How can I put it its not that it wasnt, you know I didnt perform well, I didnt deliver content um its just that it was. How do I put it nicely? Excessively dull, I mean it made. You know the expression vanilla it made. Vanilla look like triple fudge: swirl cookie, dough, whatever ingredients, and that may have been one of the few reasons why it probably didnt sell as well as it could have, especially considering the fact that a was a crossover and B was available as a hybrid, a plug. In hybrid and an EV, but now with this all new 2023, the new second generation Kia Niro. Well, the Korean automaker decided to give it a little bit more Jazz and um. After six days now, I have to say that they gave it just the right amount, which is kind of strange to say, because look overall, its a great little SUV. This is, in fact, the electric version, if I didnt mention it already, um its still its still very ordinary, but it its become. It does exactly what you want it to do without being boring, thats it thats what Im going with and and Im Im finding myself very surprised by the fact that I I almost said love. I really really like this small electric crossover, this specific version, if youve shopped the Nero ver, what version it is because its got the blade on the side right, theres, only one trim that will give you this physical combination and Ill.

Tell you more about that, and I can tell you now that this is not the one you want to get because its more expensive than it really needs to be like 10 more expensive than it really needs to be um yeah. But so suffice it to say that uh I mean its, not perfect, no vehicle actually ever is right, except perhaps oh, I wont go there. There are a few little issues, but nothing that I almost could not get over. Anyhow, no deal breakers hows that so in the following video through the quick walk around point out a few things: what makes it a an all new Kia Niro and then take it for a quick spin, um and yeah thats it. So please, hang around okay! Well, lets just get right into styling. I mean like the first generation of the Nero uh. The Nero has a very specific you know styling all of its own, especially in the front, um and uh. Well, this time around, I think Kia decided to give it a little bit more. I dont know a little bit more of a dimension. To its its looks, I mean its not uh. I mean its not the most attractive, but I dont mind that the headlights are way out on the corners like that, because it doesnt have a weird Grill say like the Sportage and it doesnt have a fish face. You know its kind of it. It works.

Oh, look: the only semi deal breaker while Im here is this. This is absolutely dumb. Okay, it hasnt been theres, been a lot of snow, a lot of fall and rain and wet whatever week. So this hasnt frozen shut, as it did say, on the GED, 80 electrified and whatnot, but again still a horrible horrible place to put a charge port right in the front. That is a big, No, No thats thats the closest thing to a deal breaker that the new Nero has um. As we walk around I mean look, the proportions are really nice. The overhangs are generally small uh, I kind of like the rear tail light treatment. It reminds me of a focus the whole tailgate kind of set up with the lights. The way theyre laid out reminds me of Focus, hatchback first generation, maybe second generation in fact Focus thats, it thats. What Im trying to say, um and the tail end is, is just fine. Everything is everything is pretty okay visually as far as its concerned, so yeah about the blade the trim, so the base model in the US called the wind is a ‘ 550 and then theres the wave, which is forty four thousand five hundred fifty dollars in Canada. The base model is the premium, which is forty, seven thousand eight hundred and eighty three dollars and then theres the limited, which is what this is fifty five thousand eight hundred and eighty three dollars the once you get up to the limited.

You have a whole bunch of color selections and then you do get the full body kit, with the silver blade or gray or whatever it is. I dont I dont dislike it its a little strange. I mean the only thing that keeps popping to mind is: why does it want to try and be like in first gen R8, but thats, just my locked down mind looking for problems um, so in the base model you do get uh Kia connect, uh, twin ten And a quarter and Im specifically only talking about the Eevee just just to be clear, twin ten and a quarter inch displays Apple, carplay, Android, auto 17 inch wheels and limited. Well, you move up. You get the sunroof, which is pointless in my opinion, uh and uh. As is the Harman Kardon audio synthetic leather, all around full, LED lights, cooled front, seats, heated, rear seats. Those are all features that you have to paint five thousand dollars more for because the premium plus the mid trim gives you the power, lift gate. The heat pump. Heated steering wheel and a bunch of other features thats the model to get the only issue there uh, because this is only available as a front wheel drive, is that thats, almost bang for the buck or not bang for the buck, but bang on the same price. As a base, ev6 rear wheel drive, maybe not the same kind of equipment, but that would be the only issue um.

