Autocar - long-term impressions of the Kia Niro

All Kia Niro related discussions
AlanHo
Posts: 113
Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2016 10:05 pm

Post by AlanHo »

Darren

I have had my Niro 2 with ADAP for only 3 weeks - but have been abroad for 12 days so have not yet had much time to try it out. As of today, we have done 427 miles. the distance to empty reads 147 miles and the trip economy shows 59.9 mpg. However - I must have spent at least 2 hours in instalments sitting in the car stationary with the engine running whilst selecting the various settings, getting to know all the bells and whistles, synching my phone, getting speed cameras and traffic to display on the map screen and several abortive attempts to upload my address book coordinates from a USB stick.

After having the car for 2 to 3 days I produced a report on my "First Impressions". Much of the report was prepared in advance whilst I waited 21 weeks for the car to be delivered and I gathered as much information as I could from various web sources. It is only the driving impressions section that is new and still a work in progress. I was delighted with the car then - and my pleasure multiplies each time I drive it.

I will not believe the car's economy until I next brim the tank and use the actual mileage travelled since the initial brim. My previous cars computers have all over-stated the economy by 6.8 to 11.1%. By "brim" I mean that I literally brim the tank to the top of the filler neck. By actual mileage I mean the difference between the opening and closing odometer readings plus 1%. The 1% odometer error was determined on a long motorway run comparing the odometer distance with the kilometre distance boards on the motorway over a distance of about 50 miles.

As a retired engineer I still have a proper decibel meter which I have used in each of my last 4 cars. I took it with me on my Niro test drive - the salesman was amazed. Therefore - before I ordered the Niro - I knew that it would have the lowest cabin noise of any of my last 4 cars and my initial random readings have substantiated this. The Niro is roughly on average 2dB quieter than my previous petrol auto Venga which was about 1dB quieter than the 1.6 diesel Hyundai i30 I have before that. I intend doing some proper dB tests over my standard test route when I find the time. Cabin poise for me is of significance because I suffer from hearing loss and have to use hearing aids.

You will find my report here :-

https://1drv.ms/b/s!AsWeojYaF3Xu3TmKOflSyxAyS42f

I criticise the foot parking brake in my report - but confess it is growing on me. My wife hates it though.

Things we have missed compared with the Venga are
  • No light in the glove box
    Glove box not cooled from the A/C.
    No power socket in the boot for my rear car camera
    Front parking sensors
    A rev counter so we can see more clearly when the engine is running without having to change the instrument or map displays
    A smaller storage compartment in the front of the central binnacle
    The rear window and parking camera lens get dirty more quickly
It will be interesting to read your experiences in the Autocar. I freely admit that I am often bemused by magazine road tests because some of their findings are difficult to understand. I have seen road tests of the Niro that heavily criticise the cars handling, road holding, refinement etc - one report had the affrontery to say they it was poor at drifting. This is a car that is surely aimed at families and old folks like us who look for comfort, convenience, reliability, refinement and low ownership costs - all of which the Niro has in abundance. I am not a speed merchant and it disappoints when journalists downgrade a family saloon for it's lack of sports car behaviour. I hope you don't.
Currently Sept 2021 Niro 3 HEV in Ocean Blue

darrenmoss
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Mar 29, 2017 8:23 am

Post by darrenmoss »

geffren67 wrote:Hi my model 2 is now 7 months old. My previous car was a model 2 Sportage.
My experience of KIA and the local dealer has been very good. This is my first Hybrid and Automatic car, and it was quite an eye opener.

My maximum mpg so far is 76.3, that was a 100 mile trip across the country last weekend, using A/B roads and through small towns. I find the mpg is very temperature dependent, its now creeping up as its getting warmer, during the winter my lowest was 55 on my daily work run, now its 62. Hopefully this will continue to increase. I have also measured the fuel used, when I fill up and that tallies approximately with my daily figures. When the weather improves I will do the same for the longer trips.

The start up sequence caught me out on occasion, the foot handbrake took a little getting used to. I have tried the most of the functions on the dash board, including Android Auto. Very pleased with the displays and functionality. My only issue is that lack of a car microphone, at least I can't find one. It forces you to use the phones mic. You don't normally have a good conversation when the phones in your pocket!

