Kia Niro EV

graememk

That frunk looks good, great place to put the cables!

Silent Running

graememk wrote: »

That frunk looks good, great place to put the cables!

I'm also looking to get gas struts to lift the bonnet. It would make the frunk a lot more practical if you didn't have to fiddle with the rod to hold the bonnet up.

graememk

Silent Running wrote: »

I'm also looking to get gas struts to lift the bonnet. It would make the frunk a lot more practical if you didn't have to fiddle with the rod to hold the bonnet up.

They have ones for the Kona, I don't understand why they don't have them, just makes everyone's life easier

kevin16w

Silent Running wrote: »

Well, here we are. Six months and 10,000km since I took delivery of the E-Niro. I thought it was time for a mini report.

The car has been great to drive and has been quiet (no clicks taps or rumbles to report) and has been a pleasure to own and drive. I like the high driving position as it gives better forward vision. I don't have any issues with road noise, but the boot is normally full of coats, bags and other stuff so this probably helps to sound deaden. I don't suffer a lot of wheel spin, probably because I know how to use a throttle to control the car. The power on the move is addictive though and I find myself making passes I wouldn't previously have dreamt of, even in my old 180BHP turbo diesel. I haven't had any of the torque steer problems I noticed on the Kona.

Interior space is huge and is all usable with the hatchback configuration. I've had the back full with the seats down for a lot of journeys. There's plenty of knee room for back seat passengers even with the front seats well back.



The range has normally been beyond the manufacturer spec, as has been reported around the world. In Summer, my GOM reported a smidge short of 500km on a full charge. The winter weather has taken it's toll and recently my GOM has been showing 410km on a full charge.

Long runs haven't been a problem with range or comfort of the driver seat. The lack of an adjustable lumbar support could have been an issue for me, with a very dodgy lumbar spine, but after many tweaks and adjustments of the seat and steering wheel position I have it just where I want it.

The headlights are terrible and aren't greatly improved by the LED bulbs I've fitted. Now instead of crap yellow beams, I have crap white beams. Proper LED headlights on the newer cars should solve this problem.

I've added an alloy space-saver spare tyre and kit. This fits snugly in the spare wheel well under the boot double layer. I'm playing around with a frunk at the moment, but will probably order one of the purpose built ones on sale now for €180.

Nice review. I have recently passed 30k and can agree with everything. Range for me has never been as high but I have spent a lot of the time on motorway. But the range has never been an issue. I like the idea of the frunk but have never really had an issue with space either. I love my car and it does exactly what I need. Will look to getting it serviced in next few weeks but feel like it’s not needed. Amazing car for me.

Silent Running

kevin16w wrote: »

Nice review. I have recently passed 30k and can agree with everything. Range for me has never been as high but I have spent a lot of the time on motorway. But the range has never been an issue. I like the idea of the frunk but have never really had an issue with space either. I love my car and it does exactly what I need. Will look to getting it serviced in next few weeks but feel like it’s not needed. Amazing car for me.

Did you do the 15k service?

Last Thursday I did 340km run on a wet, windy day. Nearly all motorway, M11, M50, M1 and back the same route, all at speed limits. I started with 409kms at 100% battery and ran with heating at 20C on auto, both front heated seats on one light and steering wheel heating on and off. I arrived home with 59kms range left, so the GOM is there or thereabouts, considering it was a wet and windy day. On a dry day I think it would have been spot on.

DrPhilG

When you say "motorway driving", what actual speed are you going? It's OK to say if you drove a bit over the limit I won't tell.

I've seen EV drivers talk about motorway driving before and then mention that even on the motorway they only do 110kmph to preserve range.

Silent Running

DrPhilG wrote: »

When you say "motorway driving", what actual speed are you going? It's OK to say if you drove a bit over the limit I won't tell.

I've seen EV drivers talk about motorway driving before and then mention that even on the motorway they only do 110kmph to preserve range.

