The Niro is Kia’s first dedicated hybrid. The compact-crossover went on sale in the UK in 2016 as part of Korean firm’s pledge to reduce the average CO2 emissions across its range by 25% before 2020.

It’s also available as a plug-in hybrid and, this year, it’s joined by an all-electric version called, unsurprisingly, the e-Niro that will have a class-leading 301-mile range.

If, like me, the options for charging an electric vehicle are limited but you’re determined to adopt a greener lifestyle then a self-charging hybrid like the Niro reviewed here, Hyundai’s Ioniq or Toyota’s Prius, is a sensible option.

As always when you’re driving a hybrid there’s an unsettling silence when you start the car. Select Drive, press down on the accelerator and the car will pull away in effortless tranquillity. It requires significant focus and considerable restraint to keep the car in EV mode so it usually isn’t long before the hush is disturbed by the 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine kicking in to assist the electric motor.

The engine is quite intrusive when it does fire up, especially at higher revs, which is at odds with the peaceful ambiance you enjoy when you’re running on electric power alone.

The car’s six-speed twin-clutch gearbox is a little sluggish and imprecise through the ratios, too, which means that picking up speed isn’t the smooth and seamless experience you might hope for. The Niro has a been designed as a parallel hybrid so, for most of the time, the engine and electric motor work together. However, as well as on start-up, the Niro will cruise at up to 70mph on battery power alone for short periods.

The quoted 0-60 time, should you want to put that to the test, is 11.1 seconds, whichever model you opt for and that probably should tell you all you need to know about this car’s remit. However, although it was only using incredibly accurate clock in my head, the Niro feels significantly quicker than that. It’s at full throttle that the Niro consistently demonstrates strong performance but anywhere else along that power band and it responds with a bit less enthusiasm.

The Niro, which bears the firm’s signature tiger nose grille up front, is not the car for someone who wants to stand out in a crowd. There’s some obligatory black cladding around sills and wheel arches and a skid plate at the rear to toughen up the styling a bit but it would be difficult to describe the Peter Schreyer design as memorable.

The platform has been designed specifically for the firm’s electric vehicles. With the additional weight that inevitable accompanies powertrains of this ilk the Korean’s have paid particular attention to the architecture’s mass.

The structure is 53 per cent high-strength steel while the bonnet, tailgate panel, front bumper and a number of suspension elements are aluminium. The A- and B-pillars and wheel arches use hot-stamped steel to improve the structural stiffness. The 45-litre fuel tank and 1.56kWh lithium ion polymer battery sit side-by-side beneath the rear seats.

There’s nothing fundamentally awry with the Niro’s ride and handling as long as you drive well within the car’s limits. The suspension is quite stiff and handling response is quite crisp as a result. There’s also a limited amount of body roll to contend with and the combination of those two factors would suggest that it might be quite fun to drive. That, however, isn’t the case thanks to a shortfall of outright grip and vague steering that tells you very little about what’s going on beneath the front wheels.

The stiff set-up compromises the ride, as well, which can be slightly noisy and fidgety. Faced with high-frequency imperfections and the Niro never feels as though it ever truly settles.

There’s room enough for five but, if the the three people asked to sit across the rear bench weren’t close friends when they climbed on board, they almost certainly would be when they disembarked. The fact that it’s a bit of a lateral squeeze with a full complement on board shouldn’t come as a huge surprise – this is a crossover of the compact variety after all – but the absence of genuine SUV height might. Consequently it feels like you plonk down into your seat rather than climb up into it.

The quality of the materials in the cabin is decent, as is the fit and finish, though it’s unlikely to set pulses racing. There’s a real sense that form follows function that, though it ensures that all the controls and switches are well-placed and easy to operate, there’s very little sense of adventure.

Equipment levels are generous. There are three trim levels – simply labelled 2, 3 and 4 – with Lane Keep Assist, Hill Start Assist, cruise control and speed limiter. All models are also equipped with reversing camera and sensors, LED daytime running lights and tail lights and alloy wheels (16 inches on Grade 2, 18 on grades 3 and 4).

Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are included, though I found the touchscreen intermittent when I was using smartphone mirroring.

The Niro does so many things well and yet in a few, sometimes surprising ways, it feels like a first attempt. It doesn’t come as a shock – pardon the pun – that the hybrid drivetrain doesn’t quite match the refinement of more established rivals but the fact that it’s handling and ride lack the expected level of sophistication does.

Where the Niro does claw back some ground is with its clever packaging and spacious cabin, excellent equipment levels, good value and decent performance. It might not quite be competing for best of class, but the Niro will deservedly sell in strong numbers,

Kia Niro 1.6 GDi HEV ‘4’ DCT 6-speed

Price: £27,740

Engine: 1.6-litre 4-cylinder

Transmission: 6-speed DCT

Max power: 104bhp

Max torque: 147Nm @ 4,000rpm

Battery: 1.56kWh

Max power: 43.5bhp

Max torque: 170Nm

Max power (combined): 139bhp

Max torque (combined): 265Nm

Max speed: 101mph

Acceleration (0-60mph): 11.1sec

Urban: 64.2mpg

Extra urban: 62.8mpg

Combined: 64.2mpg

Emissions (CO2): 101g/km

For more information visit www. kia.co.uk