I think visually weve kind of done. The tour um until power hatch is kind of strange on such a small SUV. But you know you got ta its. You got ta explain the 50 000 price range, so this opens up to 645 liters of boot space if Im not mistaken, its its very usable, very accessible there isnt much going on under here, although you could, you know, fill it up with those things. If you wanted to uh its very deep, actually we did the Costco run and everything fits. It was quite nice. Admittedly, foreign Space is really not that bad. I mean the wheelbase, I guess its a little odd with the door open, but its actually fairly long – and you know so. The the the benefits are right here in the rear. The kids are fine, theres, no way theres any room for anyone between the two seats, but you know niceties, but I dont think thats really necessary, but the USBC ports on the on the seats, very cool setup uh. Here you get a better shot of the synthetic leather which is actually really nice, and the thing is too: once you get into this model, you get the power lumbar power driver seat same layout on the passenger side, which is not that usual in this category that I want to say price point, but category um, overall, the interior, its really nice, the Plastics are lovely. The textures are nice.

I love the smooth Rising layout for the controls there. This is, you know, full gloss black right now, its a little was wet anyway. Heres. The twin ten and a quarter inch screen and it lets just jump in while were at it. I love love, love, love. What Kia has done theyve kind of, instead of allowing it to go straight. Okay turn that down a lot instead of it going straight and, like you know, sticking out above the dashboard they cut it down. I dont know its its brilliant the way they they finish that off. I also really like this. I dont know why its one of those details that KIA will put into a lot of the vehicles that are completely unnecessary and look at the whole dashboard. The way it slopes down and reaches that same. You know, like waterfall style control panel there for the seats and the windows, its really really lovely um over here on the steering wheel. Good grip, dual spoke really nice. This is your drive mode button, its no Eco, normal Ive, been driving. An Eco almost exclusively did use normal once or twice. You saw that you know things kind of change a little bit along along the way, um typical Kia stuff with Kia connect, theres your EV s, so yeah Im down two, I cant see through the phone 56 percent battery Ive been driving this thing quite a bit. I mean Ive put over 400 kilometers on it and Ive only charged it once fully its its performing admirably well, but, as you can see its not been that cold four degrees Celsius.

So this is your typical Kia layout. Now I mean this is like my sixth Kia product in the last I dont know four months five months, so Im really used to it when youre wearing gloves, you know going from one menu to right with, like the and the buttons for the audio system and All that and then for the HVAC with gloves it works. Maybe it works four out of five times and you really got ta aim. It well, but Ive said this before in other reviews on Kia products um this. This is brilliant because you have hard buttons which immediately activate what you want them to activate, no need to wait for it to load its a wheel that works, Auto hold, always a feature that I love. Storage is very decent down here, its got those funky. You know chop your finger off: oh theyre, not as quick as any others, apparently anyway, so that can open up to a big storage. This is reasonably decent in there um Harman Kardon audio, which is completely unnecessary. The the the only thing kind of not that was surprised or its an unfortunate surprise, you should say is visibility, is not as good as it should be for a vehicle like this I mean the block off plate with the speaker for the for the mirror. Its really kind of theres, no, you know theres no weight around that thats the only issue. Otherwise, this little space in here is quite nice, and the drive is really good too so lets do that now, yeah driving the all new 2023 Nero EV has been just just really nice.

