You have entered an incorrect email address! Drive Life is New Zealand's Enthusiast Driven Motoring Publication, your stop for in depth car reviews and news. You have entered an incorrect email address! It's been the watercooler talk for most of the year, the brand new and dramatically redesigned Land Rover Defender. The impending gleam of something called 'Predictive Energy Control', works with the sat nav to optimise hybrid system performance. By the time I returned the car after my week of driving I check the driving style stats that show in the screen of the instrument cluster. So while the Niro is based on the same platform as the Hyundai Ioniq, it's a small SUV rather than a Toyota Prius-esque hatchback. I did find a couple of times when reversing out of car parks there was a small delay when shifting back to 1st. It's been the watercooler talk for most of the year, the brand new and dramatically redesigned Land Rover Defender. Once I got over the buttons, the interior is nice and spacious. Firstly, it isn’t at its optimal performance new and in cold weather – plus mine had a software upgrade in April that seemed to make the electric motor keener to intervene! Niro’s hybrid powertrain is a 1.6-litre direct injection petrol engine producing 77kW of power and 147Nm of torque with a 32kW electric motor in the hybrid and 44.5kW engine in the PHEV with a lithium-ion polymer battery pack. Push the start button and the petrol engine fires and starts to warm up. I am a real fan of the Kia grille, it’s fairly simple but gives a feel of elegance that usually might come from a more expensive car. The ride is a little crashy, which is hard to stomach in what's meant to be a family car, but that's a small caveat in something that's otherwise so staggeringly competent. Kia have brought in two UK-spec Niro Eco Hybrids to test New Zealand dealer and press reactions, so we were happy to try it out. Secondly, those wheels on your test model make a huge difference to emissions and fuel economy. The PHEV has the best ride due to the battery giving it a stable ride around tight corners while the hybrid felt more suited to city and motorway driving. I would accelerate and the electric engine would get me moving, but once the computer figured out I needed to go faster it would turn on the petrol engine which you would hear. The Niro’s platform is all new for Kia and has been engineered separately from its other products to accommodate a specific set of environmentally conscious technologies and next-generation powertrains. Kia taps into the zeitgeist with an all-new hybrid compact crossover, but conventional models like the Nissan Qashqai, Renault Kadjar and Honda HR-V will take some beating Kia Niro Review … The centre of the instrument cluster had a 3.5” display for showing different kinds of driver info including speed, fuel economy, energy flow, attention level and driving style – more on that later. That depends: do you want a small-medium SUV or an inexpensive hybrid? This was at an average speed of 30kph. I can't recall where it all started, possibly the desire to own a beautiful classic car that was a bit different. There’s a central 7” touch screen which seems a little small compared to other cars but it has excellent contrast and the touch screen is more responsive than I expected. The second issue we had was the body roll in the corners. But the six-speed DCT has been re-engineered specifically for use with the Niro’s hybrid powertrain to deliver a more direct response rather than the traditional electronic continuously variable transmission (e-CVT). Racing games is where my love for cars started. It would prefer you to think of it as a small SUV that just happens to be super-economical. Niro rides on a platform designed specifically for electrified vehicles. Incidentally our old mitsi colt always returns 5.6 ltrs per 100kms right now. As you can see they all share the same petrol engine that will produce 104kW and 317Nm of torque combined with the electric engine. Company Number: LP003328 Registered Office: Academic House, 24-28 Oval Road, London, NW1 7DT. This one does come with most of the LTD features except that it has 16” alloy wheels and a 5” LCD touchscreen display with radio, MP3 and 6 speakers. d the noticeable change from electric to petrol engines was a disappointment. It also does not come with Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. I did find the Kia Niro initially to be a bit daunting or confusing with all its buttons, but did grow to like it. You might have heard of the Hyundai Ioniq. The Niro Limited PHEV can be recharged externally and covers a claimed 55km on battery power before it reverts to hybrid operation. That's no big deal really and no different to Volkswagen Group having a portfolio of different brands. Our Niro EX test car is indeed a "conventional" hybrid in that it … But this is where McDonald decided to switch things up and add the new acronym, HUV. It has more ground clearance than your average small car and almost as much as the Sportage (160mm versus 172mm). I managed to get 4.8L per 100km which is not as low as the advertised 3.8L but still a very good figure nonetheless. