a bigger CUV and you take a look at like the cx-5 or the CRV the rav4 does have gotten extremely big and even myself when I'm driving and I'm like I me and I just can't justify as nice as it is just commuting by myself and this kind of bridges that gap this is kind of one step below that but the thing is there's not a lot of trade-offs in terms of usability for most people you open this up it doesn't have a power liftgate this lift gate is obscenely light I mean it is ridiculous I mean I could just throw this thing around it closes and opens easily without having all the electric motors and all that it's a nice feature the opening in terms of width and load floor are not compromised because of a battery pack despite this being a hybrid it really has as much cargo capacity as anything else and it's much bigger than most hatchbacks the other thing that is extremely cool about the narrow is the way that you get in and out the doors open I mean they they open extremely wide so getting in and out is a non-issue getting in it's super comfortable again this is one of those cars where it if you covered up the hybrid bed you would never even know that that's what it is no let's take a look at the inside and see what Kia's done with the Niro now you might be worried when I said this is below the Sportage that it might be kind of a cheap interior space and it's not now granted this is the premium trim level so there's more fluff the thing is one of the reasons why the Kia Optima is one of my favorite midsize cars is this they finally really got the interiors nailed down in terms of quality diversity materials everything feels well put together the input points are good all the controls are intuitive for the most part I mean like most most modern cars you're flooded with too many buttons on the steering wheel it takes time to adjust to things on the interior cabin but the things that you want to use everyday that you're going to use everyday like the volume knobs the the menu buttons are all physical there's no you don't have to use the touchscreen for anything HVAC controls are just classically laid out simple to use the only problem with that is they don't show you the temperature on the HVAC controls it relies on the head unit or that's touchscreen to show you what the temperature is so if you have a failure with the touchscreen eventually you won't know what your temperature is and that's really annoying that's something they got to fix but other than that you're really gonna appreciate this interior space it's very well done let me close the door and trap all the mosquitoes in here with me when I said that Kia is trying to make the anti hybrid well it's kind of weird because they have the Eco hybrid badges the gauge cluster says it but at the same time there's no weirdness in here for the most part you know I just got done with the Prius Prime plug-in hybrid and you just look at the interior and I'm like oh my god you know exactly who they're marketing it towards this is for people that may not want all that weirdness that just want good fuel efficiency a normal good handling vehicle and it just basically a normal vehicle operation with good fuel efficiency and that is what this entire interior cabin just represents normalcy I am under the Kia Nero this is a brand new architecture for Kia and Hyundai this was specifically designed to be a hybrid platform and an AV platform and to also to be affordable so let's take a look at some of the things they did here no Scott constantly talks about modern cars oh there's really nothing to see under here and they all look the same well there are definitely nuances of every manufacturer in the case of Kia you look at their vehicles as a whole they this generation is definitely covered up the underbody as much as possible with these composite or asphalt panels and they have dual purposes one it reduces road noise because it deflects or absorbs it so you don't hear it in the cabin the second thing it does is it smooths out airflow little things like these wheel spats this lip on the front it helps to move air around certain parts that create drag and flow it to the back of the car the goal here is not for performance but for better fuel efficiency and reduce road noise nokia said that they did something on this architecture to reduce weight there's more use of aluminum in terms of body panels control arms and you see that in the front now in the hub and the upright portion before you get to the strut it's all aluminum and the strut is still steel but you know there's more use of lightweight materials in this car than in the past now as we come to the back of the knee row there's some things you probably should know whether you're shopping for this car or you just want to learn about it as I said this is a new architecture dedicated to hybrids Eevee's and plug-in hybrids so when you look at the center section the trans and exhaust tunnel there's no room for a driveshaft here so that means they've designed this around fitting gas tank which is here and for the hybrids the battery pack is above this on the upper side of this frame on the interior space and the battery pack is about this thick but this tall and about this wide stuffed under here so it's super compact and they designed it that way on purpose for packaging the other thing that they wanted to do here purposely is make sure they fit all this and had independent rear suspension which is something that was missing on cars like the Veloster and the Kia Soul and it just they ride not good compared to this so this was a design focus making sure that this car rode and handled good and you know honestly let's face it I don't want to stroke them too much because this should honestly be in every car at this point we had this stuff in the the early 90s and now of course it's coming back and it's a big deal so they have added it back here it's really nice to see because it does make a difference now this is the fuel tank when you start to get into the IV versions