Dinamikjaya Motors, a subsidiary of Bermaz Auto (BAuto), today launched the Kia Niro EV in Malaysia. This is the second electric vehicle (EV) to be offered by the local Kia distributor after the EV6 that went on sale here last June.
The second-generation Niro EV comes fully imported (CBU) from South Korea and is available in just one variant priced at RM256,668 on-the-road without insurance. Buyers will have a choice of three colours – Snow White Pearl, Mineral Blue and Cityscape Green – to choose from, and each purchase is accompanied by a five-year, 150,000-km manufacturer warranty as well as an eight-year, 160,000-km battery warranty.
Measuring 4,420 mm long, 1,825 mm wide, 1,570 mm tall and with a wheelbase of 2,720 mm, the Niro EV is sized between the smaller Hyundai Kona Electric and larger Ioniq 5. In terms of boot space, you get 475 litres, expandable to 1,392 litres with the 60:40 split-folding second-row bench down.
As for the powertrain, the Niro EV is equipped with an underfloor-mounted lithium-ion battery with an energy capacity of 64.8 kWh. This is good for a WLTP-rated range of 460 km, with the battery powering a front electric motor rated at 204 PS (201 hp or 150 kW) and 255 Nm of torque – this is good for a top speed of 167 km/h.
A full charge with a max AC input (Type 2) of 11 kW takes six hours and 20 minutes, while DC fast charging (CCS2) at a peak of 80 kW will get the battery from 10-80% state of charge requires 49 minutes. The Niro EV uses a 400-volt architecture unlike the EV6 and Ioniq 5 that have a 800-volt system.
Included with each purchase is a portable three-pin to Type 2 charging cable but you’ll need to be patient because a full charge takes 27 hours and 30 minutes with a conventional household outlet (230 V/12 A). The Niro EV also supports vehicle-to-load (V2L) with an output of 3.6 kW to power accessories and other compatible electrical products.
Standard equipment that comes with the Niro EV include 17-inch wheels, automatic LED projector headlamps, LED DRLs, front and rear LED fog lamps, LED taillights, electric folding and heated side mirrors, a sunroof, roof rails, a powered tailgate, front and rear parking sensors, keyless entry and start as well as an electronic parking brake (with auto brake hold).
Inside, you’ll find two 10.25-inch displays, with one serving as a digital instrument cluster while the other is a touchscreen for the infotainment system, which supports Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. Other features include 64-colour ambient lighting, dual-zone climate control (with rear vents), a wireless phone charger, leatherette seat upholstery, an eight-speaker sound system and a reverse camera.
Powered front seats with ventilation and heating functions are standard too, with a memory function being available for the driver. Meanwhile, the front passenger gets to enjoy the Premium Relaxion function that puts the seat into a “zero-gravity” lounge mode.
On the safety and driver assistance side of things, the Niro EV has seven airbags (front, side, curtain and driver’s knee), the usual array of passive systems (ABS, EBD, brake assist, ESC, traction control), hill start assist, tyre pressure monitoring, Rear Occupant Alert and Safe Exit Assist.
Active systems include High Beam Assist, Blind Spot Collision-Avoidance Assist, Rear Cross-Traffic Collision-Avoidance Assist, Lane Keeping Assist, Driver Attention Warning, Forward Collision Avoidance Assist (autonomous emergency braking with junction turning support), Lane Following Assist and Smart Cruise Control (adaptive cruise control) with stop and go support.
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So expensive for this Korean car, and peak charging only 80kw ?!!! They really think they are bmw/merc to charge crazy price
whether it’s a Korean car or not isn’t really the matter – the Hyundai-Kia group has been making pretty good cars as of late and are worthy of the asking price.
BUT, somehow when it reaches Malaysian shores they’re asking for close to RM260K when in Australia it’s about RM224K – duties shouldn’t be the excuse now so it’s probably mark ups?
The iX1 is RM282k and EQA is RM299k
Top up a bit and get volvo xc40 recharge with awd Instead.
