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

[JasonG]

Picked up my Niro EV EX Premium yesterday and love it so far. I was surprised that it now comes standard with the heated steering wheel and LED headlights! Range on delivery showed 265 miles and it didn't change appreciably driving home the 12 miles... Was also surprised that even the level 1 regen felt pretty strong to me. From the reviews, I though I'd need to increase to 2 or 3 but 3 felt way too strong to me as I like the coast some in traffic usually.

 

[ITown]

Going to pick up an EX Premium tomorrow in Gravity Blue! Didn't really want to haggle and Kia of Oakland (my closest dealer) gave me a price over the phone of $44k which includes destination charge, all the interior/cargo carpeted mats, cargo cover, and wheel locks ($1560 off list price). Then, I get $2k off with financing (will pay off quickly) for a bottom line price of $42k before taxes and registration fees. Then, will get federal $7500 off plus PG&E $800 rebate. Final cost: $33,700 plus taxes and registration!

Great price! One quick note though, the taxes get applied first, which results in about $1000 more in sales tax than if it were applied last.

 

[JasonG]

Great price! One quick note though, the taxes get applied first, which results in about $1000 more in sales tax than if it were applied last.

Yes, that is good to note. Taxes were applied to the $44k price. The rebate for financing was not deducted before taxes. This is the way it works in California apparently but not sure about other states. Still happy with the result after rebates, tax credits, etc... Charge down to 75% and still showing ~206 miles of range!

 

[porky]

Hi everyone - just signed up on this site and looking for some opinions.

I am planning to get the base EX trim. Very few dealers in NJ/PA seem to be stocking the Niro. That, or they are selling out fast. So, I went back and forth on the phone with King Kia in MD and they are quoting me $38,500 OTD (No Sales Tax in NJ for EVs). Does that sound like a good deal?

 

[TandM]

Hi everyone - just signed up on this site and looking for some opinions.

I am planning to get the base EX trim. Very few dealers in NJ/PA seem to be stocking the Niro. That, or they are selling out fast. So, I went back and forth on the phone with King Kia in MD and they are quoting me $38,500 OTD (No Sales Tax in NJ for EVs). Does that sound like a good deal?

Only 12 states are selling the Niro EV (Kia corporate decision since it is still more of a compliance vehicle for ZEV states than anything) and Pennsylvania isn't one of them which might explain part of your difficulties when calling around (New Jersey is on the list of having them for sale but not all the dealerships will want to sink the money into the required training and service equipment so which ones carry them is still limited)

As for the price, that seems fair. We purchased ours from King Kia last April and they were very easy to work with and very accomodating to us coming from out of state (we drove over from Ohio).

 

[ITown]

Hi everyone - just signed up on this site and looking for some opinions.

I am planning to get the base EX trim. Very few dealers in NJ/PA seem to be stocking the Niro. That, or they are selling out fast. So, I went back and forth on the phone with King Kia in MD and they are quoting me $38,500 OTD (No Sales Tax in NJ for EVs). Does that sound like a good deal?

If you can get it for $38,500 and don't have to pay sales tax, then you are doing really well. My price was basically the same as yours, except I had to pay 10% sales tax on top. (I got the non-premium EX as well)

 

[niro525]

Hi everyone - just signed up on this site and looking for some opinions.

I am planning to get the base EX trim. Very few dealers in NJ/PA seem to be stocking the Niro. That, or they are selling out fast. So, I went back and forth on the phone with King Kia in MD and they are quoting me $38,500 OTD (No Sales Tax in NJ for EVs). Does that sound like a good deal?

Sounds good. Just decide if you want extended warranty before you go in. Some people are worried about the motor issue, others aren't. Usually the Niro EV motor issue comes up before the 10k warrenty ends, but recently someone reported their motor issue past the 10k mile mark. An extended warranty could protect you if your Niro happens to be one of the bad apples amongst the good ones. Quite a number of us have not had motor issues, so it is perfectly valid to save the money and not purchase the extended warranty.

 

[ITown]

Sounds good. Just decide if you want extended warranty before you go in. Some people are worried about the motor issue, others aren't. Usually the Niro EV motor issue comes up before the 10k warrenty ends, but recently someone reported their motor issue past the 10k mile mark. An extended warranty could protect you if your Niro happens to be one of the bad apples amongst the good ones. Quite a number of us have not had motor issues, so it is perfectly valid to save the money and not purchase the extended warranty.