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. I... Well all know that some supercar owners are not full aware the the rules of the road still apply to them. For base model however you do get a lot of kit for your money. Drive Life is New Zealand's Enthusiast Driven Motoring Publication, your stop for in depth car reviews and news. Check out our Best Hybrids and Plug-In Electric cars list. The next thing I thought to myself was it’s not as high as I thought it would have been for an SUV, even a compact one. Oversensitive auto lights. It has 18” alloy wheels, front and rear parking sensors, lane change assist, blind spot detection, auto dimming rear view mirror, leather seats, heated front seats, rain sensing wipers, aluminium pedals, tinted rear windows, and smart proximity key with push-button start. This translates to surprisingly good handling, with the Niro nipping around corners with more grace than I expected. By combining a crossover with hybrid running gear, Kia is plugging two in-demand market … Secondly, with both the hybrid and crossover segments growing strongly (the former, Kia anticipates, at the expense of diesel power), it provides eco-friendly competition for a growing raft of hybrids – including Toyota's Prius. Combine this with my love for technology and that has made me who I am today. Fruit-picking jobs going begging: Who is really to blame? All registered in England and Wales. This is something I did not see on the flat, I wondered if it was because the incline was too steep for the electric engine to kick in and help or maybe the computer just needed some tuning for this kind of driving. So Kia is hoping the low fuel economy and the Niro’s SUV packaging will be what attracts buyers in New Zealand. It's great to see what people do with cars, the different car cultures. Curious when it comes from the company that brought us the out-there Soul and Stinger models. I love everything about cars! Pressing the throttle right down does get a quicker response if you need it. The 45-litre fuel tank and lithium-ion battery pack (which weighs less than 35kg) fit side-by-side under the rear seat, so you get a reasonable 401-litre boot and rear seats that split/fold 60/40 for larger loads. It is, perhaps, starting to feel as if the next generation of interior design might be hurried along a little to raise the bar if premium competition is an aspiration. The six-speed dual-clutch transmission is a smooth shifter and works well with the hybrid powertrain. Just don’t call it a hybrid around McDonald or Kia NZ. Which made me feel good that I had tried to embrace the eco hybrid style of driving as much as I could and was happy to see it showed in a final fuel economy figure. Calculations are based on an interest rate of 10% per annum over a 3 year term with no deposit. This is a bit difficult as there are not many hybrid SUVs. The Niro lacks the dedicated, switchable EV drive mode that allows some hybrids to murmur a couple of kilometres under electric motor power only. It seems like a lot of buttons at first glance but they are intuitive and easy to use. In the centre of this dial were your remaining battery power and remaining fuel along with a distance to the next refuel estimate. Firstly the Niro’s lack of torque at higher revs started to show, I was having to put my foot down quite a bit between corners just to keep an ok average speed to not cause a giant tailback behind me. Kia have brought in two UK-spec Niro Eco Hybrids to test New Zealand dealer and press reactions, so we were happy to try it out. It's very easy to drive around town, with light steering and good low-speed manoeuvrability, a lot of it under electric power alone. It’s likely that they will import the plug-in hybrid version for the New Zealand market which will be very similar. Jostling power delivery between the engine and electric motor, or combining both, the system develops a total of 139bhp, which makes its way to the front wheels via a six-speed, dual-clutch automatic gearbox. One feature that I like on all Kias I’ve tested with keyless entry is that when you get close to the car they unfold the mirrors and light up LEDs in the door handles like they’re greeting you. Vital statistics: 4355mm long, 1535mm high, 2700mm wheelbase, luggage capacity 401-1322 litres, 16-inch alloy wheels with 205/60 tyres. For instance, boosting electric motor power on inclines and charging the battery on downhill sections. Onto the 1.6-litre LTD PHEV which is $55,990 and it has almost a mix of the two hybrid cars’ features and some of its own. I bought a Niro here in Ireland in January and have enjoyed the experience a lot. The steering's accurate, albeit devoid of noticeable feel, and body roll is well controlled. This meant that on the short 1-2km trips I do most mornings to drop my daughter at school it didn’t really use the electric motors, and that combined with the window defrosters and heater meant it only managed around 15l/100km; proof that there are some situations where eco cars are not the most economical solution. Stops and starts of the petrol motor are almost imperceptible and with music playing the only way I could tell was when the small green EV light lit up on the dash. This also helped the people seated up front from getting a knee in their back. 2020 Renault Megane RS Trophy – Car Review – The Hot... 2020 Hyundai i30 N Fastback – Car Review – A new... 2020 Mercedes-Benz GLB 250 – Car Review – When an... Infiniti QX60 Monograph makes its global debut at Infiniti’s new home... 2020 Mazda SkyActiv-X – the world’s first compression-ignition petrol engine. Everything looks respectable, but not altogether homogenous in execution. But it’s the fuel economy that Kia NZ likes to promote. As standard you get rear parking sensors, lane keep assist, hill start assist, reversing camera with dynamic guidelines, electronically adjustable and folding side mirrors, auto bi-function projection headlights, daytime running lights, leather steering wheel, cruise control, 16” alloy wheels, cloth seats, tyre pressure monitor, climate control with auto temperature control, 7” touchscreen with radio, MP3 and 6 speakers, Bluetooth with voice recognition, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, smart cruise control and a 3.5” LCD display in the instrument cluster. Equipment levels are high throughout, with trim levels running 2,3 and 4. I have no doubt that this would come down to high 4’s if you took a journey to work each day of over 10 minutes. I looked up the Niro online before I went to collect it, and found it on the Kia US website. Kia New Zealand’s boss Todd McDonald has created a new acronym for his latest compact SUV, the Niro. It was based more on your driving style overall not just in the moment or per trip.
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