In its main export market, Korean carmaker Kia's
Soul took off like a rocket when it was launched some five years ago.
That's because the US car buyer has a "ready for anything"
attitude, willing to take risks by defying accepted norms and they're always
ready for some visual and practical "cut-through".
As well as that, the Kia was marketed around a remarkable series of TV
and internet clips which introduced a team of animated dancing hamsters that
went straight into viewers' hearts and, of course, their pocketbooks.
The model soon became popular both as a city or second car, and also
one of the "college" cars of choice, as a model that charmed both
parents and the children they were buying it for as a safe bet as their
offspring went away to college.
The market is different in New Zealand. College cars, where they exist
here, are usually used and quite old, and most owners of new cars are as likely
to buy to impress their neighbours as they would to fulfil their real needs.
That, and an unsettled ride, along with hefty pricing - and the absence
of hamsters - probably meant that the Soul didn't do as well here as it
deserved. After all, it provided the room and ride height of a light SUV,
without actually being one, along with brisk performance, especially in diesel
form, room for four or five, and a profile you'd never miss in a car park full
of more acceptable shapes.
That latter fact was probably the big deal-breaker, so it was with much
trepidation that we took the new Soul down to the dog- park so our friends -
four and two- legged - could kick tyres and tell us what they thought.
To a person, they loved it, even in the road test car's loud Mustard
colour. They liked the space for good family accommodation and the
wipe-down load area for the dog, though our own pooch prefers a little more
side-glass for observation, truth be known, and the load lip is higher than
ideal.
The 2014 Soul looks very much like the old 2009 model, square-rigged,
with lots of straight lines and interesting colours, but with much nicer front
and rear detailing. The styling was retained, of course, because the Soul's
main markets loved it.
Things appear to have changed in the interim years, which started with
people saying "Ew, yuck!" when describing the old Soul. Now it
appears that at least dog owners and colleagues at work have warmed to the
shape and look of the car, and after talking to a few used-car dealers, I got
the impression that other vehicles of a similar shape, the Nissan Cube, Toyota
BB and Honda SMX, for instance, are also gaining favour - so maybe we've caught
up with overseas fashion. And maybe the car will sell a bit better than the
mere score that moved out of showrooms last year.
The car has changed despite the familiar shape. In fact, there's not a
repeated panel from the old car in the new Soul, and with it running on the
latest Cerato platform, wheelbase has grown to 2570mm, which helps the rear leg
room while the increased body length also means that the load area has
improved. The Soul II's corners are a little softer, and the signature Kia
Tiger grille helps to make its front end look a little friendlier, and a 41mm
lower ride height has turned this previously somewhat severe box on wheels into
something with more overall appeal, even to previously arch- conservative
friends and colleagues.
Inside, the car's improved plastics are immediately obvious, and are
far removed from the rather tacky materials used before. In the dash and
console area, circular dials and soft edges dominate, and have enough
contrasting silvers and garnishing not to allow the test car's coal- black
cabin to look dingy. We tested the top-of-the-range SX model, which swaps the
usual hard-wearing fabrics for charcoal composite leather with yellow
stitching, which creates a pretty classy driver and passenger environment,
conspiring with softer-touch vinyls to create a much more pleasant cabin
ambience than the old models.
We tried the extra people space and were pleasantly surprised. Moving
the driving seat to cope with my 1:88m body's needs, I sat in the rear directly
behind it and found that my knees didn't brush the seatback, and most sizes of
back seat occupant will relish the improved
volume. The dog area benefits from split-folding the rear seats, with a
hound-holding 994 litres available instead of the basic terrier-sized plot.
There's easy outside access to the load area, too, with a broader hatch
opening, but we'd prefer a lower load lip and deeper glass.
The new Soul
should also find more customers, thanks to its pricing, with the 95kW
entry-point EX 1.6-litre model asking about $500 less than the slightly less
well-equipped old one, at $29,990, with the higher specification SX model
stickered at $33,490, and a 110kW 2.0-litre version of that car topping out at
$35,490.
None of the cars for our market will be offered with a manual gearbox,
but instead of the previous Soul's mere four-speeder, the new car's automatic
is the same slick-shifting 6-speed unit used in the Cerato. Also missing from
the new Soul's manifest is the old car's turbo-diesel engine, and with the
recently increased road-user charges, the jury is still out in terms of
stocking the Soul with this power-unit.
