Kia Niro review

Big plus points for the new Niro here. The fancy exterior design has been matched on the inside. Okay it might not be the most colourful cabin, but there is ambient mood lighting with 64 different colour combinations to brighten things up a bit.

There’s strong shapes too. The central display is housed on a large curved panel and in top spec trim pairs a 10.25-inch digital dial display with another 10.25-inch touchscreen infotainment system. The central system is responsive and easy enough to use, with the graphics all recognisable from other Kia models. No bad thing. 

Then there’s the panel below that which is a touch-sensitive unit and has two functions. One is to provide all of your climate controls so you don’t have to use the central screen to warm the cabin up a tad, but you can also press one button to switch the entire panel over to media controls. We’re fans of the halfway house-style solution to removing buttons. 

The centre console houses a twisty drive selector (on all but the bottom spec ‘2’ trim), an electronic handbrake and real-life buttons for your seat heating (and cooling if you get the right spec) and there’s plenty of storage space in there. Wireless phone charging on ‘3’ and ‘4’ trim levels too. 

In terms of materials the Niro uses plenty of sustainable bits, including recycled wallpaper for the headliner and some eucalyptus leaves in the seats. Oh, and neat touch having USB-C ports in the back of the front seats for rear passengers to use. 

It’s spacious inside too. Thank the Niro’s boxy shape and new, larger platform for that. Adults can sit comfortably in the rear seats, while the 12-volt battery has been relocated to create 451 litres of boot space in the Hybrid and 346 litres in the PHEV. Worth pointing out here though that the EV actually has the largest storage space back there, with 475 litres available – another reason why we’d go all-electric with a Niro.

Still, if you fold the rear seats flat you’ll get a massive 1,445 litres in the HEV and 1,342 litres in the PHEV.