The Used 3-Year-Old Korean Hybrid SUV Worth Buying Today

For the first few decades after Kia began exporting vehicles, its cars barely had more dignity than a Yugo. The company had a reputation for “disposable cars” well into the 21st century. Although Kias have always been brisk sellers, they tended to go from the dealership to the salvage yard with only short stopovers in people’s homes. It took Kia a long time to make vehicles that didn’t fall apart as soon as the “new car smell” wore off.

However, in recent years the company has dramatically improved the quality of its vehicles. It is true that purchasing a 15-year-old Kia (if any remain) is best undertaken as, to put it euphemistically, a passion project. However, newer Kias rival Japanese cars for reliability. This hybrid compact SUV, introduced just as Kia’s vehicle quality began rapidly improving, is an excellent example of this.

In order to give you the most up-to-date and accurate information possible, the data used to compile this article was sourced from various manufacturer websites and other authoritative sources, including Edmunds, US News and World Report, and Kelley Blue Book.

The 2021 Kia Niro Hybrid Can’t Be Ignored

• The Niro hybrid is a practical vehicle with many features to make it pleasant to be in.
• Many of the Niro’s interior touches were expensive luxury add-ons only a few years ago.
• The various trims add things like a leather interior, a sunroof, and seats that are heated, cooled, and ventilated.

The 2021 Niro hybrid is a perfectly competent, thoroughly normal, family-friendly vehicle. Nominally classified as an SUV, it straddles the size divide between crossover and SUV. This means that there is plenty of room inside, but it is also easy to park. Every Niro hybrid has the same powertrain, regardless of trim level. Its fuel economy is officially rated at 53 mpg city, 48 mpg highway, and 50 mpg combined. Those kinds of gas-sipping numbers can help many people get over the adequate (but not superfluous) 139 horsepower that goes to the wheels.

2021 Kia Niro Hybrid Specifications

Kia used actual buttons and knobs in the center stack. Many people have complained about the intrusion of touchscreens into vehicles, which makes it nearly impossible to change the radio without looking away from the road. The 2021 Niro has big knobs and large buttons for all the basic controls that one will want to use while driving.

Unfortunately, Kia seems to be retreating from its thoughtful and ergonomic controls in its more recent model years. In the years since 2021, the center screen has been enlarged, leaving very little room for the control buttons that had to dramatically shrink before they could fit. Because of design change, the 2021 Niro might actually be more pleasant to drive than a newer model.

What You Can Get In The Base Model

For those who don’t want any fancy upgrades or the associated cost, the base model Niro (designated the LX trim) offers features that would have been impossibly expensive only a decade earlier, such as multiple-zone climate control. Kia found room for both the large center control buttons and a sizable 10.25” screen (available with either Android Auto or Apple CarPlay). Additionally, the driver’s seat has electric lumbar support. This is one of those features that is forgettable right until someone really needs it.

The Niro also has ample interior comforts for the passengers as well as the driver. Anyone in the back seat will appreciate that rear air vents are installed in the center console. This is always better than waiting for some of the air conditioning to slowly drift between the front seats. The Niro also has customizable color-changing ambient interior lighting.

No one wants to think about wrecking a car, but the Niro comes with enough airbags to temporarily turn the vehicle into a bouncy castle should an accident occur. Because airbags alone are insufficient protection in a car crash, it has seatbelt warning lights on the dashboard for every seat in the car, rather than only the driver’s seat as is a common practice. This spares parents the frustrating process of seeing which of their children hasn’t buckled in. Instead of a pre-drive seatbelt inspection and interrogation, only a short glance at the dashboard is required.

What You Can Get In Higher Trims

The Niro has six trim levels. The first one up from the base model, LXS, simply adds keyless ignition to everything already included in the LX trim. The Touring level builds on the previous trims with a sunroof, satellite radio, adaptive cruise control, and optional leather interior. The Touring SE adds a navigation system and built-in leather seats. The top trim, EX Premium, has heated, cooled, and ventilated seats. Interestingly, Kia went with genuine leather for the lower-level trims and imitation leather (which it calls “leatherette”) for the top-of-the-line model.

