Motors TEST DRIVE Power ranger Can Kia’s first hybrid power to the top of the sales charts? Paul Acres finds out

The Niro is Kia’s first dedicated hybrid. It’s also available as a plug-in hybrid and, this year, it’s joined by an all-electric version. As always when you’re driving a hybrid there’s an unsettling silence when you start the car. Select Drive, press down on the accelerator and the car will pull away in effortless tranquillity. It requires significant focus and considerable restraint to keep the car in EV mode so it usually isn’t long before the hush is disturbed by the 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine kicking in to assist the electric motor. The engine is quite intrusive when it does fire up, especially at higher revs. The car’s six-speed twin-clutch gearbox is a little sluggish and imprecise through the ratios, too, which means that picking up speed isn’t the smooth and seamless experience you might hope for. The quoted 0-60 time, should you want to put that to the test, is 11.1 seconds, whichever model you opt for and that probably should tell you all you need to know about this car’s remit. The platform has been designed specifically for the firm’s electric vehicles. With the additional weight that inevitable accompanies powertrains of this ilk the Korean’s have paid particular attention to the architecture’s mass. The 45-litre fuel tank and 1.56kwh lithium ion polymer battery sit side-by-side beneath the rear seats. There’s nothing fundamentally awry with the Niro’s ride and handling as long as you drive well within the car’s limits. The suspension is quite stiff and handling response is quite crisp as a result. There’s also a limited amount of body roll to contend with and the combination of those two factors would suggest that it might be quite fun to drive. That, however, isn’t the case thanks to a shortfall of outright grip and vague steering that tells you very little about what’s going on beneath the front wheels. The stiff set-up compromises the ride, as well, which can be slightly noisy and fidgety. Faced with highfrequency imperfections and the Niro never feels as though it ever truly settles. There’s room enough for five but, if the three people asked to sit across the rear bench weren’t close friends when they climbed on board, they almost certainly would be when they disembarked. The quality of the materials in the cabin is decent, as is the fit and finish, though it’s unlikely to set pulses racing. There’s a real sense that form follows function that, though it ensures that all the controls and switches are well-placed and easy to operate, there’s very little sense of adventure. Equipment levels are generous. There are three trim levels – simply labelled 2, 3 and 4 – with Lane Keep Assist, Hill Start Assist, cruise control and speed limiter. All models are also equipped with reversing camera and sensors, LED daytime running lights and tail lights and alloy wheels (16 inches on Grade 2, 18 on grades 3 and 4). Android Auto and Apple Carplay are included, though I found the touchscreen intermittent when I was using smartphone mirroring. The Niro does so many things well and yet in a few, sometimes surprising ways, it feels like a first attempt. It doesn’t come as a shock – pardon the pun – that