It’s
been a long time since we’ve done a Tech Inside. Perhaps this is the start of
the beginning of more of these to come for our PhoneDog readers and viewers. I
like to drive many vehicles, regardless of the attributes of the vehicle
itself. If it has two wheels or four and a company wants to let me drive it, I’m
in. So when KIA asked me to drive
their 2014 KIA Soul, I said,
“Why the hell not?”
Every
single time I think about the KIA
Soul, I'm reminded of the cute little hamsters in their commercials. I think of
Maroon 5 and hip-hop. It’s weird, I know. Anyway, I woke up one cold December
day, looked outside on my driveway, and there it was: a bright red 2014 KIA Soul. I thought to myself,
"Oh boy." It was going to be an interesting seven days.
The
year 2014 was an interesting model year for the Soul because it was the
redesign year for the vehicle. It gained larger tail lights, a revised front
facia, and the car's body grew larger. I thought it looked good.
The KIA Soul was never really my
cup of tea. I love fast driving performance vehicles, so this Soul is a little
out of my comfort zone. It has a 1.5L four cylinder engine pumping out 130
horsepower. It has even less in torque figures: only 118 foot-punds. Its price
tag makes up for that, though, coming in at under $20,000. You can get a Soul
for around $16,500 with plenty of options to make the vehicle much more
comfortable.
So then
I opened the door and looked at the interior. Man, oh man is this thing loaded.
In recent years, KIA
has stepped up its game. It's no longer a company plagued by its past of
unreliable vehicles with crap interiors. It's are known for a few things now,
one being spec’d out interiors. More on the others later. The Sould I drove was
running Microsoft Sync on the dash, had Bluetooth streaming, satellite radio,
HD radio, the whole nine yards. It had more options standard than any BMW,
Mercedes-Benz, or Audi has on their lists. It even had heated seats, which were
going to be my best friends on those cold December nights.
The
tech inside (just used the name of our series, ha!) of the KIA Soul was
amazing. I was in disbelief. Usually, cars sent for reviews are maxed out in
options list. Sometimes these options make these vehicles we drive fairly
expensive. However, this Soul didn't follow the same path. It had options, but
they weren’t expensive!
Using
the technology in the KIA
Soul was a pretty standard experience. I was not "wowed" by the tech;
I mean, we’ve seen this interface on previous KIAs. It’s a quick, responsive
system that's easy to use. It’s primarily a touch-based system, which is both
good and bad these days. If this were 2008, I would say touch is 10 times
better than any of those iDrive or "Kommand" systems found on the
German executive vehicles, but touchscreen inputs can prove to be a bit
finicky, especially while driving. It’s best if you input everything you need
before you set off.
The
media options inside the KIA
Soul were also very impressive. I’m a proud supporter of independent music
applications such as Spotify and I require Bluetooth streaming support in any
vehicle I drive. Thankfully, the KIA Soul gave me
just that. Setup was a breeze and the audio quality was impressive. I had
upgraded speakers in my tester and they sounded great. There was even some mood
lighting around the speakers. Also included are Sirius XM radio and HD radio,
if you like that sort of stuff.
Now
it’s on to the driving. The little 1.5L four-banger was fine. Don’t expect
blistering acceleration runs and fast slalom times; this is a front wheel
drive, under-powered city hopper. The plus side to this is miles per gallon,
which I got plenty in my week of driving. With my lead foot, I managed more
than 25 MPG. If I gave the KIA
Soul to my mother (bless her heart), she could probably swing those numbers
into the high 20s or even low 30s, as advertised by KIA. The engine noise is
well muted. The cabin offers plenty of luxury features for the low price of
entry. There is wind noise, though, mainly from the boxy shape of the thing.
It's nothing extreme, but you should know that it's there.
My
seven days of driving the Soul were pretty nice. I didn’t need to fill up the
whole week and I managed a little more than 400 miles to the tank. I enjoyed
the tech, the comfort, and the heated seats...I loved the heated seats.
So
should you buy a KIA Soul? Honestly, if you want a city-hopper that has funk
and a low price, why not? It’s a funky car for sure, and while its style may
not be for everyone, KIAs are so good these days. The only thing some may
consider to be is "bad" is the company's name, but that's not really
a true negative. KIA has a 10 year/100,000 mile warranty on Soul's power train,
which is literally the best in the business. I don’t understand why people
complain about KIA cars anymore. They're fine machines and the Soul is one
really does have a soul.
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