Kia Niro EV - new owner in the U.S.

  • Thread starter Thread starter TandM
  • Start date Start date
  • Replies Replies 123
  • Views Views 42K
TandM

TandM

Active Member
Hello. On Monday (April 22nd) we picked up a Kia Niro EV in Maryland and now have it home with us in Ohio. We are happy to try to answer any questions we can about it from an owner's perspective.

Just a bit of background, we bought a Leaf in 2017 so we have 2 years of EV driving experience. We did rely on a route planner to help us figure in speeds, temperatures, elevation changes, etc. for our drive from purchase to home since we were traveling nearly 400 miles in a new vehicle that we purchased sight unseen (https://abetterrouteplanner.com/).

20190422_143739.webp 20190423_115020.webp 20190423_134225.webp NiroSheetRedacted.webp
 
Congratulations. I really want to buy this car but. But it's getting expensive. I have 2018 Nissan leaf and it has heated seats and heated steering wheel. To get that in Niro I have to pay as option and has to go with top trim level. Which comes to be $47000. Also looking at 2019 Nissan SL plus which comes to be around $42000.

But kia is bigger. So I am debating.

Sent from my Nokia 7.1 using Tapatalk
 
Looking forward to your posts! I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of the new Soul EV, and I will likewise buy in Maryland. Can't wait to bring one home to Virginia. [emoji16]

Sent from my 2PZC5 using Tapatalk
 
pmmrkm said:
Congratulations. I really want to buy this car but. But it's getting expensive. I have 2018 Nissan leaf and it has heated seats and heated steering wheel. To get that in Niro I have to pay as option and has to go with top trim level. Which comes to be $47000. Also looking at 2019 Nissan SL plus which comes to be around $42000.

But kia is bigger. So I am debating.

Sent from my Nokia 7.1 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

We really love our 2017 Leaf but the lack of active thermal battery management kept us from considering a longer range version of it. We took a cool weather longer distance trip in ours that required multiple quick charges and highway miles. We saw the battery not only heat up while driving and charging but even with overnight temperatures in the 40s the battery didn't cool back down so we were starting out the return to home trip at an elevated battery temperature level. We realized then that we couldn't even consider doing the same type of trip in summer months and that Leaf was out for us until they change the battery management.

For us, the Kia Niro EV made sense to replace our 2010 Fusion Hybrid (which we use for longer range travel to our families and daughter away at college) and the Leaf can remain our daily commuter.
 
TandM said:
Hello. On Monday (April 22nd) we picked up a Kia Niro EV in Maryland and now have it home with us in Ohio. We are happy to try to answer any questions we can about it from an owner's perspective.

Just a bit of background, we bought a Leaf in 2017 so we have 2 years of EV driving experience. We did rely on a route planner to help us figure in speeds, temperatures, elevation changes, etc. for our drive from purchase to home since we were traveling nearly 400 miles in a new vehicle that we purchased sight unseen (https://abetterrouteplanner.com/).

View attachment 4560 View attachment 4561 View attachment 4562 View attachment 4563
Click to expand...
Oh, I like that holographic looking detail in the door panel. I hadn't seen that before.

Just wondering what the highest charge rates you saw (assuming you DC-fast charged).
 
Domenick said:
Oh, I like that holographic looking detail in the door panel. I hadn't seen that before.

Just wondering what the highest charge rates you saw (assuming you DC-fast charged).
Click to expand...

You have to have the right lighting to spot the door trim detail (I ended up with the door open to be able to get it to show up in a photo).

The highest we pulled was 74kW on a 350kW Electrify America charger (and maxed out at 50kW on a 50kW EVGo).
 
TandM said:
You have to have the right lighting to spot the door trim detail (I ended up with the door open to be able to get it to show up in a photo).

The highest we pulled was 74kW on a 350kW Electrify America charger (and maxed out at 50kW on a 50kW EVGo).
Click to expand...
Ok. Originally, I believe they had said it would pull up to 100 kW, but they seemed to have removed that language from materials more recently. I'm hoping a software update can increase it.
 
I noticed your vehicle has what I thought I was getting, blue stitching, Mine is white stitching. My door handles and door guard is chrome, I like the painted look better. I also do not have the reflexed design in my door panel by the handle..wtf? Mine is black, I wonder if this is why?
I have about 800kms on mine now and have noticed an extra sound when slowing in eco mode. I can make the sound with my throat. How do you like the vehicle compared to your Leaf?
 
Lektrons said:
I noticed your vehicle has what I thought I was getting, blue stitching, Mine is white stitching. My door handles and door guard is chrome, I like the painted look better. I also do not have the reflexed design in my door panel by the handle..wtf? Mine is black, I wonder if this is why?
I have about 800kms on mine now and have noticed an extra sound when slowing in eco mode. I can make the sound with my throat. How do you like the vehicle compared to your Leaf?
Click to expand...
What trim package do you have? It might be the paint color that changed the stitching but maybe it is a trim level? I would have thought all the door trim would have the same design though.