this disappears and you put a larger of course larger battery pack that will fit in here so it's all modular that's the point that's the point of doing a specific architecture for a specific purpose you can move things around change it to fit different models that's what they did so you have an aluminum hub again to save weight and you also have you know this is a hybrid because all your high voltage lines for the battery pack run under this panel and aside from that you wouldn't know it's a hybrid if you didn't see the orange thing there because it really does look like a regular typical internal combustion engine car only so they've done a nice job kind of integrating it both last but not least you have a manual parking brake that's cable actuated no electronic parking brake here which I really like I'm a big fan of that but let's take a look under the hood now that I'm under the hood of the Kia Niro this 1.6 liter has been changed yet again for a different application and when we talk about the modern world of cars this is proof positive how modular things have become they use this same 1.6 liter in eco platforms more normal car platforms and now they've repurposed it to be kind of the hybrid power plant so you can see the changes from the regular 1.6 liter they've had to redesign the intake manifold the intake stroke structure in general because typically the intake would be over there now they've had to shoehorn in the electric motor the electric cooling system the the drivetrain for the hybrid system including the six-speed dual-clutch transmission you can see the water pump design has changed because it needs to help cool the hybrid system as well it's just interesting to see all this there's complication here of course because you're dealing with kind of two different drive trains and that's one of my big Knox and hybrid technology and it's gotten so much better but you still you know to have that extra fuel efficiency it's not like you're just making the engine more fuel-efficient now you're adding the complexity of the batteries the hybrid drivetrain the cooling system the cooling system to the exhaust now for emissions I mean this stuff it's definitely gonna be more expensive to fix in a long run hopefully you don't have any issues with it but it's something to note that extra fuel efficiency you're getting it's not some magic formula it's all of this combined and the added cost and expense of all this to make that work let's take this thing for a drive and see how it performs getting behind the wheel of the qiyan arrow it was a bit of a surprise and I think most people that have experienced hybrid driving or if you've ever driven a car with a CVT there's this kind of smoothness about it yet boringness if you enjoy driving more and I think that was the biggest shock because the Niro uses a six-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission which has traditional gear changes now you might think well that's probably not as efficient and I was a little bit surprised over driving this car that I was able to get high 40 miles per gallon really pounding it around I was at about 46 47 miles per gallon the whole time it never went lower than that and you know the the Kia and Hyundai six-speed dual-clutch azar not the fastest thing in the world they're more designed for efficiency so you're not gonna pop off shift it's not gonna like be lightning-fast like that but in this case it works at least as a new vehicle I don't know how it's gonna hold up over time the programming seemed pretty good getting off the line was good in the overall driving experience was very non hybrid like and that's what I said right at the start there trying to make a car that doesn't seem to be a hybrid at all and the average person getting behind the wheel is never going to notice it the second big thing to note about this car is it drives somewhere between like a cx-3 on a cx-5 and i feel like those are kind of the two best crossovers in terms of driving and handling dynamics the steering is not quite as good and there in the nero but the overall handling and firmness solidity and lack of body roll is really good for kind of a CUV and you can tell Kia always Tunes their suspensions a little bit more on the firm side so if you're looking for something that's a couch like ride the Nero may kind of be a little bit too firm for you but I'll take the sporty driving part of this vehicle over something that would be a total snoozer and that is kind of the final thoughts of driving this is it's a big surprise that they were able to kind of not you having to make a hybrid it doesn't feel like a hybrid now in terms of the negative part about this car is well it's front-wheel drive only if you're looking for a CUV you're almost like what's the point of getting a see of you without all-wheel drive so that might be a problem for some people the other part is it's a little bit smaller and I think people are obsessed with size in this segment it's a pro annicon I like the size of it it feels more fitted around you but you know you're almost like why not just get a hatchback why do you need this kind of small CVM and you don't get all-wheel-drive it just it's strange then the last part is how is the hybrid part of this drivetrain gonna hold up you're getting great fuel economy but you know you still have the battery pack to worry about if it's something you're gonna keep long long term over like 10 years you know that's something you might address or if you're buying it used it's something to think about here I was impressed with the car I like the interior overall it's an interesting entry into the CV segment I don't think anybody else is doing this like them so it's worth putting on your list because it drives like a regular car gets great fuel efficiency but it's just gonna be something you're gonna have to decide which would you rather take a traditional CUV or an SUV over kind of like this hybrid design and that is kind of the last words about the Kia Niro\n"