Used 2019 Kia Niro Plug-In Hybrid Consumer Reviews
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We have a limited number of reviews for the 2019 Niro Plug-In Hybrid, so we've included reviews for other years of the Niro Plug-In Hybrid since its last redesign.
Excellent Car! Plug-in Hybrid
JM, 09/06/2018
2018 Kia Niro Plug-In Hybrid EX 4dr SUV (1.6L 4cyl gas/electric hybrid 6AM)
15 of 15 people found this review helpful
Excellent car, and value. Most importantly for us is that it seats 5 "real size" people: Even with front seats moved all the way back, there is sufficient leg room and headroom for adults in back. We are able to fit two adults and a car seat across the back seat. "CarPlay" will present phone navigation on the car's screen, even without buying the navigation option.
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30K+ nice car, well adapted for efficiency...but k
Robert MacLaughlin, 12/06/2018
updated 06/15/2021
2018 Kia Niro Plug-In Hybrid EX Premium 4dr SUV (1.6L 4cyl gas/electric hybrid 6AM)
23 of 24 people found this review helpful
Pretending this is an SUV is laughable; it is not; not even close... This is a very comfortable, tech-ladened, economical, environmentally friendly, tall wagon or large hatch-back. Almost the perfect car for California. 25 miles of gas-free electric range every time you unplug and get in. And, a good 55 mpg in hybrid mode. And...you can select ‘sport’ mode where you will have exclusive internal combustion-only propulsion and spirited performance which charges the battery as you drive giving you extra EV range. And...a real auto transmission! 6 speeds! Not a moaning Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT). However...you may NOT have a sun-roof (in 2018). And, you may NOT have an electro chromatic (self dimming) rear view mirror...ever. And...you may NOT have a garage door opener (home link) incorporated into your car like EVERY. OTHER. CAR! But, you may have ventilated seats, navigation, car-play, and wireless charging. (I understand all these features are available on newer units) Handling is clumsy at best. Road noise is substantial. But for freedom from gas stations, the trade-offs are acceptable. It’s quite utilitarian, you can stuff a lot of stuff or a few people into it easily AND comfortable, cues up my music seamlessly, voice commands are easy. We had two returns to the dealer upon buying the car for a mysterious check engine light. That was 3000 miles ago. The headlights are adjusted too high and oncoming traffic gets irritated by that. Everything else seems OK. At 37,000 miles, happy to report that this car has not aged...everything in good working order. We added a roof-rack for skiing and kayaking and have made 6 day trips to Lake Tahoe for skiing, including one where we had to install cables-not chains-because of snow on the road. No problems whatsoever:) In all-electric mode, the performance of the PHEV is not thrilling. The benefits of EV torque don’t seem to be present like other PHEV we have/had (ie: Leaf, CMax Energi, ELR and I3.) I recently moved a friends somewhat large chest-of-drawers to her new home. I was pleasantly surprised at how large the cargo space is inside with rear seats down. Kudos! The vehicle has moved ‘down stream’ to our high school senior daughter. We are comforted by the array of safety features that are defining her driving experience.
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2019 Kia Niro Plug-In Hybrid for sale near you
3 of 38 listings
- EX Premium 4dr SUVMSRP: $17,995146 mi away
- EX 4dr SUVMSRP: $18,888218 mi away
- LX 4dr SUVMSRP: $19,681775 mi away
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Good MPG, would not buy again
Cindy RR, 03/02/2019
updated 11/15/2023
2019 Kia Niro Plug-In Hybrid EX Premium 4dr SUV (1.6L 4cyl gas/electric plug-in hybrid 6AM)
50 of 54 people found this review helpful
UPDATE I have had my car almost 5 years and hate it more every day. Service at all dealerships is bad! Battery die and need to change it- you are screwed!!! I just had AAA come out. Apparently this car has some unicorn batter, no auto parts store had it, no KIA dealership within 30 miles had it. AAA spent over hour here, can't change it out. They can't cross reference to any battery they have. Can't find it online. MUST buy from kia IF they have in stock. My local dealership said they have one on order that has been on order for a while. I have 66k miles, had to have both power mirror motors replaced. There is a recall for part that will cause fire. I drove from CA to TN, got only 36 mpg. Will never ever buy a KIA again. In fact bought a 2024 Lexus UX250h that is my main driver and this is now my dog transport car. ps you can't take the charger out unless car is unlocked. I have had my car for about 12 weeks now, over 3500 miles. I have the premium EX. It says top range to pay for this car is $35k but most dealers are asking over $37,000 & have very few in stock & sell immediately so they have the advantage & don't bargain. (but am in communist green obsessed California) I paid $1750 for a 10 yr 150000 extended warranty and $800 for tire, wheel, dent protection when I bought the two together so bargain with them. Wheel protection is HORRIBLE. I have spent 3 hours & still trying to get curb rash fixed on tire & they keep telling me to go back to the dealer!? 