Any preferences or suggestions?

[KayJayEss]

Hi all. Newbie here. I am in the market for a new EV via the Motability scheme (I am completely unable to walk) and have narrowed my selection down to 3 options - Kia Niro, Vauxhall Frontera or Skoda Elroq. Any advice or opinions on which is best in your eyes would be appreciated. Or maybe throw me a curveball with an alternative suggestion.

[andy43]

I don’t actually know what the Vauxhall and Skoda are, or what they look like, but the Kia has a decent height to the drivers seat, loads of kit as standard, they’re built well and you get a seven year warranty.
We had a Soul EV for three years, zero problems, and I have done 30,000+ miles in my Stinger with nothing more serious than a recall, some dodgy chrome trim and a rattling sunroof.
Not much help on the other two I’m afraid

[KayJayEss]

Thanks for your input

[clockworks]

If you are interested in the Niro, consider the Kia EV3. Very slightly smaller, but better in pretty much every way.

[KayJayEss]

Thanks for the suggestion. That looks like a great shout, but sadly it’s not available through Motability, at least not yet.

[samoht]

How long journeys do you typically do? Some EVs in this class will work much better than others for longer trips (longer range, quicker charging).

I recommend the EV database for facts, figures and vaguely realistic ranges of all EVs:
Niro https://ev-database.org/uk/car/1666/Kia-Niro-EV
Frontera https://ev-database.org/uk/car/2238/Vauxhall-Front...
Elroq 60 kWh https://ev-database.org/uk/car/3032/Skoda-Elroq-60


Frontera - cheap EV on the same platform as the Citroen C3. Small 44 kWh battery so may be a push to make 100 miles between charges on the motorway in winter. Benefit is it's cheap, lighter and narrower.

Elroq - available with 52, 59 or 77 kWh batteries with correspondingly varying ranges and prices. Positive write-up in Autocar as a good all-rounder. RWD where the others are FWD.

Niro - well known as a good EV, price and likely range on a par with the top Elroq. Rather slow charging at sub-100kW.


Fundamentally the Frontera is a lot cheaper than the other two, so if the cost to you is the same, it wouldn't get a look in really.

Of the three I think the Elroq looks most promising, as the Niro is a bit old-tech and the Frontera a class below. Also the Elroq is RWD. But I don't know if they're all the same cost to you, or not.


In terms of other cars I'd be looking out for the new Renault 5 / Alpine A290, Cupra Born, perhaps a Smart #1 or #3, & the Volvo EX30. Not saying they're better than your options, just ones I'd want to shortlist.