New cars have gotten unnecessarily expensive and this is keeping a lot of buyers on the sidelines. Given that new cars have an average transaction price approaching $50,000, it sometimes feels like there are no good deals to be had. That’s not entirely true. If you want an affordable, gas-sipping car and are a little unclear about what to buy, maybe just buy a Kia Niro Hybrid.
After the success of my “Maybe just buy a Dodge Charver V8” post, which encouraged those in the market who wanted something powerful and unusual to maybe try and get a big discount on a rare RWD sedan, I’ve decided to turn this into a recurring series. This is new so I’m still deciding the parameters and want your feedback. Overall, I think the goal will be to make car buying suggestions that aren’t entirely obvious.
Obviously, if you want a sports car, Miata Is Always The Answer. If you want a cheap and affordable car, the easy thing to do is just buy a nice and reliable Toyota Corolla. Do you think you need or, maybe, just want a crossover and don’t care about fuel economy? It’s hard to go wrong with the Chevrolet Trax.
And if you do want something a bit green? You could hardly go wronger with a Kia Niro or Kia Niro PHEV.
Reason #1: You Have The Choice Between A Regular Hybrid And A Plug-In One
Hyundai and Kia are joining the growing list of automakers who offer a vehicle in both plug-in (PHEV) and traditional flavor hybrid (HEV). That photo above is of the Kia Niro PHEV I drove earlier last year, plugged in at a Porsche Destination Charger.
If you can plug your vehicle in, the PHEV version offers 33 miles of pure-EV range from a small battery pack for about $36,000 for a base EX trim car. Combined, the PHEV gets a combined 47 MPG according to the EPA. If you want the regular HEV version (the Niro is only available as some kind of hybrid) you can expect to pay about $29,000 for an LX version, which gets a slightly better 49 MPG combined.
The car you want depends entirely on what your situation is. If you can plug your vehicle in where you live and, assuming an average commute, those 33 miles of EV range might be all you need. Bonus points if you can charge at work. Some employers now offer free EV charging (The Autopian does) and that’s a huge benefit right there.
If you can’t plug in easily at work or home there’s no reason to buy a PHEV. You’ll make up the savings versus a non-hybrid CUV of a similar size faster and you won’t be dragging along extra weight you don’t need. It’s still rare to be able to make the choice and it’s one of the better features of the Niro, which also comes in a pure EV version.
Reason #2: It’s A Lot Of Car For Not That Much Money
If you time it right, you might be able to get the affordable Toyota you want at something close to MSRP without waiting too long. Unfortunately, Toyota’s brand is so good right now and its cars so desirable that getting the car you want at the price you want within a reasonable time window is often difficult. I considered buying a Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid and started tracking deliveries/pricing online but eventually decided it wasn’t worth the effort.
According to Cars.com, there are about 600 Kia Niro Hybrid and 250 Kia Niro PHEVs for sale right now. That’s not a huge number of vehicles, but there are enough available nationwide that you should be able to find one nearby if you live in a decent-sized market. If not, buy it over the phone and have our friends at Nexus get it shipped to your place.
You can see the version I built online, which is the LX package model of the Niro Hybrid. I spent a little extra money (+395) for Runway Red, which brought the price to $28,760 delivered. You can pay a lot more and get an SX Touring model with bigger wheels and a slightly nicer interior if you like, though it’s not as good of a deal.
I also built an EX Niro PHEV and it was $36,465, including the great Mineral Blue paint (free!) and the cold-weather package ($600), which adds heated rear seats. These days, both cars are quite a good deal. This is a small crossover that can fit five people (four comfortably) and does everything you need basic transportation to do.
The PHEV version has 180 combined horsepower and 195 lb-ft of torque, which is enough to take it to an autocross track and not embarrass yourself. You’ll never feel slow unless your other car is a Mustang or Kia EV6. In the normal sub-30 mph, stop-and-go driving that makes up most of our lives the small electric motor helps get the Niro moving zestfully. The regular hybrid version is appreciably slower, with a 0-60 mph time in the high eight-second range, but that’s the price you pay for efficiency.
