My first encounter with the Kia Soul came on the eve of Press Day at the 2008 Paris Motor Show; a reveal in the centre of the French capital and in the company of a group of international motoring journalists I have to say we were stunned to say the least.
The styling of the Soul is a far departure from anything else that has gone before from the South Korean car company.
Soul is a very bold statement of the company‘s determination as one of the world‘s top automotive companies, destined to appeal to a whole new group of European and global buyers.
The Soul is a five-door hatchback with front-wheel drive, a high roofline and an unusually long wheelbase and it offers cavernous passenger space that matches or even out performs many vehicles with much larger exterior dimensions. Luggage capacity is generous at 340 litres with the rear seats upright.
I had the opportunity to interview Kia Motors Corporation Chief Design Officer, Peter Schreyer in Paris and he has overseen the transformation of Soul from 2006 concept fantasy to its 2008 production reality.
I might have guessed it was conceived in the USA, developed in South Korea and fine-tuned in Europe. This urban crossover will appeal to young buyers and will awaken a whole new market for Kia.
Recently when I had one on test in my own patch, it did prompt a lot of questions and many who commented could not believe that it is in fact a Kia.
The Soul is built on an all-new platform which is an unusually accommodating design, allowing for a wide variation of wheelbase, track and wheel and tyre size and marks the first use of this platform which is scheduled to also appear, in slightly different forms, in future Kia models.
The new Soul benefits from a body shell that has been engineered to achieve high torsional stiffness, which delivers in terms of handling, ride quality, durability, refinement and safety.
I would like to be numbered with those who really like the styling of the Soul, its rebellious, individual, urban and practical design themes that characterise the exterior are replicated throughout the interior. It is good to be different and Soul is very different to the mainstream.
Motoring should be fun and getting behind the wheel is not only that, but it gets the looks from others.
The compact and sporty cockpit with its commanding view of the road, thick-rimmed, four-spoke steering wheel, sporty three-dial instrument cluster beneath a tightly curved cowling and bold centre stack design sweeping up and over the dashboard, further evidence of good design.
The instrument cluster features Kia‘s new three-cylinder-style family look, housing four gauges, rev-counter (with inset lighting-status advisors), large central speedometer (with lower turn indicator lights) and engine temperature / fuel status, plus a bank of warning lights on the right.
I enjoyed the RDS radio/single CD player with MP3 compatibility, plus USB, AUX and iPod connections in the centre console and mid-range models feature steering wheel-mounted audio controls and top-of-the-range Soul buyers can specify the Upgraded Sound System complete with ’Sound Sensitive Mood Lighting‘ (SSML).
Soul is a very practical set of weeks and accommodates a total of up to 14 storage zones within its cavernous cabin.
The 60/40 split rear seat backrest can be folded down without having to remove the head restraints and the resulting, almost flat, load area can accommodate a total of 570 litres of luggage.
The Soul is available with a range of dealer-fit customizing components to suit particular family and leisure activities, items such as an aerodynamic roof-top luggage box, rear bicycle carrier, tow bar, trunk liner, mud flaps and roller-blind sunshades.
My test vehicle was equipped with a 126PS diesel engine; this should prove to be more popular than the petrol engine, certainly in our market.
Performance is best described as adequate, rest to 62mph in around 11 seconds and on to a top speed of 109mph (where legal). Transmission choice is the norm, manual or auto; my test Soul featured a slick five speed manual.
The suspension is firm, yet delivers a smooth ride and stopping power is adequate; all in all the Soul is a good all rounder and full marks to Kia for being so bold as to produce a car that is very different.
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Paul Green
Chris
It's not the prettiest but it does have a lot of character and looks fairly sturdy. A lot better looking than the nissan postman pat van
Bob Hume
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