Kia Soul

conwelpic

I have some details on the 2014 Canadian Soul, so if anyone is interested just post your question.

yyq

DETROIT -- Six of 12 small cars performed well in front-end crash tests conducted by an insurance industry group, but some popular models fared poorly in the safety evaluations.
Only the two-door and four-door Honda Civic models earned the top rating of "good" in the tests done by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The Dodge Dart, Ford Focus, Hyundai Elantra and the 2014 Scion tC got "acceptable" ratings.
But popular models such as the Chevrolet Cruze and Sonic and the Volkswagen Beetle got "marginal" ratings, while the Nissan Sentra and the Kia Soul and 2014 Kia Forte each were rated "poor."

conwelpic

just set up on their website, some detail info on the new Soul, but no MSRP yet

http://www.kia.com/us/en/vehicle/soul/2014/experience?story=hello

conwelpic

Base MT - $14,700 (2013 $14,400)
Base AT - $16,700 ($16,200)
Plus AT - $18,200 ($17,700)
Exclaim AT - $20,300 ($19,900)

conwelpic

I have full details on the 2014 Canadian Soul, any specific questions, just post.

ksmo

I see conflicting or vague information on this so hopefully someone can clear it up for me.

For 2014, can you get a stick shift in the + model, and if so does the stick shift plus come with cruise control? In other words, can you get a manual transmission Soul with factory cruise in 2014?

Thank you.

conwelpic

simply answer - no, it was dropped for 2014 due to low demand (about 1%) Check out this site
http://www.kia.com/us/en/vehicle/soul/2014/experience?story=hello

bricknord

Ok, thank you. Probably rules it out for me, then. Appreciate it.

conwelpic

your welcome, maybe as an alternative the all new 2014 Forte 5, will have MT in their new SX turbo version. Full details, except pricing is available here

http://www.kiamedia.com/us/en/models/forte5/2014/features

Did you know you can manual shift the 6-speed auto in the Soul?

bricknord

Cool, was not aware of the turbo manual Forte 5 for '14. I will check it out.

jaszi

Ok, I went from a 2006 Hyundai Azera Ltd (used) to a new 2012 Kia Soul ! in 2012. I didn't think I'd run into any problems with a brand new car, so I took out a 3 year lease. I'm 18 months into my lease and now I'm starting to have some odd problems, with the car either accelerating or deccelerating on it's own. I tend to stay away from highways when this seems to be happening. I am now going to be taking it to the dealership tomorrow for the 3rd time. First time, they reset the adaptive learned settings and 2nd time they put in some more transmission fluid. Tonight, it decided it was going to hold it's breath while I was driving and then the check engine light ( or whatever they are now calling it) came on. Has anyone obtained a successful resolution to this problem? I saw at least 3 complaints on the NHTSA site (only thru 9-30-13 due to gov't shutdown). But can't tell if anyone got it safely fixed.

rcooley

I bought my new Kia Soul 4 months ago and I absolutely love it!

PF_Flyer

@rcooley said:
I bought my new Kia Soul 4 months ago and I absolutely love it!

What's your favorite feature of the Soul? I see a fair number of them on the roads here in PA

wheels29

Has the hood on the Kia Soul changed since 2013? My sister has a 2013, and while I like it, it annoys me slightly that i can only see a small amount of the hood from the driver's seat. I sat in a 2015 Soul at the dealership today, and it seemed to me more of the hood was visible. But perhaps the seat was just up higher than my sister's. I know the Soul received some styling changes in 2014 so I wonder if perhaps the view is hood view is slightly different on the newer models. I came to age in the 70s and all the cars then had nice long hoods. I really love seeing the hood!

PF_Flyer

wheels29 said:

. I sat in a 2015 Soul at the dealership today, and it seemed to me more of the hood was visible.

Maybe you just got taller

stever

2016 Kia Soul + quick review.

We tested a Soul Plus with Primo package (panoramic sunroof) today. I really like the boxy shape of the Soul; my wife likes it okay. Our tester had ventilated seats. I sat in a Plus a few months back in shorts and the ventilated seats felt great. Today with my jeans on I couldn't feel much cooling. My wife was in shorts and she felt the cooling. Otherwise the AC kept up very well (it was 95° F out).

Our tester still had the plastic wheel protectors and white "paper" on the roof and hood, and had not been cleaned up - looked like it just rolled off the transport truck an hour before. So we were a bit limited in our test drive; had to keep to the surface streets and keep the speed down.

The Soul continues to be funky, in a good way. I like funky. The seats felt comfy and the hatch is roomy, with ~61 cubes available. That's a plus for us.

Kia has some fun exterior colors, including some two-tone paints this year (red roof on your white Soul, anyone?). We were in a boring silver model. Unfortunately, Kia doesn't seem to offer a nice Boise State turf blue color like a lot of others do, so we'd go with the white. The blue they do have is practically black and that's a deal killer for me in a temperate climate, much less in the high desert here in Las Cruces.

The interior was two-toned and it was nice to test something with some variety for a change. Most of the competition seems to have plain black interiors. In the Exclaim, it looks like you are stuck with black leather unless you go for the Umber package and get the tannish leather.

The controls, backup cam and radio buttons, cruise, etc. all seemed ergonomic enough. I'd like the safety extras, and they are only available on the Exclaim. I'd also like stop/start but that's still only available on the base models.

Kind of a cursory test today. Mostly it reaffirmed my liking for this vehicle in spite of some faults. Last year there was no roof rack available with the panoramic roof. Edmunds shows crossbars on the Umbre with the pano, but I'm not sure I believe it. There's no spare tire, iirc there may be an optional one you can buy as an accessory (we tend to get a lot of flats). But everything is a compromise.