Kia Niro Review (2022-present)

What is the Kia Niro?

The Kia Niro is a chunky family car that measures 4.4-metres in length, making it similar in size to the Toyota C-HR; for some context, that makes it bigger than the Ford Puma, but smaller than family SUVs like the Ford Kuga, but all of these are perfectly relevant alternatives to the Kia Niro. In fact, given its broad price range of around £27,000 to £38,000, the Kia Niro has rivals ranging from traditional hatchbacks to SUVs, estates and even saloons. Pick what body shape and powertrain you want in a family car, and there’s something to suit you in this price range.

However, the Kia Niro is a really compelling prospect despite the kaleidoscope of alternatives. For a start, it’s offered with a ‘full’ hybrid (known as the HEV or hybrid electric vehicle) and a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) powertrain, which very few rivals can match. Both of the hybrid Kia Niro models get the same 1.6-litre, four cylinder petrol engine and six-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox. The full hybrid Kia Niro HEV also has a 1.32kWh lithium-ion battery, which gives it occasional pure electric running at lower speeds and when you’re coasting off the throttle. The plug-in hybrid has an 11.1kWh lithium-ion battery that gives it up to 37 miles of pure electric running according to official government WLTP tests. Note, we deal with the pure electric Niro EV in our separate review.

This new Kia Niro uses many of the same powertrain elements as its predecessor, but it has grown a bit in size thanks to the new K3 platform that underpins it. The styling is a big departure from its drab predecessor, too. Angular LED lights, a very chin-heavy grille, boxy body shape and slim, high set rear lights all make the Kia Niro look rather eye catching even if it’s also a rather fussy design. The contrast colour rear three-quarter panel is available in either grey or black, and is only an option on top-spec Kia Niro 4 models.

How practical is it?

The Kia Niro hybrids are practical enough to make great family cars. The Kia Niro HEV has a really good-sized boot, with 451 litres of space available – usefully more than the 380 litres that you get in the VW Golf, or the 358 litres in the Toyota C-HR Hybrid.

The Kia Niro PHEV does lose a fair chunk of its boot space – primarily the underfloor storage – which reduces the capacity to 348 litres; still not too bad, and bigger than the VW Golf plug-in hybrid at 273 litres, and the Renault Captur plug-in hybrid at 261 litres. You may still struggle to get a doubly buggy into the Niro PHEV, so make sure you get some time with a demo car if that’s a concern. The Niro HEV will be a bit better, and both have wide boot apertures as well as seats that fold flat in a 60/40 split.

Rear passenger space is really good, with usefully more legroom than you find in most rivals, although there’s no sliding seats. Access is good, too, with a slightly higher seat base and taller roofline than most hatchbacks making this easy to bend in for faffing with child seats, or also easy to slide in for those with limited mobility.

Up front there are good-sized doorbins and a centre storage area under the armrest, and a cubby for your phone beneath the air-con controls. The driving position is very good on 3 and 4 trims, which get lumbar adjustment and electric seat movement as standard. The 2-spec car with manual seat adjustment is fine, too, unless you need that adjustable lumbar support.

The dash gets a significant amount of its look from the Kia EV6, and the materials feel durable and tactile, with a smart array of contrasting finishes. It’s easy to use, too, with a touch-sensitive panel of air-con controls that you can switch to infotainment shortcuts at the press of a button. It’s a bit fiddly to do on the move, but better than having air-con controls buried in the touchscreen.

What's it like to drive?

Both the Niro HEV and Niro PHEV are perfectly fit for purpose; confident, composed and generally comfortable. The steering is light and easy to predict, which makes the Kia feel nicely responsive around town, while it stays planted and unflustered at high speeds for calm motorway progress.

Both are actually most enjoyable to drive in their pure electric modes, but in the Kia Niro HEV that’s something that only happens in occasional bursts. It does spend a useful amount of time with the engine off, but you do notice the vibration and noise of the petrol engine when it kicks in. With that happening quite a lot, and with the six-speed automatic gearbox having fairly slow shifts, the powertrain can feel rather busy at times. It’s also noisy yet not terribly fast if you accelerate hard, as the 0-62mph time of 10.4sec suggests.

