Kia Niro hybrid outshines Toyota C-Hr: more space, better price, 7-year warranty. The KIA Niro hybrid is cheaper than the Toyota C-HR and has a 7-year warranty.
By Laura King
The Toyota C-HR is a ‘heavyweight’ in the segment, but this SUV is €4,000 cheaper, has a 7-year warranty and is better than the Japanese one.
A good portion of those who buy an SUV buy a compact SUV . And here both the Hyundai Tucson and the KIA Sportage have been the ‘kings’ for some time. But just below there are cheaper options – in some cases – and they have little to envy of these two South Koreans.
One of them, no doubt, is the Toyota C-HR , which also has a good sales volume in Spain and has only recently been renewed. Well, there is a more recommendable alternative to the Toyota C-HR and it is, among other things, because it is about 4,000 euros cheaper despite surpassing it on a technical level.
While a Toyota C-HR has a body that is 4.36 meters long, which marks a good distance compared to the Hyundai Tucson and the KIA Sportage that I was talking about before, the KIA Niro reaches up to 4.42 meters long.
It is larger and is easily perceived in the larger rear seats and in its 451-liter trunk capacity, compared to the 388 liters that the Japanese model has.
And these two technical data make the KIA Niro undoubtedly in a better position for family use. In addition, the C-HR’s luminosity in its rear seats is poor and the handles are difficult to reach for the smallest members of the family, because they are in a high and uncomfortable position.
In terms of prices, as I was telling you, the KIA Niro has an official price of 31,610 euros as a starting point, although it can be purchased from approximately 27,300 euros at the moment.
And compared to these rates, the Toyota C-HR starts at 35,750 euros list price and is available from 30,050 euros, approximately, with current discounts. The difference is notable, as I was saying, about 4,000 euros in favor of the KIA Niro despite the fact that it is actually larger and much more spacious inside.
And at the mechanical level they opt for similar solutions, because both are non-plug-in hybrids in their range access configurations. The KIA Niro with a 1.6 GDI HEV engine with 141 HP and the Toyota C-HR with a similar engine with 140 HP of maximum power.
In addition, both have a plug-in hybrid version with superior features. And in this section, the most relevant difference is that the Toyota C-HR uses an eCVT transmission that is quite noisy, slow to react and not very pleasant to drive. The KIA Niro uses a dual-clutch automatic transmission that provides much superior driving sensations.
And thanks to those somewhat larger dimensions than is usual in its category, the KIA Niro can go toe-to-toe with compact SUVs.
With a significant price difference compared to them, especially because compact SUVs have conventional gasoline engines in their most basic versions. And the KIA Niro, however, in its simplest version already has a hybrid engine with the ECO label from the DGT.
