Sunday Drive: New Car Reviews

BY BJ KILLEEN

2017 Kia Niro Crossover Hybrid: A Smart Choice

While hybrid vehicles may not yet be profitable for automotive manufacturers, it’s a solid option for those looking to save a few bucks on gas and help feel good about being green. Enter the 2017 Kia Niro, which is designed to do just that. We first drove the Niro on the national press launch a few months back, and now we’ve had a chance to spend a week in it during real-world conditions, namely, the arid land of Las Vegas, Nevada.

Kia has announced its five-year “green” roadmap plan, which includes a 25-percent increase in fuel economy by 2020, a five-percent reduction in vehicle weight across its lineup, and a commitment to grow its green-vehicle lineup from four to 11 vehicles by 2020.  Which means not only is Niro a big player here, but in the not-to-distant future this plan also will include a Niro plug-in hybrid and a fuel cell vehicle somewhere down the line.

  

The Kia Niro is a compact crossover, bordering on the smaller side. It plays against other vehicles like the Toyota RAV4 EV, and Ford’s C-MAX, as well as the Toyota Prius V, but looks like a real vehicle compared to the Prius.    

The Niro is a clean sheet of paper design inside and out. It does, however, share a platform with the Hyundai Ioniq sedan. The Niro is smaller than the compact Kia Sportage CUV, and really looks more like a tall wagon than an SUV. Designed in combination at Kia’s design center in Irvine, California, and Namyang, Korea, Michael Torpey spearheaded how the Niro would look.

Torpey’s goal was to make a car that didn’t look like a hybrid, and he did a nice job taking that design idea and turning it into the vehicle you see here. It’s rugged efficiency that features strong shoulders and a purposeful tiger-nose grille, and is contemporary enough as to not blend in with the rest of the segment. The features a coefficient of drag of 0.29, which helps tremendously with fuel efficiency. The whole idea is to be relevant, yet still be different. With the Niro, that mission was achieved. 

Inside, the focus is on a relaxing space that’s easy to use. The Niro’s interior is exactly what the designer envisioned. The instrument panel is clean and functional, ergonomics are good, the controls are logically placed, the seats were comfortable, the steering wheel thick and solid, and the screen easy to read and use. Ingress and egress in the Niro is excellent. Spending a day in the Niro you appreciate the big things. Spending a week in it, you appreciate the smaller things, like a comfortable seat for commuting, and steering wheel controls that are easy to use and intuitive, and lots of cabin space for people and their things. And by things we mean camera gear, luggage, and groceries. The cargo features 19.4 cubic feet with all seats up and 54.5 with second-row seats folded including the luggage under tray.

As we age, we appreciate features like power seats and all the amenities to make life easier. The leather seats in the Niro Touring were supportive and comfortable, but we missed a power adjustment option. Other standard features included dual-zone automatic climate control, USB audio jack, steering-wheel mounted audio controls, Bluetooth, power windows, cruise control, rearview camera, and the Drive Mode select system (Eco, Normal, Sport modes).

We always love and appreciate the Harman/ Kardon audio system, which is standard in Touring models. It features eight speakers, including a subwoofer, and a center front channel to fill out the sound. It’s 315 watts of great sound, and includes Clari-Fi technology, which is all about filling in the dead spots that happen when an MP3 file gets compressed to go digital.

Looks are one way to sell a car; efficiency in a hybrid is another. The Kia Niro’s power is both an Atkinson-cycle four-cylinder 1.6-liter GDI engine that makes 104 horsepower and 109 lb-ft of torque, combined with an AC synchronous permanent magnet motor with 43 hp and 125 lb-ft of torque. Total combined performance for the Niro is 139 horsepower and 195 lb-ft of torque.

While the engine is noisy (honestly, what four cylinders aren’t?), once you get going in pure EV mode, the silence is deafening. 

For EV power, the Niro uses a 1.56 kWh lithium-ion battery, and keeps its charge through regenerative braking and recharging from the engine. It all works seamlessly to allow the Niro to start up and idle in electric mode, and use the engine to both deliver power to the wheels and recharge the battery. It’s a simple parallel design that delivers power when and where it’s needed.

How it gets that power to the wheels is via an all-new six-speed dual-clutch transmission, which is a huge and much welcomed departure from the normal hybrid/CVT combination. The transmission also has a sport mode to enhance the driving experience. With this powertrain setup, the Touring has a 46/40/43 EPA estimated fuel economy range. We drove the Niro both hard and soft, meaning real-world damn-the-torpedoes fuel economy hard, and got about 35 mpg. Driving it soft, as in as much EV time as we could manage, we got about 45 mpg. The Niro doesn’t mind being driven either way. It’s civilized, comfortable, and a good road or errand-running companion.