Mostly speed limits, indicated. As in 120 on the speedo on 120 sections and 100-110 on the M50.

If I thought it was too tight to make it, I might drop speed to get to my next charger. That hasn't happened yet, and I have great faith in the GOM and sat nav combined.

kevin16w

Silent Running wrote: »

Did you do the 15k service?

Last Thursday I did 340km run on a wet, windy day. Nearly all motorway, M11, M50, M1 and back the same route, all at speed limits. I started with 409kms at 100% battery and ran with heating at 20C on auto, both front heated seats on one light and steering wheel heating on and off. I arrived home with 59kms range left, so the GOM is there or thereabouts, considering it was a wet and windy day. On a dry day I think it would have been spot on.

Didn’t do any service yet. I skipped the 15k as I knew everything was fine. I didn’t think it should affect warranty. I won’t get 7 years as looks like will be doing 60k a year. I started off driving a bit heavy footed and was past 130kmh on motorways from Longford to Dublin. I have stopped that practice and now just leave it maybe 2-4 Kmart over the limit and seen my GOM move steadily back up to the 400 mark and above.

Stefs_42

test drove e-niro last week, got car from conways castlebar.
well what can i say:
i did my own so called "banana box test" as per Bjorns procedure boot is actually not as small as some might think! it fits 1 large and 3 small cases, opposed to my CC which fits 1 large and 5 small ones.
space wise inside I was also positively surprised - back seats are wide enough to acomodate my 2 kids in child seats plus wifey in a middle. sure there is no annoying middle hump on floor, which only adds to roominess.
as for driver controls they do feel a bit alien, since i come from long line of driving VW only for last decade or so. i was trying to figure out how to set up lane keep assist and autopilot but it didnt happen. should have done my homework prior to test drive i suppose.
tried out different drive modes, and i must say that Sport is scary to drive at! however i did not encounter wheel spin, good tyres or maybe I was just too scared?

then when i approached dealer asking for when SE e-niro gets to dealership, his eyes got square, he was not even aware of SE. but if I wanted current gen e-niro wait time would not be longer than couple of weeks. I was a bit skeptical of that of that, but did not comment.

now Ive got a question to lucky e-niro owners:
how do ye guys going to drive these power machines during winter time? since there is considerable wheel spin on dry surface, what is going to happen on black ice, or snow if we ever get one this year?

Mickeroo

What kind of price are Conway quoting? I saw an e-soul sitting out front but didn't realise they had any e-niros there.

Stefs_42

Mickeroo wrote: »

What kind of price are Conway quoting? I saw an e-soul sitting out front but didn't realise they had any e-niros there.

41K they quoted me

Silent Running

Stefs_42 wrote: »

test drove e-niro last week, got car from conways castlebar.
well what can i say:
i did my own so called "banana box test" as per Bjorns procedure boot is actually not as small as some might think! it fits 1 large and 3 small cases, opposed to my CC which fits 1 large and 5 small ones.
space wise inside I was also positively surprised - back seats are wide enough to acomodate my 2 kids in child seats plus wifey in a middle. sure there is no annoying middle hump on floor, which only adds to roominess.
as for driver controls they do feel a bit alien, since i come from long line of driving VW only for last decade or so. i was trying to figure out how to set up lane keep assist and autopilot but it didnt happen. should have done my homework prior to test drive i suppose.
tried out different drive modes, and i must say that Sport is scary to drive at! however i did not encounter wheel spin, good tyres or maybe I was just too scared?

then when i approached dealer asking for when SE e-niro gets to dealership, his eyes got square, he was not even aware of SE. but if I wanted current gen e-niro wait time would not be longer than couple of weeks. I was a bit skeptical of that of that, but did not comment.

now Ive got a question to lucky e-niro owners:
how do ye guys going to drive these power machines during winter time? since there is considerable wheel spin on dry surface, what is going to happen on black ice, or snow if we ever get one this year?

