Kia Niro review

If you’ve spent time in any modern Kia, the Niro’s dashboard should feel familiar, displaying a strong family resemblance and using a similar mix of materials. Soft, tactile materials grace the areas you touch most frequently, and plenty of gloss black details lift the impression of quality. Both the steering wheel and gear knob are coated in leather, too. There are some harder plastics lurking lower down, but chrome-coloured fascia highlights help to distract attention from them.

There’s plenty of position adjustment for both the seat and steering wheel, and all but entry-level 2 trim provide eight-way electric seat adjustment and variable lumbar support. Height adjustment is also included on both the driver’s and passenger’s seat as standard. Thanks to the high roofline, head room shouldn’t be an issue even for the tallest of drivers.

Visibility is good all around, and while the rear corner pillars are quite thick, you still get a decent view over your shoulder. For extra confidence when manoeuvring, though, all Niros get a reversing camera and rear parking sensors, while front parking sensors are standard on all but 2 trim. 

All Niros have a colour touchscreen infotainment system; 2 trim gets an 8.0in screen, while others get a 10.25in system with sat-nav included. Both systems include Kia’s Connected Services including traffic updates and speed camera warnings, as well as Bluetooth connectivity and a DAB radio. You also get Android Auto and Apple CarPlay on all models, allowing you to control your smartphone apps via the central screen. All but entry-level models get a wireless phone charger for compatible devices, while an impressively punchy eight-speaker JBL sound system comes as standard on top 4 trim. 

The infotainment menus are clear and the sat-nav is easy to follow, although we’d still prefer a dial-controlled system like that found in the Mazda CX-3; it’s less distracting and safer to use on the move. At least the Niro provides physical shortcut buttons under the screen so you can quickly jump between radio and navigation, for example. You also get a 4.2in full-colour digital display in the instrument cluster, growing to 7.0in on 4 models. It offers plenty of information to encourage you to drive more economically.