As extra buddies and prolonged household heat as much as the concept of electrical autos, I’ve seen an more and more frequent request: Which EVs supply all-wheel drive and may be had for below $40,000?
The reply: Not the 2023 Kia Niro EV. Not a single mannequin within the American market proper now.
The Niro—hybrid, plug-in hybrid, or EV—has been a front-wheel-drive automotive disguised as an SUV from the beginning. When the last-generation Niro rolled out, Kia conceded that it was all-wheel drive as a future chance. After Kia handed on bringing the marginally smaller, stylishly boxy, front-drive Soul EV to America, the Niro EV’s the place I’d most anticipated AWD in its second era. However right here, it returns with a single-motor, front-wheel-drive structure.
In latest drive time with the Niro EV, I discovered it to be a considerably higher automotive in almost each manner, however from a model that’s wowed with its EV6 and teased a correspondingly transformative EV9 SUV, it’s merely an incremental enchancment over the automotive it changed.
To that time, it boasts no huge advance in expertise and no important leaps in effectivity or vary. And it backslides a bit on worth—with the lack of the outgoing mannequin’s $7,500 EV tax credit score inescapably a part of it.
2023 Kia Niro EV
2023 Kia Niro EV
2023 Kia Niro EV
For a model that’s now not about worth on the core, the proposition will get probably the most awkward proper right here, on the verge of an EV value warfare, the place a Niro EV matches in.
The 2023 Kia Niro EV begins at $40,745 for the bottom Wind mannequin or $45,745 for the better-equipped Wave model. My take a look at car was a Niro EV Wave, with the $1,300 Wave Protect Bundle (warmth pump plus rear outboard seats) plus premium Snow White Pearl paint, bringing it to $47,635.
That’s solely about $5,000 lower than the final 2022 Kia EV6 I drove, a loaded GT-Line that felt in a totally totally different league on general driving refinement. Or, to see it one other manner, it’s $20,000 greater than the Niro hybrid that shares the identical sheetmetal and inside look and comes fairly properly outfitted.
Kia tried to make up for this near-overlap in pricing between the 2 fashions by canceling the base-battery model of the EV6 and elevating costs considerably on the remainder of the EV6 line. However the issue wasn’t that the EV6 was underpriced; it’s that the Niro EV is overpriced.
If EV6 is a excessive achiever, Niro EV is an efficient passing grade
When the Kia Niro EV arrived for 2019, it was following within the footsteps of the earlier Kia Soul EV—and it was an enormous step ahead in refinement, vary, charging, and just about each side of EV possession.
Now, the Niro EV is overshadowed by the superb EV6. Oh, it’s undoubtedly borrowed some methods from its huge brother, although. The Niro EV has made huge advances in cabin supplies, the interface, and the up-close tactile really feel of every part. What hasn’t superior a lot is what the Niro EV gives in refinement and efficiency—which fall into the “simply sufficient” class on each counts.
2023 Kia Niro EV
2023 Kia Niro EV
2023 Kia Niro EV
The Niro’s single permanent-magnet motor makes 201 hp, and in case you take off rapidly from a cease, it makes abundantly clear that it’s delivering its 188 lb-ft of torque by the entrance wheels, working these not-so-grippy Kumho Solus tires which might be quiet-riding however appear to be the limiting issue for all arenas of efficiency.
Merging onto a stretch of freeway with truck tramlines and a few tough spots within the rain, I actually needed to maintain onto the steering wheel tightly—not as a result of its acceleration is something exceptional, however as a result of these entrance tires did there too appear extra traction-challenged than they need to be.
At something lower than that, and leisurely round city, you gained’t give it some thought, and by most assessments it feels fast and quiet. Kia quotes the identical 7.8-second 0-62 mph acceleration that it gave the first-generation Niro EV—a determine that was conservative by greater than a second by many measurements.
Simply as within the EV6 and the earlier Niro EV, Kia gives three selectable ranges of regenerative braking, plus one which’s basically coasting, and one other mode permitting computerized management of it. We have been happiest with the center setting. Brake mixing is properly performed within the closing stretches of stops, and we discovered the four-wheel discs to do as they need to in a high-speed cease.
2023 Kia Niro EV
The Niro EV weighs about 3,800 kilos, which is about 50 kilos lower than the outgoing mannequin, and that makes it one of many lighter EVs in the marketplace. The battery pack capability nudges as much as 65 kwh (64.8, formally), but the burden of the complete pack has misplaced 33 kilos, to 975 kilos.
That mentioned, the Niro EV handles like what it’s—a really heavy small automotive, albeit one which carries the majority of its weight low. There’s a whole lot of physique lean in corners, and it doesn’t unload from corners or heaves in a manner that conjures up you in any respect to drive rapidly.
In a relative sense, it’s faster than comparable gasoline small vehicles, however priced the place it’s, it must do higher. As an example, I revisited the much-lower-priced Chevy Bolt EUV (extra to come back on that) quickly after the Niro EV and it felt positively nimble and muscle-car-like. It’s all relative.
2023 Kia Niro EV
2023 Kia Niro EV
2023 Kia Niro EV
2023 Kia Niro EV
Conflicting impressions in and out
No less than from the surface, the Niro EV doesn’t appear to be a $45,000 automotive. It’s slightly extra gimmicky than you would possibly anticipate from the images. The slabs of decrease physique cladding name out outdoorsy, however it has the journey peak of a sedan; the nonsense of a rear window behind rear passenger’s heads is gone, however it’s changed with a contrast-color rear pillar that’s making an attempt awfully arduous; the entrance aero look appears sharply detailed and easy suddenly.
