[Kleen]

Hey hey,

I'm currently examining my options for a new hybrid and I have to say that the Niro is certainly up there. Although there a plenty of other hybrid options, I wanted to get something that rode a little higher and handled the winter weather a little better. I'm excited to see what you guys have to say about the car so far.

 

[NiroDude]

Buy the Niro! You won't regret it. I drive in the San Francisco Bay Area (lots of hills) and average around 55 mpg in mixed driving. The Niro is comfortable and can easily handle 4 adults and gear for a weekend road trip. While it may not win in a race against a Porsche, I typically zoom by the Prius on the highway, especially going uphills. This is due to actually having a real automatic transmission versus a CVT. The Niro can actually downshift to quickly provide you power when you need it, while the Prius winds up its rubberbands and screams loudly.

Anyways, I love my Niro. Let me know if you have any specific questions. I have zero regrets at this point.

 

[yticolev]

I've been on this forum since last April, and I finally tried a short test drive today of the FE (very happy I didn't do it last April). Incomparably better than my 2001 PT Cruiser in every way! Less road noise, allows you to hear a little bit of intermittent wind noise that sounded like it was coming from the hood (but surely must be coming from the outside mirrors). I was a bit worried about noise as the background noise in video reviews seemed louder than other new cars. I ran it up to 80mph on the interstate, accelerated hard on the ramps, did some test panic stops, and dawdled on city streets in EV mode.

Acceleration plenty fast enough for me, but I have certainly owned more than my fair share of very slow cars (that I still drove at very fast speeds and still passed cars on two lanes) including a VW bug, a Datsun B210 plus (high mpg), and a Honda CRX-HF (very high mileage, and very very fun), all with 0-60 times far greater than the Niro: respectively 20, 18, and 12 seconds, with the Niro a big speedster at around 9 seconds in most reviews. Technically my PT is a bit faster at 8.5 seconds, but I couldn't feel the difference in my test drive other than the Niro was quieter even gunned. I seldom accelerate fast anyway as I have a motorcycle for that. Of course, most SUVs that people buy are much faster, but not the people that buy them! I have to laugh at 300 hp SUVs that cannot cross a road with 10 seconds of time.

I only found two quibbles with the car. One is that foot-off gas pedal deceleration is slow. No one pedal driving like a Tesla, Bolt, or even the plug-in Niro with paddles just to increase deceleration. I did put it into manual mode and increased deceleration by down shifting but I would have loved the even faster deceleration possible with increased battery charging.

Somewhat related is the crawl mode when you take your foot off the brake at a stoplight - simulating ordinary torque converter automatics. There might be a setting to change that behavior, but I remember a thread on that topic here or on an Ioniq forum saying no. So I will have to either leave my foot on the brake, or put it into park at long stoplights. That will take some getting used to as I have never owned an automatic car before - I know it will take weeks to months before I learn not to take my foot off the brake at lights.

Sometime in the next couple of weeks I'm getting an LX with tech package (and nothing else). Already negotiated an OK deal, $2,900 off MRSP (plus doc fee of $200) in writing, but I'm giving my local dealer a chance to match the price first. I could do up to $3,400 off 400 miles further away but getting there would eat up most of the savings.

 

[PAULRIDES]

Plenty of information spread around this FORUM on owner satisfaction and problems.

Probably, learn more searching what is here all ready.

Other than that think you will like the car and like 50+ MPG.

 

[KK6PD]

Hello, and Welcome!!
As a "Newbie" myself, 3 weeks. all I can say is get the car! Having come from a Gen II Prius 9 yr and Nissan Leaf 3 yr, the Niro is one of the coolest cars I have driven in a long time. Solid, comfortable and fun, with great MPG, I am at 43.4 last tank, working up to that 50 goal!! I have the '18 EX with Advanced/Moon Roof/Harmon Kardon pkg. I have slimmed my paraphrasing of the Niro to my co-workers as "It's a small SUV that gets 50 MPG all day long. Now that I am getting the feel for mine last tank was 43, up from 38. It'll be in the high 40's maybe 50's, before too long. The tech is cool, the drive is great, the price was spot on! No problems so far, first car I ever bought where the user break in period was unnecessary. It felt like home on the test drive, and for me it's just getting better!!
I say go for it, I don't think you will regret it!!
I imagine I'll hang on to my EX for quite a while, until KIA, or someone else, duplicates an auto I enjoy as much as the Niro, and then betters the ride with some even better tech, and yeah, VTOL would be an option I am all in for......

