Kia Niro EV vs Vauxhall Astra

The Kia Niro EV costs £5,000 more than the Vauxhall Astra. For that premium it adds 123 litres more boot space, 35 kW more power and a 1.5s quicker 0-62mph time. The Vauxhall Astra is not just cheaper - it also offers 50 kW faster peak rapid charging. On EVcarsguide's combined category scores, the Vauxhall Astra comes out ahead overall.

The Vauxhall Astra is £5,000 cheaper to buy. Running costs are almost identical - about £168 a year either way, at 8,000 miles on an off-peak home tariff. Add 5 years of charging and the Vauxhall Astra comes out roughly £5,040 cheaper overall. These figures cover list price and home charging only - insurance, servicing, tyres and depreciation will move the real total.

EVcarsguide estimates a real-world motorway range of about 194 miles for the Kia Niro EV and 191 miles for the Vauxhall Astra - effectively matched, and both well below their WLTP figures because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV.

The Kia Niro EV is the easier car for tight UK car parks: it is 35 mm narrower than the Vauxhall Astra. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 575 mm of total clearance for the Kia Niro EV and about 540 mm of total clearance for the Vauxhall Astra.

Over a 8-year ownership window EVcarsguide's degradation model projects roughly 84% battery health for the Kia Niro EV and 84% for the Vauxhall Astra. That is close enough that capacity loss should not decide between them. Both use NMC-type cells, so for daily use keep the charge limit near 80% to slow degradation. The Vauxhall Astra has the longer battery warranty at 8 years, versus 7 for the Kia Niro EV.