Kia Optima PHEV (2016) review (Month 2)

Our long term Kia Optima PHEV has been busy over the last month. It has completed a 560 mile round trip to Manchester and Leeds which tested its motorway and city driving ability and, of course, the unforgiving daily commute across south London to see if the car delivers on its fuel economy promise.

A month on and the unforeseen complexities of this car are becoming known to us and this raises an interesting challenge for Kia dealers. I collected our car from Beadles Kia Coulsdon and had an excellent handover from Mark McKaig, the business and fleet specialist who also happened to be running an Optima PHEV.

The process was invaluable as it meant that I could avoid unnecessary pitfalls; for instance being told that when you lock the car whilst it’s charging it also locks the cable to the port. Very clever, but potentially confusing if you haven’t read the handbook.

However, despite the useful brief for the first couple of weeks I drove the car as a hybrid and wondered why the fuel economy never bettered 45mpg in a car that can theoretically achieve 176.6mpg, albeit in perfect test conditions.  A quick chat with Kia resolved the issue as I was told the car needs to be plugged-in on a regular basis to get the most out of the technology.

Since then the car has been charged once or twice a week, depending on what’s on the driving schedule, and the fuel economy picked up immediately with mid to high 50mpgs now fairly typical. I suspect this will be beaten.

The plug-in charge gives a nominal 30 mile range and when depleted takes can take five hours to recharge from a standard domestic supply: another good reason to keep it regularly topped up. Once charged the car defaults to the pure electric mode, although cold starts tend to require a helping hand from the 2.0-litre petrol engine.

Once on the move I’ve been selecting the Hybrid Electric Vehicle mode to let the automated system determine when electric power is used. This is where driver engagement comes into play as a light footed driving style is instantly rewarded by EV power; the challenge is to maintain it for as long as road conditions allow. Helpfully the car assesses your driving style with percentage ratings for economical, normal and aggressive behaviour. We’re currently achieving 85% for economical.

Our 26 mile daily urban commute has proved an ideal test for the car’s EV capability providing sufficient opportunities to harvest kinetic energy through light throttle work, powering-off when descending hills and, of course, braking.

Once you’ve worked out the self-sufficiency prowess of the car and the fuel economy potential then PHEV motoring becomes a satisfying challenge. However, dealers have a critical role in explaining this during the sales process and at the handover.

Click here to see Month 1.