 

[yticolev]

It is sort of an uncomfortable time to buy a car, not dissimilar to purchasing a computer in the 1990s through perhaps 2008. Now computer tech is mature and you can go ten years without an upgrade. Auto tech is advancing so fast that in five years, consumer cars may drive themselves. Each year that tech will get better and cheaper and the least expensive cars will have them. Same with pure electric cars. Batteries and charging tech get more advanced and cheaper every year. Other than auxiliary engines, in ten years new ICE only cars may be rare.

Could be that leasing a car is a better way to go these days.

 

[eddarrah]

Hey hey,

I'm currently examining my options for a new hybrid and I have to say that the Niro is certainly up there. Although there a plenty of other hybrid options, I wanted to get something that rode a little higher and handled the winter weather a little better. I'm excited to see what you guys have to say about the car so far.

We bought our Niro EX in mid July, added 4 snow tires in October, and hearing all the hype about reduced mileage due to snow tires,,,,,,for us, well not so much! We did a 120 mile round trip through the mountains and valleys of NY state, using manual shift/sport mode a lot, and still capped out at 50mpg when parking once back home. The BIG however here, is that although those snow tires were on, it was 55 degrees outside. With the plummeting temperatures of Northern NY, below zero, teens etc, and the national "winter gas blend" kicking in, (using 91 octane NON ethanol here), we've dipped as low as 21mpg, but that's SHORT trips less than 5 miles, more miles driven (warm up) mpg starts climbing back up. In summer we were hitting 55-57mpg routinely, even highway driving! We will put the Michelin tires that came with the Niro back on in Spring. I DO suspect that if we had a longer trip, even in these low temps, that we would be hitting 40-45 mpg even in below zero weather but we've only had those short trips of less than 5 miles in this weather.

Handling...............WOW! snow, slush, freezing rain, more snow..........this car with snow tires handles GREAT!!!!!!!! Have yet to skid or slide, and coming to a stop at a red light or stop sign, when anti lock brakes often kick in in such weather with other cars, hasn't happened yet with this Niro. This is by far the BEST car I have EVER driven in winter conditions!

 

[yticolev]

Having come from a Gen II Prius 9 yr ...

What was your mpg over 9 years on this car? Fuelly has it in the low 40s but I assume some hypermiling can greatly exceed this.

 

[KK6PD]

What was your mpg over 9 years on this car? Fuelly has it in the low 40s but I assume some hypermiling can greatly exceed this.

Pretty much 44 mpg was the usual. Depending on the trip length, I did a run to San Diego, hit 49 on the way down, a lot of stop and go freeway traffic. Coming back, not so much!

 

[Kleen]

Wow guys, thanks for all the responses and warm welcomes! Im stoked to hear such support around the Niro and I will definitely be making some time in the coming weeks to get out and test drive one. Glad to hear its plenty capable in the snow and I'm amazed at the fuel economy you guys are reporting. I agree that its a difficult time to buy a car, as there is so much competition and the technology evolves so quickly. Happy to be in the forum and I'm looking forward learning more.

 

[yticolev]

I bought an 2028 LX with tech last Tuesday and have about 200 miles on it. Lap of luxury for me over my 17 year old car. The most surprising thing is the mileage so far (at least as far as the average mpg calculator can be trusted). Indicated range started at 500 with 11 miles at the dealership but is now around 560 (including driven miles). 46 mpg average with temperatures hovering around freezing and about half the miles on freeway at 75 mph. That's faster than I usually drive locally but buying the car put a crimp in my schedule. So when the weather warms up and I drive slower, I'm expecting it won't be difficult to exceed 50. I've always used some mild hypermiling techniques and have always had low powered cars and am used to slow acceleration.

 

[realto]

A range of 560 at fillup is very good. That's about what mine stated in the warmer weather, and I was getting ~55MPG. Of course the real range is actually more than that. In warmer weather, you could drive comfortably over 600 miles on a tank.