It took 15 years...

I don't really post up much anymore. I bought my 2005 Prius package 4 in 2009. I've explored all the things it can do, mastered them, burned through my ScanGaugeII (I suspect the UV took it out), rebuilt it's pack twice, put a new pack in it 18 months back, and it's finally time to start driving something new. The Prius isn't going anywhere until one of my kids kills it off. Hopefully we get another 4 years out of it. My journey with that car is well documented here. It sits at 270k miles, around 240k I placed on it. I'm pretty sure I messed up when I had the dash computer replaced and it's closer to 290k.

On to the new (to me) ride. I bought a 2020 Kia Niro PHEV EX Premium with 45k miles on it. I've been lusting for one for at least 5 years. But time, place and circumstance hadn't ever been "right". There was only ONE of these things in the state if you searched on Autotrader, and after some discussion with the missus, we started the journey on Saturday.

First things first. I had considered sticking with the Toyota brand. I've never really had any major issues with mine beyond battery things. Yes, the 3 way valve has failed multiple times. And the hybrid pump at least once. But that's easy enough to service as a DYI. It is, however, becoming very hard to find the Gen2 at pull a part. And my second MFD has a cold solder joint failure and the screen is getting the LCD bleed of death. I keep hoping another 04/05 will come in that I can go pick over, and I've got alerts set to notify me when they come in. I might have to break down and send it to the dude a few states away just so I can run the car a few more years. Only having steering wheel controls for HVAC is the pits.

But the things that took the took the newer Prius out for me were:

• Priced out of the market on the used Prime. I have a hard limit on what I want to spend on a car, and that's about 24k. It used to be 15k but cars like that haven't been for sale since the late 2000's
• Not great for hauling things when a hitch is installed
• Not a fan of the looks with the weird bowtie rear glass
• It HAS to be a PHEV. My driving patterns have changed and I rarely drive more than 30 miles a day

Like I mentioned, I started this search 5 years ago. And even then the Niro PHEV seemed to be a great value. I don't care about buying new as I don't sell my cars unless things have gone beyond my ability to fix. I still own my 05 Prius, 06 Kia Sedona and a 17 Kia Sedona. Of the 5 vehicle purchases I made this century? I've sold only one. And that was the Escape that we traded in on the first Sedona. So, buying anything used has always made the most sense for our family.

Enter the 2020 Niro PHEV EX Premium that popped up 140 miles away from my home. Given the current climate and knowing the Prius isn't likely to be my ride or die into an apocalypse, I decided last week we were going to go ahead and pick up a newer car. There's a few across the country that are about the same. But if I didn't want to fly and drive if I didn't have to.

We took one of our younglings to the Wrightsville Beach about an hour and a half away from where we live for a fishing romp. Since we don't do boats, that left the wife and I some free time to wonder about. Turns out there's a Kia dealer just 10 minutes away from the slip where guy berths. So off we popped to see if we could test drive a Niro with similar features.

Sadly, they had no plug in options available. But we did get to explore the LX and EX Premium side by side for comparison. By far, the EX Premium seats beat the pants off the lower model versions. They're basically the same as what's in our newer Sedona. And that kinda sealed the deal for me. No EX, no LX, no LXS, it was going to have to be the EX Premium. We spent the majority of the ride home, and then out to the dealer, doing all the paperwork and finance by phone. All told about 600 miles for the day. But I have zero regrets and really enjoy this Niro!

My first real test of a typical drive occurred today. I had to drive a youngling to the doctor about 15 miles away. And then to the post office. And finally back home. I chilled in the car with the HVAC blowing for about 30 minutes waiting for her to exit the doc shop. And then we had the 15 miles back home. We almost made it back entirely on battery. All told it was 259 miles for the day and 1.5 hours of time spent in the car. That is phenomenal and exactly what I wanted!

 

There's a few nitpicks so far. The blindspot stuff seems... off. The Sedona notices a vehicle where I would expect, but the Niro only "sees" a car once it's already right at the bumper. I would have preferred more notice. Although you can adjust many of the nanny features, that's not something that appears to be adjustable. Radar cruise works fantastic! The lane follow feature, one that basically self steers, I do not like. Not that it's inherently bad, moreso that it REALLY wants to follow the left side markers. And it will fight you to the end if you try and center it from your perspective. Was it nice to have on the 2.5 hour interstate travel home that started at 10 PM? Yes. At times. But it's off for now. If I had the money, I'd put a Comma.AI unit in it. But I don't drive nearly enough highway miles to really make that pay off. That last is why no forward parking sensors? It's got rear sensors, and the blind spot things also sends a report on the screen to show the zone of intrusion.

