And oh, that's the sound of the engine.
Welcome to CarSceneKorea.
I introduce newly released Genesis, Hyundai and Kia cars.
And the car I have behind me today is 2023 Kia Niro HEV.
For those of you looking for the exterior review,
go check out this video right here because I've gone through it extensively already.
Let me quickly go through some of the exterior points that I may have missed out
just because I did not have the key to the car last time.
There is this heartbeat signal inspired
DRL that's been first implemented on this Kia Niro.
That kind of design cue seems to be what Kia is pursuing lately
as we have seen from the Kia Sportage right here as well.
So that have that shape with the DRL
and that was also reviewed by myself right here
right on the spot so go check out that video as well.
Put together this Kia Sportage and Niro,
We can now see that they are definitely
they belong to the same Kia family
not to mention about the brand new gear emblem/logo that they have implemented,
which I absolutely love.
So, some of the other design that I have missed out last time
starting with the DRL like I have said,
this cowl it's actually the first time ever on this Kia Niro
that they have put this cowl on a separate basis from the bonnet.
It's also carried over to this right here.
So that is inspired from the Kia Niro tiger face slash tiger nose that the brand is pursuing
and unfortunately this is a loaded option.
So what you get with the Kia Niro, this car has everything, except
except for this edge pack.
You could have silver accents on that c-pillar
and that is actually one of the distinguished characteristic of this Kia Niro.
What does this do?
Well, this makes the car look much more bold, strong, masculine
and it adds on to the overall look of the Niro as we can see.
So the color that I have here is completely blacked out.
So it's a little hard to distinguish the accents and design cue out of the Niro,
but on a contrary, i have a white Sportage,
And I just absolutely love this color match.
The cladding here this time, Niro is color matched with the body unlike what we have seen on Kia Sportage right here.
Some of the brands, they have the plastic cladding here. Instead, they still do have the gloss finish.
And this being a black exterior, we can't see that on this car,
but this side skirt actually stretches out all the way to here.
which adds on to more of the exterior design cue to it.
This time, Kia Niro comes in 16s and 18s only.
This is a 18 with the size of 225 45 18.
So this is not going to pump out the best mileage possible.
You want to get 16 for that; however, this is going to provide a better handling, the turns and corners, the performance-wise.
But if you go with the 16, you'll be losing all of that however,
however, you'll be getting a ridiculous amount of mpg out of this Kia Niro HEV
which this car is fully capable of.
This vent is actually cut through and is connected that gets carried out to
So you see that right there?
So it's actually cut and connected that will be aiding and helping the car
get rid of the dirty air and the vortex created
hence helping with the mpg as well.
Take a look at from this angle again
and see how massive that c-pillar is.
I strongly recommend that you get one with that.
I'm gonna go inside and show you what the headlights, the turn signals are looking like.
And let's get the trunk.
The button is right here and there is actually the rear view cam.
And you feel the rubber, and just gently tap on it.
It will open up just like any other Hyundai, Kia cars.
And thank god, it has the automated tailgate. You can close, the button right here.
And well just a typical ordinary trunk with reclining seats on the second row seat.
Kia has gotten really creative with this one.
Fold the seat. You can also do so from the trunk, like so.
Once that is folded, look at this. Check this out.
So lift up the trunk right here.
Well, that's the battery for the built-in camera.
And that is the sound system, lift it up, pull it out.
And look at that.
So it drops down, it drops down. And when you just push it in.
Ta-da. That's what you get.
Smooth and connected, even deeper tron compartment that you can utilize.
However, beware there are some missing spaces here.
So if you drop something you might have to pull the entire part out to pick that up.
It's easy done with the one hand like i just did.
And when you want to go back, just pull it back up, drop it in like that.
And there you go. So, now you're back to the square one, original condition.
Just put your stuff in, no problem.
All right, so as for the second row seat,
again, you can manually close. I feel the resistance to it.
But you could always use the button, of course to close it,
to close the trunk.
So, that being said let me actually go to the second row seat and show you.
And you don't have a lever here, so you can go back,
so you can only control the tilt using this right here.
So there is a one angle.
And click it one more time, push it, you can go down to a second angle.
So that's as much as you can get with the Niro.
And that goes the same for this side as well.
and it looks much more evident from the second row seat,
but this design we've seen it from the Kia EV6.
There is with the charger port both left and right.
There is the 220 volts that's with the maximum output with the 200 watts.
Not quite there with the hair blowers, but you can use a lot of things here in Kia Niro HEV.
As always, I'm running out of time let's get back, tell you all about what this car actually feels like behind the wheels.
And just like how all the HEVs are like, the motor will fire up on occasional bases when you have the car turned on.
And that is what the sound of Kia Niro motor engine running sounds like.
What do you guys think about the design? I love this design as much as I love the Kia Sportage here but
Yeah, that tiger nose and face design is very distinctive here too.
Oh, yeah. Let me also show you this as well. Pop the hood.