BMW IX1 RM272K , this model RM257K if you plan to get EV SUV which one you will buy ?
might as well get the Ioniq 5 Plus for about the same price OTR with 5 year warranty – it’s better specced with a future proof 800V system (10-80% in 18mins) and has a nice plush interior with 3,000mm wheelbase..incredibly spacious inside – very comfortable ride and minimal road noise (no wind noise at all). The ambient lights glowing from all four doors are a very nice touch.
slightly smaller battery than the Niro but plenty powerful enough with 350Nm instant torque when you want to overtake anyone..for urban use i can get 420km on a full charge real world range (i.e. daily commute of city roads and highways like sprint, ldp, penchala etc.)
yes. it’s higher than the WLTP rating of 384km which factors in a certain ratio of city and intercity/interstate highway driving – if you do a lot of long distance highway driving then this number will be lower for you.
Fun Fact on the Ioniq 5 (and any other WLTP test)
The Standard Range 58kWh spec has a 384km WLTP (TEH) rating – TEH is basically the most energy consuming configuration available for the spec. Which to my knowledge is tested with 20” wheels (because it’s available in other markets on the Standard Range spec).
A quick research and you’ll find a WLTP (TEL) rating – TEL tests the least energy consuming configuration available (i.e. 19” wheels like we get in Malaysia) and it’s rated for 400km.
full disclosure, i sold my W205 C200 and bought the Ioniq 5 Plus and so far very pleased with it. So speaking as an owner i may be biased – research before you buy and it will easily alleviate your range anxiety. Now i charge once a week out of habit (maximum only use 35% charge in a week, most of the time it’s less) and have never needed to use public charging.
Using 35% only in a week?? What a waste of a car usage. Might as well get myvi .
people use how much is their problem la – why you butthurt cannot afford is it?
ferrari owner only drive on weekends – might as well get myvi also? realy stupid la you.
lol you are the one butthurt come in here to reply to the rhetorical question. guess ur ferrari is also underutilised. kthxbai
Get the Ioniq 5 instead. You won’t miss anything
Get BYD better. More advance and better quality
by better quality you mean noisier cabin? the Atto 3 is so noisy inside on highway bro – tak sampai 80km/h pun the road noise so loud.
more advanced how? refinement in technology tak sama dengan gimmicky features tau.
Not specifically comparing with the Niro, but just in general most buyers only look at the surface and will be happy that they get a lot of “gimmicky features” for the money even if they don’t use it.
The general buyer won’t know refinement if they’ve never experienced something better as a comparison – refinement is harder to achieve and costs more to develop and is hence a more expensive commodity than throwing in gimmicky features.
BYD is a favourite now purely because it’s cheap – it’s the Honda City of EVs and the masses have an affinity to it because it feels accessible. The very same pro-BYD buyers will immediately jump to premium brands once their pockets allow for it.
My dentist used to say: “A Kancil is fine until you you’ve driven a Honda; and a Honda is fine until you’ve driven a Mercedes.” I guess in the years to come, just replace “Honda” with “BYD” in this saying.
Someone will come along and talk about BYD’s higher end models (because they love BYD so much right now). Yes – BYD has higher end models but those would breach the RM300K price point. Ask yourself, would you pay north of RM300k for a BYD? Or something German? The badge has value after all.
I was supposed to book a BMW iX and trade in my F30 330i but my SA persuade me to go for BYD Atto 3 instead due to the uncertain wait time for the iX. As an ex-owner of 5 BMW, 2 Porsche and 1 Audi……… truly I don’t feel I lose out a lot in terms of “refinement” when switching over to BYD Atto3. Your dentist is right but after you experience fine dining day in day out, you will really appreciate the simple and nice nasi lemak ayam goreng. Cheers
I drive a BMW for many years. Trust me BYD is way better.Don’t take my words for it. Google up Nikkei BP, a group of Japanese engineer that loves tearing cars apart for research. They recently tore dow a BYD seal to comapre the tech with Tesla model 3. They were blown away how far BYD is ahead of Tesla in every aspect. Now Japanese car makers will use BYD as their referrence to build their future cars. So BYD not advance?? R u and engineer like those experts at Nikkei BP? hahahaha. Sohai la lu
you were in the market for a RM400k luxury EV and settled for an Atto 3 because of wait time? sure – who are you trying to kid with your fake story behind the keyboard *facepalm
looks like got a lot of BYD cyber troopers from their PR team here…..i used to work in a China company – they love to do this stuff, seeding comments to build repo and running ads with fake testimonials.
you looking for iX end up buy Atto3? that’s like saying i want to buy S23 Ultra but no stock so buy Redmi instead. take your fake PR stories elsewhere.