8 emails/calls now. I have dealt with local socal KIA district office who was extremely helpful!!! Exterior paint chips VERY easily- not good. Good back up camera. Turns music down while backing up. Can fold mirrors. I think it is important to know that I went from a Lexus CT200h hybrid sporty hatchback I had for 4 years. In general I like the way it drives, not a sports car but not an SUV. Handles ok on turns like going on & off looping freeway ramps. It is smaller than I thought & looks in pictures and fits nicely in my garage. It rides smooth & the car is pretty well sealed having nice quiet inside. Voice navigation sucks like all cars but can type in easily. Comes with really good tires, I drove 75 in pouring rain. More roomy inside than you would think. Tall people will have no issue. Passenger seat has no power controls. Has lots of features within reach. You can customize your screen to put the things you want to see. you can check mileage and battery level easily. The instrument panel has an advanced display or you can go to a more simple one, which I chose because I couldn't figure out how much gas was in the tank. Back seats fold down for tons of room!!! it has HEATED steering wheel & seats with 3 heat levels & cooling seats which are awesome. Has fogs lights for added lighting low to the ground. GAS mileage is averaging about 65 but a lot of my trips are local so I am on electric charge a lot. You only get 26 miles on a charge. On a trickle charge it takes 6 hours, on a 240 charges in 2 1/2 hours. It will use EV automatically. You can set the charging on a timer. I set mine to charge between midnight and 6 am. If you want to charge now, you have to go into the touch screen, select phev, & tell it to CHARGE NOW....like if you were at a charger out in public. downside is, you can't get the charger out of car if it isn't fully charged, you have to go back in the car, reset the charging setting to CHARGE ON SCHEDULE to extract the charger from your car. There is a button to switch to hybrid while driving. I do that when I am going up hills in Souther Cali. It is a DOG on hills, you have to take it out of electric. Nice feature is manual shifting/sport mode for really big hills and going down steep hills. When you drive with no electric you can expect about 45 mpg, less if heavy person load in car. PLUS; takes 87 octane. If you want to switch to a 240 volt charger to fit a plug in garage, you can do that for $200. Nice features are touch screen, you can customize your screen, you can customize all the safety features like side and front safety notifications, beeping when you go outside the lines, etc. All that stuff is easily changed through instrument panel and steering wheel controls. Like I had mine changed so that when you unlock your driver door, it unlocks all doors instead of having to press twice. Strangely, if you open your trunk, it does not unlock your car. There is no auto up and down hatch which I was surprised. The other thing I was shocked it did not have was any link to garage door opener. cruise control has a feature you can't turn off where it detects cars in front of you and slows the car down accordingly. You can adjust the distance it monitors but is very frustrating on long trips, I just end up turning it off so I can control how much distance I want between my car and car infront of me Nice feature is when you turn signal on, it will beep if someone is in your blind spot. The worst feature of the car is the android app. It takes over your phone and does not interface well. I don't even use it. My husband plugged in his apple and it worked great. There are two usb ports one in front and one in center console. I use the one in center console between seats because when you hook your cord up to the one in the front center console, it will automatically try to engage android app so I use that one to play my usb. The problem is your phone will ask you to start android play so you do on your screen then everytime to try to switch into a different app, the screen goes dark, asks me to swipe to start android app, then if I go to another app on my phone ,your screen does not pop up on vehicle screen, only a couple apps will but it is supposed mirror your phone. I have not used the navigation much, I use my phone.
