I used to have a 2016 Prius when I was living in California and commuting 225 miles round trip every day for work. Through some changes in life and a move to the East Coast, I found myself working from home and wanting another hybrid. I thought about an EV, but charging at home isn't possible. I sat in the current generation Prius and decided that while it's nice, it's not for me...too low to the ground, feels pretty cramped inside, and there's no way my 6'6" husband would fit inside. Then I remembered that Kia & Hyundai vehicles tend to have more leg and headroom than their competition, so I did a little investigating, and sure enough, the Kia Niro had substantially more usable interior space than the current Prius. I drove it, along with test driving a Toyota Crown and a Honda CRV hybrid. I liked the Kia best out of all of them, so that's what I took home...a 2024 Kia Niro hybrid in the SX trim level, so I basically got every option besides LED headlights and the 18" wheels. The LED headlights would be nice, but I definitely prefer the 16" wheels for ride quality and fuel economy. I've only had it a couple weeks, but so far I'm sitting at 54.1 mpg hand calculated, in mostly suburban driving. My driving style is this: I try to be reasonably economical without being a rolling road block, so I basically drive with traffic. I definitely use the AC and cooled seats...I don't like the heat & humidity of Maryland, so I'm not shy about using climate controls. So far so good! I'm happy with it.
I also got a Kia Niro, about a month ago. I investigated EVs, but they're expensive and I have an annual road trip to rural MN, it would be a hassle finding guaranteed places to charge. So then I moved to a PHEV. Looking at the numbers on paper, for a car under $40K with good mpg and EV range, there were only two real contenders - the Prius Prime and Kia Niro. I test drove a Niro Hybrid, the Prime was hard to find, but eventually I was able to sit in one (couldn't drive it, because it was already promised to a customer). The new Prius was a lot smaller than my 2006 Prius, not nearly as practical and the view out the rear view mirror was really limited. But it sure looks cool. I had to come to grips with buying a practical car that didn't look as cool, but I've really been happy with it. It's rated at 33 miles EV range, but I've gone 30 miles and still had plenty of battery charge left. I haven't done my road trip, so can't comment on gasoline consumption. I have about 300 miles on the odometer, and the gas tank is still on 3/4 full. I charge at 110 VAC at home. I'm driving mostly electric. That complicates my efficiency calculations - I'm an engineer and have always tracked my fuel consumption, and tried to beat the EPA (generally succeeding). But now there's two energy sources, with refuel/recharge happening at different times, and no easy way to tell how many kWH or gallons of gas I'm consuming on a given trip. There's not a good consumption screen to help with that. So I just have to drive like I learned to do on the Prius and trust my instincts. On my long road trip next month I'll run the battery down early in the trip, refuel, and then the rest will be on fuel only and then I can get a good MPG number. Until fast-charging solid state batteries (or the equivalent) come out, I think PHEV is really the way to go if you plan on road trips.
Congratulations on your new vehicle. I think in addition to practical you will find they are economical to drive and maintain. I owned ours for 5 years and over 60,000 miles.
After 7 weeks of driving around locally, I finally put gas in it last weekend. So far the average is 56 mpg, calculated on Fuelly. some notes on that: - I don’t use the AC all that often. Because I keep it parked in a garage it stays pretty cool. When I do use the AC, I set it to 70 degrees auto and let it do its thing, and I’ll occasionally use the cooled seats. - I generally don’t need to jump on highways, so the vast majority of my driving is just suburban runs to the grocery store, the local home improvement store, and running errands with max speeds in the 50-60 mph range. So it’s pretty much ideal usage for a hybrid. I fully expect mpg to drop in the winter, but still anticipate maybe 40-45 mpg give or take a few. overall I’m still very happy with it!
We have a 2019 Niro PHEV while the mpg does drop some in the winter ours didn't drop much while driving on gas. The little Niro is one of the most efficient unknown cars a person can own. One of the best kept secrets in the Automotive World in my opinion. I really appreciate the design, comfort, economy, reliability and utility of that little car.
Congrats! I’ve never been able to drive one but I’ve sat it in at auto shows and it’s really spacious. Good seating height too. I did get a ride on the EV version as a shuttle when my EV6 was in for service and it was comfy.
KIA NIRO receives accolades as most economical SUV to own. I wonder how they figure out the maintenance cost per year. They list the Niro as $840 per year for the first 5 years. At 5 years we have spent $720 total or $144 a year (including a new set of tires in this $720 total). I do all our own Maintenance so maybe that is the difference.
