2010 Kia Soul - The Urban Wagon

2009 Kia Soul 4u

2.0L 4 cylinder with 4 speed automatic transmission

Mint with Charcoal Soul Cloth

The comprehensive photo gallery.

The Soul expands Kia’s product offering, its a fun car that portrays Kia as innovative, creative, with a cool factor….Kia? Yes…Kia!

Many people refer to this segment as boxes on wheels, we prefer “urban vehicle” since it maximizes the use of space for an urban application. Its surprising how versatile, spacious, useful, efficient this style of vehicle can be.

Canadians have an affinity for CUV’s and although the Soul is not AWD its looks like an AWD vehicle in a smaller size with appealing styling. It looks good, its different, its fresh, its innovative, the usual comment is “its cute”. It has a strong CUTE factor on the street.

Our tester the 4u version with 18 inch wheels, sport suspension, enhanced sound system with 8 speakers to name a few features is close to top of the line. This version has disc brakes all around contrary to some competitive offerings that only have discs in front….its serious braking power on this vehicle.

The interior is tasteful, well appointed, with good materials for the price segment, rear leg room is excellent for the size of the car. The Soul cloth ads a touch of cool. Did we say that the front passenger seat could use an armrest. The rear seat cushion is higher than the front seats, it improves leg room, and there is a wave in the headliner to uphold the headroom.

The sound system is very good, includes a sub woofer, and red mood lighting in the front door speakers, with SIRIUS satellite, CD, IPod / MP3 capability, and Bluetooth, with controls on the leather wrapped steering wheel.

The usual safety features are present, 6 Air Bags, ABS, ESC (electronic stability control), TCS (traction control), BAS (brake assist) as well as a 5 Star Euro NCAP safety rating.

We have to admit, we like “urban vehicles” they convey a message of economy, efficiency, social responsibility, and coolness (is there such a word).

Did we already mention that the Soul is mainstream cute, and fun.

How does it drive?

First impressions, you know the ones you get in the initial minutes, the controls are intuitive, huge exterior rear view mirrors, high seating position, acceptable power, good steering feel. This is a good little car!

The sport suspension with the 18 inch wheels is excellent in negotiating on or off ramps, but a little hard under normal driving. Should we mention again that the brakes are strong.

We had reservations about the 4 speed automatic, ideally a 5-6 speed would be better, in the Soul our reservations were quickly dispelled. The 2.0L with 143 HP and the 4 speed automatic with OD work well while keeping in mind that its an urban vehicle.

The Soul never lost its composure on our stretch of broken pavement, this with a torsional rear axle not a fully independent suspension…very impressive.

The specifications of the Soul.

Kia's 5 year/100,000 km warranty is comprehensive and provides exceptional peace of mind.

The Soul Dare to Compare sheet.

You can configure your own Soul and calculate a finance, or lease. The rates are competitive the 36 month lease rate is 3.9% for this month with a realistic 50% residual value.

If you are considering an "urban vehicle" we urge you to experience the Soul, and yes its from Kia.

We asked for help and participation from the Twitter community to review the Soul. Thank You for participating.

Question from @cbaccus: Compared to its direct competitors -- Scion xB and Nissan Cube -- what do you think is the strength of the Kia Soul?

The Scion xB will be in Canada in a few months, then we can compare. The market strength of the Soul in Canada is the mainstream "cute" styling which generates a wide appeal. The cute street presence! The cube has stronger styling with a more focused market appeal. The Kia warranty/peace of mind package is another strength.

Question from @lars2885: You can sell a young man's car to an old guy but not an old guy's car to a young man. Is Soul too funky for older people?

Its our opinion that "urban vehicles" transcend age, generations. Although they are marketed to a younger than older generation, perhaps on the premise that the "cool factor" erodes with age, which is not the case.

My benchmark for this class is the Fit, which Honda initially pitched to youth. Most Fit drivers I look at are not young.

The Fit is "conventional" on a smaller scale, the "urban vehicles" convey a different message, appeal to other emotions.

Too many buttons on the steering wheel?

It looks worse than it is, easy to get used to the various buttons, its part of the technology interface. Not as bad as an F1 steering wheel.