As far as I know, Kia offers a 10 year/100,000 mile warranty for the drive train. Not sure where you got the 10k mile thing from? I don't think the extended warranty even helps with that issue.

 

[TandM]

Sounds good. Just decide if you want extended warranty before you go in. Some people are worried about the motor issue, others aren't. Usually the Niro EV motor issue comes up before the 10k warrenty ends, but recently someone reported their motor issue past the 10k mile mark. An extended warranty could protect you if your Niro happens to be one of the bad apples amongst the good ones. Quite a number of us have not had motor issues, so it is perfectly valid to save the money and not purchase the extended warranty.

It isn't really an extended warranty, it is extended coverage (at least in most cases) and it often protects against things that aren't covered under a warranty.

We took out the extended coverage and put it to use in 10 days when I cracked the windshield when road debris was kicked up by the car in front of me and caused a large crack out from a pierced hole in the glass (and on our other EV we used the extended coverage to cover towing and replacing a blown out tire). If you are one of those super lucky people that don't have things like that happen then the extended coverage might not pay off but if you are like me and seem to test it out every chance possible, then it might be worth it.

 

[porky]

Thanks for your comments everyone. My experience with King Kia (over the phone) has been good so far. I am planning to take the train to Gaithersburg next weekend.

On the question of extended warranty, who offers it? Is it Kia or the dealer?

 

[jeff_h]

Thanks for your comments everyone. My experience with King Kia (over the phone) has been good so far. I am planning to take the train to Gaithersburg next weekend.

On the question of extended warranty, who offers it? Is it Kia or the dealer?

I also purchased from King and also sent you some more detailed info via PM, but didn't mention extended warranty. When in the finance guy's office, I believe the extended warranty is from Kia but one thing to watch for is that rather than give out the price of each add-on warranty and maintenance/protection package, they only displayed what that would mean as it made your monthly payment. For example, if your base monthly payment for the car purchase was $500, they presented the packages and said that the cost would make your monthly payment $576, $550, $540, or $520 -- so rather than disclose that the top of the line package was an extra $2,500 or whatever it was (I didn't ask), they just masked it by blending it in as the adjusted payment. Again, I didn't ask as I chose not to buy any of the packages, but if you do want to get one it's probably a good idea to ask what the separate costs are, in order to help your decision.

FYI only, when I made a different car purchase about 10 years ago I got done with the finance guy and was BS-ing with the sales rep and I told him that I declined the extended warranty and said I wondered how many takers they got on those - he said at their dealership about 70% of the customers bought one of the extended warranty options.

 

[davidtm]

Better to set aside some of your money towards future needs, and it won't be tied to just one purpose.

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

 

[TandM]

Thanks for your comments everyone. My experience with King Kia (over the phone) has been good so far. I am planning to take the train to Gaithersburg next weekend.

On the question of extended warranty, who offers it? Is it Kia or the dealer?

Ours had 3 components - Performance First is the coverage for extending the parts that aren't covered by the 10y/100k to being covered to 10y/100k. The Maximum protection plan from Maximus Auto Group is 5 years of windshield repair, key replacement, paintless dent repair, and 24/365 roadside assistance. Also from Maximus Auto Group was the wheel and tire protection (including cosmetic damage).

We have already put the windshield repair/replacement to use (this single replacement was more than the cost of this section of the extended coverage) and it was fully covered and very easy (I had to do absolutely nothing but arrive at the dealership which is out of state from the original purchase and they took care of everything including calling the coverage company).

I also purchased from King ............... When in the finance guy's office, I believe the extended warranty is from Kia but one thing to watch for is that rather than give out the price of each add-on warranty and maintenance/protection package, they only displayed what that would mean as it made your monthly payment. ........................Again, I didn't ask as I chose not to buy any of the packages, but if you do want to get one it's probably a good idea to ask what the separate costs are, in order to help your decision.

Trimmed your quote a bit but this must vary with the fiance person. We had Christina Y for finance and she was wonderful. She broke it down per amount on each section, didn't pressure us to take any of the coverage, allowed us a way to pay for it separately (we did not put the coverage in our loan), and even offered up different combinations of coverage plans so we could mix and match.