Your BMW of many years is from 1980s is it? i booked the Atto 3 cos the price was low enough to try out as a first-time EV buyer. Driven about 2 months now and even i can admit my wife’s 2021 320i is much better built.
Nothing rattles/flexes inside her car and the fit and finish of the interior is next level. I hardwired a dashcam for her car so had to remove some panels and saw the amount of insulation material behind the panels…some of the contact points where panels clip together even have felt material so nothing rattles – when you clip it back together it doesn’t make a hollow plasticky sound like it’s gonna snap.
When I got my Atto 3 I did the same for my car to hardwire a front + rear dashcam cos the built-in one has low FPS. Once you remove the panels you’ll realise the fit and finish is no better than your run-of-the-mill Japanese brand. Immediately felt like some of the clips would snap if I wasn’t careful – it’s not bad, just average material quality.
Did I complain? No. At that price point of course I was not expecting premium levels of build quality – luxury comes at a price, that’s the reality of the world no matter what you tell yourself. It’s a good starting point for an EV but personally will definitely aspire to own something better next time.
I guess most people who comment here about BYD don’t even own an Atto 3 and are just riding on the news waves and spec sheets to make assumptions or make up stories. So here’s my quick honest review comparing my Atto 3 (after 5 months) with my BMW F30. Since suddenly you guys are comparing with BMW and Audi, which is…strange.
1. Ride Comfort
Atto 3 is definitely better – just note that suspension is very soft so sometimes it bounces quite a bit if you hit a bump at speed
2. Driving Dynamics & Body Control
BMW is a lot more stable and less floaty at highway speeds
3. Noise Insulation
BMW wins hands down – my Atto 3 is only quiet at town speeds…once around 70kmh+ the road noise is loud. I changed the stock Batman tyres to Continental and it feels(?) a bit better but still very noisy – i’m guessing lack of insulation / poor quality material is the root cause. Solution is to just turn up the music volume – which seems counterproductive if you wanted silence from an EV.
4. Engage Warp Drive!
This one really surprised me. I tested a few EV before buying and they all had that iconic instant “warp speed!” feeling when you need hard acceleration; but not the Atto 3. It’s not underpowered per se, just feels lazy – it’s like your pedal input doesn’t correlate with the power output (Eco mode is even lazier, Sport mode doesn’t make it much better). My F30 had much more shove and quicker power surge when you need hard acceleration. If you were expecting that instant burst of EV power everyone speaks of, you won’t get it in the Atto 3.
5. Long Term Ownership Annoyances
– The driver’s display is tiny (my phone has a bigger screen) and everything looks cramped – graphics here look very outdated compared to the rest of the car. Infotainment screen is okay.
– The software is a bit clumsy to use, but after the first month you don’t really interact with it once you’ve played around with everything. Voice commands work well, but after first 2-3 weeks I’ve never used it again.
– After 1 month+, the car developed a plasticky buzzing rattle coming from the infotainment screen area even if the roads are relatively smooth (it goes away when i push on it but comes back the second i let go).
– There’s also a rattle coming from the front passenger seatbelt area (B pillar) which is right at the ear level and you can’t hear it from the driver seat, but your passenger will find it annoying – i haven’t found a way to make it go away
– One of the boot struts is wiggling quite a lot, BYD says it’s normal and hasn’t caused any problems so far, but it isn’t reassuring.
– That road noise continues to be an annoyance unfortunately – especially when i alternate back and forth between my BMW which is very noticeably quieter.
After 5 months, would I recommend the Atto 3? If you just want the novelty of owning an EV (that was my mindset when i bought it) and don’t want to spend too much money – then yeah why not?
However, the two major considerations are: You won’t get that instant EV surge of power driving experience, and it’s really not a quiet car (my wife’s Corolla Cross Hybrid is quieter at cruising speeds). Personally, I think most people buy an EV because of these two things – so on those grounds, i can’t recommend the Atto 3 at all. After owning it for awhile, would I buy it again? To be honest, no – it feels like I got an EV without any of the main EV driving experiences. I was probably excited to get onto EV ownership back then, which clouded my judgement and impressions of the car because it was an option within budget.