Driving the automatic and hybrid, on that 100 mile drive, you get in to the habit of watching the mpg and trying to find the sweet spot where the engine either is at 75 mpg or its in electric mode. You start to groan when you drive up a hill, as the mpg figures drop and drop.

I am very impressed with the Niro, I would not hesitate to buy another KIA .
Hi geffren67,

Thanks for your comments. I have to say that I've not managed to get anything close to the MPG you describe - I think the best I've had has been 55/56mpg on a route with mostly motorways. Perhaps I need to try harder!

I tend to receive quite a lot of calls when I'm behind the wheel, and actually I'd say that audio quality at both ends is better in the Niro than in a lot of other cars in this price range.

I'll be interested to hear if your MPG continues to rise as the weather improves!

Best,

Darren
darrenmoss
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Mar 29, 2017 8:23 am

Post by darrenmoss »

AlanHo wrote:Darren

I have had my Niro 2 with ADAP for only 3 weeks - but have been abroad for 12 days so have not yet had much time to try it out. As of today, we have done 427 miles. the distance to empty reads 147 miles and the trip economy shows 59.9 mpg. However - I must have spent at least 2 hours in instalments sitting in the car stationary with the engine running whilst selecting the various settings, getting to know all the bells and whistles, synching my phone, getting speed cameras and traffic to display on the map screen and several abortive attempts to upload my address book coordinates from a USB stick.

After having the car for 2 to 3 days I produced a report on my "First Impressions". Much of the report was prepared in advance whilst I waited 21 weeks for the car to be delivered and I gathered as much information as I could from various web sources. It is only the driving impressions section that is new and still a work in progress. I was delighted with the car then - and my pleasure multiplies each time I drive it.

I will not believe the car's economy until I next brim the tank and use the actual mileage travelled since the initial brim. My previous cars computers have all over-stated the economy by 6.8 to 11.1%. By "brim" I mean that I literally brim the tank to the top of the filler neck. By actual mileage I mean the difference between the opening and closing odometer readings plus 1%. The 1% odometer error was determined on a long motorway run comparing the odometer distance with the kilometre distance boards on the motorway over a distance of about 50 miles.

As a retired engineer I still have a proper decibel meter which I have used in each of my last 4 cars. I took it with me on my Niro test drive - the salesman was amazed. Therefore - before I ordered the Niro - I knew that it would have the lowest cabin noise of any of my last 4 cars and my initial random readings have substantiated this. The Niro is roughly on average 2dB quieter than my previous petrol auto Venga which was about 1dB quieter than the 1.6 diesel Hyundai i30 I have before that. I intend doing some proper dB tests over my standard test route when I find the time. Cabin poise for me is of significance because I suffer from hearing loss and have to use hearing aids.

You will find my report here :-

https://1drv.ms/b/s!AsWeojYaF3Xu3TmKOflSyxAyS42f

I criticise the foot parking brake in my report - but confess it is growing on me. My wife hates it though.

Things we have missed compared with the Venga are
  • No light in the glove box
    Glove box not cooled from the A/C.
    No power socket in the boot for my rear car camera
    Front parking sensors
    A rev counter so we can see more clearly when the engine is running without having to change the instrument or map displays
    A smaller storage compartment in the front of the central binnacle
    The rear window and parking camera lens get dirty more quickly
It will be interesting to read your experiences in the Autocar. I freely admit that I am often bemused by magazine road tests because some of their findings are difficult to understand. I have seen road tests of the Niro that heavily criticise the cars handling, road holding, refinement etc - one report had the affrontery to say they it was poor at drifting. This is a car that is surely aimed at families and old folks like us who look for comfort, convenience, reliability, refinement and low ownership costs - all of which the Niro has in abundance. I am not a speed merchant and it disappoints when journalists downgrade a family saloon for it's lack of sports car behaviour. I hope you don't.
Hi AlanHo,

Very interesting to hear your experiences of the Niro so far, and I'll take a look at your report. It's interesting to see you've had a string of Hyundai and Kia cars, I wonder what attracted you to both brands?