I mean I I mentioned that you know the weather has been okay temperature wise. It hasnt been that cold. There has been a little bit of snow rain, all that so um. The fact that it doesnt have all wheel drive its not much of an issue in these conditions. That would maybe be the Quasi deal breaker for me another, but it isnt, because its never available as or with all wheel drive. I should say so. You know what youre getting into when you pick it up: um, but otherwise uh wow, Im, Im thats, my tripod is always um Im really really enjoying this. The the reasons are numerous. I mean this is a fairly lightweight EV right, its about 3 800 pounds. Normally, when were talking about average EVS were 4 500 and up. That explains why this thing is so its tossable, its actually fun and the Nero well necessarily, I guess, is about efficiency. I mean it. Doesnt have a smallest battery, its got a 64.8 kilowatt hour battery and when fully charged according to Kia, the range the estimated range is 407 kilometers. Now, as I mentioned, I only charge it once fully and indicated was 345 kilometers, but I mean for the driving that Ive been doing. I have no reason to doubt that it could have pulled a lot more and typically, my mix is 50 50 and has been the case so far this week I dont have any difficulty believing that you know you can expect.

Maybe you know in the winter, as always, you can expect maybe 345 or 350. With a you know: 20 ish percent loss and in the summer youre fine um. I did mention right the heat pump, so this has a heat pump onboard Chargers, an 11 kilowatt unit. So level, two home charger, youre, looking at six hours and a few minutes for uh for a full charge, which is which is perfectly adequate, its about 45 minutes on a DC fast charger level, three on a 100 kilowatt uh, which is you know, fairly fairly common. Today, in 2023, and by Common I mean there is a handful out there compared to say 50 kilowatt units um. So as far as the charging is concerned, everything is fine. What I do like is the electric motor which produces 201 horsepower. You got your flasher on youre thinking about it. There you go, which puts out 201 horsepower from six thousand to nine thousand RPM, so you know uh, but its a torque, its 188 pound feet of torque, which is low ish, but its available from zero to six thousand. So theres theres, no theres no Gap. So it actually pulls nicely decently and sustainably, as long as you would expect an electric motor to last as youre driving around um, so its and again its only 3 800 pounds, okay, so thats without my lard butt in it, but even so thats its its good Power and as always Kia gives you five regen modes, including ipedal, which is absolutely brilliant.

You know so zero one, two three four and then full on uh, one pedal driving which will bring you to a Full Stop which in town I absolutely adore. I mean you forget that you really need the brake pedal which, by the way, works fine when required, um and then theres the level of refinement. The ride quality is so good, its a multilingual suspension, obviously independent in the front um. The right is good, even over some of the worst roads that I can find, relatively speaking for the category of the vehicle for the size for the price points. Yes, 55. 000, but you know for an EV, thats affordable. I cant believe thats thats a thing now, but um yeah, its its just great 17 inch Wheels, which are standard across the board, probably have a lot to do with it, because the tires actually have side walls to help you drive about, and I and I didnt Mean agile and Nimble I mean, and despite the 17 inch wheels I mean steering response is fine. I mean its its connected as always, or in most cases. You know you know, the steering wheel is connected to the front wheel, or at least you know, if only because when you give some input, things happen, but the ride quality is really really good and and back to what I said you know, the price point is An entry level peoples Eevee so its not its, not the most well insulated uh, you know of Eevee, so that means that on the highway at speeds of like 90 ish kilometers an hour and anything above that it does get noisy in here.

Road, noise, wind noise, everything really penetrates into the cabin and kind of ruins, the chill Ambiance that normally rules. This small crossover is uh, you know cabin, but for all intents and purposes you stay away from this limited model. You dont need the blades. When you get into the premium plus, you do have access to some color, as opposed to, I think its black gray and white, which is boring as hell in the base premium model um and for 50 100 of almost 5 100 bucks. You know you have yourself a very decent Eevee now in the segment I mean its not really a segment, not yet its growing eventually, but that ev6 for fifty thousand dollars ish and change for the base model still really difficult to beat. I mean for The Styling and you still get a fair amount of content and you know anything around 50. There are a number of EVS a number and full of EVS available for that price. Point um. You know, and some that are cheaper, say, Leaf, bolt and so on and then even in Hyundais family with the Kona and other ones like that uh. What am I trying to say the Nero? Is nice absolutely really really nice. I like it. I dont know that I get it over a Kona, I mean were really talking about. You know apples and oranges, but theyre all fruit, its really a matter of personal taste but bottom line.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U730GeYK1SU