The EVs i tested that had instant power plus a nice and quiet ride all cost above RM200K on-the-road unfortunately – the old saying is true, you get what you pay for.
BYD more advanced ah? ahh yes…because it has an inferior 400V system vs the Korean’s newer 800V architecture? your logic very good.
Hol up how is this more expensive than the maxed out on the road price in Australia? Tak tsk tsk bloody huge profit margin for them.
What a load of bull pricing. This car should have been priced at RM200k range but bernaz got greedy. Good luck for sui yee to buy. For this kind of pricing, people will rather get Ioniq 5 which had better spec and runs on 800v architecture.
That price range will get you a ix1, c40 that have superior pertormance, better spec. This niro should be at byd atto price range to be competitive
Let’s abolish all vendor/distributors and let cars company sell direct in Malaysia. Abolish AP and CKD, let the gov tax a flat rate of 10% SST for all cars (CKD or CBU) and have a competitive business environment. Protection policy only enrich cronies and rakyat is the one forced to foot the bill for higher car price thus higher insurance policy and higher interest.
Malaysia madani for u
I agree with you @MrFakta. But you must know, the way our democratic western system selects the people who run the office is as lousy as it gets. That is why we have OKU ministers that has very limited brain power to think of ways to make money for the people like other great leaders from other countries. Our OKU ministers can only make money FROM us. ” Budget kerajaan tak cukup tahun ini, macam mana boleh dapat wang?? Oh kita tax sama orang Malaysia saja senang. Mereka pun bukan pandai nak bising pun. Mereka mesti faham punya”…That is the reality. Meanwhile in Dubai, Brunei, China etc.. ” We need more budget this year to build more infrastructures to make the lives of our people better, what can we do?? Lets redirect more oil sales revenue for our people, lets invest in more businesses abroad and bring in m ore revenue for our people, we can improve trade relations with friendly and honest countries to make more money….”
the rear with different paint colour is really ugly.
Korean steering design so fugly
Seems that Kia still has not learn anything from Stinger.
Dont blame kia, Blame bodoh mat greedy bernaz. At least when under Naza, Kia pricing is more realistic and better value for rakyat.
Price bad, design bad, seat is weird… definitely a rare unicorn on the road. Do they even do market study before launching?
D.O.A
I’ll buy BYD any day over this. When it comes to EV, China is currently the best. Even the Japanese group of engineer recently tore down both the BYD Seal and Tesla model S and they were blown away and so surprised how far ahead BYD was from Tesla in terms if innovation and tech. So why should I pay more for a korean car and get outdated stuff?
chinese EVs are not bad – but i wouldn’t make arbitrary statements on how they’re “far ahead in innovation and tech”
that’s sounds like a broad statement in a press release – the common Chinese EVs have a lot of surface gimmicks and loud designs but lacks refinement; on this note the Koreans do a much better job IMHO.
yes, there are also properly refined Chinese EVs like Zeekr and Nio but those cost the same if not more than the Germans – then the question will be, would you spend the same money for a german marquee or a Chinese one?
so BYD fanboys are like the new Honda fanboys…everything good, nothing bad. no matter what still BYD best.
BYD Atto 3 is only cost RM 169k with similar range compare to Kia Niro EV. This Niro EV is only pushing people to go for Atto 3 with great value of money. The price different is whopping RM 88k meanwhile BYD is leader of EV market with its matured EV tech and safer battery pack. RM 88k is almost a price of a low spec Honda City.
Overseas, kia nero ev is slightly more expensive than BYD Atto 3 and there’s comparison between both, the korean edge slightly better than china. Now back in malaysia, pricing it almost quite near to volvo or even the german marque IX1 or even the better Ioniq 5, the local distributor must be high on weeds for people willing to fork out almost RM260k for a BYD similar range. Good luck those Kia salesman. Probably have to eat nasi kosong trying to sell an overprice Nero.
damn i was excited for this one but i guess not anymore. what on earth is with the pricing? at this price point might as well get literally any other EV in the 250k+ range.
Me too. Forget about Kia Niro. Go and get something more worthwhile
What a boring interior design. China EVs have better dashboard than that.
RIP Kia…. Hahaha…
MABUK KE
I think this spice up kimchi flavor better than boring copy paste tofu car
Tofuland beater car IMHO