February 13, 2025
The Kia Optima Hybrid Stands Up to a Correct North Wintertime

Several folks adore the thought of a hybrid but are anxious about the hybrid effectiveness in the dead of wintertime. In purchase to solution this concern I took a Kia Hybrid on an extended 2 working day demonstration. Lots of individuals create about how the Kia Hybrid operates in wintertime in sites like Vancouver, or Chicago, but Winnipeggers will only have faith in a real Winnipeg test so now we are giving it the real Winnipeg in January check. By the way common Winnipeg temperature in January is concerning -23 and -13 levels C.

The Kia Optima Hybrid that I drove was a 2012 hybrid that carried a MSRP of $30,895 additionally freight, costs and taxes. At present at time of composing Kia is demonstrating a $3400 rebate on this vehicle which delivers it amount with its non hybrid counterpart.

When I was presented the keys to this automobile, it was 6pm at evening, so it was darkish by now. The automobile was parked in the back again large amount wherever it had been sitting down unused for the last 30 days or so. It was a chilly January night (-18 degrees C) and the auto was sitting below 6 inches of snow and parked at the rear of a plow windrow that was 8 inches high. After clearing the windshield and the drivers door I hopped in and pushed the brief start off button. It started up suitable away and the seat promptly adjusted to the preset position. I allow it warm up for a moment although I brushed the rest of the snow away from the leading of the car. When I hopped again in the automobile I turned off the traction management and spun my way out of the snow that I was parked in. I drove the car up to the developing and place a license plate on it. When I returned to the car it had previously heated up. This was a great deal faster than I had anticipated and I was impressed.

The amount just one thing that customers want to know when dealing with a hybrid is what is the gas economic climate. Will it help save plenty of gasoline to pay for by itself? The second is how very long will the battery final and how a lot will it price tag to replace it?

Allow me deal with the 2nd point initial. In Canada, Kia has put a 96 month 160,000 km limited guarantee on the complete hybrid program. So if your battery fails inside of the very first 8 years or 160,000 km it will be included. This will signify that for the vast majority of consumers, battery daily life, and substitution value are non-difficulties.

Kia Optima Hybrid is in the Guinness E-book of Environment data for “Lowest gas consumption, 48 U.S. states: gasoline hybrid motor vehicle” confirmed by a Guinness Planet Documents adjudicator. In this display they realized an typical of 3.3l/100km. The 1 point that we come across in Winnipeg in January driving via the coronary heart of the town is that you can throw energuide ratings out the window. No matter what auto you travel, rankings will really be about 75% of real gas mileage. Many others may well argue this but with my driving model and automobile use I usually discover these figures are exact no issue what vehicle I drive. This was accurate with the Optima Hybrid. Energuide scores for this car are 5.8 l/100km for city driving. Energuide scores for the non-hybrid Optima are 8.6l/100km. The genuine mileage that I identified for these two vehicles beneath this condition ended up 8.1 for the Hybrid and 11.7 for the GDI Optima. The Optima Hybrid however saves sizeable gasoline in Winnipeg in winter season around its non-hybrid brother. Just one disclaimer even though is that the car or truck did not operate as an electric powered car until about 17km into the trip so it was sitting down involving 11 and 12 l/100km till the final km in which it begun jogging fully off the EV and regular fuel use plummeted.

So for all those who check with the question if the Hybrid will pay back for by itself, in this software the respond to is resoundingly of course. Present-day rebates on the Hybrid make this car priced about the similar as the Optima EX. Therefore, prices of purchasing are around the identical regardless whether or not you select Hybrid or Gasoline Direct Injection (GDI). If the vehicle is pushed 100,000km with this change in gas use, the price savings will volume to $3780. This number is primarily based on gas at $1.05/liter. Discounts will be increased at a larger fuel cost. Try to remember that this is based mostly on winter driving by itself. This will improve for any one who commutes additional than 20km for each excursion. As said the EV motor begun operating soon after 17 km so gas mileage started to make improvements to significantly. At the other finish of the spectrum, if you are making use of your auto just to go to the store and get a loaf of bread, you may perhaps not recognize any winter discounts. I will observe that when driving the Hybrid in summer time, I was running on whole EV by the time I went all-around the block.

So for all those that question me if a Hybrid can stand up to our Winnipeg winters I will say “absolutely”. It cold climate began immediately after a long sit, it handled nicely on snow lined roads, it saved fuel more than the prolonged operate, and it is priced competitively with the non-hybrid variation.