Futureshite: Kia Soul

[Pillock]

Had the pleasure of a drive in one of these today. For the uninitiated (not that I can understand how the launch of this car could have passed you by), it's this:

 

 

Now I quite like the look from the outside. Enough to wander over at AvailableCar and take a peek inside. And chuff me if it isn't actually quite nice quality inside, everything seems quite well screwed together and it's a far cry from rebadged Mazdas and shonky flimsy crap. Indeed, the plastic quality seems to exceed VAG of the same era, and as everyone knows VAG is the last word in "quality". (Yes, I know the last word in "quality" is actually "quality" but let it go)

 

About half an hour later I found myself driving the thing purely on the power of the quirky looks. Oh my, what a disappointment.... for a 1.6 16v petrol model it shifted like a slug through the salt flats. I honestly thought that there was a fault on it, the flat spot started at 850rpm and went up to the redline. I'd peg it as bordering on dangerous, perhaps during all this quality redesign they're still using engines from the mid 80s?

 

It also seems to have targeted a market who will be impressed by - I kid you not - 4-way adjustable flashing lights inside the speaker pods. There was a massive control on the dashboard to choose "on", "mood", "music" and then set the brightness of the red lights down by your feet. This control was given more space than the headlight switch FFS. Oh and the initial impression was let down by a complete lack of equipment - no trip computer, no cruise, rubbish stereo....

 

The most telling thing was that it was a 59 plate car and had already lost nearly a third of the selling price of £12k. So to recap - depreciation, rarity and incapability to perform the basic tasks it's meant to. Futureshite ahoy.

[willswitchengage]

Curb weight: 2,945 lb

 

So, that's like an old Ford Focus with two fat friends in the back. It's fine though as it'll be really, really safe.

 

This sort of pseudo-novelty styling seems all the rage right now, although I'm ashamed to say I do quite like the new Nissan Juke

[Shep Shepherd]

I saw a Soul at Tesco in Lakeside the other day. Unlike many current cars, I found it to be quite inoffensive.

[CreepingJesus]

One passed us the other day, prompting Kay to ask; "Neil, what the fuck was that red thing?"

I said to her at the time, that I think it's Kia trying to do something willfully different. She reckons she'd still have a Nissan Cube.

[Albert Ross]

I wonder if they do a fast version called the "R Soul"?

[Negative Creep]

When I saw the photos I assumed it would be Polo/Fiesta size - instead it's bloody huge! As moderns go I don't mind it, plus they do come in beige

[retrogeezer]

although I'm ashamed to say I do quite like the new Nissan Juke

 

Get your coat and shut the door behind you on the way out!

[Spiny Norman]

I quite like these too, but it really needs to be beige for the full-fat Autoshite experience, surely?

 

[Father Ted]

I like it.

But then again, I also like....

[Albert Ross]

I quite like these too, but it really needs to be beige for the full-fat Autoshite experience, surely?

 

 

It looks like a block of lard with windows.

[Lufthansa-Terminal]

http://www.whatcar.com/car-reviews/kia/ ... y/25838-5/

 

The ride, handling and refinement are poor, and the Soul isn’t cheap enough to be a budget alternative. Compared with other small hatchbacks, it’s not particularly cheap to run, either. A few strong points, but overall, the Soul isn’t a great car – poor to drive and not cheap enough to own

[Guest]

A family member has one of these, in black with a silver racing stripe. It has 18" wheels.

 

It's fucking horrible. The interior's a load of shit and it has shit leather seats.

[vulgalour]

Never mind all the flaws, with those looks, the colour range and gadgets for the ADD generation, I believe Fry said it best:

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

It just boggles the mind how people can pay crazy money to buy stuff that wouldn't have cut the mustard 15 years ago.

[eddyramrod]

I do quite like the new Nissan Juke

 

I suppose someone has to. I see a grey Juke every day when my neighbour-across-the-road's daughter arrives. It's ugly enough in daylight, but at night it has so many forward lights it looks like a moving oil refinery! Horrible. Neighbour's daughter isn't though...

 

Kia weighs how much?????

[scaryoldcortina]

The biggest problem with modern cars is the kerb weight. I am regularly horrified (during a MoT test) how stupidly heavy modern cars are.

 

Also, Con and I have decided the nissan juke (especially in white) looks a lot like an imperial stormtrooper.

[Cavcraft]

Talking of Kia

 

 

[Tayne]

I had this as a hire car in chile.

 

The Copper Crusader by Tayne, on Flickr

 

When I picked it up I thought it was a 1200cc motor, this was partially cured by putting better petrol in and driving back down to sea level.

It didn't feel planted on twisty coastal roads, something I put down to the high profile tyres. They were handy in the desert and I suspected that UK market cars with rubber band tyres would handle better back here.

The interior didn't strike me as being particularly poor apart from the ipod connection (it couldn't) and the air con which didn't want to make the car cold.

 

I've never driven one in the UK.

[Pillock]

I have to say that at secondhand prices they're not bad value, but the one we drove was supposedly putting out 126BHP - felt so much slower but the kerbweight explains that. Certainly less gutsy than the Mondeo (115bhp) I had, and that was a pretty lardy wallowmobile. I can only liken it to when the floormats ruffle up behind the accelerator and you're only getting half travel - in fact I even checked they weren't!

 

They are roomy inside, one of the reasons we drove it was that Cat is looking for a new family car, we'd gone to look at Fiesta Titaniums that she's previously borrowed. Trouble is the kids keep flippin' growing so if I was to ever drive it, it sort of reduces it to a three seater and they're really claustrophobic in the back too. So we ended up looking at dafter stuff like the Soul - and blow me, you could easily get four adults in, five if they were OK with each other's company. Nice and airy too. But performance, equipment levels and a few of the trim bits let it down (although as I say, a million miles better than I expected). I also worried about resale values, given that a 59 plate Soul was only £300 cheaper than a '58 Touran, in five years the Touran will be worth twice the Kia.

 

Styling wise, not at all hard to get on with in my opinion. Certainly the square profile is a nice change from the swoopy lines that cut out so much interior room (see Firsta, above) and I could have quite easily worn a top hat in the rear, if I wanted to. A little bit chunky but not in a gaylord Rover Streetwise way.

 

As it happens, we tested it back-to-back with a TDI Touran, and the VW won hands down. Apart from, annoyingly, plastic quality inside!