The 1.6-litre car provides ample, if rather busy performance when
revved, though around town and when cruising at 100kmh it's relaxed enough and
quiet. The 2.0-litre engine is much more flexible and shifts even more smoothly
through the six-speed automatic, the good thing is that it doesn't have to work
too hard and uses only a tiny bit more fuel than the 1.6, and with its big 2.3
seconds quicker zero to 100kmh time and better tractability, the $2000
difference between the it and the smaller engined SX1.6 is worth every cent.
We'd like to see the larger engine offered as an option in the base EX.
The big differences between the EX and SX model externally are the
smaller 17in rims on the cheaper car and the 18in items on the posher version,
and the fact that you can't get "our" yellow on the EX. There's also
gloss black finish on the chin of the SX instead of the EX's body coloured
item.
Both versions handle and ride well, with the latter quality being a
stranger to the habits of the old Soul when wearing sporting rims. The LX does
ride better, but only slightly, and unlike its predecessor, it never looks
undershod.
The improvement in handling and ride stem from the much stiffer
platform derived from the newest Cerato, which means the suspension can behave
in a much more refined and mature fashion. The turn-in is crisp and accurate,
and while potholes can require the wheels to grope into their recesses, the
lack of cabin shock as a result is a far cry from the jiggling harshness of the
previous car.
The Soul II features the same Kia/Hyundai-developed
FlexSteer system used in both companies' mid-sized sedans and hatches, with
three selectable power- assistance weights, depending on your town,
town-and-around and open-road driving needs. We left the setup mostly in the
middle setting, and found that the electric system only lost its
"feel" and heft when in the town, or parking mode. Our Goldilocks or
just right-middle setting was so useful for 99 per cent of driving, it had us
wondering if FlexSteer is anything more than a gimmick, and would the car be
cheaper without it?
All three Soul offerings come with a pretty high specification. All
have air conditioning, with the two SX models fitted with automatic climate
control, while a six-speaker touch-screen stereo is also standard across the
board, along with Bluetooth hands free (the quickest in the business to set up)
Auxiliary input and USB compatibility.
All Souls come with a full suite of electronic braking, traction and
stability systems, as well as half a dozen airbags and a five-star safety
score.
The SX models add leather trim, a power driver's seat with lumbar
support, and heated front chairs, while the EX still has a leather wheelrim,
wheel-mounted cruise control and audio buttons.
The EX does without the SX models' Electrochromic rear mirror and
folding side mirrors, and has only rear parking radar compared with the front
and rear units on the higher-spec cars. However, a reversing camera is fitted
to both EX and SX Souls.
We could live with the 1.6 in both EX and SX forms and would regard the
very base sub-$30,000 car as a compelling package on its own, especially when
compared with similarly spacious Japanese and European offerings. But the Soul
that comes closest to us is the 2.0-litre SX. It's brisker, more relaxed
performance is worth the $2000 extra over the 1.6-litre SX, and it only uses
0.2L/100km more fuel than the smaller motor. However, we have to ask why a
2.0-litre version of the EX isn't available. Now that would be a real
soul-coaxer.
AT A GLANCE
Powertrain: Transverse, front-driven four-cylinder 16-valve DOHC
1.6-litre and 2.0-litre petrol engines, with six-speed automatic transmissions.
Outputs:
Chassis: MacPherson strut front, torsion beam at rear. Electric rack
and pinion steering with FlexSteer. Vented disc brakes at the front, solid
discs at the rear. 17-inch alloy rims on EX, 18-in on SX.
Safety: Six airbags, ABS, stability
control, hill-start assist control, emergency stop signal, front and rear
parking ensors (rear on EX only), reversing camera.
Connectivity: Bluetooth hands-free, AUX
and USB connectivity, radio/MP3/CD system featuring MY Music with 500MB of
storage.
Dimensions: L 4140mm, W 1800mm, H 1600-1613mm depending on tyre choice,
w/base 2570mm, weight 1240-1408kg. Fuel tank 54L.
Pricing:
Hot: Softer, lower-slung, more
appealing exterior treatment, much improved for quality and space inside, new
chassis is well sorted.
Not: Smaller engine can
get a bit busy, some will still be offended by its looks, no manual, diesel or
2.0L EX.
Verdict: There are signs that
the New Zealand market could grow into this car, one of the most fun family
packages out there.
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