The independent MacPherson strut front suspension and multilink rear setup delivers a comfortable ride that’s also sporty when pushed. Part of the reason why the Niro handles so well is because of its structural rigidity. Over 50 percent of the body is made up of advanced high-strength steel, which adds integrity as well as helps to reduce overall weight. Using industrial joint adhesives also aids metal bonding without extra metal welding. With extensive use of aluminum for the hood, tailgate, suspension and brake components, the Niro is strong yet not overly heavy. Saving weight in many areas allowed Kia to add extensive insulation and an acoustic windshield to dampen noise from entering the cabin. And Quad-mount front subframe bushings also help add strength while maintaining quiet. Once on the highway, and not putting full load on the engine, the Niro was relatively scream free. While we aren’t usually a fan of hybrid steering, in the Niro, it had nice turn in and good response.

The Niro also has the first-ever use of Kia’s Eco-DAS (Driver Assistance System), which uses a coasting guide and predictive energy control that analyzes the driver’s route (through the nav system) to improve efficiency. Basically a brake coach for the driver, the coasting guide helps the driver generate the most power back to the battery. Predictive Energy Control reads the road and actively manages energy flow for battery charging and battery power usage. Other driver-assist features include blind spot detection with cross traffic alert, lane change assist, smart cruise control, lane departure warning, and automatic emergency braking. Of course, Kia’s UVO3 system comes with standard Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, along with 14 free services such as geo fencing, curfew alert and parking minder standard. For those who have Android phones, a wireless charging tray is optional only on the Touring trim.

As you might expect with hybrids, you’re going to pay more. With the Niro, it’s priced in line with almost every other vehicle in the segment that’s not a hybrid. The Niro lineup starts at $22,890, excluding $895 destination, and our Touring model was $30,675 with destination and the long list of goodies we mentioned previously. For comparison, the Prius V, which is the closest to the Niro in ideology, starts at $26,675 and goes above $34,270.  The RAV4 Hybrid starts at $29,030, and the Ford C-MAX begins at $24,120.

Bottom line, the Niro is a great option in the hybrid crossover segment. We think Kia is on the right track with its entire vehicle lineup, and the money you’ll save on fuel costs are worth putting it on the shopping list.

2018 Volkswagen Atlas by B.J. Killeen

Sunday Drive: New Car Reviews

By BJ Killeen

2018 Volkswagen Atlas: Can it Compete in a Crowded Segment?

In this industry, every manufacturer has its turn at the top, and also at the bottom. Audi fought unintended acceleration, Hyundai dealt with overstating fuel economy, Ford had the Firestone fiasco, and Volkswagen’s pit is the diesel dilemma. The truth is, however, each manufacturer, once at the bottom, has nowhere else to go but up. Audi recovered and is selling outstanding vehicles, Hyundai is producing new and exciting models, and Ford is moving forward with a renewed focus on mobility. Volkswagen, too, is climbing up again, this time with an entirely new vehicle that will garner the company more share in a popular division: midsize SUVs.

The 201 VW Atlas is the biggest, boldest VW every made in America (Chattanooga, Tennessee), and the company has done a good job figuring out how to appeal to those looking for modern design, plenty of room/versatility, and decent power. The Atlas is based on VW’s MQB architecture, which underpins the Mk 7 Golf vehicles, and will soon be under the new Tiguan crossover. It’s a solid platform that can be modified to suit a variety of vehicles. In this iteration, it is the basis for a big (198.3-inch) SUV that can carry up to seven passengers in three rows.

There are five trim levels of the Atlas: S, SE, SE with Technology, SEL, and SEL Premium, starting at $30,500 for an S model with an inline four-cylinder, and topping out at $48,490 for an SEL Premium with the V6 engine.

If the Atlas looks familiar, it’s because you might remember it as the CrossBlue Concept vehicle from the 2013 auto show circuit. VW did a good job maintaining the look of the concept. The Atlas has a clean overall appearance, with just a hint of performance evidenced by the large wheel arches front and rear. Even though it’s a big vehicle, VW states that it has a 0.34 Cd, which means it’s fairly slippery through the air for its size. LED lighting is standard on all trims, and for all light sources front and rear. Even the wheels and tires — standard 18s on all but the SEL Premium that gets 20s — are large and fit nicely in the wheelwells; nothing worse than a big vehicle that’s woefully under-tired. Lest you think that the Atlas is just another pretty face, VW made sure it could handle the dirt trails by delivering 8 inches of ground clearance, and departure angles of 20.4 and 22.2 degrees front and rear.

