[Administrator]

Share what you did today with the Kia Niro community!

Example: Got a phone call from the dealer, my Kia Niro has ARRIVED! Going to pick it up now.

Example: I took her out of the garage and gave her a nice bath and followed up with a coat of wax.

Example: Finally got my window tints done, now I can't open my windows for a week

Anything goes....

 

[tadtam]

Finally found how to add mp3 files to My Music so I can listen to music I have.

 

[lccobb]

What I Did

Called dealer and was advised that they now have the Serial Number and the scheduled delivery date is still the 23rd of March. Hope they are correct. I would assume based on that info that it is one the ship coming into CA.

 

[PAULRIDES]

A few things since buying a EX NIRO on Feb 11, 2017 - maybe help someone with an idea or question -------

Contacted KIA Customer Service (very good discussion) and found the battery charging to normal of 50% is the way it is designed (ranges from 40% to 70% +/- a little).

Had one fill up (9.11 gallon for 51.48MPG). About ready for another fill up (say 100 miles from now -- now being around 920 miles). Computer shows 53.X MPG AVE.

Had Passenger and driver door windows tinted ($75 plus tax) on Monday Mar 6 at Sevierville, TN. Guy does good work (has done 4 vehicles and a house window for me since 1997).

Bought a Spare Tire Kit for $199 from KIA OEM Superstore (price included shipping). Good speedy delivery.

Installed a cargo compartmentalized net I had from the previous car, Rogue. Net bought at Target in 2010, just keeps stuff from sliding around, would not offer a lot of resistance for heavy items. Take hooks loose at top and lay flat if you need to lay a big package on top of it.

Put about 50 songs on a USB stick after I found out how to make files from CDs using windows 10

 

[PAULRIDES]

Second Fill Up at 1006 miles - EX Model

Fill up was for 472 miles and took 8.88 gallon (topped off the tank with a couple extra squirts) = 53.1 MPG

NOTE: Driving mostly below 45 or 50 MPH on county roads (we live about 10 miles out of town) and some in town with a few stop lights and some traffic (Sevierville / Pigeon Forge / Seymour area of TN) . About ideal conditions for a Hybrid vs high speed highway travel.

Also, driving as easy as practical for safety (no jack rabbit starts and try to allow it to be on EV as much as possible).

 

[PAULRIDES]

Mounted Dash Camera - actually it sticks to windshield and I mounted it just to left of the rear view mirror. It is a small camera.

I ran the wiring behind the steering wheel (sort of where the up/down & telescoping mechanism is), then followed creases over to the door area and up the pillar on left side of the windshield and it sort of goes up under the head liner.

I added some grey two sided tape in some areas (just spots of it) and black gorilla tape in some areas.

Pictures - Hopefully give you an idea of the wire route and tape used.
Most of it barely shows.

Sorry they got out of sequence ( I took them in sequence going from power plug to the camera - so best to look at them in order of 1, 4, 3, 2).

Start at Power outlet over to the steering wheel area. 1st Picture.

There is one coming from the steering wheel area to the door area. 4th Picture. The door closes on that black tape.

Then one at bottom of the windshield pillar. 3rd Picture. Used a grey two sided tape pieces.

Then picture at the mirror where the camera is mounted. Wires are up behind the head liner, just pushed them in the crack.

Wish the plug for the camera was on the other side of the camera. 2nd Picture.

 

[PAULRIDES]

I am going to redo the Camera Mounting and hopefully keep the pictures in order. I also edited the pictures in my computer file and think they will be more clear.

1st Pictures start at Power Outlet over to the steering wheel area. Black tape.

2nd Picture is one coming from the steering wheel area to the door area. Black Tape (the tape in the door area does not show when door is closed - wire is not pinched).

3rd Picture shows bottom of the windshield pillar. Gray two sided tape (6 small pieces of tape to hold the wire in the crack all the way to the top of the pillar).

4th Picture shows where the camera is mounted at the mirror. Wires are up behind the head liner from pillar to the mirror area, just pushed them in the crack.

Wish the plug for the camera was on the other side of the camera. 2nd Picture.

 

[kprenesti]

Today, I actually went to the dealership. I saw the Niro. They let me put both of my dogs in the back seat. (Two goldendoodles). They fit!! Woot! I fell even more madly in love with this car. Next Saturday, I'll be test-driving it for the first time. But I'm gonna force myself to wait until the very end of April to buy; maybe the price will be reduced a bit....do you think?

 

[tadtam]

Installed Dash Cam

 

[hodad66]

I too went to the dealer this morning & saw / drove the Niro for the first time. Tried
my USB and it worked flawlessly. The lease on my Volt isn't up until mid August but
I'd rather test cars in this weather than in summer..... ;-) I'll be looking for roof racks
(after-market) to become available. If Rhino Rack makes one then I can use all of the
attachments from my current rack.

