Cue the critters.
Kia's eye-catching, tall-standing Soul hatchback owes a pinch of its cutting-edge notoriety to a group of urban-inspired, animated rodents helping stoke the initial launch back in 2009.
Even after five years on the job, this horde continues eerily captivating on television, the internet and mobile devices; a guilty pleasure indeed. Don't expect sudden hibernation anytime soon from this eclectic gathering of hipster hamsters as they've been redeployed for the 2014 Soul campaign. In the U.S. Soul is Kia's second-best-selling vehicle behind the stylish and sleek Optima mid-size sedan, thanks in no small part to the oversized, Soul-full Millennial-friendly mascots.
Despite its box-like silhouette, Kia's multi-purpose Soul is a well-rounded vehicle. The South Korean automaker adds enough new enticements to qualify the 2014 entry as a second-generation effort. Gen One debuted as a 2010 model year product. Once again, front-wheel drive comes standard with no all-wheel-drive option, but its wheelbase (distance between front and rear axle) extends by nearly an inch and width-wise grows by a half-an-inch.
The Soul's diminutive size makes it a competent urban jungle warrior (although suburbanites like it too), capable of handling compact parking maneuvers with noticeably improved handling in 2014. This gets accomplished via an all-new underbody chasse that's 29-percent stiffer with reduced ride harshness thanks to new sub-frame bushings.
The front grille resembles an elongated bow tie, a design found on the front of other Kia-badged products. Tall rear tail lights now take the shape of an old-school, land-based, hand-held phone receiver each facing inward and flanking the large rear window. The previous incarnation resembled large tear drops. The tail gate, hinged at the top, lifts up from the bottom with head clearance for those five-feet eight inches and shorter; many folks need to bend a bit for noggin' clearance.
The tall stance, flat roof and square shoulders adds to wind noise dancing its way into the cabin during highway speeds, but provides decent vision and perspective for the driver, despite the exteriors rather short side windows and lengthy side panels.
A benefit of high ceilings, Soul enjoys the best of both worlds with ginormous head room and high-positioned seats. Front and leg room increase in this Gen Two edition, always welcome in subcompact-sized vehicles. Visual cues benefitting the audio system include circular speakers atop large, vertically-arranged air vents at the outside edges of the dashboard. Smallish horizontally-arranged vents in the center dash have a large, single speaker on top. Front doors get into the groove with large circular speaker frames changing color in tune with the musical base beat generated by the sound system.
Kia returns three Soul trim levels to the 2014 paddock. As with the funky rodent ad campaign, Kia deserves credit for 'not playing it safe,' with trim level designates. In addition to the base model, the mid-level Soul + (pronounced 'PLUS') and top-level Soul ! (sounds like 'EXCLAIM') return for more adventures. Since its inception, Soul has offered a goodly number of stand-alone and grouped options, more so than closely-aligned competitors in the welter weight box-car arena: Nissan's Cube and Scion's xB
Soul offers two four-cylinder engines and two transmissions. Base models come with a 1.6-liter gas-direct injected four-cylinder generating 130 horsepower. A six-speed manual comes standard while a six-speed automatic is one of the few options in this trim joining cruise control and keyless entry. Plus and Exclaim trims offer the more potent 2.0-liter gas direct injection engine generating a class-leading 164 horses. The larger 2.0-liter engine is mated exclusively to the six-speed automatic. No turbo four cylinder is available for extra punch; but both engines provide more oomph than Nissan's Cube's sole powertrain, a 1.8-liter four cylinder cranking out 122 horsepower. Scion's xB's 2.4-liter, four cylinder pumps out 158 horses.
Later in the 2014 calendar year, Kia has plans to unveil the Soul EV, its first all-electric, zero-emissions vehicle marketed outside its corporate South Korean home market. This plug-in version of the Soul is expected to travel up to 120 miles on a full charge.
Size wise, this 'all-purpose vehicle' measures in with subcompact-type dimensions. At 164 inches in length, it's some 16 inches shorter than the compact Kia Forte sedan and eight inches shorter than the subcompact Kia Rio sedan, but with its vertically-enhanced dimensions, seems bigger. While donning five doors, the flat roof is higher than a traditional four-door hatchback. By comparison, Soul is six inches longer than Nissan's Cube. Slightly flared fenders connect together via a flared character rail along the bottom side. Strap-like door handles share body color.
The Soul ! provided during the test drive included a $20,300 starting price. With a $2,600 'Sun and Sound' Package (sunroof, in-dash navigation screen) and $2,500 playfully named 'Whole Shabang' Package (leather trimmed seats, heated front and rear outboard seats, heated steering wheel, push-button start) the bottom line added quickly to $26,195, representing one of the most opulent Souls available. Both packages are exclusive to Exclaim with Sun and Sound a prerequisite to the Shabang experience.
A base 2014 Soul starts at $14,700, the lowest of the three competitive 'Box Sets.' By comparison the 2014 Nissan Cube lists at $16,760 with manual transmission while a 2013 Scion xB with manual checks in near the same neighborhood at $16,500.
Soul locates the optional, circular, illuminated push-button start left of the automatic transmission shifter. Below the optional eight-inch touch navigation screen is a series of buttons and center circular dial situated in a long, narrow format monitoring ventilation controls. A three-month satellite radio subscription is standard in all trims.
As with most subcompacts, row two is best left for two adults; unless occupants are conventional rodent sized. Backrests conveniently fold semi-flat onto cushions in 60/40 split fashion nicely opening up the cargo area capacity. With seats up, a privacy panel covers and hides items stored in the cargo area.
The base 1.6-liter engine generates 24 mpg city and 30 mpg highway with manual or automatic transmission. Our 2.0-liter tester with automatic transmission averaged 23 mpg city and 31 mpg highway, on par with the Nissan Cube and better than Scion's xB. The fuel tank holds 14.2 gallons of regular, unleaded fuel. The 2.0-liter engine can get boisterous at times especially during acceleration.
The smallish, easy-to-interpret, deep set instrument panel includes two circular analog gauges with a digital message window between. The bar-type fuel gauge is built into the lower rim of the right-side gauge. At the bottom of the center column resides a small area for portable electronic storage with nearby auxiliary, USB and dual 12-volt ports. New in all trims is 'Flex Steer,' allowing drivers to select from three suspension settings: comfort, normal and sport.
As with its South Korean parent company Hyundai, Kia gained a foot hold in the highly competitive U.S. market with entry-type, front wheel drive products not necessitating a bulky second mortgage to obtain. Both earned customer loyalty points with the 10-year/100,000-mile powertrain warranty providing peace of mind for shoppers.
2014 Kia SoulPrice as tested: $26,195
Engine: 2.0-liter four cylinder
Horsepower: 164
Fuel estimates: 23 mpg city/ 31 mpg highway
Length: 163 inches
Wheelbase: 101.2 inches
Height: 63 inches
Curb weight: 2,837 pounds
Powertrain warranty: 10 year, 100,000 miles
Assembly: South Korea.