Kia Niro Hybrid

The COE system is surely one of the most exasperating things about car ownership in Singapore.

- Kenny Yen

Never mind the fact that it's valid for only 10 years, what's more frustrating about it is that it can fluctuate wildly. As little a year ago, the price of a Cat A COE was hovering around the $58,000 mark. Today, it's comfortably over $80,000. You have to be a) loaded, or b) desperate to want to purchase a brand-new car now. But if you were desperate, Kia's new Niro Hybrid might not be a bad choice after all.

Let's begin with the obvious, with prices starting at $161,999 (correct at the time of publishing), the Niro Hybrid is one of the more affordable cars you can buy right now - particularly if you are in the market for a compact hybrid SUV. Yes, $160,000 is considered affordable, it feels strange typing that but that's the world we live in right now.

And because it's a hybrid, running costs should be fairly reasonable. Propelling the car is a 1.6-litre naturally-aspirated in-line four that's paired with a 32kW electric motor.

Kia claims it'll do 4L/100km, and with over 24 hours and more than 200km of testing, I managed a rather impressive 4.6L/100km or 21.74km/l which isn't far off from Kia's claims. This was over a mix of around 60% highway driving and 40% city driving, and with a fairly heavy right foot.

But you don't buy the Niro Hybrid for performance, you buy it for its features and practicality, and it delivers these in spades.

The motor has a surprising amount of low-end grunt. Together, the internal combustion engine and electric motor put out 130hp and 144nm of torque. It may not sound like much but the Niro Hybrid is surprisingly brisk off the line to around 80km/h or so. It's zippy around town and feels more powerful than the numbers on its spec sheet suggest.