Inside, I actually preferred the grippy but breathable really feel of the perforated artificial leather-based upholstery within the Wave-trim take a look at automotive. However the seats themselves really feel like small-car seats designed for the town—or for smaller folks. I’m a long-legged 6-foot-6, and I fussed for some time with the seat, failing to tilt it again far sufficient to assist my thighs with the slightly quick decrease cushion, and my knee rested towards the ahead left fringe of the middle console. What’s extra, the seats have an odd contouring, maybe meant to stop whiplash accidents, that locations the headrest uncomfortably shut, whereas developing quick on mid-back assist.
The seats within the Volkswagen ID.4, as an example, have significantly better again and thigh assist, as an example, and people within the Nissan Ariya really feel positively plush subsequent to those.
2023 Kia Niro EV
2023 Kia Niro EV
2023 Kia Niro EV
In backseat area, nevertheless, the Niro EV is a champ. There’s a lot of headroom and legroom in again, and the tall door cuts imply that it’s straightforward not simply to get in however to load youngsters and little one seats. I mulled what it was precisely that made me really feel extra cozy within the again than in entrance, however it comes right down to plush cushioning. Take notice ride-hailing drivers.
General dimensions change solely barely, however sufficient to spell out that it is a important reengineering of the platform slightly than a refresh. Constructed on a 107.0-inch wheelbase—up from 106.3 inches within the first era—the Niro EV is now 174.0 inches lone, 71.8 inches broad, and 61.8 inches tall. That’s up almost two inches in size however only a fraction of an inch within the different measurements.
Subtle display screen area
The second-generation Niro EV retains the earlier mannequin’s new-design rotary shifter (with a Park button within the center), however just about remakes every part else round it in a broad swooping arc of an instrument panel that you just’ll heat as much as rapidly.
The interface of the Niro EV aligns intently with that of the EV6 and a number of the different newest Kia fashions, supplying you with two 10.3-inch shows—certainly one of them a configurable gauge cluster, the opposite a touchscreen for local weather, leisure, navigation, communications, and different car settings.
It’s a improbable, responsive interface, with vivid shows and readability constructed into its menu system, and it carries over a just-right minimalist method that, with a toggle of a button, recasts a row of buttons within the center for both local weather or navigation/leisure capabilities.
2023 Kia Niro EV
2023 Kia Niro EV
2023 Kia Niro EV
Vary and effectivity
The Niro EV has an EPA-rated vary of 253 miles—and, we should always notice, an EPA-combined score of 113 MPGe. That’s almost 3.4 miles per kwh.
I didn’t fairly see that, and what I noticed, efficiency-wise, was good however not wow-worthy.
Over the course of simply three already-busy days, I managed to do some longer, metro-area errands every day, plus a quick run out to some extra inspiring backroads—altogether together with 4 “chilly begins” that required the local weather system to heat the automotive up (merely setting it to 72 levels and Auto). I began out with a 94% cost and drove the Niro EV about metro-area errands over three days, plugging into my dwelling charger at 19% earlier than turning the automotive again within the subsequent morning.
Over 141.2 miles that I’d name a close to equal mixture of metropolis, suburban, and freeway driving, with a median velocity of 37.7 mph, in keeping with the journey meter, I averaged 3.1 mi/kwh. Temperatures have been chilly however delicate, primarily within the higher 40s and low 50s over the time I had the Niro EV.
That’s not fairly nearly as good as I’ve seen within the EV6 below fairly comparable temps and driving circumstances. It might underscore some extent, which is that the Niro EV isn’t constructed on a devoted EV platform; it’s nonetheless successfully the electrical model of a platform that features hybrid and plug-in hybrid variations.
The U.S. Niro EV comes with a 7.2-kw onboard charger that enables a full cost in round 9 hours. A cost at 120 volts takes greater than 57 hours. And gosh, we’re grateful they left the cost port in entrance.
On pricing and worth, you need to actually find it irresistible
What’s going to buyers trying on the Niro EV additionally take into account? Firstly, it’s arduous to not see the Chevy Bolt EUV, which begins at lower than $29,000, as competitors. A top-trim 2023 Bolt EUV Premier optioned to the brim with GM’s glorious Tremendous Cruise system, a glass roof, and Bose audio provides as much as $37,990 together with vacation spot. Sure, its considerably extra cramped inside and trim particulars really feel a half-league beneath, however it’s punchier to drive and positively no much less environment friendly.
That’s a $10,000 distinction. Earlier than contemplating the $7,500 EV tax credit score the Bolt EUV is presently eligible for; the made-in-South-Korea Niro EV isn’t.
2023 Kia Niro EV
There’s one thing damaged in pricing right here, and to hammer again at some extent, GM dropped the value of the Chevrolet Bolt household forward of the upcoming Chevy Equinox EV, and Nissan dropped Leaf costs forward of the Ariya’s arrival, however there was no such recalibration right here.
Does it underscore the urgency any additional, Kia, if I level out that at the moment many different EVs are nonetheless being offered at $5,000 or $10,000 supplier markups, my native dealership is promoting Niro EVs at a $2,500 low cost?
This story can be very totally different if the Niro EV had dual-motor all-wheel drive. With good winter tires, a front-wheel-drive EV will in all probability be simply positive—particularly with the superior (assume milliseconds of response time) traction methods that almost all fashions now have. However for households popping out of all-wheel-drive Outbacks or RAV4 Hybrids, it provides them what they assume they want.
The best way that it lands on the numbers in as we speak’s market, the Niro EV is a puzzling product. Fashions just like the upcoming Equinox EV—or, maybe the Soul EV Kia balked at earlier than—is likely to be nearer to what Individuals need and want.