I am in the market for the Niro, just wanted to know how does your Niro handle the cold weather? I have heard of hybrid cars not getting good mpg's because the engine doesnt warm up and works harder as the oil is thicker from the cold. Anyone who has the Niro and used it during the cold weather, please let me know your take. Thanks in advance.
Cold weather
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there are a few other posts the past few weeks regarding colder weather. I'm in Canada, so we use litres/100 km. I can say since I put my winter tires on back on Oct 23, fuel economy has dropped. We haven't had bone-chilling weather yet, but it has surely been cold ( -10C to -15C a few times) In the early fall I was getting 4.5l/100 now it is about 5.5 to 5.7 l/100.
But how does that stack up against other vehicles? My previous vehicle (VW diesel .. yes one of THOSE) also saw decrease in fuel economy in winter .. although diesel is a bit different. My previous vehicle before that .. Subaru Legacy (with AWD), well, I just knew I would be at the pump a lot more often in the winter.
In colder northern climates, you are going to see a decrease during the winter. Still, what I am getting now is still way better than my diesel or non-hybrid, by a significant margin.
But how does that stack up against other vehicles? My previous vehicle (VW diesel .. yes one of THOSE) also saw decrease in fuel economy in winter .. although diesel is a bit different. My previous vehicle before that .. Subaru Legacy (with AWD), well, I just knew I would be at the pump a lot more often in the winter.
In colder northern climates, you are going to see a decrease during the winter. Still, what I am getting now is still way better than my diesel or non-hybrid, by a significant margin.
Thanks hyperbnx, I was just worried about the cold weather and how it would effect the performance and mpg of a hybrid. Does the Niro work well in snow? I live in NJ so purchasing this car for my wife who loves Kia. We have the 2012 Optima and very happy with it, no issues besides 5 different TSB recalls. The Niro seems like a great compact suv and reviews have been great overall. Thanks for you input!
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Cold Weather
I have noticed a drop in MPG as the temperature has dipped. However, it is not any different from any other hybrid, so I would not worry about it or make it a reason to not buy a Niro. I have ~4,400 miles on mine and have enjoyed the interior roominess, the easy to use driver interfaces, as well as passing the gas pump and waving far more often than with my old Toyota Matrix. Make sure to check and adjust your tire pressure as the temperature drops to help negative the cold weather effect on the battery. It will help make the dip a little less precipitous.
I have noticed a drop in MPG as the temperature has dipped. However, it is not any different from any other hybrid, so I would not worry about it or make it a reason to not buy a Niro. I have ~4,400 miles on mine and have enjoyed the interior roominess, the easy to use driver interfaces, as well as passing the gas pump and waving far more often than with my old Toyota Matrix. Make sure to check and adjust your tire pressure as the temperature drops to help negative the cold weather effect on the battery. It will help make the dip a little less precipitous.
NJ here too! It hasn't been cold enough around these parts yet (daytime 50s, nighttime 30s or 40s)to say anything conclusive. I've noticed about a 1.5 mpg drop on my last tank (and my current tank seems to be around where my last one was).
But a few notes...
- as the traffic improves (a little) as early return-to-school fall turns into late fall fall, I'm spending less time in traffic, and I get great mileage in traffic.
- the gas engine definite runs a lot more when I first start driving, presumably to heat up for passenger climate purposes. I have an ~8 minute drive to drop my daughter off at preschool and then a 30-40 minute drive to work. By the time i get to work my mileage has recovered, but if you did a lot of 10 minute drives, it wouldn't.
We'll see what happens when we get into the high-s in the 20s or 30s days.
Quite happy with the Niro in general though.
I purchased my Niro in September and the temps started dropping in October. I have noticed about a 2-3 MPG drop so far and it has pretty closely mirrored the drop in temps so I would assume that is why. Still getting 45-48 MPG so nothing to complain about. I was surprised that when I replaced the stock Michelin Green tires with my winter snow tires a couple of weeks ago I did not notice much of a drop in MPG. I did get a chance to drive it with the factory tires on in some snow ( a couple of inches of unplowed on pavement) before I switched to the snow tires and it handled it okay but the tires did start to break loose when going up a hill so snow tires are a good idea if you live in snow country.
We we added snow tires we did a near 200 mile round trip through the Adirondack mountains, in 50-55 degree temps. There were lots of challenging hills and valleys, frequent shifts to SPORT/Manual mode, back to auto mode, and when we returned home our trip mileage was 50.5mpg, pretty good for snow tires! We've seen as high as 57.8mpg in summer trips, flatlands, with the factory installed Michelin tires...........HOWEVER, was has KILLED our MPG's? COLD weather and SHORT drives!!! We've dipped as low as 23MPG. The more the car runs and warms up, the higher the MPG's start to climb back. It's been in the teens and 20's here, and in the next few days we'll be dipping to -7 below zero at night to a warm, balmy 8 degrees during the day. ALL cars, gas, hybrid, or electric will suffer in COLD weather. There's just no way around it............ except moving to a warmer year round climate. 
tempting......................
