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Kia Soul
The Korean Diesel showroom car will soon be replaced by the real, for sale, goods.
Frankly, if my Malibu Maxx died, this would be on my short list. I like it a lot better than the xB. The dealer told me it got 31 mpg on the road (haven't checked on the web page), that's pretty good--- of course it's built on a modified Rio platform.
Frankly, if my Malibu Maxx died, this would be on my short list. I like it a lot better than the xB. The dealer told me it got 31 mpg on the road (haven't checked on the web page), that's pretty good--- of course it's built on a modified Rio platform.
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The Kia Soul is a rig that Kia Motors has designed that gives off a unique, funky vibe. It is preferable over the Scion xB, I agree. And 31 mpg for the Soul, too, yes, it has a light platform, like the Rio.
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
I am partial to the Kia color Tomato Red for the new Soul. Those rims don't look bad, either. This car rides on a modified Kia Rio platform, remember, and can be had with pulsating red lights on the edges of it's speakers inside. I'd want that option for sure.
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
The '01 Sportage 4X4 would've fit out bill perfectly. This new Kia Soul is a great looking rig and I bet it's built well too. Priced very competitively, too, should do well for Kia Motors.
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
Back to the Cube. How can a car company be so cubeless, er clueless? These are 2009 models but coming to market when the year is nearly half over? You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know they should be 2010s. No sunroof either that I could find. (Shakes head from side to side and exits).
Drove around with a developer in an xB this week. Hate the look of the vehicle (liked the first generation) but would probably agree with Motor Trend that it's a very agreeable car at least in my short ride. Seems almost a class larger than the Soul, at least in the engine department.
Will have to drive the Soul in the next month or two. Have great luck with our Optima. No troubles what so ever in 2+ years, although it's my wife's car and she doesn't drive that much. The Soul's front seats seem roomier than the Optima in the few seconds I sat in the Korean car.
If my Maxx gave it up, both the Cube and Soul would be on my short list, although buying an 09 Cube at this time of year would strain my common sense unless they come out of the chutes with huge discounts.
Kia makes nice driving cars for people that love cars. Scion falls closer to that mark, though not on the same par as Kia. Nissan is way back there floundering around, wondering what's going on with the big boys.
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
I can't judge our local dealer because we have had no problems with our Optima in 2.5 years-- it hasn't been back to the dealer. Wasn't that crazy about Hyundai dealer with my 01 Elantra, although I had no real problems-- just some money grubbing behavior in the service department and sleezy (increasingly) sales practices. I think Kia needs to spend some more time improving their dealer network. Any thoughts to taking the car to another dealer?
I don't read the Sedona boards but are there electrical complaints that match yours? Love my Malibu Maxx but lots of people have had electrical steering component failures so that when mine failed I had no problems figuring out what it was.
I'd have to drive 25 miles to another dealer, so I'm not ready to do that. I own two cars, so I'm just driving my Rabbit while the Kia in is the shop.
At this point, I'm halfway to meeting BOTH of either of the requirements of the California lemon law (4 attempts to repair same problem, 30 days in shop within 18 months) within 5 weeks of purchasing the car, and I have a friend who's an attorney who will handle it for free for me if it comes to that. So I'm actually not pushing them to finish the repair. As the clock ticks away, my chances of recovering very close to my full purchase price (because there are so few miles on the van) increase.
The dealer has a great reputation. I live in a smallish town (50K) and many of my neighbors have purchased from them. I haven't heard any complaints about them at all. They've been most understanding. They just can't seem to fix it in a timely manner.
I will post on the Sedona board.
Best regards, joey
Sort of the Kia Soul version of the Mini-Cooper. That white stripe looks great off center just a tad. This is the Kia Soul I would go after.
Do ya like the white wheels offsetting off the grey and that white stripe?
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
The only thing is resale value.
I can tell you after owning two Kia's bought new, one a 1999 Kia Sephia sedan and the other a 2001 Kia Sportage 4X4, they are well-built vehicles. Kia is improving on initial quality, too.
The 10 year and 100,000 mile Long-Haul Warranty can't be beat for taking care of you in the long run, either.
Only buy a Kia if you love the body style and love what they offer in the car and you'll be fine. Don't have the plan of trading in in a few years, though, because the depreciation will kill you. But if you see something you love in a Kia and really want that particular car, you will go right by buying a new Kia.
I'm in a Mitsubishi right now because I fell in love with the 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer GTS. Otherwise I'd have bought a 2010 Kia Forte sedan. Problem is, the 2010 Kia Forte sedan came out 2 years after I was ready to buy.
Having said that, I love my '08 Lancer GTS, and have no buyers' remorse whatsoever. I am sold on the Mitsubishi product and now will probably stay in the Mitsubishi family of automobiles from now on.
But don't let what people have said about Kia turn you off to them. They make a fine car.
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
First of all, though, I have to say that there is one negative--the car I drove had less than 30 miles on it, and some of the plastic surfaces were already showing marks from careless feet, hands, etc. So the quality of the interior bits does raise some concerns.
In the cabin, the seats are easy enough to adjust. They're firm, more Honda than Toyota in feel. They seem well made, but I don't really know how they'd feel after three or four hours on the road. One minor weirdness--the salesman tells me the word "soul" on the seatbacks is made to glow in the dark. I don't know--maybe they're going after a younger buyer than me with that one. I was surprised, and a little disappointed, that the cargo area floor seems very high. The car seems a good bit taller than a Fit, but the cargo area doesn't reflect that. With the seats up, there's not much cargo space--with them down, I'd say subjectively it seems about as roomy as the Fit, maybe slightly wider, but I'm a little disappointed with the space utilization. I can't say the same for the front cabin area--it's very wide and spacious, much more so than the Fit, and there didn't seem to be a lot of wasted space.
