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The Kia Soul Review

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The Second Generation Kia Soul, bigger and better, fresher and funkier.

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Watch the short video of the car in action

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I’m a big fan of the Kia Soul developed in Kia’s sunny Southern California Design Center.

The Soul with its unique style brings a real personality and now the car has a new more polished SUV style chunky look.

Along with its cutting edge features and tech it makes a good package for the small family. Easy to drive and stylish throughout the car is a step forward on the old model from 2010. It now is built on a slightly larger size floor pan, based on a Kia c’eed. Space abounds and the new car is a very roomy five seater with a good boot size.

On the road the ride is very good, comfortable light and easy to drive. Of particular note are the clear concise instrumentation and a well done to Kia, typography across all the instruments nearly matches, the colour and legibility of the Kia font is very good and all the functions available are at hand and easy to find. Kia’s range which I have been driving recently, now have an exciting style, smart well built and consistent. The whole range has been updated to the new look with more to come. The success of the attractive Sportage in the UK can only now be followed by this slightly smaller Soul.

There are five models in the range Start, Connect, Connect Plus, Mix and Maxx The last two variants are the high end models that have just hit the dealers.

On the road you have a the choice of two engines the 1.6 litre petrol or the 1.6 litre diesel. The diesel would be my preference due to better mpg and the torquey diesel makes it an altogether better drive.

Being slightly higher on the road, visibility is very good and the oversize windscreen make it light and bright inside. The option of a panoramic sunroof is only available on the top models.

Driving the Kia Soul there is little body roll due to better rigidity in the overall structure, 29% up on the last model. The ride is supple but good in the corners, although, we aren’t talking sporty here. One Kia feature I quite like is the flex steer system, by pressing a button on the steering wheel you can change the weighting of the steering to a more sporty mode or a comfort mode when around town.

Inside the car the SOUL ‘start’ model it is a little basic, but the more luxury models are equipped with some great features. Exciting looking, bold fresh and clean in appearance. Check out the mood colour changing speakers in the front doors these are available in the models equipped with the Harmon Kardon Sound System. The eight inch screen in the centre console is the control for the whole car, easy to operate, the satvav is clear and easy and worked well. Sound is very good, well insulated and the feeling is of a robust lasting family car.

The SOUL has a choice of transmission although the automatic is only available in the Connect Plus model upwards. The car I preferred had the manual six speed which was slick and easy to use.

As we all know by now, Kia has a very acceptable seven year warranty combined with a very solid track record.  On emissions,  there is not a real low CO2 model in the range. CO2 on the diesel model is 170 g/km and on the petrol is 132 g/km still on the high side, Kia claims the cost of the car outweighs the development cost needed to improve it at this stage.

However the exciting Kia SOUL Plug in is coming along very soon with a range of 180 miles. If your driving needs are right it may be worth a look, bringing zero emissions.

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Specs of models driven

Kia Soul 1.6 GDi
Engine: 1.6-litre petrol Euro V
On the Road Price: £12,600 – £19,350 (Soul Maxx)
Power: 130bhp @ 6300rpm
Torque: 119lb ft @ 4850rpm
0-60mph: 10.6 seconds
Top speed: 115mph
Fuel economy urban/x-urban/commuting: 33.2/48.7/41.5mpg
CO2 emissions: 158g/km
Boot Capacity: 354/1367 litres

Based on 16″and 17″ wheels.

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Kia Soul 1.6 CRDi
Engine: 1.6-litre Common Rail Diesel, Euro V, DPF
On the Road Price: £15,400 – £20,250 (Soul Maxx)
Power: 126bhp @ 4000rpm
Torque: 192lb ft @ 1900rpm – 2750rpm
0-60mph: 10.8 seconds manual / 11.7 seconds auto
Top speed: 112mph manual / 110mph auto
Fuel economy urban/x-urban/commuting: 46.3/64.2/56.5mpg manual / 37.7/54.3/47.1mpg auto
CO2 emissions: 132g/km manual / 158g/km auto
Boot Capacity: 354/1367 litres

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The Kia Soul Around the World on Pinterest

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