2nd Place: Kia Niro Eco
A quality low-cost EV contender
At first encounter, the Niro’s interior
seems to be doing a heck of an imperson-
ation of an old Nissan Versa taxicab. It’s
so plasticky-predictable that you wonder
if it’s cleverly deliberate, a safe haven for
first-time EV drivers still fretting that this
is one of those “science experiment” cars.
You do have to poke around to
understand how it could possibly cost
$47,405. Using its Monroney as a Rosetta
Stone, the mystery is revealed: It came
loaded. This EX Premium’s standard
features include a power sunroof,
ventilated front seats with power lumbar
support, a Harman Kardon sound system,
navigation, wireless phone charging,
adaptive cruise control, and strong-willed
lane centering. Our car (in California)
somehow had the $1,080 Cold Weather
package ( battery heater and heat pump)
and another $1,000 slipped in to honor
its being a Launch Edition (including a
heated steering wheel—strangely not part
of the Cold Weather package). There’s
also a total of $280 for carpeted floormats
and a cargo mat and net.
The Niro EV doesn’t delete all your
doubts once the Monroney is folded
away, either. “There’s no real-time power
reading or display,” said co-evaluator Alec
Brooks, an expert on charging and infra-
structure (and co-creator of the prototype
for GM’s EV1). “Eco mode provides very
light regen on accelerator-pedal lift, and
its steering wheel paddles have different
functionalities in different drive modes—it’s very confusing! To its credit, there’s
a paddle/mode combination that allows
pure coasting with no regen. But overall,
it’s way too complicated: two paddles,
multiple drive modes, tiny indicator on
dash showing regen level.”
I wrote some testy comments on its
at-the-limit performance while at the test
track, too: “Its steering is a bit abstract,
and it brakes as if by ropes.” After
running some laps through our stability-
challenging lane change test, I added, “It’s
the only car today that feels like it’s about
to spin. Spooky with stability control off.”
Nevertheless, this Niro EV handles
normal roads like a happy 6-month-old
puppy that keeps jumping at you with
affection, even if it occasionally slobbers a
little by mistake. If anything, its 239-mile
range is excessively conservative (I
repeatedly saw over 250), and its EV silk-
iness and right-pedal responsiveness are
a constant contrast with its appearance of
an ordinary gasoline car.
Often, I found myself glancing at a Tesla
next to me on the freeway, wanting to yell,
“Hey, this thing ’s better than you think
it is!” Despite the Leaf ’s and Bolt’s huge
head starts, the Kia Niro EV is currently
the best of the rest.The Kia Niro’s EPA-rated range of
239 miles seems conservative. Soft-
footed drivers likely eke out more.COMPARISON
48 MOTORTREND.COM APRIL 2020