 

[jeff_h]

Trimmed your quote a bit but this must vary with the fiance person. We had Christina Y for finance and she was wonderful. She broke it down per amount on each section, didn't pressure us to take any of the coverage, allowed us a way to pay for it separately (we did not put the coverage in our loan), and even offered up different combinations of coverage plans so we could mix and match.

Nope I didn't have Christina for the finance process, it was a young Hispanic guy, don't remember his name. I knew I didn't want any of the coverage but thought it was odd to have it presented that way as opposed to the pricing being stated outright, so I wanted to give the PP a heads up to watch for that.

 

[David T in Silicon Valley]

That is darn near close to my deal. Funny, I asked for the same extras. I managed to come in at 42.5 before a $1500 financing rebate Kia was offering last fall..but then I fell for $400 of bullshit stuff they (San Leandro) claimed they were responsible for but were passing through to me (San Leandro) .

 

[porky]

Thanks for your tips and advise everyone, esp. jeff_h. I got my Niro EX from Buchanan Kia. I did all of my negotiation and paperwork over email and the dealer rep drove the vehicle 165 miles from MD to my house in NJ. The driver got here about an hour ago and the vehicle arrived with 104 miles range remaining.

BTW - I signed up with UVO link but I am unable to activate it with the code I received on my phone app. The dealer rep said that's probably because the sale paperwork is not in Kia's system yet. Did you guys have to wait for a few hours (days?) before Uvo could be activated?

 

[jeff_h]

Thanks for your tips and advise everyone, esp. jeff_h. I got my Niro EX from Buchanan Kia. I did all of my negotiation and paperwork over email and the dealer rep drove the vehicle 165 miles from MD to my house in NJ. The driver got here about an hour ago and the vehicle arrived with 104 miles range remaining.

BTW - I signed up with UVO link but I am unable to activate it with the code I received on my phone app. The dealer rep said that's probably because the sale paperwork is not in Kia's system yet. Did you guys have to wait for a few hours (days?) before Uvo could be activated?

Hey I'm glad you found a good deal! My UVO code worked on the first try, but I bought my car on a Friday night and didn't try to link the VIN until the next day, so the dealer rep may be correct. When I searched on "UVO" in the app store on my iPhone there were several choices, and the one I have installed and working is "Kia Access with UVO Link" v3.7.2. The older reviews on the app store aren't so great (latest reviews are much better) but it works fine for me - my only complaint is that when I launch the app I have to log in with email address and password EVERY time I open the app, and that's the only app on my iPhone that doesn't store my credentials and avoid the need to login constantly. I wish they would fix that or at least improve it to where you only need to enter a 4-digit PIN or something.

I hope you get the VIN loaded in the app soon, good luck!

 

[porky]

Hey I'm glad you found a good deal! My UVO code worked on the first try, but I bought my car on a Friday night and didn't try to link the VIN until the next day, so the dealer rep may be correct. When I searched on "UVO" in the app store on my iPhone there were several choices, and the one I have installed and working is "Kia Access with UVO Link" v3.7.2. The older reviews on the app store aren't so great (latest reviews are much better) but it works fine for me - my only complaint is that when I launch the app I have to log in with email address and password EVERY time I open the app, and that's the only app on my iPhone that doesn't store my credentials and avoid the need to login constantly. I wish they would fix that or at least improve it to where you only need to enter a 4-digit PIN or something.

I hope you get the VIN loaded in the app soon, good luck!

Yep, sure enough. When I tried the app later in the evening, the UVO app connected correctly. I thought we have UVO access for five years but the UVO website says I have access for a year. Which is it?

 

[TheDave]

My UVO paperwork indicates one year. I won't be subscribing to it because it doesn't really do anything for me. It's nice to have some of the remote features the app provides, but KIA's subscription price is way too high for the services provided.

 

[David T in Silicon Valley]

sually the Niro EV motor issue comes up before the 10k warrenty ends, but recently someone reported their motor issue past the 10k mile mark. An extended warranty could protect you if your Niro happens to be one of the bad apples amongst the good ones.

This confuses me too. What does the extended warranty cover related to the motor (or reduction gear) problem that would not be covered under the 100k drive train warranty?