 

They didn't start putting front parking sensors into the front until the current redesign. And for the PHEV, it's only on the SX Touring trim.

 

Given how poor the rear visibility is in most modern vehicles, I welcome the nanny tech while backing up .

 

Hi Ophbalance:

One of my favorites and I am still considering one as a replacement for my 21 Prius Prime.

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The 2025 Kia NIRO HEV LX and EXs 53/54 mpgUS city/highway rating is not the only exemplarily, the 22.8/63.7 cu. ft. of cargo vol. (seats up/seats down) and < $30k starting price (excl the $1,395 D&H) is very, very attractive.

Wayne

 

There's a few things I didn't really like about the second gen over the first gen. I am NOT a fan of low profile tires for the sake of looks. That's more a me issue though. The upper trim levels on the Gen1, with the exception of the touring trim, are 16". The Newer models seem to have gone all in on 18" once you hit the EX trim. The wife and I both like the front of the 2020 over the Gen2 better as well. Black on black on black makes it look pretty dull on the '25.

The other thing that I'm not a super fan of is just how inflated dealer price is off MSRP. That is a sample size of one though. The dealer at the beach wanted $50k for the PHEV SX Touring but was willing to drop it to $45k if I was willing to sign that day.

 

Looks like I had started a post and lost it. But the summation of a weeks worth of driving since filling up the day after I brought it home;

• 270 miles and only lost one PIP off the fuel gauge
• Driving in electric mode is very nice. Throttle response is much smoother than when under ICE ECO mode
• There's only two driving modes in this model, ECO and SPORT. SPORT drives with ICE mode on at all times. But it's very peppy. If I need to really move through an intersection I'll slap it into SPORT. ECO is great in pure EV, and not great in HEV mode. It's a little clunky between shifts and it takes a lot of pedal movement for acceleration
• All the tech is very nice. The android/apple integration works well. I've purchased a dongle for wireless android auto. Radar cruise works just as well as anticipated
• The rear nanny sensors are not working as I would expect. A car will be within striking distance before it alerts on the right side. I'll look into that when I pull the plastics to install a hitch
• Seats in the Premium model are just like the seats in my Sedona SX. Very nice, very comfy

All in all I have no regrets. This was the car I was hoping for. My driving patterns mean I can do most of my local driving on all electric. It's going to be fantastic getting to know the internals better.

 

You are correct, no regrets.

 

Still on the first fill up that from 3/31. Right now it's got about 110 miles of fuel range left so it'll still be a bit until I need to refuel.

Now, as to large pack. I decided to hook the KillAWatt up to the 120v charger this week.

• My electric rate is $.11 - .12 /kWh (overnight is cheaper by a fraction)
• It took 7.914 kWh to fill the pack
• The large pack will average 20-30 miles depending on A/C usage and speed
• On surface street drives and a car full of people it's pulling around 52 MPG with fuel only
• Fuel is presently $2.99/gal
• Annual "PHEV Surcharge" is $107.25
• We also pay sales taxes on kWh so feel like this is being doubly taxed

Given that info it costs around $.87 for 25 miles of pack driving. It costs $1.50(is) to go the same distance on just gas. From a pure break even point of view based strictly on fuel/electric costs it won't happen until after the 4k mile mark each year. I suppose that's a bit disappointing but I still enjoy the all electric portion of the ride when the pack has power.

 

I almost made it 30 days between fill ups. I had to do some interstate tripping this week and chose to fill up locally where I know where the better local prices are to be found. Total miles traveled was 1051 with 9.991 gallons put in the tank. The car indicated it was at 109 MPG but the total math worked out to 105 MPG. But that really could boil down to the pump I used vs actual values. I'll have my Level2 charger hooked up this week which will mean I'll almost always have the car charged between trips.

Overall still very enthused with the car. It's perfect for my drive patterns and exactly as I'd hoped it would be. We almost wish that we could have two of them, one for the missus as well. She drives to/from her job and it's only about 12 miles round trip. Plus it's great to leave the people mover home until it needs to move a lot of people.

 

I only found the one in my state and was more than willing to drive the hours to pick it up. I just got my level 2 charger up and running and what a difference in charge times. The only thing I could say is a "wish it had" feature is the same range the gen 2 PHEVs have (33 miles). Unlike the Prius there's not the same cult following with these cars and no one pushing for extended range on the PHEV packs.

 

Not related to the Niro, but after waiting it out for nine months, an 04-05 Prius with Nav and a working MFD finally hit a pull a part near me. Man did I miss having the ability to set speed or vents or use the radio.