The Kia Niro PHEV managed useful real-world electric range of well over 30 miles on our varied test route of mostly town and country roads, which we did in summer conditions. In EV mode, the Niro PHEV is smooth and yet still feels responsive enough for nippy getaways into fast traffic. As with the HEV, if you rev the engine hard then it gets very boomy-sounding without much acceleration in return, but everything settles down to an ignorable background thrum in unhurried driving. The 0-62mph time for the Niro PHEV is 9.6 seconds.

Ride comfort is acceptable, even on the 18-inch wheels that both of our test cars rode on, but bump absorption over sharp-potholes can be a bit jarring on those bigger wheels – especially at low speeds. The 16-inch wheels of 2 spec cars offer a smoother low-speed ride. The rest of the time, the hybrid Kia Niros are calm and collected, although do note that the pure electric Kia Niro EV is the best of the Niro models to drive, by some margin.

Technology, equipment & infotainment

The Kia Niro is available in three different trims – 2, 3 or 4. Whatever model you choose though you’ll get equipment such as dual-zone climate control, LED lights, adaptive cruise control, rear USB-C charging sockets, reversing camera and rear parking sensors. However, Entry-level 2 misses out on some fairly important stuff, including the lovely dual-screen setup of higher specs – instead it gets a standard 8.0-inch touchscreen and a more basic driver’s readout. It also lacks auto wipers and air vents for rear passengers, as well as the ability to control the level of regenerative braking via paddles on the back of the steering wheel.

Choose a 3 or 4 trim and you’ll get the dual 12.3-inch screens, with the central one being a touchscreen for all the infotainment needs including Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, satnav with charger search function, Bluetooth, digital radio and more. It’s a good system that’s easy to use thanks to sharp graphics, quick screen responses and logical menu layouts.

We also favour 3 trim as it gets heated and electrically adjustable seats with lumbar support, part-leatherette upholstery, keyless entry, paddle shifters for the gearbox or brake regen’, wireless phone charging, front parking sensors, air vents for those in the back, bigger 17-inch alloy wheels, blind spot warning, semi-autonomous drive mode, and more.

Go for the Kia Niro 4, and you get full leatherette upholstery, a sunroof, a Harman Kardon sound system, semi-autonomous parking aid, head-up display, ventilated front seats and 18-inch alloy wheels.

Every Kia Niro gets adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go function, autonomous emergency braking that can sense a bicycle, pedestrian or car, two pairs of Isofix points and seven airbags including a driver’s knee airbag.

Kia Niro running costs

The Kia Niro HEV costs from under £28,000 and runs up to around £34,000, while the Niro PHEV runs from under £34,000 up to £39,000. That’s competitive with many of its rivals, including the Toyota C-HR and Volkswagen T-Roc and Golf, although the Hyundai Kona Hybrid is usefully cheaper (albeit not as roomy). We’d like to see lower interest finance deals and monthly payments, but generally the Kia is reasonably priced for such a well-equipped, spacious car, provided you avoid the pricey 4 trim.

As for fuel economy, the Kia Niro HEV achieves combined WLTP fuel economy of around 61mpg and CO2 emissions of around 105g/km. You’ll see 45-50mpg without trying too hard, and upwards of 50mpg in situations where you can run on electric power frequently.

The Niro PHEV manages combined WLTP fuel economy of 353mpg, but you should always take official, claimed plug-in hybrid economy figures as, well, mostly nonsense. Better to figure out if you can charge easily, and cover most of your journeys on electric running – which will cost around half of what it will cost to run the petrol engine. Once the battery charge has depleted you still get some hybrid running capability, but don’t expect more than 40mpg in mixed driving conditions.

Service intervals are 12 months or 10,000 miles, which is a bit shorter than some alternatives. Kia routinely offers fixed price servicing deals.

Kia Niro reliability

Kia has an excellent reputation for reliability, meaning that a Kia Niro should deliver dependable, stress-free motoring. As a brand, Kia came a decent 9th out of 30 brands tested in the 2021 What Car? Used Car Survey, and Kia also did exceptionally well in the 2022 Driver Power survey, with the brand as a whole coming third overall, just behind Porsche and Tesla.

On top of that, there’s the seven year, 100,000-mile warranty which covers the car and its batteries – delivering peace of mind for both new-car buyers and those purchasing a Ki Niro on the secondhand market, too.