Inside, the Atlas is Volkswagen all the way, meaning high-quality materials and fit and finish, but sometimes feeling a bit cold. Some love that in German cars; all business, and in good order.  Would be nice if VW went just a little crazy once and threw a curve with something unique in the dash area. We do, however, love the use of the flat-bottom steering wheel. Always one of our favorite VW features. You would also never call VW seats extremely comfortable, again a personal preference, but they are supportive. When it comes to seats, there are plenty of them: the second row comes standard as a bench seat with a 60/40 split. It’s easy to tilt and slide the seat forward to make getting into the third row easy. The second-row bench seats also recline for maximum passenger comfort. For those who don’t need three in the second row, captain’s chairs are optional on SE and above models. These also fold flat for expanded cargo space. The third row seats two, and also folds 50/50 for flat cargo capacity. Cloth seats are standard; move to the SE and you get leatherette and a second-row middle armrest with cupholders. Jump to the SEL Premium and real leather seating is standard, along with heated outboard second-row seats.

All the required amenities are there: 12-volt and USB powerpoints, plenty of drink holders, and lots of available storage pockets and bins. For the serious storage, cargo volume is 96.8/55.5/20.6 with all seats folded/behind second row/behind third row. This beats the Ford Explorer, long the benchmark in the industry.

In addition, the S base model comes with a nice list of features, such as cruise control, 6.5-inch color touchscreen, voice controls and Bluetooth, roof rails, and power mirrors. There’s a special-edition Launch Model S that, for an extra $2,000 on the V6 model, adds a Panoramic sunroof and an 8-inch center touchscreen with HD and satellite radio. The SEL Premium V6 top of the line, which is the model we tested around the Hill Country of Boerne, Texas, is loaded to the gills with items like keyless access with pushbutton start, 3-zone automatic climate control, power heated seats, power liftgate with Easy Open, a 480-watt Fender audio system (darn impressive sound), all the driver-assist features like Blind Spot Monitor with Rear Traffic Alert, Adaptive Cruise Control, Park Distance Control, and more.

We love that you can connect to the Atlas via your Apple Watch using VW’s Car-Net connectivity system. There are three levels of subscription-based packages, depending on just how connected you want to be to your ride.

Speaking of being connected, how does the Atlas connect to the driving experience? It all starts with two engine offerings: a 2.0-liter I4 turbo that makes 235 hp and 258 lb-ft of torque, or a 3.6-liter VR6 engine with 276 hp and 266 lb-ft of torque. Both are paired to a smooth-shifting 8-speed automatic transmission. While the output of both vehicles is more than adequate, there are a lot of competitors with more power (Explorer, Grand Cherokee, Acadia, etc.), albeit with less fuel efficiency. And speaking of fuel economy, the Atlas in front-drive trim has an EPA estimate of 18/25/20, and 17/23/19 for all-wheel drive.

VW also offers its 4Motion AWD system on V6 trims only. The 4Motion AWD system has always been one of the best in the industry. It’s always active, and features electronic differential locks to transfer power side to side when needed, along with the ability to send up to 50 % of torque to the rear wheels when needed. There are four drive modes: Onroad, Snow, Offroad, and Custom Offroad, and inside the Onroad mode, there are another four settings of Normal, Sport, and Individual. These modes change the engine, transmission and steering parameters to jive with road conditions. We played with the system a little bit, but since our driving was mostly on highway roads, we didn’t get a chance to experience the Snow or Offroad settings. We changed from Normal to Sport to Eco, and you could feel the difference in throttle mapping and transmission shift points. Since we didn’t traverse any dusty roads, we have enough confidence in the 4Motion system to say that the Atlas should have no problem tackling anything other than a 10-rated trail.

Our takeaway from the short time we spent with the Atlas is that VW created a well-built, competent SUV that is a strong contender in the segment. We do think that VW will have a bit of a battle trying to get loyalists out of their established Ford Explorer, Honda Pilots, and Toyota Highlanders to try the Atlas, but VW owners easily should fall in line to get one.

Photography © Team Killeen and courtesy of Volkswagen of America.

2018 Volkswagen Atlas: Can it Compete in a Crowded Segment?