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In love
Erin T, 09/13/2019
2019 Kia Niro Plug-In Hybrid EX Premium 4dr SUV (1.6L 4cyl gas/electric hybrid 6AM)
9 of 9 people found this review helpful
I love this car so much. I am not an impulse buyer; I started researching cars last summer, got serious in the wall, and starting doing occasional test drives in the winter. My old car is a 3-row SUV with great cargo space, roomy seats, and wretched gas mileage. I really wanted a car of the same size--we haul a lot of bulky stuff for my kids' activities. But I'm also a parent with 2 kids with deep concerns about how we as a society are destroying the planet and harming our kids' futures. What I found out in my winter and spring car shipping is that the state of large hybrid vehicles is PATHETIC. Large EVs are insanely expensive, smaller EVs have shitty ranges, and regular hybrids with more cargo space that a Prius are largely imaginary. (Note the hybrid Toyota RAV4 & Hybrid Hylander, which are charging you $10k more for MPGs that are barely better than their gas-guzzling equivalents. The hybrid Hylander practically rivals my 11-year-old gas vehcile for crappy MPGs.) By May I'd narrowed my choices down to a larger, more expensive plug-in with mediocre quality scores from trusted sources and problematic test drives; and the Kia Niro PHEV, which is somewhat smaller than the car I'm replacing--but still larger than most other hybrid vehicles. I went with the Kira Niro PHEV. My old vehicle had 140k miles on it, so I also purchased the extended warranty (10 years/150k miles) and crossbars for the roof. I wanted to get a rubber mat for the cargo space, but was told I can't, because the batteries vent back there. I have not yet bought a level 2 charger, but expect to spend a few hundred dollars on one pretty soon (I have only a carport at home, so will need to get an outdoor-rated one wired in). Friends, I LOVE this car. Yes, the cargo space could be bigger. But it's not bad. For everyday use, it's just fine. I have the Premium model because it has the most safety features, and I have two tweens who'll be learning to drive pretty soon. Features like adaptive cruise control, the backup camera, and lane monitoring work well. The screen is large and easier to use than many other systems. The seats are comfortable, and the backseat is decently roomy for a car of this size (better than most of the hybrids and small SUVs we looked at). Yes, it could have more power; when I stomp on the gas to merge on the highway, it doesn't has the kick of my old 6-cylinder SUV. But it moves smoothly between EV and hybrid/gas mode, and turns on the engine to give me more power when I need it. I LOVE driving it in EV mode. It's smooth and quiet and it drives well. It slips into gas mode without drama when I'm out of EV charge or need more power. The gas engine is, admittedly, kinda wussy sounding. But I don't have to hear it much. Charging it daily, I went 1200 miles on the first tank of gas with regular about-town driving plus longer forays once or twice a week. I've now gone 5000 miles, and generally get MPGe above 120. About about 2 months, we went on a weekend road trip during which I had no access to charging and got about 60 MPGe over ~700 miles. Aside from that trip, I've only had to visit the gas station 3 times in almost 4 months. My only actual complaint about the car is that while it's really great at estimating its electric range, the hybrid/gas range estimate is somewhat unreliable. When driving in hybrid mode, it uses gas faster than it predicts it will, so when it tells me it has a 200-mile gas range, it doesn't seem to actually go nearly that far. Maybe the actual range is 130-150. Its ability to predict gas driving range would probably be better if I did more city driving, where it can recharge its batteries when I stop, but my hybrid driving is almost entirely highway driving. I'm still giving this car 5 stars because I use EV mode most so often, the gas-only range isn't very important most of the time.
Plugged In To Avoid Gas Stations
John, 08/19/2018
2018 Kia Niro Plug-In Hybrid EX 4dr SUV (1.6L 4cyl gas/electric hybrid 6AM)
14 of 15 people found this review helpful
The 2018 Kia Niro Plug In is a great car. Ever since the Niro Hybrid arrived in 2017 I waited patiently for the 2018 Niro Plug In to arrive at local dealerships. The Niro Plug In is a perfect match for us. We live in a small rural city so the 26 mile electric range enables us to ride gas free locally 100 percent of the time. But when we take a longer drive like we did recently, we have the peace of mind knowing the Niro Plug In will switch to the gas engine and still get close to 50 mpg. Plugging in the car is really simple using a normal electric outlet in our garage most times taking on average between 6 to 7 hours which I do overnight. The Niro looks sharp like most SUVs these days and comes with all the comfort, safety and tech features that car owners expect with their new car purchase. The Niro PHEV also comes with Kia's industry leading 10 year/100,000 mile warranty including the plug in battery. The 2018 Niro Plug In is not as abundantly available as the Niro Hybrid on dealer lots so don't expect the discounts to be as deep, but many Plug In buyers like myself will benefit from the $4,543 tax credit when filing our federal income taxes for 2018. We have only driven a little more than 300 miles but so far the Niro has been flawless. We took it to Costco recently and filled three coolers and still had plenty of room for other purchases with the rear seats folded down. I'm really enjoying this new car and it's especially satisfying these days driving past the gas station in town.
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