 

[tadtam]

Went to dealer today and got my free car wash after the haboob we had this past weekend.

 

[yticolev]

I'm not proficient in removing headliners and paneling, but wouldn't that make for a neater installation of a dash cam? Plugging into existing power somewhere en route. I've read reports of others doing this in other cars.

 

[PAULRIDES]

Installed the side window Sunshades. Mainly, I like to be able to leave the windows cracked when sitting out on a hot day and not have to worry about rain getting in.

Bought them off E-Bay (Korea Seller) for $49.75. Found out later there are better prices and my guess is as good a quality. SO SHOP more than I did. Takes a while for delivery as come from Korea.

They fit nicely and easy to install, but cover u the Chrome at top edge of the door (Mine is EX Model).

No Instructions provided, so I give a couple pointers:

1) Clean surface of door (Chrome) with Alcohol and dry (at least that is what I did).

2) DO NOT REMOVE the backing from the tape completely. Remove about 3 or 4 inches and let it hang loose so you can pull it out a bit at a time as you fit the shades to the door.

NOTE 1: You would have a hard time aligning the entire shade at one time if you had the backing completely off the tape as it wills tick to the door where you touch it.

NOTE 2: When doing the front door, I started with the tape loose about 4 inches at the door pillar end. Back door would work starting on either end, but I started at the pillar on back door also.

3) Mine had a small shade piece (about 10 inches long) for the side rear windows. Start it at the door opening.

NOTE: IMPORTANT - Make sure your rear door clears the shade when you open the door before you decide exactly where to stick it. You may need to sit it back a 1/16 or 1/32 from edge of the chrome to clear the rubber gasket on the door as you open the door. MY PASSENGER SIDE REAR DOOR rubber hit the shade after I installed it and I had to remove the shade and slide it back a little.

I think I lucked out and did not destroy the tape on the shade when I removed it.

4) One last comment (not an installation instruction) --- my shades came with a shield to put over the top of the side mirrors. I did not use it as it was a piece of junk (flexible rubber like material that sort of folded down and hides part of the mirror). Besides that, it would look cheap.

They do cover the door chrome at top of door, but still look nice (my opinion). Also, unlike my Nissan Rogue which had a visibility problem when turning left because of the pillar that got worse with the width of the shades, visibility seems OK with the NIRO.

The pictures taken in the garage are not too good Lighting - I took one with the garage light on and one with a flash). Maybe get a better one outside.

 

[PAULRIDES]

Better Picture of the side shades (better than the one I took in the garage).

I do like the fact this set had the extra piece over the rear window. To me looks better than to end at rear door window, gives a continuity to the shades.

 

[mastman26]

Went to the dealer yesterday evening and . . . drove home in my new Deep Cerulean blue EX! Looking forward to sorting out all the tech and fine-tuning the default displays. Plan to get roof bars to mount the Yakima skybox just purchased at the REI sale. Time for a road trip.

 

[PAULRIDES]

I'm not proficient in removing headliners and paneling, but wouldn't that make for a neater installation of a dash cam? Plugging into existing power somewhere en route. I've read reports of others doing this in other cars.

I had originally mounted my Dash Camera on Passenger side of cenrter mirror and routed wire to the right.

Later changed mount to driver side of mirror (partly so I could see if it was on or not) and rerouted the wire to the left side. Worked easier for me to route wires to the left (less visible). Pictures shown in my previous reply..

Just a thought - might want to take a look.

One thing though, my camera is a good deal smaller than some and you may run into interference with the mirror if camera is large. You get a bit more room on the passenger side of the center mirror. So, could still put camera on passenger side of mirror and run wire over the left side of car (having the wire over the steering wheel and near the door opening helps hide the wire - I think).

 

[jpear]

Will you share details on how to add mp3's? I happen to have 45GB of mp3's on my iMac

 

[jpear]

Your wheels look awesome

 

[mastman26]

If no smart phone, simply copy MP3 files to a flash drive, plug flash drive into jack on dash, select Media. On a recent trip, we listened to an audio book we had ripped from a library book-on-disk. Worked fine, though book was boring and we moved on!

 

[ESPiam]

Today, I actually went to the dealership. I saw the Niro. They let me put both of my dogs in the back seat. (Two goldendoodles). They fit!! Woot! I fell even more madly in love with this car. Next Saturday, I'll be test-driving it for the first time. But I'm gonna force myself to wait until the very end of April to buy; maybe the price will be reduced a bit....do you think?

Buy on the last day of the Month!