Kia Niro

The range is symmetrical. The conventional hybrid is a 1.6 petrol with an electric motor and 139 hp combined; the plug-in is the same configuration with a larger battery, 180 hp and around 60 to 65 km on electricity; and the fully electric car has 64.8 kWh, 204 hp and up to 460 km. They are called the same thing in both markets. The difference is not in the engine.

There is no four-wheel drive, and that is without exception. No Niro, hybrid or electric, is offered with all four wheels driven — our 1,296 cars confirm it down to the last one. If somebody offers you a Niro with all-wheel drive, they do not know what they are selling.

The charging port is the decision on the electric car and an expensive one to get wrong. American cars use CCS1; Bulgarian stations are CCS2. Slow charging at home can be solved, but fast charging at a public station on a long journey becomes a problem without expensive adapters, which often terminate the session in software. For the hybrids the question does not arise at all — there the American and European cars are practically identical in reliability.

The heat pump is the second question and it is purely a winter one. On the European top trims it is standard, while in America it is an option that cars from the southern states do not have. Without it the heating works like an immersion element and the range falls sharply through our winter. Check before buying, because it cannot be added afterwards.

Two smaller differences. The hybrid's six-speed DCT has no mechanical reverse gear — the car always reverses on electricity alone, to save weight; that is normal, not a fault. And the Aero Blade, the wide rear roof pillar with a real aerodynamic slot through it: in Europe it can be ordered in a contrasting colour on almost every trim, and in America only on the highest such as SX Touring, so most American cars leave with the pillar in body colour.