Korean car maker Kia has released a new vehicle to join the growing competition of high mileage cars. The Soul is an odd looking small car designed to compete in the cool micro car category against other high mileage cars such as the Fiat 500.
Kia have historically given us quite uninspiring offerings that gave us a lot of value but generated little excitement in us. The car maker is making an attempt this year to make its image cooler. The Cerato released earlier in the year suggested this and the new Kia Soul continues the trend.
The Soul is a radical looking car, however this kind of styling has been around for a while in some Asian local markets (most notably Japan). This high mileage car has a very boxy design, wrap around glass and SUV elements. Its styling is bold and Kia hopes young people will like it. Its looks can be customised, in a similar way to the Mini, with lots of paint, chrome and plastic exterior options as well as adhesive graphics. Kia thinks customers will check out the colours and accessories before the price tag.
The Kia is powered by a 1.6 litre 4 cylinder petrol engine, producing 91 kW. It is combined with either a 5 speed manual or automatic gearbox. The 5 speed manual version of the car returns a fuel mileage of 6.5 l/100km and CO2 emissions of 154 g/km. This gas mileage is pretty high. One of the Soul's big competitors will be the Fiat 500, another of the cool looking high mileage cars. The 500 has similar mileage figures of 6.3 l/100km and 149 g/km. The auto Soul is slightly less fuel efficient with at 7 l/100km and 167 g/km of CO2.
The Kia Souls engine feels quite sprightly around town thanks largely to short gearing. The flipside of short gearing is clear at freeway cruising speeds though where the engine is noisy and revs hard. You need to take it easy on the freeway to get high mileage from this car. The brakes feel ok but the manual gearbox is a disappointment. It has vague shifts and is combined with an imprecise clutch.
Body roll is controlled pretty well around corners. This could easily have been a bad point considering the car is so tall but Kia have done a good job to control it. Overall handling is only average though - the Kia Soul has vague steering and rough, noisy suspension.
Three models of the Soul are available. The base model is simply named Soul and the mid and upper models are called Soul2 and Soul3 respectively. The base model, importantly for its target market, has USB and iPod connectivity. Other standard features are limited to air conditioning and electric windows. The base model is pretty basic but its also very cheap. The two models above it have more extensive features and are the most customisable. Options such as a sunroof, better audio and rear view camera are only available on the Soul2 and Soul3. The default trim offered on all models is black and different trim colours are only available on the Soul3.
The interior of this high mileage car looks quite conventional considering the cars unconventional exterior looks. The cabin also contains a lot of cheap looking plastic and its design doesn't appear to be very well thought out. That said, interior space for passengers is excellent thanks to the cars tall box design. Rear passengers have both good leg room and good head room for such a small car. The trunk is quite small but theres good luggage space with the rear seat folded down.
This is a safe vehicle considering its size. It has a 5 star NCAP rating and 6 airbags - fronts, sides and curtains. Stability control is optional but isn't available on the base model. Anti lock brakes are standard.
Looks wise this high mileage car is a good attempt by Kia to revive its mundane image but the car is let down by its mechanics and handling on the road. Also, considering the target market its surprising that the base model isn't very customisable. Kia got some things right - the large interior space is great and the cars modern looks will appeal to some. There are better high mileage cars out there though.