Kia Niro review - Practicality, comfort and boot space

By designing the Niro around a compact crossover template, Kia has delivered decent practicality. In terms of size, it sits somewhere between the Kia Ceed hatchback and Kia Sportage crossover, so it fills a niche of its own in some ways. However, if you want the plug-in PHEV variant, you'll have to make do with the smaller boot, as the batteries take up some luggage space. 

Size

The Niro is 4,355mm long and has a wheelbase of 2,700mm. That's the same wheelbase as a Toyota Prius, but the Prius is around 200mm longer overall. As you would expect, that crossover shape means the Niro is taller and wider than the Prius, at 1,545mm and 1,805mm respectively. The Niro PHEV is exactly the same length, height and width as the standard car.

Leg room, head room & passenger space

Occupants sitting in the rear of the Kia have more headroom than in the Toyota thanks to the car's squarer crossover shape. Up front, the driver gets a wide range of seat and wheel adjustment. The only real ergonomic niggle is the foot-operated parking brake, which sits uncomfortably high and near your left shin when it's disengaged.

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Boot space

The upright tailgate opening isn’t as large as the hatchback Toyota Prius’s, but the Niro's 382-litre boot capacity is competitive alongside rivals like the Volkswagen Golf. A Prius is bigger, however, claiming 445 litres with the rear seats in place. Folded down, however, the 1,380-litre load bay is 10 litres bigger than its main rival. Go for the PHEV plug-in and you'll lose around 80 litres of boot space - both seats up and seats down.

Elsewhere there’s decent storage, including a spacious glovebox, but it can’t quite match the neatly packaged Prius for cubby space. Like its rival, there's no spare wheel, just a bottle of sealant for minor punctures.