I made a mistake today and stopped at the Kia dealer for oil filters for the Sedona and Elantra. It would have been fine, but I did it on the way home from a kids hockey game.
I came back from the parts counter and found my wife in the Niro, older son in a Stinger GT, and younger son in a telluride.
So my wife is really interested in the Niro, and they have some decent offers on the 2019s.
We're still discussing whether we want to see what kind of deal we can really get. we're also debating which vehicle to trade in if we decide to buy.
TL:DR - Anyone have any real world experience with the Niro?
Sequel: any GRM member interested in:
2011 Elantra GLS - 157k miles, auto, alloys, Bluetooth. I have a second set of steel wheels with Altimax arctics with three seasons, and the Altimax all seasons on it just went in in the summer.
It had a dealer installed warranty long block at 90k, and trans replaced under warranty at 70k.
2010 Kia Sedona- 121k miles, I installed the factory Bluetooth radio, mike, and steering wheel controls from a 2012 to provide hands free.
The plugs were done at 100k, front wheel bearing around 115k. I have a set of factory wheels with Altimax arctics our on last season.
Any GRM interested?
also any advice on values for either would be helpful.
Thanks.
My son bought a Niro earlier this year. Nice daily driver, handy for him with a 3 year old in a car seat, good fuel economy (48 hwy), peppy enough with the hybrid drive train. There's no excitement , but it's a damned good fridge......errr.....appliance.
T.J.
MegaDork
10/19/19 6:16 p.m.
Huh. Just googled to find out what a Niro is. Didn’t know that was a thing.
I just helped someone get a plugin hybrid Niro premium at almost 5.6K off sticker before the 1.5K they had on for Kia finance. My brother and law is pulling over 50mpg on his as well.
That's what I'm seeing, around $5.4k off sticker for the Touring, but that includes the $1.5k from Kia. That is just online, so there may be more savings, but I won't know until really sitting down to talk about numbers with them.
We haven't driven one yet, so we're real early in the process. I may bring the boys hockey bags to fit in when we do go test drive just to see how they fit.
If we do move forward, the big debate will be which vehicle to keep....
I think the van should stay since it's got a hitch on it for the snowmobile trailer and offers a 3rd row if we need it. But it does need some work, the power doors have been acting up and I need to replace the latch motors (already on hand), the y pipe will need to be replaced because is leaking from the flex section, and there's a bad speaker in the drivers door.
SWMBO thinks the Elantra should stay. It's got more miles on the chassis, but less on the drivetrain. Her reason is the fuel economy, although I only get 25-26 mpg on my 36 mile round trip commute, so the difference isn't huge.
I do have a truck to tow with, but it's a 1994 Ram reg cab 2wd with 187k miles, and the trans is a bit flakey. It doesn't slip, but sometimes it shifts great and other times you need to let off the throttle for it to upshift.
It looks like both vehicles are similar in value, so that isn't going to help the decision. Ill probably ask about having them appraised as trades and see how the numbers come out.
SVreX
MegaDork
10/20/19 6:11 a.m.
Ok, now you got my attention.
My experience with my Elantra has been so positive I would definitely consider.
In reply to No Time :
Here were my thoughts from your first post.
2 kids playing hockey
- Your not going to successfully get their gear out of a Sedona and into a Niro, so my immediate thought is you continue to keep the van
Niro to replace Elantra
- Sounds like the Elantra has had a lot of "newness" added to it. It should continue to soldier on pretty easily
- The improvement of mpg in the Niro should not be that great over the Elantra. A 2011 Elantra is rated for mpg of 28/32/38. The Niro is rated at 51/49/46. According the comparison tool on fueleconomy.gov, over 15k miles the Niro should save you $450 per year in fuel. That's probably one month's car payment on the Niro. I would bet your insurance rates for a newer car compared to the old Elantra go up by nearly $450 per year.
- You then later say your Elantra only gets 26 mpg for you. If I personalize the fueleconomy.gov compare tool to 100% city driving, over 15k miles the savings is more but still just $600 per year
- Of course, all of this is moot if you just want a new car.
How old are the boys?
- With that much newness added to the Elantra, this could be a perfect car for a young driver. How soon until the oldest will be driving? Could you keep the Elantra until then?
The only bad I have heard about the Niro is that they use the much-maligned Hyundai/Kia DCT which a lot of people seem to have issues with.