Both versions come with a dual-clutch six-speed instead of the ubiquitous CVT or eCVT and this gearbox makes the car feel better than a lot of the competition.
Reason #3: You’re Not Going To Feel Bad About Driving It
What Kia does better than almost any other automaker is making affordable cars feel nicer than you expect. A low-end Niro doesn’t seem appreciably worse than a high-end Telluride. How did Kia pull this off? The company hired some of the world’s best designers and let them build a cohesive design language that achieves a techno-cool look.
The Niro’s exterior has a dynamic presence with a lot of small details that aren’t expensive to produce and, yet, make the car seem more expensive than it actually is. The little chrome piece around the window, the complex headlight signature, and the thoughtful use of black plastic combine to make the Niro appear more premium than a vehicle like the rugged Subaru Crosstrek.
This is even more pronounced on the inside, where Kia makes a lowly Niro LX feel almost as nice as a Kia Telluride SX. I think the Kia Niro PHEV in EX trim stands up to the much more expensive Kia EV6 GT. There’s a little bit of a reliance on piano black plastics, which isn’t my favorite material, but it’s used sparingly enough that it isn’t super annoying.
Design is a front-loaded cost as a complex plastic mold isn’t dramatically more expensive to produce than a simple one, but it takes more time and attention to design. This is where Kia shines. The willingness to take the time to get a car’s design right is what makes a Kia worthwhile.
Reason #4: Kia Is A Good Automaker
There are still people who are surprised when I suggest they buy a Kia. The brand did start out as a highly-discounted Toyota alternative with products that weren’t always of the best quality. This stigma has persisted, even with buyers I’ve spoken with who admit the cars look great. The company did cut corners when it came to security, which is how we ended up with the Kia Boyz situation, and that’s understandably extended this perception.
I’ve now driven enough Kia products over enough miles to not have many concerns. Over thousands of miles, I can’t remember any issues and, in fact, most Kia products I’ve tried have felt as well-built as anything coming out of Japan. Will a Kia last as long as a comparable Toyota or Honda? It’s hard to say, but the 10-year-, 100,000-mile power warranty should ease some fears.
My parents have had a Kia Soul for almost a decade and have put over 170,000 miles on the vehicle, including multiple cross-country trips. The little Soul has never failed and somehow managed to get to cover this distance without needing any major maintenance. My dad just replaced the spark plugs and front wheel bearings.
If you’re like me, you probably get asked by people what they should buy all the time. If what they want is something that’s efficient, stylish, and affordable … maybe just tell them to buy a Kia Niro Hybrid?
Unimpeachable logic on this one.
Where in the world is $30k cheap? My last car I bought for $3k out the door. It was a 2007 Toyota Camry. It is also the newest car I have owned. We need to define cheap cars. Under $10k used under $20k new. I don’t care there are no new cars under $20k that is the mark. Prices of cars are growing faster than the crap in Joe Bidens diaper. Anything that is so much more expensive than it was in 2020 isn’t cheap. Gas is double. Let’s give up and recognize nothing about cars new or used parts is cheap due to leadership of soggy pants Joe and clueless Kamala Harris.
Why not just buy the Soul like your folks did for considerably less money? It starts at around $21K including destination, is approximately the same size as the Niro, and gets 35mpg. It seems like a much better value than the Niro because the fuel savings will not make up for the larger purchase price.
It was on my shortlist the last time, the Honda Fit won out. If I’d bought the Soul – one of the last manual ones – it would’ve been the base-base model, the last one offered with manual, and I can only wonder how many times I’d have gone outside to find it smashed into and stalled a foot away from the exact spot where I parked it which would be just enough to bite the curb.
You have to be careful if you own a Soul, especially when you part with it. Never can tell what kind of devil is out there buying Souls.
