It never fails; the minute you buy a new car, you find another one you wished you’d consider.
Such is the case with the 2010 Kia Soul, a four-door hatchback/wagon that’s bound to make an impact even in this crowded market.
I had just purchased one of the much-ballyhooed energy-efficient, attractively priced, feature-packed compacts out there and I met the Soul and fell in love.
Even though I can’t buy a Soul right now doesn’t mean I want you to miss out. As someone who has driven plenty of the newest cars out there, I can honestly say the Soul is one of the best buys out there with prices starting at just more than $13,000.
Poke around a bit about and you’ll easily find out that the Soul is gas friendly. Although the Environmental Protection Agency hasn’t yet tested the car, Kia expects the base model to be rated at 26 mpg city/31 mpg highway. Not too shabby when you consider the car, which earned the “Grooviest Interior” award from Ward’s AutoWorld, has great looks, extra safety features and plenty of pep from a 1.6-liter, four-cylinder engine.
The downside of this car just might be the exterior, which is boxy with a rounded nose. Some reviewers likened it to a “clown car.”
All I can say is that buyers will get the last laugh because this car — which really is more attractive than many in its class — gives them more than their money’s worth.
With design elements influenced by the car’s excellent audio system, Soul has an uncluttered dashboard with a three-dial instrument cluster, liquid crystal display illumination and floating center stack design that provides access to the AM/FM/CD/MP3 audio system outfitted with Sirius satellite radio capabilities. Of course there are also USB and auxiliary input jacks in the center console with full iPod and MP3 controllability through the steering wheel as well as the unit.
Younger drivers will especially love what Kia called the “funky black cloth seats” which have either “glowing” Soul logo inserts, houndstooth-patterned inserts or red-black interior trim with red-trimmed cloth seats and metal-finish interior accents. The model I drove had an upgraded audio package that included speaker lights that pulse to the beat of the music or simply add mood lighting to the interior cabin.
The more I drove this car, the more I found to love including solar glass, a tilt steering column, external temperature display and digital clock in the radio, dual-level glove box, and more.
The car also offers plenty of great leg- and headroom for passengers, which is unusual. Usually smaller cars that give drivers plenty of options squeeze passengers in like sardines. Not so with the Soul, which even boasts 60/40 split seat backs that take the cargo room up to 53.4 cubic feet.
I had a test model with automatic transmission and shifting was excellent — there was none of the sluggish pull so many smaller cars exhibit.
Take a page from the engine’s playbook; don’t hesitate. If you’re in the market for a new car, put the Soul on your short list.
