Kia Niro Hybrid (for my brother)

[Gator_86_951]

Hey guys, what is our overall opinion of Kia cars? I know they are boring and I have read the reviews that say exactly that, but this Niro seems like the perfect fit for my older brother. He really likes the car and is looking to me for advice on the car itself and the buying process (he has never bought a car himself before). I have heard very positive things from the engineering side on Kias from Tier 1 engineers and suppliers, etc... I have never owned a Kia though.

He wants Burnt Orange, which requires upgrading to a higher trim, but the car is still only like $31k, not accounting for any tax incentives because of the hybrid part. Car would look like this.

He is currently driving a 2001 or 2002 Honda Civic my parents got him when he was in PT school. And that car has been beat to death. He lives in center city Philadelphia and is currently doing at-home PT. So, he is on the road A LOT. He also has a daughter who just turned 8, and they do a lot of soccer and that kind of thing.

What do you guys think?

[lupo.sk]

Kia / Hyundai have one of the best warranties all around (at least in yerp - 7 years bumper to bumper).
Knowing their internal processes and quality checks pretty well, I have 7 hyundais and 4 kias as company cars. A couple of them are leased since 2014 and there have been literaly ZERO issues with them even with company abuse by multiple drivers so I didn’t change them and extended lease at a better rate. My wife actually drives one 2015 i30 (elnatra gt in the US) nowadays since we’re waiting for the perfect 958 to pop up - and she likes it.

As for the NIRO, I like it quite a lot - it’s a very good car for the money. I had it as a demo loaner from our dealer (he had to put some miles on it and I know the owner personally). I drove that thing flat out on freeways for 500 miles, abused the shit out of it by repeatedly accelerating as hard as possible and never had an issue. And yes, you can get 16mpg in a Kia. Hybrid :D

[lupo.sk]

One more thibg: the trunk size sucks.

Btw: he should rent it from Hertz or whoever for a couple of days, I’ve had it two years ago at the PS.

[SeanR]

I wouldn't hesitate to own a Kia or a Hyndai but I know nothing about the hybrids they have.

[amdavid]

I personally would do some research on the hybrid units they use and how they compare to the competition at the given price point. I might do a Hyundai, but couldn't bring myself to own a Kia, but that's just me. I'm sure they're great "beaters".

[Gator_86_951]

You guys come through again. I will take the advice to do a little more research on their hybrids and suggest he rent one.

It is definitely going to get beaten on, that is for sure. Road quality in Filthadelphia is the purest of merde. The interstate is particularly bad.

[Gator_86_951]

Brother bought the car the other day. He is very happy. Did not want to wait around for the higher optioned orange one. Seems like a good deal all around for him.

[Voith]

Kia is upping it's game every year constantly while most other cars don't, at least not as much.

[unBilt 987]

I personally would do some research on the hybrid units they use and how they compare to the competition at the given price point. I might do a Hyundai, but couldn't bring myself to own a Kia, but that's just me. I'm sure they're great "beaters".

Keep in mind, Kia and Hyundai are generally the same car(s). Think of it like Chevy vs. Pontiac.

[amdavid]

Well $hit, I thought Hyundai's were japanese!....as stated, they're not!

[lupo.sk]

I had a niro electric loaner for a day a week ago and I have to say it was pretty fucking good. Nowhere near the range promised when I got it in the morning but I drove it like a florida man jacking off while high on coke.

I migh lease one as a company around town beater.

[alordofchaos]

Hey guys, I am late to the party as usual. But IIRC, CP (Pong) at RL bought a Niro a couple of years ago and wrote a pretty glowing review of it. Hopefully I am not getting the hybrid name mixed up with another car.

You could probably ping Pong for a long term ownership update

I thought about buying one for my wife as most of her driving is around town with only an occasional long trip but our youngest son is graduating college in a year (or so depending on COVID) and she can buy it herself then if she wants.

[Scott at Team Harco]

Hey guys, I am late to the party as usual. But IIRC, CP (Pong) at RL bought a Niro a couple of years ago and wrote a pretty glowing review of it. Hopefully I am not getting the hybrid name mixed up with another car.

You could probably ping Pong for a long term ownership update

I thought about buying one for my wife as most of her driving is around town with only an occasional long trip but our youngest son is graduating college in a year (or so depending on COVID) and she can buy it herself then if she wants.

Hey - there you are!

Welcome. Ask to get shown around. The good stuff is in the Dive Bar.

[i am not a traitor]

Hey guys, I am late to the party as usual. But IIRC, CP (Pong) at RL bought a Niro a couple of years ago and wrote a pretty glowing review of it. Hopefully I am not getting the hybrid name mixed up with another car.

You could probably ping Pong for a long term ownership update

I thought about buying one for my wife as most of her driving is around town with only an occasional long trip but our youngest son is graduating college in a year (or so depending on COVID) and she can buy it herself then if she wants.

Welcome, we all missed you! Do you have access to the Dive Bar?

[JDS968]

Hey guys, I am late to the party as usual. But IIRC, CP (Pong) at RL bought a Niro a couple of years ago and wrote a pretty glowing review of it. Hopefully I am not getting the hybrid name mixed up with another car.

You could probably ping Pong for a long term ownership update

I thought about buying one for my wife as most of her driving is around town with only an occasional long trip but our youngest son is graduating college in a year (or so depending on COVID) and she can buy it herself then if she wants.

Wow, glad you're back!! Missed having you around.

[Chunpng]

Hey guys, I am late to the party as usual. But IIRC, CP (Pong) at RL bought a Niro a couple of years ago and wrote a pretty glowing review of it. Hopefully I am not getting the hybrid name mixed up with another car.

You could probably ping Pong for a long term ownership update

I thought about buying one for my wife as most of her driving is around town with only an occasional long trip but our youngest son is graduating college in a year (or so depending on COVID) and she can buy it herself then if she wants.

Hi,

We missed you a bunch. I'm late to the other forums as well. Spent all my time in the Dive Bar.

Yes I bought a 2018 Kia Niro plug in hybrid. Had it since 2-28-2018, and only bought 6 tanks of gas, and that included a road trip to Portland OR this July. During that road trip, I got 46.8 MPG freeway driving on gas alone. That is an amazingly good gas mileage for me.

The plug in is good for 26 miles in the summer and 24 miles (winter) per charge. Amazingly that covers most of our daily use. As such we do not really need to buy gas at all.

On pricing, since I get close to $9,000 back from federal tax credit and CA rebates, it is actually cheaper than the regular hybrid version at the end of the day. The kicker is that I get a car pool lane sticker that allows me to drive solo legally in HOV lanes. In Bay Area traffic that is worth it's weight in gold.

The car is small enough that I can park it anywhere. We also have designated clean-air and EV parking spots in shopping centers so it helps in getting around. It is cheap enough ($27k net of rebates) that we don't really care if it is abused.

It does not have a lot of power. But we have such terrible traffic we can't use a powerful car anyway. That is is the only issue I have with it. It is not an M5 or a Ruf BTR, but I get by.

It has all the safety features and Android car-play. Things we don't have in our 2015 RX450H, so that is a plus.

All in all I love the Niro. My wife thinks it is too small. I may replace it with a RAV4 Prime, or a Kia Soranto plug in hybrid when it comes out.

Otherwise it is all good.

CP