What It’s Like To Live With A Niro Hybrid

• The Kia Niro is a comfortable car, designed to be useful without sacrificing anything to “sportiness.”
• The Niro’s reliability ratings are respectably high but not perfect.
• The Niro has many safety features

The 2021 Niro hybrid may actually be better to drive than the latest model. The 2025 Niro hybrid is a facelifted version of the 2021 version (as opposed to a redesigned vehicle). Many of the updates have been tasteful cosmetic improvements, including an interior that looks just a bit sleeker than it did a few model years earlier. But regardless of what year one chooses, the Niro is designed to be practical. The interior has a minimum of hard-to-vacuum crevices and corners. And while the side and rear visibility may not equal that of an AMC Pacer, the 2021 Niro hybrid has excellent visibility by 21st-century standards.

The 2021 Niro Hybrid Has Excellent (Though Not Outstanding) Ratings

Ratings for the Kia Niro tend to be respectably high but not perfect. Of the ratings that are available, Kelley Blue Book gives it the highest with 4.2 out of 5. Edmunds gives it a respectable but not outstanding 7.7 out of 10. US News and World report gives it a slightly lower rating of 7.4 out of 10. In general, Kia’s ratings have been good enough to reassure buyers, but not quite on the same level as a Toyota Corolla. Despite not being as high as possible, the Niro’s ratings show a vehicle that is relatively reliable. Additionally, it is still a common sight in parking lots and used car dealerships. Anyone purchasing a used 2021 Niro isn’t buying a rare survivor that is living on borrowed time. Instead, they are getting a car that still has many years and miles ahead of it.

The Technology In The 2021 Kia Niro Hybrid

Every Niro, regardless of trim, has safety features that used to be prohibitively expensive. Highlights include the driver inattention warning, which watches the driver for signs of fatigue and then displays warnings to pull off the road and rest. It also has an automatic forward-collision assist, which slows the car whenever someone (whether pedestrian or driver) suddenly gets in front of it. Additionally, it has a lane-keeping assist, blindspot warning lights, smart cruise control, and high-beam headlights that automatically dim whenever other cars are detected.

The Niro Hybrid Is Proof That Kia Has Been Rapidly Improving

With the Niro hybrid, Kia did not court automotive connoisseurs. Instead, it aimed the vehicle directly at people who actually purchase cars, not those who review them. As a result, the Niro is a reassuringly unremarkable SUV that sits solidly in the middle of the road. It is a perfect choice for people who want to use their car without thinking about it (which is a large portion of the car-buying public). Car purists may disdain such people and the “appliance cars” they drive, but these are the majority of people who come to dealerships bearing money.

The Kia Niro Is An Excellent Mid-Priced SUV

The Niro is not meant for track days, nor it is meant to be hoisted on a trailer so that its owner can preen in front of it and never actually drive it. It is made for people who don’t want to worry about ruining the interior with spilled food. It doesn’t have an ultra-fast powertrain, but it’s not aimed at people who want one. (Indeed, some parents may appreciate the less-than-400 horsepower engine when their children get old enough to drive!) In short, the Niro hybrid is excellent at what it is meant to do, and keeps the driver and passengers comfortable while doing it.

Kia’s Vehicles Aren’t Just Getting More Reliable, They’re Getting Better To Drive

Many automakers, particularly the swarm of EV startups that hastily incorporated after Tesla got big, have neglected their mid-priced customers. The luxury car market has taken off at the expense of lower price tiers. However, Kia has not been using “luxury” add-ons as an excuse to drastically raise the prices of its vehicles. Furthermore, Kia hasn’t neglected its lowest-priced models either. Its bottom-tier cars are obviously not as well-appointed as the others, but they aren’t punitive “econo-boxes.” The short-term profits may be in luxury, but most customers are meeting Kia in the mid-priced lots.