Kia Soul 2009 review: road test

Kia is certainly banking on it with the new Soul crossover car, which comes with a wardrobe of slick colours, and some rather startling accessories – including decal `tatts’ and black bezel `eyeliner’.

That’s coupled with a sharp starting price of $20,990, which gets you into the base model Soul, with a five-speed manual transmission mated to a1.6-litre petrol engine developing 91kW of power at 6300rpm and 156kW of torque at 4200rpm. Opt for the six-speed tiptronic auto and you add $2000 to the price.

If you’d prefer the 1.6-litre diesel version borrowed from the Hyundai i30 (94kW at 4000rpm and 260Nm at 1900rpm), it’s an extra $3,500.

For base Soul you get 15” steel wheels, space saver spare, six airbags, iPod-compatible audio system and the usual powered bits and pieces.

Step into Soul2 (Soul Squared) at $23,190 and you get roof rails, 16” alloy wheels and extra trim. An electronic stability system is an option at this level, but as part of a pack that includes 18” alloys.

Soul3 (Soul Cubed) puts you on the 18” wheels and adds all the fruit – but still with plenty of scope to add personal touches like decals, interior trim, bezel garnishes (called ‘eyeliner’ in the catalogue) or a glow-in-the-dark fabric pattern.

But oddly, you can’t have cruise control, because Kia says the petrol engine is not calibrated for it, although the diesel will have it later this year.

Kia Australia product planning manager Nick Reid describes the base Soul as “a blank canvas” for people to play with, and says that level and the top spec will grab most of the sales.

“People will mainly go for the added value of the top level, or they’ll go for the base level and do their own thing,” Reid says.

“We’ve got a strong offering of after-market factory accessories and options to dress it up.”

Reid admits there’s a bit of a jump to get into the diesel, but says the extra cost is in the materials and manufacture.

“There’s a higher cost of raw materials, more hardware and technology like the particulate filter,” he says.

Reid expects to be one of the most attractive factors of the Soul to be the size of the five-door body: 4105mm long, 1785mm wide and 1610mm high with a wheelbase of 2550mm and tracks of 1570 front and 1575 rear.

It sits on brand new underpinnings – following the concept of the Kia Cerato but not the same platform, and expected to spread to future cars – with a lightweight, tight rear suspension intended to add a sporty taste.

“This is the first application of the platform, but it will be the basis for other cars going forward,” Reid says.

“The thing that stands out is the overall packaging and dimensions. On paper it’s hard to appreciate the size. “Anybody from 18 to 80 will appreciate the practicality. We’re not just targeting Gen-Y.”

Reid admits supply of the cars is tight because of overseas demand, and says Kia Australia will get 500 cars to last to the end of this year. Or perhaps more – head office may be flexible if the market is responsive.

“There’s a need to treat the Soul differently (to the normal business case),” he says.

“The Soul is about brand building, about changing people’s perceptions and attracting a younger audience.

“It’s 500 for the rest of the year, but we would revisit it if the demand was there.”

Driving

The first thing you notice is how much room there is inside the Soul. It’s a very compact body when you put it up against even the smaller SUVs, but the Soul’s boxy shape means you’ve a lot more usable space than you’d expect – especially towards the headlining.

The second thing you notice is how good the visibility is, with the exception of the rear three-quarter outlook, where the thickened C-pillar styling makes it a chore and dictates you’ll be using your side mirrors a lot.

Unfortunately, the third thing we noticed was how utilitarian some of the internal plastics were, undermining some of the good first impressions.

And while we were expecting to find some bids for funky Gen-Y styling in the features, the blood-red interior of the dash-mounted storage caddy was … well, strangely disturbing. And the glow-in-the-dark logo upholstery is a matter of personal taste, we suppose.

But those points aside, the Soul is fitted out cosmetically well for its price range. And Kia expects a lot of buyers to upgrade into the options list.

We’d advise against them putting the larger 18” wheels in the shopping trolley, as they undermine the efforts of the suspension over most surfaces, and the standard 16” wheels were fine except for the raw of the hard tyres. Spend your money on better rubber instead of bigger metal.

The diesel engine puts out a bit of clatter at the start, but smooths as it warms up. The unit is a winner in its cousin, the Hyundai i30, and while it has a bit more weight to contend with in the Soul it manages the job well in the manual, but tends to lag with the auto.

The petrol version can get sluggish under 2500rpm, but keep it ticked above that and its responsive for most tasks. We drove the petrol unit only with the manual transmission – which has light, but good shift feel – and found it worked well with the engine, but suspect that the auto might be too laid-back to get the most out of it.

The light steering won’t win any performance drivers, but for the urban round this car will mostly be consigned to – despite Kia aiming for the active Gen-Y market — it should be just fine.

The overall impression is that even if the styling isn’t to everybody’s taste, this is a big step forward for Kia, and probably signals more is on the way.