So, that's the cowl that I told you about at the beginning of the video.
And when you open up the hood,
unlike the previous model, you now get the gas absorber.
And that also works as the cowl like that.
They have two coolant; one for the electric motor, one for the engine.
Kia has honed and upgraded a lot from the previous model.
So it lost a slight bit of the torque,
however, it should feel much more smooth and gentle compared to the last model.
And that is what I felt on my way to here,
but let's see how it actually does feel like, especially when I put this car on the road in Sport mode and
push it just a little bit.
And that's the sound of the engine.
All right, so let's go check it out.
Now, let's go for a drive.
Here are the buttons, well, just the typical Kia, I want to say.
You can see that they have used a lot of high gloss inside.
So I can see the fingerprints have been smushed already but.
Start the car.
And just like any other HEV, that's all we get.
And it tells you, it's ready to roll.
Good old HDA buttons and features.
If you have driven or owned a Hyundai Motor Group car, you will get used to this right away.
Other infotainment system related.
A little bit of a shame that this actually did not get the 12 inch display like it's a bigger brother and sisters did.
Niro got the good old 10.25, but which is also huge and humongous compared to the older cars, of course.
Twist it around to put it in the Drive, Neutral and Reverse.
All right, so let's go and start driving this car.
And there is an auto hold, of course.
So 2023 Kia Niro HEV gets HDA; however, it's not the HDA2.
Which is the top notch that's been implemented on Kia EV6.
Keeping that in mind I'm not going to expect the best HDA, just out there, just yet.
I've also driven cars with the older versions that's including in Kia Seltos.
I have absolutely been in love. Because if you don't have the HDA, it changes your life completely.
It takes away all the burdens and stress driving the car, especially in cities.
So that's what I'll be expecting from this Kia Niro as well.
The engine turns on and off like all the hybrids do.
But when it does, I don't really feel any of that awkward moment that we used to see from the first generation HEVs, no.
Motors turn on and engage and is connected together with the electric motor,
so smooth and gentle.
I don't really feel any of that transitions between those, those two. I really don't.
I would have to drive a little more to test out and see what the transmission combination would be with this motors and the engines
but so far, I love it.
And as for the infotainment system, you see this is the good styling that Kia has implemented with the recent cars,
they have integrated everything into this display
where you can control the map navigation and other infotainment system right here.
It's all direct and intuitive. You know what's going on, you know what to do with it.
And just put that onto right there, you can control the A/C.
I've only started driving for a very short period of time obviously.
Good blind spot monitor with the alarm.
Since fueling, it averaged and clocked at 15.2 kilometers that's with the four hours and 30 minutes driving and
accumulating info with the 247 kilometers it managed to pump out 15.3 kilometers average.
And keep in mind that this is a test driver, so people have been pushing the car having fun behind the wheels.
So that is not the best mpg yet, that's for certain.
That's how much the fuel is sitting at right here, so it's not even the full tank.
But the driving range that this Niro is giving me is 720 kilometers.
I'm currently on the Eco mode and you can change your drive mode right here
and when you put that into the different drive mode,
the second one you get is the Sport.
And there are only two drive modes in this Kia Niro.
And when you put this car into Sport mode, the engine will run 24/7.
And I can definitely feel that engine is engaged right into that DCT.
And even so, you see the energy flow the motor is running and the car is being charged up as well at the same time.
But when I go back to the Eco,
you see? The motor has shut off now I'm currently running in the motors only
and when I tap on the accelerator now the engine has turned on but I did not feel a thing.
So, that's what it is with Kia Niro hybrid.
They are now at top notch level,
and I can't really tell. Honestly, I can't tell at all if the engine is engaging or not.
I don't feel a thing.
When you put the car into Eco mode and turn this pedal shifters, this will control the level of the regen brakes.
So it's really tiny right here, but you see, with the region brake level 3, level 2, level 1.
Or you can turn it off. Again, level 1, level 2 and level 3 with the shifters right here.
That's what the shifters are like.
But when you put the car into the Sport mode,
now this paddle shifters work as the pedal shifters that we know.
See, it's on the third gear.
Go down to the second.
You can go down to even 1.
And oh, that's the sound of the engine.
Second gear, so that's how it is.
All right, so as always, I run short out of time and that's all I've got for today.
Hopefully I got to show you everything and a lot of things about this Kia Niro 2023 HEV.
By far, the best car best city driver that you can drive
if you're looking for the mpg plus the versatility.
This is a great daily driver, this is a great family car.
Honestly, the only downside that I have with the first generation is the looks.
I really was not a big fan of the first gen looks.
But that's all gone with this second generation Niro.
It looks sleek, slim and I think it looks sexy, too.
I especially love that vertical lights.
All right, so that's it don't forget to subscribe and like the video if you did.
And I'll come back and see you with more brand new released Genesis, Hyundai and Kia cars.
I'll see you in the next video.