2022 Kia Niro S EV review

Having only arrived in Australia in its first generation in 2021, the Kia Niro is still a relatively new player in the EV space here but we already have a second generation on our hands offering fresh looks and tech.

The Niro was Kia’s first EV but is now positioned in second place behind its flagship EV6 for those still wanting a fully-electric vehicle but for less money.

However, considering it’s not sitting too far behind its bigger brother in terms of price, is the Niro EV, and particularly the entry-level S grade we have on test here, worth the cash? Or it is worth splashing out to have the best the Korean marque can offer us?

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It also faces tough competition from existing rivals such as the MG ZS EV – which has just been facelifted in our market – as well as up-and-comers like the recently launched BYD Atto 3, both of which have significantly lower asking prices.

So what’s the deal? Let’s find out.

Pricing and features

The 2022 Kia Niro EV comes in two grades, starting with the entry-level S priced from $65,300, before moving up to the top-spec GT-Line which starts from $72,100 (both before on-road costs and state or territory incentives which means only the S qualifies for those in NSW, VIC, SA and WA).

We are testing the lower-priced S that costs $71,517 drive-away in Melbourne, which includes $520 worth of steel grey premium paint. There are also seven other optional colour choices, with just clear white offered free.

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Being the base grade, the S misses out on quite a lot of the nice kit found in the GT-Line, such as satellite navigation, a sunroof, rear privacy glass, powered tailgate, wireless smartphone charger, eight-speaker Harman Kardon sound system, heated steering wheel and seats, head-up display, and an electric front passenger seat adjustment.

A fair bit then. It also makes do with a small-by-modern-standards, eight-inch infotainment screen that is paired with a 10.25-inch digital cluster.

Compared to the EV6’s gigantic two 12.3-inch units the screens are a bit disappointing, feeling much more run-of-the-mill than its future-oriented flagship sibling for a $65K asking price – and even the top-grade GT-Line gets two 10.25-inch displays.

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The Niro’s unit however performs just fine, even if it’s not quite as aesthetically pleasing as the larger version in the EV6, and is surrounded by obvious-looking matte plastic.

Media and climate controls are accessible via the dual-function haptic-touch bar running along the bottom of the dash, which is easy enough to use, though it can be a bit fiddly and distracting stretching across from the driver’s seat to reach certain elements at times.

For the money, in the Niro S EV you get as standard: electric driver's seat adjustment, six-speaker sound system, one USB-A and one USB-C port in the front as well as two USB-Cs for the rear, dual-zone climate control with second-row vents, and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto (an upside to the S that the bigger touchscreen of the GT-Line has to do without).

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Despite being the entry-level version, the S still gains access to almost all of Kia’s safety tech suite, including key features such as advanced smart cruise control with stop and go, blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic warning and avoidance, rear parking sensors, a rearview camera, autonomous emergency braking (AEB), lane-keep and lane follow assist, and intelligent speed limit assist. It only misses out on the GT-Line’s safe exit assist, reverse parking collision avoidance assist and front parking sensors.

The new Niro has received a five-star ANCAP safety rating.

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Comfort and space

The interior of the S grade looks and feels of high quality, if not as top-notch for luxury as found in the GT-Line. There are still some budget-looking matte plastics though – surrounding the screen as mentioned earlier, and also on the doors.

On the latter, however, the effect is softened by being in contrast with other fabrics. Small details, like the piano black jewelled effect surround of the start button, which matches the grille, are a nice touch.

The seats and trim are wrapped in a combination of charcoal cloth and artificial leather fabric, which are suitably comfortable and well padded. The driver’s side can be adjusted electrically, but the passenger side just gets manual controls. Considering the price point for this vehicle, electric seats for both doesn’t feel like it’s an unreasonable request.

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Storage is not as ample as one would hope, with little room in the doors, a poky cubby bin in the centre console, and the existence of a transmission tunnel – carried over from the hybrid variant – occupying a great deal of room in the front row.

The EV6 gets a floating centre console, which opens up the space hugely – if not quite as much as in the closely-related Ioniq 5 that has absolutely nothing in the way.

Compensation for this is a decent-sized boot, which holds 475L with the seats up and 1329L with them down, and a respectable amount of legroom in the second row.

