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If you can share a few things about your ownership of the Kia Niro, what would it be? The most liked or hated, share them with every one I am sure you won't be the only one.
I feel same as you, Paul. I'm apprehensive about the reliability/dependability/longevity of the Kia Niro. I don't think it was quite ready for rime time roll out!I like it so far (6000 plus miles) with only some symptom of the stuttering, suging, whatever thing.
That said, when I see some problems posted on here - mainly the surging, stuttering, mis firing SERIOUS ISSUES, but other things also (handles breaking off, displays going wacky), I AM VERY CONCERNED about my decision to buy this in FEB.
Seldom do I at 78 years old fall in love with a new model and at early release (first of two at a local dealer) to trade without my usual negotiations ( did get a $2000 discount and fair trade value for mine - not great but fair), -- I feel dumb or at least immature as was about 50 or 60 years ago.
While I understand, that does make sense, wind resistance is proportional to speed cubed, so the difference may be substantial. So even though 80 mph is only ~14% faster than 70 mph, it's ~49% more wind resistance (1.15^3 = 1.49). So even all other factors equal, a drop of ~35% in mpg is not unexpected. Meaning 50 mpg becomes 35 pretty easily.I don't drive 75+ due to being in a rush but due to safety concerns. At 75, the big rigs fly past me all day long. I just try to keep up with traffic the best I can, this means driving usually over 80.
Some of us drive on highways at city speeds (not by choice ;-) ). That's actually the time I find I get the *best* mileage. Highway driving in traffic allows for more gentle speed up and more coasting which way outperforms city where there's no lights with harder acceleration when it turns green.Also, the Niro gets its best MPG on the back roads going slow. My LX is "rated" 46 MPG Highway and 51 MPG City, this is NOT a typo. Those that live in town & drive less highway miles DEFINITELY get better MPG than those who have long high-speed highway commutes.
THIS....is a big thing that we happened accidentally figure out. BTW it is not listed in the manual as a passenger seat adjustment. The book only refers to the Driver's seat. BUT in my Touring model the passenger side includes these manual "Driver's" adjustment for height. It's the bigger of the 2 levers and you just pull it up a few times and voila the P seat comes up about an inch or so. We first ran into this weird S. Korean "design" flaw when we rented a Kia several years ago. I had forgotten about this issue until my wife sat in my brand new '18 Touring yesterday. "OMG" she cried "it's like the crappy Rio we rented". Did a quick Google search and saw there are after market raise kits but I felt that with the cooling/heating seat options in the Touring config that might be a iffy hack. THEN I noticed the P seat lever and lo and behold the seat is a normal 5'.7" wife's height. She now fully loves the Niro as do I of course since the Driver's electric options are superb and well beyond the last 3 cars I've had. Things to not take for granted. It's not mentioned much on this Forum but it can turn out to be a big deal upon someone's first discovery so let's spread the word. Again unlisted as a P seat adjustment in the 2 inch Owner's book!!I haven't heard anyone mention this, but I really love that the Niro has a height adjustable PASSENGER seat. That is rare on a car in this price range
I love the mileage! I've had my Niro PHEV LX for a little over a month, have put about 1075 miles on it, and am still on my original tank of gas from the dealer (it's about 1/4 tank now). Most of my driving is city-driving and my daily commute to work is just under 8 miles each way (a very slow 8 miles some morning, but PHEV does great in in gridlock!). So far the only minor annoyance I've had is when I accidentally dropped my wallet between the driver's seat and center console.... it was incredibly difficult to retrieve!If you can share a few things about your ownership of the Kia Niro, what would it be? The most liked or hated, share them with every one I am sure you won't be the only one.