Economical Car - Kia Soul car review
The Soul is a new economical car released this year by Korean car maker Kia. It is a radical looking small car designed to compete in the cool micro car category against other economical cars such as the Fiat 500.Historically Kia have given us rather uninspiring designs that offered a lot of value but little excitement to look at. The car maker is making a definite attempt to make its image more cool this year. The Cerato released earlier in 2009 suggested this but the new Kia Soul really confirms it.
The Soul is a weird looking car. Although this kind of styling has been around for a while in some Asian local markets (most notably Japan), we're yet to see it outside of Asia. This economical car has a very boxy design, wrap around glass and off roader cues. Its styling is very bold indeed and Kia hopes it will resonate with young people. Like the Mini, its looks can be customised with plenty of paint, chrome and plastic exterior options as well as adhesive graphics. Kia claims that customers will check out the colours and accessories before the price tag.
The Kia Soul is powered by a 1.6 litre 4 cylinder petrol 'Gamma' engine. It produces 91 kW and it is combined with either a 5 speed manual or automatic gearbox. The 5 speed manual version of the car offers a fuel economy of 6.5 l/100km and CO2 emissions of 154 g/km. This fuel mileage is not too bad at all, making the Kia Soul quite an economical car to own and run. One of its big competitors will be the Fiat 500, another cool looking economical car with similar figures of 6.3 l/100km and 149 g/km. The auto Soul is slightly less fuel efficient with a gas mileage of 7 l/100km and 167 g/km of CO2.
On the road the Kia Souls engine feels quite sprightly around town largely thanks to short gearing. The downside of short gearing is clear at freeway cruising speeds though where the engine is noisy and revving hard. You'd need to take it easy on the freeway to get the best fuel consumption from this economical car. The brakes feel fine but the manual gearbox is a disappointment. It has vague shifts and is combined with an imprecise clutch.
Body roll is controlled pretty well when cornering hard. This could easily have been a let down considering the car is so tall but Kia have dealt with it well. Overall handling is only average though - the Kia Soul has vague steering and rough noisy suspension.
The Soul is available in 3 models. The base model is simply named Soul and the middle and upper models are called Soul2 and Soul3 respectively. The base model, importantly for its target market, offers USB and iPod connectivity. Other standard features include air conditioning and electric windows - the base model is fairly basic to be honest but then it is pretty cheap too. The upper two models 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. Different trim colours are only available on the Soul3, with the other models only offering a black trim.
Inside the economical Soul, the interior looks quite conventional considering the cars exterior looks. The interior also looks a bit plastic and cheap and its design doesn't appear to be that well thought out from a practical point of view. That said, interior space for passengers is excellent thanks to the cars boxy design and how tall it is. Rear passengers have both good leg room and head room for such a small car. Interestingly the boot is quite small although theres good luggage space with the rear seat folded down.
This is a safe small car. It has a 5 star NCAP rating and 6 airbags - fronts, sides and curtains. Stability control is an option but isn't available on the base model. Anti lock brakes are standard.
Overall this economical car is a good attempt by Kia to revive its boring image into a cooler one but its let down mainly by its mechanics and handling on the road. Also, considering the target market its surprising that you can't really customise the base model. Positives are definitely the large interior space (though this is let down by small boot space) and modern looks. I fear that stylish looks won't save this economical car though.
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