Opinions on New Kia Soul?

[TupeloHoney]

Kia's coming out with the Soul in Spring. It has some good technology like Bluetooth, along with good gas mileage. And it has some uniqueness that was lost in the new Scion TC. What are your opinions on the car...could you see yourself driving one?

Some pics here

[Zany Zeolite Zipper]

Is that meant to be Dodge Calibre sized? I like the upright seating, but it seems like the windows come up too high. In about 2004 or so I test drove a Rio, and sitting in it was like sitting in the bottom of a large boat. Cliffs of plastic, with only my head poking out, like a gopher. The windows seem too small on the Soul. Or should that be Seoul? I kill me.

The body looks much better than the Scion, all the unnecessary gaudy bits have fallen off. However, a small grill like that is going to look very cheap almost immediately - the Suzuki Swift has a squashed mouth like that. That car is going to be disgusting once it loses its showroom polish - a never ending expanse of plastic.

On the whole though, I approve of the car; it is a fitting punishment for being poor. I can't stand Kias.

[Fetchund]

That is a most annoying website. I can't find any useful information about that car! Is is an SUV or not? What are the cargo space dimensions? Price? MPG?

[RickJay]

It's ugly.

Without knowing the price, it's impossible to judge its merits, aside from its being ugly. It looks like the three-way offspring of a Hyundai Sante Fe, a Kia sedan, and an iPhone.

[elfkin477]

I'm not thrilled with my Sephia. I don't think I'd consider buying another kia, no matter how neat it sounded.

[liirogue]

I guess I'll be the first to say it's cute (I'd have to see it in person to be sure, though).

But I would never buy a Kia - my mom had one and it was a POS.

[tygre]

Originally Posted by elfkin477

I'm not thrilled with my Sephia. I don't think I'd consider buying another kia, no matter how neat it sounded.

I have a 10 year old one, with 135k miles -- it's held up reasonably well and still gets 35 mpg. I have the bare bones manual model though, I don't even have a radio in it.

Only repairs I've had to make were a replacement clutch (it is the car I learned to drive a stick on, so I was hard on it) and brakes.

[Ro Carter]

Originally Posted by Fetchund

That is a most annoying website. I can't find any useful information about that car! Is is an SUV or not? What are the cargo space dimensions? Price? MPG?

Agreed. I'm looking for information and pictures of the freaking car, not particularly wanting to spend time randomly clicking on pictures someone has scribbled on that reveals completely unrelated details about the car.

If anyone wins an award (other than the "Wow, You Suck At Web Design!" Award) for that, there is something very much wrong with the world.

Therefore, as the car looks like a Hot Wheels and the web site has offended me on a deeply personal level, I will not be purchasing a Kia Soul unless I will be then immediately donating it to the guys at Top Gear to completely demolish.

[ASAKMOTSD]

Why do car companies think we want to drive boxes?

[TupeloHoney]

This Autoblog article has some good info about the Soul. The press release posted at the bottom of the article has a lot of the answers you're looking for. As for gas mileage, it gets 30 mpg, and it's priced under $20k.