Now, on to the drive. The salesman was inexperienced, because the dealership has only had the Kia franchise for about three weeks (used to be a Saturn dealer, and they're still redecorating the building to suit). But I had very little difficulty figuring out the controls. Everything was right where it should be, and worked exactly as expected. Having made a few quick adjustments (seat, wheel, mirrors) without being told where to find the controls, I was on the road.
First impression I noticed is the car's "handshake"--how the wheel, pedals, and shifter feel to the touch. In this case, I found the car very easy to get to know. Several published reports complain about the shift linkage being difficult to master. I think it's because the gate for first is so close to the gate for third. Fifth, on the other hand, is pretty much in the glovebox. So I guess it would be easy to miss first and grab third by mistake. I made that mistake once during the drive, but soon figured out that it's easy to compensate. The reverse lockout is pretty strong--there's no way you'd accidentally hit reverse instead of first. So just go hard left and you're in first, just like that. The shifter effort is very light. The throws don't seem unnaturally long, the way they did in early Accents, but it's definitely not as tight and sporty a gearbox as you find in a Fit. But it's better than either the Corolla or the Civic gearbox. The clutch takeup is light and smooth, and the throttle tip-in is very linear. I could teach my 73 year old mother to drive stick on this thing in about five minutes.
On the road, the car is noticeably more powerful, quieter, and less manic than the Fit. It doesn't feel quite as sure-footed, but that might just be because I'm more accustomed to the feel of Honda steering, and because I'm used to sitting a lot closer to the ground in our '99 Civic. The Fit's a blast to drive, and it's brilliantly packaged and nicely made, but for the daily slog, or for any sort of longer trip, I'm pretty sure the Soul would be more pleasant, comfortable, livable, etc. But would I still be in love five years down the road?
I'm still undecided as to which of the two I would buy. I am pretty sure, though, that I like both of them more than anything else I have looked at.
So we bought a Fit Sport instead. The Fit doesn't have quite as much hip and shoulder room, and lacks Bluetooth, but it compensates with somewhat sportier handling and feel, sitting a bit closer to earth, and it rides better than the Soul with 18" wheels--if not quite as smooth as the Soul+ with 16s. And the Fit Sport split the difference in price between the unavailable + and the unpleasantly harsh !.
I would've been happy with either the + or the Fit Sport. They both have their pluses and minuses. I'm a four-time Honda buyer (the Fit makes five), so I was expecting there to be a noticeable difference in the build quality. But if there is an edge in fit and finish, it belongs to the Kia. It seems more "finished" inside and less likely to rattle.
So congrats on your new Soul. Anyone who thinks it's not competitive with the best in its price range just hasn't looked closely.
"Kia Canada is pleased to announce that due to the overwhelmingly positive response regarding the 2010MY Soul Special Edition, this vehicle will now become a regular addition to the Kia line-up, badged as the Soul 4u SX.
The Soul 4u SX adds the following features to the Soul 2.0L 4u:
- body kit (body coloured)
- sport spoiler (body coloured)
- headlamp eyeliner (glossy)
- PIAA H4 Xtreme White Plus Bulbs
- LED side repeater
- high gloss tusk bumper
- 18" black machine-finished wheels
- sporty metal pedals
- centre console armrest
- rear view camera
- SX badge
MSRP base price - $21,895, with std 5 spd manual or available automatic. Only available in three colours: Onyx (pearl) +$200, Polar or Molten (n/c).
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
I had a suzuki many years ago, sidekick, and it was very reliable and versitile. Haven't had experience with Kia, but the rep is growing..seems like the Hyundia when they entered the market.
ANYWAYS, I'm torn between the 2, and they both come out to the same price range and options...any suggestions? :confuse:
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
Suggestions?
- The Soul has two engines (1.6L and 2.0L). The Elantra has the 2.0L. Where does the 1.6L engine come from? Are the chassis from the 1.6 and 2.0 the same? What about the 1.6L manual transmission? (Guess which model I'm looking at
- I've read about paint chipping/rusting problems. How widespread are these?
- I've also read several complaints about the Kia timing belts breaking and damaging the engine. Is this a prevalent issue?
- Do Kia's go 200K+?
The platform for all Soul models is supposedly a widened version of the Rio, though I don't know how thoroughly modified it is--I do know that the Soul has much better crash test ratings than the Rio. I think the suspension calibrations are the same for both the 1.6 and 2.0, though the wheels and tires are different--so there would be some difference in ride & handling. I've heard about some of the paint problems as well as a few issues with easily damaged interior surfaces on early production models--not sure if they're still there.
Kia's quality has improved by leaps and bounds over the last few years, as has Hyundai's. Whether any particular car will go 200k is highly dependent on how well it's maintained, but Kia built the very inexpensive (and frequently neglected) Ford Festiva and Aspire for the US market in the '80s and early '90s, and there are still some of them on the road.
Soul+:
smoother and quieter ride
more hiproom and shoulder room
nicer interior quality
much better equipped (better stereo, bluetooth, etc.)
Fit Sport:
better handling (more agile)
more versatile cargo area
no timing belt replacement
better resale value due to the Honda name
Like I said, I bought the Fit, but the Soul is a very nice vehicle. I posted my review of the Soul+ here and my reasons for purchasing the Fit instead here.