tempting...................... I must say, having 4 snow tires installed, and recently getting FREEZING RAIN, Snow, Slush, Snow packed on to Ice, all the winter funzies, this car handles beyond exceptional!!!! I have not once "skidded" nor heard the common occasional kicking in of the aniti lock brakes when coming to a stop, which is so common in the above mentioned driving conditions, even with snow tires installed on other cars there's an occasional skid or engagement of the ABS, Not on the Niro! We still have several more months of winter driving to put this to the test but so far this car is AMAZING in snow/ice/slush!!!!! (with 4 snow tires) (no studs in those tires by the way, just 4 Goodyear Ultra Grip snow tires)
I had been getting around 40 MPG in my Touring since the weather got cold down from 47 I was getting all summer. I increased the pressure in my tires from around 29 to 38 and my current tank has been getting around 43-44. Not sure if it's due to the tires or slightly warmer temps. I will find out this week because it's not supposed to get above 35 for highs.We we added snow tires we did a near 200 mile round trip through the Adirondack mountains, in 50-55 degree temps. There were lots of challenging hills and valleys, frequent shifts to SPORT/Manual mode, back to auto mode, and when we returned home our trip mileage was 50.5mpg, pretty good for snow tires! We've seen as high as 57.8mpg in summer trips, flatlands, with the factory installed Michelin tires...........HOWEVER, was has KILLED our MPG's? COLD weather and SHORT drives!!! We've dipped as low as 23MPG. The more the car runs and warms up, the higher the MPG's start to climb back. It's been in the teens and 20's here, and in the next few days we'll be dipping to -7 below zero at night to a warm, balmy 8 degrees during the day. ALL cars, gas, hybrid, or electric will suffer in COLD weather. There's just no way around it............ except moving to a warmer year round climate.
I just made a 14 mile trip this evening and it -5 degrees and got 36.7, Wish it was better but with the great heater in the car I've very happy.We we added snow tires we did a near 200 mile round trip through the Adirondack mountains, in 50-55 degree temps. There were lots of challenging hills and valleys, frequent shifts to SPORT/Manual mode, back to auto mode, and when we returned home our trip mileage was 50.5mpg, pretty good for snow tires! We've seen as high as 57.8mpg in summer trips, flatlands, with the factory installed Michelin tires...........HOWEVER, was has KILLED our MPG's? COLD weather and SHORT drives!!! We've dipped as low as 23MPG. The more the car runs and warms up, the higher the MPG's start to climb back. It's been in the teens and 20's here, and in the next few days we'll be dipping to -7 below zero at night to a warm, balmy 8 degrees during the day. ALL cars, gas, hybrid, or electric will suffer in COLD weather. There's just no way around it............ except moving to a warmer year round climate.
So purchased the 2018 Niro EX end of Nov, it was getting great mileage btwn 45-70mpg at some points. But then the weather turned where the temps in the 20s and taking short trips less than 10 min drives really kills the mpg where it is in the 20-30 mpg. So you guys are correct, the cold weather has a big impact and on top of that a short drive in cold weather with the heat on in the car as my wife cant tolerate a cold car. Since we do majority of our long drives during Spring and Summer, it will pay off then, for now I guess we need to tolerate cold weather with low mpg. Wish car makers would somehow address the winter mpg issue with all the tech they make in cars, im sure they can.
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With the cold we are getting in Upstate NY (7) this morning, my Niro didn't really warm up on the way to work - so glad to have the heated seats. But I noticed my ~10 mile trip into work, MPG was just 30.
Think I was better off driving our old civic to work - as the heater was fantastic - and it typically avg 37 mpg.
Think I was better off driving our old civic to work - as the heater was fantastic - and it typically avg 37 mpg.
The short trips mileage I've found are not representative of the MPG of an entire tank. My tank total MPG is always higher. I don't even know if the per trip gauge is as accurate. No question MPG will go down in cold weather, like any car. Going by my Fuelly logs, looks like it will be 10-15% lower for me in winter.
It definitely is the cold. I hit 50mpg WITH 4 snow tires driving through hills and valleys of the Adirondack mountains but it was 55 degrees outside. The short trips for us are less than 5 miles. If I could make a road trip to the exact same location and back like I did this summer (a 90 mile 180/mile round trip) I'm sure even in cold weather we would get into the 40's mpg but not sure if/when we're doing that this winter. The trip involves a round trip to our nearest casino, something we don't do a lot of and not sure if we'll go this winter or not..........so our small city driving, groceries, work etc, are all less than 5 mile trips.
I wonder how many of us did NOT have ANY mpg readout in previous vehicles? I know you can do a manual calculation, which we NEVER did, nor do we now with the Niro. This Niro replaced a 2003 Honda Civic manual 5 speed. I'm sure the winter mileage for our similar driving habits was much lower. Even in these cold temps, with the Niro we are only gassing up every 4 weeks, with the civic it was every two weeks or even more if any longer road trips were taken.
My 2012 Optima that my daughter now drives calculated MPG and I don't remember seeing much of a change due to weather. It was always based on city/highway but I would be lucky to hit 30 on the highway and was usually around 26-27 for a tank. I'm getting about 40 now with the weather cold. Not what I was expecting at all considering I do a lot of city driving that are 10+ miles most of the time.
Our "tank average" thus far on the large dash disply (radio unit) is down to 18.5mpg. Again, SHORT trips here. HOWEVER, once it was warmed up, our around town "this trip" mileage on the smaller display behind the steering wheel came out at 27mpg. It was 13 degrees here this afternoon, a scorcher! as it has been down below zero for days. tonights "wind chill" equivalent temps are suppsed to be -25 to -35 below zero!
Its been in the low to mid 20's here (Virginia) for the past week or so. On short trips around town I am at about 38 MPG for the past week or so (about 1/4 tank). I have noticed that it will idle now, and not go into full EV mode until the engine is warmed up. Even when the EV indicator is on, the engine runs to keep warm. Since I only live about 5 miles from work, there is not alot of time to make that back up once the engine gets warm.
Heated seats are a real joy tho!!!
Heated seats are a real joy tho!!!
So did I till now. It seems to mean that you are being propelled by the electric motor, and not the gas engine. In warmer weather, this will correspond to shutting the engine off, but it seems when the engine is still cold, it just drops the engine into an idle. While the engine is warming up, The "instant" gas mileage doesnt go all the way to the max, but will hover between 50 and 60 depending on the conditions.
Once the engine gets to temp, it behaves normally.
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