The boot space in the Niro is more flexible than you may think. There's loads of space below the floor. There's a video somewhere where a German bloke takes out the plastic supports for the floor and drops the floor level about 12cm. It takes about 5 minutes and hugely improves the boot volume, at the cost of under floor storage.

I drove the car on very icy roads a couple of weeks ago. No real difference from any front wheel drive that I've driven on ice. One tip is to turn the LKAS off when there is a chance of ice as it takes away the steering "help" and allows you to feel when the steering gets light, indicating that there's ice under the wheels. If you have trouble with throttle control in icy conditions, it would be a good idea to go to the lower of the two ECO modes. It dampens the throttle considerably.

For sure, there is too much to discover properly on a short test drive. Try to get the car for at least 24 hours to test it properly. We can help to get you familiar with the good stuff then.

Yep, sport mode is something else, isn't it? Much more scary than the Ioniq in sport mode, but then it's nearly double the power.

championc

Stefs_42 wrote: »

41K they quoted me

That will be for the SE.

There certainly seems to be a shipment coming in mid March and therefore, it sounds like that dealership has been allocated a specific number but they haven't customers for all of their allocation, which would confirm as to why they could have one in a couple of weeks. Mind you, you mightn't have a huge choice in colours.

As I understand it, Kia Ireland just order xx cars but they don't order them for specific customers so the colours are just random numbers per colour, so people don't necessarily get their first choice

unkel

championc wrote: »

As I understand it, Kia Ireland just order xx cars but they don't order them for specific customers so the colours are just random numbers per colour, so people don't necessarily get their first choice

Just like Tesla. Maybe this is the new way things are done. Gone are the days of specifying your own individual car with all its options and then waiting for it to be produced and shipped.

Stefs_42

championc wrote: »

That will be for the SE.

There certainly seems to be a shipment coming in mid March and therefore, it sounds like that dealership has been allocated a specific number but they haven't customers for all of their allocation, which would confirm as to why they could have one in a couple of weeks. Mind you, you mightn't have a huge choice in colours.

As I understand it, Kia Ireland just order xx cars but they don't order them for specific customers so the colours are just random numbers per colour, so people don't necessarily get their first choice

dealer i spoke to knew nothing about EVs and he said that I probably know more of them at this point. have a funny feeling its similar situation throughout Ireland at this point.

charlieIRL

Stefs_42 wrote: »

dealer i spoke to knew nothing about EVs and he said that I probably know more of them at this point. have a funny feeling its similar situation throughout Ireland at this point.

Throughout Ireland alright and unfortunately, throughout most dealerships. Only salesman I found to be any way knowledgeable about EV’s was in Nissan Athlone / Tullamore. He was very helpful. Just a pity I couldn’t warm to the car in the end.

postsnthing

Has anyone hardwired front and back dash cams in their eNiro ?
Any issues or warranty concerns and camera recommendations ?
Thanks

argolis

I just logged on here to ask a dashcam question myself

I have a Nextbase 512GW dashcam hardwired to the fusebox. The fuses in the eNiro are smaller than most regular sizes and I found it difficult to source a piggyback cable. Nextbase very kindly sent me a cable for free, after asking them where I could get one

I haven't had any issues with running the dashcam, except that it only comes on when the car is started and I'd prefer to have it running all the time. The Nextbase has a low-power "parking mode".

I've tried the tap on a couple of fuses that I thought might be permanent lives but they haven't worked. Does anyone know which fuse would keep a permanent live to the dashcam?

JohnC.

Can you borrow a multimeter off anyone? That's how I found the slot I wanted in my current car.

championc

From another thread elsewhere, someone said that there is a permanent live to the following:-

Rear Wiper
Boot Release
Drivers Seat Adjustment

Remember to turn ON the Battery Saver. I believe it's found in Steering Wheel > Top LH Button > User Settings > Other Features > Aux Battery Saver.

argolis

Nice one thanks!

