The 2023 Kia Niro EV - More Than A Facelift?

so unlike GM with the bolt and nissan with the leaf, kia is actually doing a refresh that matters, way to go kia.

Thanks for the walk-around, the car is giving me strong "Ioniq 5 on a budget" vibes. Not a bad angle for Kia to aim for!

Hmmmm. A Bolt EUV for 30K or a Niro EV for 44K. A no-brainer for my money! IMO

Did personal walk-around and test drive of a Niro-EV Wind (lower trim) last night. I was quite surprised when I could not get my toes under the driver’s seat and had my feet filling the open floor space, much like Nikki’s were (16:05-16:12). Sitting behind the passenger’s seat my toes to ankles EASILY slid under that seat. Difference? Motors/mechanisms for dirvers’ all electric movement vs the manual passenger that leaves room for the rear passengers feet. How’d Kia chose a layout that sacrificed rear passenger foot space for the seat mechanism? My son’s would never handle the cramped foot space on a long trip so the Niro-EV failed as a ‘family of 4’ car. If considering the Niro-EV - be sure to check rear foot space after setting the front seats for your positions.

12:25 - Woah, woah, woah... Kia's system knows not just the current speed limit, but also if it's a SCHOOL ZONE speed limit?! That is great! All my other cars with camera-read-speed-limit detection just drop to 20 MPH, without seeming to know that it's because it's a school zone. That is great info to show!

I love the Niro EV and Kona EV. However, I remember their battery pack extrudes out a bit under the car, which I really have concerns about. I live with winter weather and running over things like road kill or chucks of snow would scare me with these two vehicles. If they can addresses that, I think I would definitely finance one. Thank you for covering this!

I like the Kia E Niro. Even though it looks like a stormtrooper.

The kia niro would be at the top of my list if not for the kia dealers in my area. One was fined 1.25 million dollars and has to video record all financial transactions with customers for 5 years and the others don’t appear to be much better.

A small trick to know if a panel is aluminum or not: A simple magnet and a small cloth (a gloves or in fact anything) to avoid damaging the paint :)

Were those DMM fuses Kate? Amazing! Thank you both for the thorough walk-through / review!

Very good review, thank you very much both.

Very good walkaround of a very decent vehicle. Thanks!

Great review. We love our '19 Niro EV and have been looking at this update. Still undecided if we love the changes enough to upgrade.

Very good, informative, as always. Thank you! Screen wash == windshield fluid, thanks for the education

thankyou Kate and Nikki. I have one on order as well as an Ioniq 5. I live north of 49 so we have to wait years to get an Ev it seems. If you could do a direct comparison of the two cars it would be fantastic, I trust your reporting. with my luck I could have both arrive at the same time and would then have to choose. Just a retired old guy and his wife who want to road trip and see the sights in North America.

Good review. These ladies are very knowledgeable.

A very good review. Thank you. It is good to see a HUD!! One "gadget" found in selected modern cars that should become universal ASAP. One old concept that I prefer to the modern cars are manual parking brakes. These electric ones are easy to use, but as a last ditch emergency device, the manual ones are safer.

One tiny thing that still makes me smile about the eNiro is instead of electrical contacts for a visor mounted vanity mirror light going through the hinge of the sun visor, the light is just in the roof panel with a light switch that gets knocked off when you close up the visor - simples ;) Seriously though there are things about the eNiro I would miss when I come to change cars - the charging level indicators on the front windscreen sill that you can see from your house, that after-market rear winscreen wiper adaptor that wipes the rear camera at the same time, regen on the steering column paddles, pretty good sound system, all the extra space under the boot (trunk) floor. I just cable-tied a plastic box to the invertor cover as a Frunk but an OEM one is handy. Vehicle to load is a welcome addition though, as is the somewhat improved Rapid charging speed. I think you're over-stating the boot space, but any increase is welcome and it's pretty good already.

Love y’all ❤

I like the improvements in this year’s model.