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Rear occupants get a pretty good deal overall – as well as the legroom, there are two USB-C ports on the sides of the front seats (in addition to the one type A and one type C in the front), heating/cooling vents, and one map pocket on the left side.

For families though, the two ISOFIX points for installing child seats are tricky to access and click in, and the hooks for the top tethers are also hidden away behind the fabric in the back of the second-row seats, which makes them fiddly to attach.

Additionally, it’s quite a low vehicle, measuring just 1570mm in height, which means bending over to help a young child into their seat – or getting in and out yourself – a little hard on your back at times.

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On the road

Both pure-electric grades of the Niro have a 64.8kWh battery pack and electric motor, with power and torque rated at 150kW and 255Nm respectively.

The motor is paired with a single-speed transmission (operated through an easy-to-use rotary dial), with only front-wheel drive offered.

As well as Eco mode, driving settings include Normal, Sport and Snow. Sport is unsurprisingly the most feisty, however, Eco still provided a decent surge of power, which was more than enough for most scenarios.

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It lacks the oomph that the EV6 provides from its 168kW/350Nm, despite being a smaller vehicle, which makes it a little less exciting to drive – though it does feel nippier through corners as a result. However, its claimed 0-100km/h time is 7.8 seconds, so not all that far off the 7.4s possible in the EV6 Air.

The steering also feels fluid and natural, with a good turning circle and no need for additional feeding of the wheel to get around tighter bends in town.

Sport mode does firm it up quite considerably, but our preference was to keep it in Normal – there doesn’t really seem a need to ever switch.

The ride too is incredibly smooth and undeterred by anything other than the harshest of bumps.

Size-wise the Niro measures in at 4420 millimetres in length, which is just a tad shorter than the BYD Atto 3 at 4455mm, but substantially smaller than its EV6 sibling (4680mm) and the Tesla Model Y (4751mm).

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Our only real gripes are the forcefulness of the regenerative braking system, which feels quite aggressive even in its softest setting (it can be manually changed from full strength to off using the steering wheel paddleshifters), and infiltration of the cabin by tyre roar.

As logical as it is for an EV such as the Niro to ride on eco tyres to aid energy efficiency, it does seem to have an impact on overall noise levels.

The Niro S EV has a claimed driving range of 460km (markedly less than the EV6 Air's 528km), with energy consumption rated at 16.2kWh/100km. We found our absolute best in everyday driving to be 12.6kWh, our average 15.6kWh and our worst performance due to extended freeway driving to be a touch above 30kWh/100km.

With an 80kW DC fast charger Kia says the Niro will charge in 43 minutes, or an hour and five minutes with a 50kW. In our time we used only the three-pin trickle home charger for overnight top-ups, which gave us 10-15 per cent in approximately 15 hours and a 7kW charger at Melbourne's Dromana drive-in movie venue which provided 12 per cent in roughly 90 minutes.

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Ownership

Like all Kia products, the 2022 Niro S EV has a seven-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty. The battery is covered for seven years or 150,000km.

Kia also offers capped-price servicing with intervals of 12 months or 15,000km as indicated below:

Kia also offers a pre-paid service option, which costs as follows:

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VERDICT

The 2023 Kia Niro S EV is a solid electric vehicle. Its crossover styling is easy on the eye, it’s comfortable and has good levels of rear passenger room as well as boot space, so would make a compelling proposition for families looking for their first EV.

Driving performance is natural and enjoyable, with no risk of leaving you yearning for the days of internal combustion.

However, looking specifically at the entry-level S variant, there’s a lot of kit missing for the cash, and some flaws such as cabin noise, which are hard to swallow for a starting price of $65K before on-road costs and incentives.

A price cut would do wonders to distinguish it more from the flagship EV6 and separate it from premium offerings such as the Tesla Model 3 and Polestar 2, which also start at around the mid-60K mark. After all, the BYD Atto 3, a similar sized car, comes in at more than $20K less. And even the EV6 Air started off at $67,990 RRP when it first went on sale at the beginning of this year, despite being the more premium option, and its range now starts at $72,590 – only a touch over $7K more.

But with stock of the EV6 harder to come by than hen’s teeth, just purely being able to get hold of a Niro EV sooner may hold great appeal for some.

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2022 Kia Niro S EV specifications