I agree especially with your point about the rear parking camera getting dirty very quickly - mine is forever becoming smudged, especially in winter when there's so much mud on the roads.

I wouldn't go so far as to say that the Niro offers great handling or driving enjoyment - my experience has been quite the opposite, in fact - and there are many alternative hybrids around, but it's certainly a competent and largely economical car.

Look forward to hearing more.

Best,

Darren
AlanHo
Posts: 113
Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2016 10:05 pm

Post by AlanHo »

I have brimmed the tank of my Niro 2 after travelling 584 miles after the initial fill when I bought it.
During this period the car has done a couple of relatively long motorway/main road trips – the remaining 260 miles being urban.

This is the result

http://i.imgur.com/fU2KLcr.jpg

I deliberately ran the car as low in petrol as I dared.
At a DTE of 75 miles the fuel gauge changed from 4 blocks (1/4) to 3 (3/16)
At a DTE of 60 miles it changed to 2 blocks (1/8)
At a DTE of 45 miles it changed to 1 block (1/16) and the low fuel warning came on
5 miles later at a DTE of 42 miles a bell sounded and the head unit screen displayed a message which said “Fuel is low. Do you wish to see a list of the nearest service stations YES NO”

I pressed Yes as a test and it listed about a dozen service stations in distance order. I pressed in the nearest one and the satnav set up the route.

You will note that the trip computer for this tank declared an economy of 67.2 mpg but the calculated figure (allowing for the odometer reading 1.05% pessimistic having been carefully checked over a long distance against the motorway kilometre distance boards)) was 63.7 mpg. An error of 5.3%.

I am quite pleased with the economy but there is a caveat. During the first two days of ownership I must have spent at least two hours, in instalments, sitting in the car with the petrol engine ticking over whilst I fiddled with the various settings, familiarised myself with the controls and features, made several abortive attempts to upload into the address book some waypoints I saved to a memory stick stored in .kmz and .kml format etc. This will have distorted the calculations because some petrol was not used to propel the car.

Hence the true mpg result is likely to be a little better and the trip computer display error a little less.

Note for Darren Moss

You mention poor economy on your test car. On another KIA forum you will find that members owning quite a few Niro 3 and FE cars have been back to the dealer for an ECU update to cure gearbox hesitation and poor economy. Perhaps you should check with KIA that your car has been updated.
Currently Sept 2021 Niro 3 HEV in Ocean Blue
AlanHo
Posts: 113
Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2016 10:05 pm

Post by AlanHo »

Darren - you asked about my experience with Hyundai - Kia

In 2010 I had an Audi A4 Avant petrol mutitronic which was a lovely car but had poor economy. It was near the end of the warranty, I had concerns about the cost of any gearbox problems and I was minded to buy an Audi A3 2.0 diesel.

My wife had a Hyundai Amica and she decided to give the Hyundai i10 a try. I went with her to the Hyundai dealers and off she went for a test drive of a 1.2 i10 petrol manual.

Whilst I was waiting, I took a look at the Hyundai cars in the showroom and was rather impressed with the FD i30 1.6 diesel. So off I went for a test drive. It drove as well as the A3, was as comfortable, had more boys toys, was £5,500 less and had a 5 year warranty. It really was a no brainer.

We left the dealers 2 hours later having ordered an i10 and an i30. Both cars were splendid and made me wonder why I had owned a series of 3 Audis. Bear in mind we are both elderly and retired so the qualities we look for in a car may not be what a younger person seeks

Two years later Hyundai launched the GD i30 and I was invited to attend the launch at Silverstone and test drive the new model. I was smitten and ordered one.

In 2013 we moved house to a retirement complex where we had a single garage - so we decided to get rid of one of the cars. We swapped them for a new i30 1.6 diesel tourer

My wife has arthritis in her hand and back problems. She was finding getting in and out of a low car difficult which is when we bought our first Venga. A Venga 3 1,6 petrol manual. Another splendid car but the problem with her left had was making gear changing a chore so in 2015 we swapped it for an auto Venga 3 which was the perfect car for our lifestyle and physical problems. However - even though the six speed auto it was a touch thirsty and averaged 38.8 mpg over the 18 months we owned it..

