How good is the Kia e-Niro?

Quentin Willson takes an electric Kia e-Niro on a 200-mile real-world errand (pre-lockdown). At £34,995 it's not exactly cheap but still one of the most affordable EVs in the UK. Is this the family-sized EV we’ve all been waiting for?
Website. www.quentinwillson.co.uk
Twitter. QuentinWillson

[@gegwen7440]

Quentin Wilson, best presenter ever on Top Gear (IMO) when it used to be about motoring & not the comedy show it turned into. Yes not a popular view I know.

[@mattbod]

Agreed.

[@originalpickaxe]

Agreed also.

[@ramblerandy2397]

Agreed

[@Holeyguagaamoley]

Super agreed

[@Mojo16011973]

Popular view with me Gwen 🙂. Quentin's voice is very welcome and properly needed when it comes to BEV adoption.

[@awgphoto]

A clear and positive review from one of the best motoring correspondents. I know I will enjoy my e-Niro 4.

[@drewster]

Great video Quentin, I have just ordered the e-nero as my company car with a delivery time of at least 6 to 9 months due to waiting lists. Looking forward to my journeys from Glasgow to Aberdeen, Inverness etc with the confidence of not needing to stop to charge to get there. Also a majority of the charging network in Scotland is free so can't complain. Keep up the good work.

[@originalpickaxe]

Takes you back to the great days of Top Gear before the nonsense of Stars raggin' cheap cars round a track every week and car football , caravan demolition Derbys and such like.

[@wattouk]

I get 280+ miles of range every time in mine. Last time I charged to 100%, I got a range of 316 miles on the GOM. Currantly sitting on 4.7mi/kwh. That's at around 80% motorway, 20% urban.

[@TorAsbjoern]

Any idea of apprx. average speed on the motorway?

[@littlebluepanda394]

4.7 is nice - I get about 4.2 in my Leaf, but then Hyundai / Kia seem to have mastered efficiency in a way that no-one else has.

[@zaypeaceIslamstories]

What was your average speed? And do you have a wall charger which one would you recommend

[@richardwallace2458]

Thanks for the motorway information, it's something that's surprisingly under informed...

[@IDann1]

I rented one last year Nov19 to get to London and back, appox 350miles total, started in bristol at 83%, charged on that Motorway half way for 45minutes, (which was a comfortable break) and got home with 70miles on the clock, no range anxiety here...this was my first EV experience..

[@IDann1]

I also had the e-Niro on loan for 48hours in December 19, also did a long trip to London and back about 300 miles, started with 80 something%, took a 45 minute break and charge , (cost £5:84,in services) normally would take 30mims, got home with 70 miles still on the clock. Easy, so far better than petrol or diesel vehicle, Super easy to drive, Loved the lane keep function,Which worked a lot better than others I’ve tried,except for Tesla of course but that’s more money.

[@jonricketts2408]

Nice to see you doing car reviews again please can you do more

[@Scenefromabove.]

Great review sir. Looking forward to a car such as this coming onto the used market 👍

[@EdWittering]

Great review, thanks again QW.

[@kiae-nirodiaries1279]

Great review Quentin. Ah the Celtic Manor!..I used to attend telecom industry conferences there back in the 90s..and well said about the reality of battery recycling, people need educating on that subject. I have had my e-Niro for 17 months now here in France. It was one of the first batch to come into the country before the waiting list for them got silly. I am in for the long haul with this car as I am now retired so if anyone wants to follow the long term ownership experience check out ‘Kia e-Niro Diaries’..we live in the Poitou-Charente region but have made trips to Switzerland, the UK and some long hauls in France. Very happy with the car.

[@marcwage]

DE 0:12 / 6:12 How good is the Kia e-Niro?The Kia E-Niro is very, very, very good.

[@AutoStartTest]

My best experience with e-Niro, great car. Good video .

[@gordonbateman3851]

Fantastic review, I’m intrigued to hear your thoughts on the new EV6 ?

[@chrisbell5248]

What you forgot to mention was if there was a destination charger at the venue in Wales you could topped up the battery while you were speaking and left with nearly a fully charged battery. In my experience with my e-niro you have to forget about the concept of waiting till you battery is discharged before recharging and take advantage of topping up while you are at your destination. At a lot of supermarkets you can do this for free.