We are sitting at exactly 500 miles (so nearly the same as you). Are you talking about the pedestrian warning noise? EVs are required to emit a noise when traveling at low speeds (18.6 mph or lower) to help prevent pedestrian accidents. The Niro EV is definitely a different noise (it kind of seems space age).

We love both of our EVs but the Niro definitely opens up longer range driving for a couple of reasons (double the battery and active thermal battery management). The Leaf is an excellent commuter car.
 
Just wondering if you paid over retail for the car. I was on the list at a San Francisco area dealer for this exact car! I got the call that I could purchase one that was being delivered to California this last week However, they wanted $4000 over MSRP and didn't think that was a fair price for this car...Very disappointing for sure.
 
JasonG said:
Just wondering if you paid over retail for the car. I was on the list at a San Francisco area dealer for this exact car! I got the call that I could purchase one that was being delivered to California this last week However, they wanted $4000 over MSRP and didn't think that was a fair price for this car...Very disappointing for sure.
Click to expand...
We hit a very friendly dealer and paid MSRP. Actually none of the dealers that we have interacted with mentioned any additional charges (but they are all on the east coast).
 
TandM said:
We hit a very friendly dealer and paid MSRP. Actually none of the dealers that we have interacted with mentioned any additional charges (but they are all on the east coast).
Click to expand...
Congrats on your purchase for sure! Would have been a near perfect car for me. Unfortunately, here in the Bay Area mark ups above retail can be the norm for cars in high demand. Might have taken it at MSRP but probably for the best... I have a plug-in hybrid (Prius Prime) already and use very little gas.
 
TandM said:
What trim package do you have? It might be the paint color that changed the stitching but maybe it is a trim level? I would have thought all the door trim would have the same design though.

We are sitting at exactly 500 miles (so nearly the same as you). Are you talking about the pedestrian warning noise? EVs are required to emit a noise when traveling at low speeds (18.6 mph or lower) to help prevent pedestrian accidents. The Niro EV is definitely a different noise (it kind of seems space age).

We love both of our EVs but the Niro definitely opens up longer range driving for a couple of reasons (double the battery and active thermal battery management). The Leaf is an excellent commuter car.
Click to expand...

We only have one option at the moment and that is the top trim level. I pre-ordered and so far there is a line-up for one. Mine is the black color. Yeah kinda feel ripped that I didn't get the hologram door trim.
 
The noise is not the electronic noise emitted by the car, I know about that, maybe it is coming from the regen brakes, ill try to record it.
 
JasonG said:
Congrats on your purchase for sure! Would have been a near perfect car for me. Unfortunately, here in the Bay Area mark ups above retail can be the norm for cars in high demand. Might have taken it at MSRP but probably for the best... I have a plug-in hybrid (Prius Prime) already and use very little gas.
Click to expand...
I can't blame anyone for not paying a markup. Before this purchase we had a Leaf (EV) and a Ford Fusion Hybrid, so the Niro EV will be replacing the hybrid as our long distance driver and we will continue to use the Leaf for our commuter (we are passing the Fusion Hybrid down to our daughter in college so she will have a slightly more green vehicle than her Mazda). There are so many new EVs coming to market in the future, hopefully the supply and demand will balance out so that dealerships will stop marking up.
Lektrons said:
We only have one option at the moment and that is the top trim level. I pre-ordered and so far there is a line-up for one. Mine is the black color. Yeah kinda feel ripped that I didn't get the hologram door trim.
Click to expand...
Well that's the same trim pack we have so either it's a difference because of the color or maybe the Canadian version is different? I feel ripped off for you on the door trim, the diamonds really are a neat effect.

Lektrons said:
The noise is not the electronic noise emitted by the car, I know about that, maybe it is coming from the regen brakes, ill try to record it.
Click to expand...
Is it kind of a repetitive click noise? We encountered that today while low speed driving in traffic with a fair amount of braking. It was so quiet that we couldn't record it but we definitely noticed it a couple times.
 
Is it kind of a repetitive click noise? We encountered that today while low speed driving in traffic with a fair amount of braking. It was so quite that we couldn't record it but we definitely noticed it a couple times.
Click to expand...

Yes, you hear it as well, I tried all drive modes and it was there, I thought it was from the regenerative braking. Can you hear it on the right side as well?
 
Lektrons said:
Yes, you hear it as well, I tried all drive modes and it was there, I thought it was from the regenerative braking. Can you hear it on the right side as well?
Click to expand...
We didn't have the windows down so we aren't positive on the direction. I am not overly concerned as it is a new vehicle and we experience different noises with both the Leaf and Fusion Hybrid when we got them and both seemed to settle after a little driving. It's definitely something I will keep an eye... or should that be ear on.

Lektrons said:
Did you get UVO connected?
Click to expand...
Yes, UVO got connected at the dealership. We still haven't gotten the trial Sirius subscription to work though.
 
Did you negotiate the purchase from Ohio, or do everything in person once you got to DC? If the former, what were the challenges of doing it long-distance? What went better and worse than expected?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top