Then along came the Niro, an old friend left me a bequest in his will to buy a new car - so I did.
Currently Sept 2021 Niro 3 HEV in Ocean Blue
smileymiley
Posts: 13
Joined: Sat Apr 08, 2017 7:25 am

Post by smileymiley »

Had the Niro FE for about 3 weeks & just covered the run in mileage yesterday. My wife is the main driver so it doesn't get long trips out. We came to this vehicle from a 64 plate Toyota Auris Hybrid.
The Niro being slightly higher is easier for my wife to get in & out. Tho less powerful than the Auris it's is a very nice car.
Did the first long run yesterday, 100 miles to Rickmansworth via M1 & M25. Mostly on adaptive cruise control & got this as the mpg.

20170407_113915.jpg

20170407_113926.jpg

Pleased with that as it is more than we could get with the Auris.
The only real issue I have is the front parking sensors have to be manually switched on if you are coming into a parking space. Both front and rear come on automatically when reverse is activated. But the front need you to remember before you hit that low level bollard! All the sensors on the Toyota were on all the time unless they were deactivated manually.
Otherwise pleased with this car ... up to press ;)
Vini, Vidi, Velcro

I came, I saw, I stuck around
Greenman
Posts: 108
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2016 7:11 pm
Location: West London

Post by Greenman »

Regularly go to my daughter's about 5 miles and usually get around 55mpg. Yesterday traffic was unusually heavy and got 64mpg. Said before that most cars I have had performed best around 65mph, the Niro seems to like 25mph.
Mike R
Niro 2 Black [no additional driving aids] Since 1 Sept 2016
Previously: Sportage KX2awd on11 plate
Terry
Posts: 9
Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2017 3:19 pm

Post by Terry »

A strange thing for me with the Niro is that fuel consumption is best in slow moving traffic. Travelling 120 km / hr gives the worst results for petrol usage- judging from the information on the dash. If I really put the boot down, I pay for it! I haven't yet done an independent mileage check. Will do. The engine seems to 'knock off' in slow / stop traffic. Strangely, if I leeep the fan 'off' the engline will stay silent for longer periods -thus using less petrol. Not sur ewhy this is>? I also got 100% for most economical usage when I was travelling slowly ( 40-50km/hr, max) on country roads.

thanks Terry (Ireland)
Suman
Posts: 103
Joined: Tue Apr 11, 2017 11:19 am
Location: London

Post by Suman »

I've had my Niro First Edition for almost 2 weeks now and I have noticed that the economy is poorest for the first 2 or 3 miles of the day as the engine gets up to temperature. From then on the economy is significantly better.

If you're doing short journeys of up to maybe 4 miles, then you definitely won't get the best out of it. I'm doing a commute in West London from near Wembley to Earls Court and I'm now getting 54mpg on my 8 mile journey.
Kia Stinger GTS in Panthera Metallic Grey
Previously: Kia Niro First Edition in Pearlescent White, Mercedes GL 420 cdi, Lexus LS460 SE-L, Renault Laguna Initiale 2.0 dci, Lexus LS 460 SE-L, Renault Megane 1.9 dci, Toyota Supra 3.0 Turbo
djbobbins
Posts: 132
Joined: Fri Mar 03, 2017 7:57 pm

Post by djbobbins »

Terry wrote:A strange thing for me with the Niro is that fuel consumption is best in slow moving traffic. Travelling 120 km / hr gives the worst results for petrol usage- judging from the information on the dash. If I really put the boot down, I pay for it! I haven't yet done an independent mileage check. Will do. The engine seems to 'knock off' in slow / stop traffic. Strangely, if I leeep the fan 'off' the engline will stay silent for longer periods -thus using less petrol. Not sur ewhy this is>? I also got 100% for most economical usage when I was travelling slowly ( 40-50km/hr, max) on country roads.

thanks Terry (Ireland)
What mpg are you getting at motorway speeds, Terry? And what model Niro are you running?
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