[@mattbod]

I would seriously consider one of these despite my scepticism sometimes on your Twitter feed.It’s lovely to see you on camera again Quentin. Owe you a lot for all the secondhand buying advice you published in TG mag back in the late 90s which I still have. BTW the higher powered one has serious hooligan potential. Apparently the awful noise at 53 secs in this linked video is massive wheelspin flooring it from rest kzbin.info/www/bejne/sKfYY2uCmNOjd5Y Apparently the 200hp version really shifts. I like instant shove which is why I have has Turbo Diesels in recent years but the things are so unreliable these days i’d never have another.

[@TrainsAndTrees]

Great review? I would really like to see your speech if it’s available somewhere.

[@alexdalgleish1061]

Allegedly cold weather and using all the kit is a killer. But as Carwow found out even the eNiro did 255 miles which I think is amazing. Plus there are further discounts on nearly new ones. Believe you've ordered a Tesla Quentin. Build quality would rule it out for me every time.

[@Gareth.W]

Just so you know, Celtic in this instance is pronounced with a hard 'c', like "keltic". The Glaswegian football club, Celtic, is the one pronounced with a soft 'c'.

[@dcvariousvids8082]

As of June 2020, Kia increased their prices, so the same spec. model is now listed at £38,500; and subtracting the £3,000 PICG has an on the road price of £35,500 assuming you choose the base white colour.

[@stephenclay6852]

Great video. I have just taken delivery of my Kia e Niro 4 with the updated interior love the car. The only problem with the purchase is I had to wait 14 months. Well worth it though.

[@marks-0-0]

Do you know if the waiting time for a new eNiro still over a year?

[@clansome]

The 2021 model line up looks interesting, finally offered with a sunroof & 11 kw charging and the option of a 39 kWh battery to cut the price down for those who can live with a 180 mile range. Hope the wait time improves as the 4+ is what I would buy.

[@zaypeaceIslamstories]

Best deal for Kia any good site ? To buy from.

[@phill1709]

The Celtic Manor is in Newport and not Cardiff. It is over 12 miles from Cardiff

[@mikesl1573]

I own an I-pace and I love it but I can not get over 200 miles on motorway driving at 75mph (true70 mph) so my question is, did you drive at Motorway speeds or were you driving at 50/60 on the motorway / A roads

[@quentinwillson8918]

Kept at between 60 and 70 mph in the Kia. But no slower - so its reasonably good on motorways. I know what you mean about the I-pace.....!

[@davidcolin6519]

@@quentinwillson8918 It does seem that the Kia/Hyundai group has been erring on the side of caution where ranges are concerned these days. They've learnt that it is better to provide customers with a pleasant surprise than an unpleasant one, which is pretty much the direct opposite of what Jaguar have done. Having a small business in Spain, we are currently looking at getting an e-Niro on a lease plan. With the mountainous terrain we have to deal with, it is the only "affordable" ev that seems to tick all the boxes.

[@NazzyAli]

What happen to Warrant wise?? P45 or furloughed?

[@alanjenkinson7812]

Worst warranty I've ever had. He should be ashamed of himself for representing such a dodgy company.

[@mcdon2401]

Currently working out the best way to get one of these. Fingers crossed for the rumoured scrappage scheme.

[@JonnyJayJonson]

The scrappage scheme is shockingly wasteful. Fine if the car in question is knocking at death's door but the public are generally scrapping perfectly usable 8 year old machinery and it's ridiculous. We're not in the era of cars needing new sills after 3 years and a rebuild at 100,000 miles because Reg or Dave couldn't be bothered to built the car properly in the first place.

[@mcdon2401]

@@JonnyJayJonson Absolutely correct. If it's relatively new cars that are being scrapped, that is an issue. Every car I've had previously has been 2nd (or more usually 4th or 5th) hand, and has been run till it can't go on, usually with a major repair that isn't economic to sort. In the end, I went with a different vehicle, and kept my old car as a back up.

[@JonnyJayJonson]

@@mcdon2401 fair comment. Unfortunately, with the push to get the public into electric vehicles increasing, I think we'll see some awful waste in a few years...

[@HIK_48]

I test-drove the Kia and Hyundai this morning. Very similar (ie very VERY good). The e-Niro is meant to be better on paper, but I must confess (if I can get past the horrendous looks), I preferred the Kona EV..

