It’s also about whether it’s fun to drive the car. One reason the Mini was the most fun was that it is the most powerful of the cars i test drove. The Kona probably has plenty of power for any ordinary situation. But the Kona in “sports mode” was less sporty than the Niro in regular.
I was spoiled by the c-max, which was really fun to drive. So many EVs are tuned for efficiency.
Are the Kona and Niro the same car, just rebadged (like the Toyota BZ and the Solterra)?
I know that Hyundai partially owns Kia and they frequently collaborate, but wasn’t sure if these particular cars were a shared model.
I had the same experience as @puzzlegal: The Niro felt much more agile than the Kona. In my case it wasn’t an apples-to-apples comparison (different years & EV vs ICE), but even putting acceleration aside, the Kona just felt much less nimble around corners. The suspension was quite loose and wobbly, feeling like I was always at risk of a rollover in tighter turns. I loved the way it looked (a particular color), and rented it just to try it out, expecting to buy one. But it ended up handling so poorly I couldn’t wait for the rental to end.
In comparison, the Niro was an unexpected and immediate love at first drive for me — it was so much fun. The Kona, by comparison, felt like a limp, lifeless drag. It handles much more poorly than even our 10-20 year old ICE Subarus, and worse than the Solterra too.
If it’s actually the same car as the Niro, well, color me surprised! I had no idea two variants could feel that different. Different suspension tunings…?
Huh.
I did not think my CMAX was fun to drive at all. It was a very competent commuter. Horrible in slippery weather too, which I had always thought was because it was a hybrid made into a PHEV by adding more battery (with weight) right behind the wheel wheels on a FWD car).
If you want fun test drive the EX30 just for kicks!
FWIW for winter handling the Leaf was great. The Prius PHEV barely adequate.
Did not test the Niro but the bigger EV6 decent acceleration (Ioniq 5 also comes plenty and best choice and ease to change regeneration levels) but yeah not a fan of the Kia UI.
The Ioniq5’s interface completely different. Anyone could sit in there and just know how to use it.
So thinking on my wife’s reaction to the EX30, and yours to the new Leaf - a UI really shouldn’t have to be explained much.
I get the idea from the manufacturer POV - Software is cheaper to install than hardware. Pressure sensitive cheaper than things that move. They hope consumers just transition to voice commands and the whistles that are in native Google, and then pay the annual fee when it comes out of the free period just like they got hooked on Sirius and probably don’t even know what they pay per year. From their side win win.
And for me none of it would matter much? I don’t futz. My temp is set for the season generally. My mirrors are set. I listen via CarPlay, my podcasts, Spotify, and Sirius via the phone app. Generally I don’t change from what I am on during the time of my commute.
I was referring to my lack of of opportunity to drive the Ioniq 5 @DSeid’s winner. And no worries on my thread it’s over a year old now. But lots of people provided quality second guessing and support there as well.
I listen via the radio, which doesn’t integrate with Android Auto. That’s a nuisance. I used to be able to see both the map and what was playing (because i mounted my phone) and I’ve lost that. If i listened to recorded stuff on a phone app i guess it would be fine, but i don’t.
I don’t know if i could see both if i used the car’s navigation. The car’s navigation nags a lot about using Kia connect, although it’s moderately functional without. I don’t use Kia connect or Sirius, for various reasons.
I drove the 2025 model of each days apart. I’m pretty certain it’s the same car with some minor tweaks in tuning and trim. I preferred the colors available for the Kona, too.
Kona and Niro are both listed as having 201Hp with 188lb-ft torque. If one feels sportier is either differences in software/throttle mapping, or one of the cars was sitting at super low charge and limiting power or something.
puzzlegal mentioned the different profiles already. But acceleration aside, couldn’t they also have different suspension tunings, steering ratios, wheels & tires, etc.? All of those could affect handling, no?
I’m not saying they necessarily do have those differences, but could they? Would two variants of the same car typically have differences like that?
Huh, that’s not the numbers i saw. I gathered a ton of numbers into a Google doc and might have made a mistake. But i drove the kona, thought, “wow, that feels so much wimpier than the Niro, i thought they were the same”, and then looked at my spreadsheet and thought that explained it.
Both were nearly fully charged and seemed fine when i took them out, fwiw.
So a complete hijack but opinions. Hidden because hijack and long.
This is a 2013 with 122K on it that my daughter has been using, never plugging in (and only gets 5 miles or so on a charge now anyway). It’s at the point of needing a few hundred here and there. At the local repair now getting evaluated for some brake light that the guy said would be $800 to 1600 depending on what he found after he got to suspected issue, a vacuum pump for the brakes? She says she really doesn’t need a car now, only uses it to visit us. Thought we should even fix it and just junk it. I insisted on the repair.
Probably was a mistake.
I’m giving her a bit to decide if she really doesn’t want a car at this point. But if not it’s only worth something like two grand at this point if we sold it ourselves. Maybe.
So question: trade it in when buying the new car and get a grand-ish … or donate it to the local public radio in a high marginal tax rate year (dipping into retirement funds for major kitchen baths redo and counts as income)?
I’m leaning to the latter.
Does anyone have any experience with the Mustang Mach-E?
Ford is offering “delivery allowances” of up to $17,000 which brings a Premium trim AWD extended range under the $50k federal incentive cap. I hadn’t really been looking at them because they were out of my price range and a bit larger than I’d prefer, but that ends up being $22k off MSRP. I expect these are model year end discounts intended to clear out inventory for ‘26 models, so I’d likely have to jump on one pretty soon, long before I’d have any chance to test drive a C-HR/Uncharted.
IIRC @Balthisar has or had a Mach-E. Which he mentioned he liked quite well.
Is there still a federal EV incentive? I thought that sunset last year? Are you talking about the $7500 rebate, or something else?
I’m talking about EVAP, a Canadian federal EV incentive offering $5k on new EV purchases under $50k.
Ah, thanks for clarifying. Glad our more civilized neighbor still has rebates!
Nissan had been planning to launch a less-expensive “base” trim level of the Leaf this year (which would have had a smaller battery and lower range), but those plans have been put on hold, at least for now, due to “an evolving EV landscape.”
Would it be US street-legal to go up to Canada to buy an imported Chinese EV and drive it back down?
That’s the subject of another recent thread.
Ah, thank you.