HiTLeR Posted August 26, 2020 Posted August 26, 2020 The Kia e-Niro hasn’t been around for that long but it already has one heck of a reputation. Why? Well, when it was launched it gave the electric car market a right old shake up, offering a Tesla-style long range for a far more affordable price. Indeed, it was so impressive it went on to become the first ever electric car to win our overall What Car? Car of the Year award - the biggest accolade we hand out - and buyers have been joining the queue to bag one ever since. Still, this is the fastest moving market in motoring. New electric models are appearing all the time, although not always ones that can top the Kia e-Niro's official range of up to 282 miles between charges. Still, this is the fastest moving market in motoring. New electric models are appearing all the time, although not always ones that can top the Kia e-Niro's official range of up to 282 miles between charges. What are its competitors, then? That depends if you're set on an electric SUV or just an electric car in general. Rival SUVs include in-house competition from the Kia Soul EV and Hyundai Kona Electric (Hyundai owns Kia, by the way), as well as the MG ZS EV. Then there are the conventional hatchback rivals, some of which have been around far longer, like the Nissan Leaf, plus fresher arrivals, including the Peugeot e-208. So how does the e-Niro compare? Should it be your next car, and perhaps your first ever electric car? In this review, you'll find all the information you could possibly want - just click through to the next page to start reading. And if you decide you want to buy a Kia e-Niro, or any other new car for that matter, head over to our deals pages to find out how much you could save. Engine, 0-60mph and gearbox Go for entry-level '2' trim and your e-Niro will have a 134bhp electric motor coupled to a 39kWh battery pack. We haven’t tried this yet, but the same motor and battery combo is used in the Hyundai Ioniq Electric, where it delivers respectable performance, and in the e-Niro, 0-62mph takes 9.5sec. Opt for '3' or '4+' trim and you'll get a much larger 64kWh battery with a 201bhp electric motor. In our tests, this version managed 0-60mph in 6.9sec. Okay, that’s not Tesla Model 3 quick, but the e-Niro feels faster than its numbers suggest, such is the eagerness of its acceleration, which is on tap the moment you put your foot down. There’s no waiting for the performance to build; It's all there right from the off. In fact, if the road is wet, the e-Niro relies quite heavily on its traction control system to prevent its front wheels from spinning up. When it comes to electric cars, though, performance isn’t just about how quickly you can get up to speed - it's about how far you can travel between charges. Officially, the 39kWh e-Niro can manage 180 miles and the 64kWh 282 miles, and our Real Range test showed that 253 miles of driving is easily possible in the latter. That's hugely impressive because it matches what the much pricier Jaguar I-Pace will do on a single charge, betters a Model 3 and is beaten only by the Hyundai Kona Electric. For context, a Renault Zoe managed 196 miles. Suspension and ride comfort Don't expect to feel as if you're floating along on a magic carpet, but the e-Niro's ride is up there with the 40kWh Nissan Leaf and Peugeot e-208's, and about as comfortable as it gets for an electric car in this price bracket. Yes, you’re made aware of harsher bumps, such as potholes or nasty broken patches of asphalt, as they pass beneath the car, but even these don't cause a serious upset like they do in a BMW i3. And the e-Niro doesn’t jostle you about as much as the Hyundai Kona Electric or the more fidget-prone Kia Soul EV, either. Handling Electric cars don’t usually corner as sweetly as their petrol and diesel counterparts because of all those heavy batteries. This holds true with the e-Niro - a Seat Ateca is a more agile family SUV, for example - but it still changes direction keenly enough and its body remains fairly upright in the process. The steering doesn’t give you a particularly great connection with the front wheels, although it's pleasantly weighted and precise, making it easy to place the car where you want it - both around town and on faster roads. When you accelerate hard, particularly along an uneven road, the e-Niro's steering wheel can feel like it's connected to the front wheels via an angry snake, pulling one way then the other in your hands. However, this phenomenon is less pronounced than it is in the rival Kona Electric. Noise and vibration Electric cars have a big advantage over petrol and diesel models in this area because there’s no noisy, rattly combustion engine under the bonnet. There’s just a muted electric motor whine as you accelerate up to speed and, at very low speeds, a curious synthesised hum to warn pedestrians of the e-Niro's presence. Even at 70mph it's still impressively quiet inside the e-Niro, with less road and wind noise than in the Kona Electric or MG ZS EV. And the e-Niro's brakes respond fairlyently when you press the middle pedal, making it easier to shed speed smoothly. This isn't the case in a Renault. You can even change the strength of the car’s regenerative braking using paddles behind the steering wheel. The higher the level, the more quickly you slow down when you lift your foot off the accelerator pedal.
Recommended Posts