[@faztalks8645]

kona bit ugly tbh nero looks better

[@AKA001]

The best value EV, the eNiro. Kia and Hyundai are the only legacy carmakers that are on the mark in becoming Tesla’s main competitor. Why none of the others aren’t catching is worrisome.

[@jimmyhillreckon]

👍👍

[@bobtetstall2681]

Gave up waiting , shame really as it would have been a great car but Kia need to make more of them.

[@mattbod]

That’s a shame but I’m not too worried. I’m not ready to commit to an EV yet and they are still expensive. What this does show is that the engineering is advancing fast. You can bet when more production facilities and economies of scale with both the batteries (limited supply right now) and the vehicles are put in place there will be more from Kia and other manufacturers and they will be cheaper. Right now this is a linited edition halo car but the tech won’t and shouldn’t remain exclusive for long.

[@sipan4269]

fine car

[@huss1205]

This is the 2019 model, not 2020? but that's no problem, my problem is why there is a noticeable difference in range compared to Kona electric, same motor and same battery size but less range of about 10-15%, but I know that Hyundai and Kia went for difference battery supplier, Hyundai with LG Chem and Kia with SK Innovation, both are Korean makers...

[@caerphoto]

The Niro’s quite a bit bigger than the Kona, isn’t it?

[@TorAsbjoern]

@@caerphoto yes, it is. The Kia e-Niro has more room to offer inside the car than the Hyundai Kona.

[@mangoginger8924]

The EV Kia I think weighs over 500Lbs more and as for the tires the EV Kia has Run Flat Tires which are much heavier then your regular tires and runs not as smooth on roads. You'll get more mileage on regular tires. I intend to eventually replace to good regular tires when the Run Flats are worn out or develop a few flats to repair. Run Flat tires on other cars will usually have the owner get rid of the Run Flat. You will notice that there is no spare tire in the boot-because the Run Flat can be still driven up to 50 miles to get the tire repaired

[@Brian-om2hh]

And that is how you present a car review..........

[@paulcox4369]

I do wonder when the car buying public will realize how great these cars are to drive. I own a Kia Soul EV my2020 the Neros slightly quirk little brother, same running gear. l have owned and driven many cars over the years, maybe not as many as yourself, but a lot. Forgetting the economics, more expensive to buy but far cheaper to run or the environmental element, my Kia EV is a wonderful car to drive, will never go back.

[@ds9510]

The only thing that I don't like is all those blue lines. One small patch somewhere on the body is sufficient to remind us that this is a ev.

[@alanjenkinson7812]

So nice to see so little of you these days Mr Smug

[@mikeuk4130]

He has a Daimler SP 250. It's like Catherine Deneuve dipped in chocolate. That would make me smug too.

[@mattbod]

Won’t hear a word against Quentin here. Probably very different politically but a proper old school gent. I wrote to him for advice back in the day and got a prompt and very nice letter back. I wonder if Jezza would have so?

[@alanjenkinson7812]

@@mattbod oh Quinten do yoiu have nothing better to do with your time than to troll people under one of your fake accounts?

[@AzizIzgin]

It it was only could charge a bit faster than 77kw I’d buy it :( So sad 😞

[@reinplat]

Jeremy is not amused.

[@Richard482]

Great review and speech. I do need to correct you on one detail though. This KZbinr, who has also commented on this vid, did 0-60mph in 6.2 seconds: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bYOZcoONiN2Sd9E

[@jeremylister89]

So fed up of you cuckoo reviewers saying £35k is affordable. Get real FFS. Good review otherwise. However good the e-niro is, the waiting list for this product is so long you can't get one in an acceptable time frame. It grates everytime I see a Kia advert for an essentially non-available product.

[@mikeuk4130]

FFS are real, and I get fed up WITH people saying that they aren't! I saw them on "Later with Jools Holland" a few years ago. Ron looks exactly the same as he did in the 70s.

[@neilmick6778]

Work harder

[@jeremylister89]

@@neilmick6778 Thanks for that splendid advice.

[@JonnyJayJonson]

Not bad at all, just a shame that the Niro is yet another one of these tiresome 'lifestyle' family cars. I banged my head a while ago and bought a Dacia Duster: 10 months ownership taught me that these faux-offroad lifestyle cars offer nothing that an estate car couldn't already do.