Kia Niro SUV (2016 - 2022) 4 1.6 GDi 1.56kWh lithium-ion 139bhp DCT auto Self-Charging Hybrid 5d Owner Review

I have owned my Kia Niro 4 for 6 months and covered 6,ooo miles. I am 6ft2 and find when seated comfortably my eyeline is very high and as a result the rearview mirror obstructs part of my view, it is tiltled up as high as it can go but it's not enough for me to get a good rear view. Storage is generally ok, there is a large centre cubby, the glovebox is small and I've relegated the owner's manual to underfloor boot storage tray. There are two cup holders in the centre consul and rear arm rest. However the front door pockets are small and shallow, the rear door pocket are shaped for a bottle only with no additional space. The 4 trim level has a lot of electronic aids thrown at it. I find the adaptive cruise control very useful on longer journeys, it follows vehicles at a safe distance and helps to relieve fatigue over long journeys. After driving from the south coast of England to Scotland I felt rekqxed. It can be used in town too. I find it very useful for rush hour start stop traffic and let the car take the strain. It will follow the vehicle infront and if it stops briefly for up to 3 seconds the Niro will set off following the vehicle ahead on it's own. If the stop is longer then all I have to do is tap the accelerator pedal or flick the adaptive cruise control switch up and again the Niro will start to follow the vehicle in front. It will even alert you that the vehicle ahead is moving off. The lane keep assist and lane departure warning can be over cautious tugging at the steering wheel or chiming away. The same can happen with the blind spot monitoring system. In the winter months I have noticed the when you put the door mirror heating on on a square area is left unheated around the blind spot monitoring symbol. The rear cross traffic alert will be easily triggered in a supermarket car park when reversing with pedestrians and vehicles nearby. The Niro's inbuilt Sat Nav is useful I have it on the centre 10-in screen as one of three tiles for every journey because it will show any traffic hold-ups or roadworks. If I choose to use it for route guidance rather than typing in an address I can just press a button on the steering wheel and use the voice activation which tends to work well. The other destination input which I find useful is the phone app as I do not have to be with the car but I can send a destination to sat nav and when I return to the car and start it it will ask if I wish to set that as a destination. The LED headlights are bright and are very effective at illuminating reflective road sign's, bollards and hi viz vehicle marking or clothing. There is also an auto high beam mode where the car can automatically change between dipped beam and main beam for other road users and when there is no street lighting. The rear view camera has guidelines however they cannot be trusted, for example they may show that you can reverse parallel to a kerb when in fact your wheels are wider than the guideline indicates and the wheels would touch the kerbs damaging your wheels. I find it disappointing that Kia doesn't allow you to close any windows or the sunroof on the key fob when trying to lock the Niro. Also when the fog lights have been turned on they do not automatically turn off when the car is turned off. Although it's not an issue for me as I use the fog lights when needed then turn them off myself I could see other owners being caught out. Driving the Niro hybrid can be inconsistent especially in colder weather. The battery for the hybrid system in warm weather tends to be around half full most of the time however when outside temperature is lower the engine will start, probably to help heat the interior but will also charge the battery to around three quarters full at this point the regenerative braking selected by the steering wheel mounted pedals is deactivated meaning the car car will coast rather slow using the regenerative braking that had been selected at the start of the journey. Another time regenerative braking that has been selected by the steering wheel mounted paddle is cancelled is a when reverse is selected for a manoeuvre when you drive off again it does not revert to the previous settings. In the warmer months I was getting 54 mpg overall now that winter is here it has a reduced to 52 MPG we and I would expect it to drop a few more mpg until weather warms up again in springtime.