Welcome to my blog. An intro

Hello and welcome to my Kia Niro blog.  I wanted to share my insights on this wonderful car as when I bought it I had a lot of questions and did a lot of research if this was the right car for us.  There are a lot of knowledgeable owners and reviewers that give answers to a lot of questions but there are always insights and questions that don't go unanswered and hoping to fill the gaps with this.

Liz and I were married in November 2023 and had two vehicles.  I was driving a 2008 Ford F-150 and Liz was driving a Chevy Spark.  Polar opposite vehicles, each with their strengths and weaknesses. Liz also owned a small Boler camper which the truck pulled well, but there were a few repairs needed on the truck that seemed to be more than the benefits of driving a fuel-inefficient vehicle.

Liz's 2020 Chevy Spark was a great small car.  Fuel efficient with the 5-speed manual, it has a lot of the basics that were needed for an around-town driver and a road trip as a couple.  Where we found it lacking would be when we needed to take others along.  The car was very small in the back and with family with walkers and wheelchairs, we often found that we either couldn't bring everyone or someone ended up with stuff in the lap as the truck space was clearly lacking.  And with my daughter living with us, trips to the grocery store were cramped.

My original choice for a vehicle was actually the 2024 Hyundai Santa Cruz.  I like it as I love to go camping with friends and the 4-cylinder Turbo engine gives you fuel efficiency when driving around town but gives you towing capacity when you need it.  I like the convenience of a truck but didn't need the overkill that the Ford F-150 provided.

The Kia Niro has always been an interest to me.  It was neat that it came in three model types, the size of it was nice and gave the fuel efficiency that I was looking for.  I know in my climate (Manitoba Canada) fully electric vehicles wouldn't work for what I wanted to do.  The Plug Electric gave me the option of driving electric while in the city and gave me the range to make some of the longer trips that I would need to do running as a hybrid. 

In November 2023, we went to our local Kia Dealership and test-drove one.  They only had an electric model in at the time so we test-drove that. Things we liked about it were the increased seating space and how much more comfortable it was, we knew a bit about the tech included in the car but not as much as we know now and thought it would be a good vehicle that would fit our needs.

One of the major things we looked at was our garage space, our house was built in the 1960s and the garage space was small.   We did some measurements and found that even though it would be a tight space, the car would fit.  So we ordered our 2024 Kia Niro PHEV on Black Friday.

We are hoping to help by providing insight, into things I like and would like improved on the future versions.  Additional purchases I made to enhance the Niro and some stories and share on the economic benefits of driving this vehicle.  I hope you will join us on our journey.