I’m just done with anything from H/K. I won’t go into it here, but they have made so many poor decisions that have cost me so much money, that I’ll never consider them again.
Well, that wraps it up everyone, Eggsalad has declared Hyundai and Kia not worthy of purchase. Get home safe gang.
Wow, very difficult to justify the PHEV, even if you can plug it in. The $7k price delta means you could buy enough gas at $3/gallon to drive the 49 mpg regular HEV version 114,000 miles – through and past the 10/100k warranty period. And that’s even before getting into opportunity cost / time cost of money arguments and calculations.
I’ve been a Niro fan ever since the first generation came out. It seems like a good, honest, useful car that will provide good value to its owner.
Agree with you on styling and the overall improvement of Korean offerings. Still hearing some timebomb sounding engines at stoplights which was my initial bad impression way back. Staying with Toyota at least for now.
How well are these aging? I feel like auto journalists keep telling me that Kia/Hyundai make “good” cars, and online comments tell me that their interiors fall apart and the engines self destruct
It’s a good question. I like their styling, and the initial quality has certainly improved. But I kind of get the sense that they are throwaway cars. After a few years and some miles, they just don’t hold up. Anecdotally, I recently had a 2022 or 2023 Kia forte rental car. I think it had about 50,000 miles. Ignoring the fact that it Smell like smoke, it was objectively one of the worst cars I’ve ever driven. It was loud, course, handled poorly, and the interior quality was abysmal. I went home happy to get back into my various 25 year old, 200,000 mile Toyota products.
You could probably enter a brand new Kia/Hyundai car in Lemons, and they would put it in Class C and wish you good luck. I’ve seen a Genesis coupe entered, and they put it in Class C. No one expects them to survive the weekend
I was in the market for a 2015-2020 Sedona and after hours of research I decided to go with a 2007 Toyota Sienna because it was going to be statistically more reliable. There is a reason why these are similarly priced even though they are 8-10 years different in age.
Kia 3.3 Engines are known to throw rods with no warning and have the headbolts strip due to weak casting in the block which causes head gasket failure. Kia quotes a new engine because they will not repair the stripped threads in the block.
Then there is the Kia/Hyundai class action settlement on the infamous 4-Cylinder engines which covered over 1 million cars from 2010 to 2020. https://www.hyundainews.com/en-us/releases/3657
In some cases, Hyundai/Kia extended the warranty but the engines are on backlog that you end up with no timeline on when it will be replaced.
Watch Wes Work on YT recently replaced a 2019 2.0 GDI with only 119K and discussed how there was no ETA on when a replacement engine would be available from Hyundai and I Do Cars (who is auto wrecker) discusses the high prices of these engines due to demand far exceeding supply due to the high number of failures.
We bought a sx phev right when these came out. We love the car and only put in gas once a month. At a tiny 8 gallons, it’s also very efficient.
Since my wife is a teacher, I drove it during summer and put about 2k miles before needing to put in gas.
The only downside to the vehicle has been the depreciation, so I would suggest looking for a slightly used one to save quite a bit of $.
This affect all Korean cars still, but we don’t mind. We plan to keep it for 10+ years depending on how quickly ev prices come down and when we hit parity so we’re not underwater on the loan.
How very timely. Suddenly in need of a replacement ride as the 2019 500x gave it’s all while setting stopped at a traffic light. Small print (The Wife) was a bit sore after a couple days, but modern safety standards prevented anything worse. The driver in the 20 year old CRV never touched the brakes.
Glad to hear everyone is ok!
No more Rappaport picture, but because you are covering your chin, you look suspiciously like Dana Carvey, pictured here
How old does everyone think I am?!?
Somewhere between young’un and whippersnapper.
You’ve giving him a complex!
Matt, this one seems more Ryan Gosling if it makes you feel any better.
my friend ditcher her Honda Pilot for one and seems pretty happy.
The Niro has always been electrified, HEV, PHEV and full EV since the start even in the first generation.
Oh, yeah, durr. Updated.