I was hoping to avoid the multimeter route. I tried it already but I'm not great at the leckie. I think some of the fuses became live after I unlocked the car (without starting the ignition). When I used a fuse I thought was going to be a permanent live, it still turned off when the car was locked.

championc

People must remember / be aware that the 12v for even starting the car comes from it's own battery, separate to the 64kw car power battery. So if the 12v battery dies, your car won't start. So people need to be careful if leaving a dashcam on (for security purposes) while the car is parked. I believe that battery saver option might shutdown / save the 12v rail after the park is parked up.

zg3409

The battery saver checks the state of the 12v battery ONLY every 3 days and tops it up using the main battery if it is 11.9 volts or less. On newer versions of car firmware it seems to check more often (at least every 12 hours) . After it has triggered when the car is next started it displays the warning. Even with this option active and with the latest software it might be possible to run battery down with 2 dashcams left on all night with their screens on and night vision enabled. It might be better to use a good video camera on your house, rather than draining cars battery. Even the Tesla with built in cameras shuts off cameras if main battery is low.

JohnC.

Don't decent hardwire kits have a box on the cable that shuts it down if the 12v is getting too low?

argolis

Yeah the one for the Nextbase does, if the voltage gets too low it's supposed to shut off.

postsnthing

argolis wrote: »

Yeah the one for the Nextbase does, if the voltage gets too low it's supposed to shut off.

Fingers crossed it does
I just ordered the nextbase 522GW with wired rear and the hardwire V2 kit so now to figure out how to fit it when it arrives !

Silent Running

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZH7V2tU3iFc

Shamelessly stolen from the Tesla Model 3 thread, where they're claiming a win for the Model 3. Yes, it did the most miles on a charge, but not the highest percentage of the manufacturer's claimed range.

The Tesla had the advantage, being a low slung saloon car up against taller cars, and if charging speed was taken into account, it would have mauled the rest. But, an interesting test anyway.

The Niro was the cheapest car in the test and was up against much higher batteries bar the Leaf 62. The huge battery barges (Audi, Merc and Jaguar) were among the first to check out, needing a charge.

Bearing in mind that they used the long range Tesla, which costs considerably more than the Niro and at 75kWh, has a bigger battery than the Kia, I think the Niro performed really well in this motorway test.

CPTM

With regret I'll be cancelling my order for the E-niro over the coming days. If anyone knows someone who'd like to grab my spot for the March/April deliveries, let me know. Dublin area.

vidukasp

I would take it off you, but just paid €500 for the July delivery.

Green&Red

Stefs_42 wrote: »

test drove e-niro last week, got car from conways castlebar.
well what can i say:
i did my own so called "banana box test" as per Bjorns procedure boot is actually not as small as some might think! it fits 1 large and 3 small cases, opposed to my CC which fits 1 large and 5 small ones.
space wise inside I was also positively surprised - back seats are wide enough to acomodate my 2 kids in child seats plus wifey in a middle. sure there is no annoying middle hump on floor, which only adds to roominess.
as for driver controls they do feel a bit alien, since i come from long line of driving VW only for last decade or so. i was trying to figure out how to set up lane keep assist and autopilot but it didnt happen. should have done my homework prior to test drive i suppose.
tried out different drive modes, and i must say that Sport is scary to drive at! however i did not encounter wheel spin, good tyres or maybe I was just too scared?

then when i approached dealer asking for when SE e-niro gets to dealership, his eyes got square, he was not even aware of SE. but if I wanted current gen e-niro wait time would not be longer than couple of weeks. I was a bit skeptical of that of that, but did not comment.

now Ive got a question to lucky e-niro owners:
how do ye guys going to drive these power machines during winter time? since there is considerable wheel spin on dry surface, what is going to happen on black ice, or snow if we ever get one this year?

A question specifically for you Stefs, and more widely for others - Are Conways doing a trade in?