You ain’t seen me, right?
Treading softly. By Ben Whitworth
Banish those guilty memories of hedonistic cars I’ve lived with in the past. Forget about the Caterham 160, the Mazda RX-8, even the Renault Clio Trophy. Right now, with so much of the mobility that we took for granted suddenly reduced to walking pace, the Kia Niro plug-in hybrid is an entirely appropriate car for those rare occasions when driving is the right thing to do.
Quick, near-silent and visually low-key, it could have been tailor-made for slipping out on these few crucial runs, collecting and delivering groceries and medication for my mother and in-laws. And in a time-rewound world of empty skies, unoccupied roads and deserted villages, these all-electric journeys made it feel even more advanced and sophisticated than usual.
This handful of very short trips made me realise just how much I missed driving the Kia, and how its movement and pace had become such integral parts of my daily life.