And as always, since I was given a shout out in this thread (I was remembered! sniff), I remain your one and only non-cheesy car salesperson fellow Doper who wouldn’t steer you wrong (natch). I promise!
It only took 3 ½ years but I finally bought the Kia Soul.
Not long after I started this thread I bought a Honda Civic Sport sedan. It served me quite well since then but as my kids have grown older (and bigger) and we’ve acquired more furbabies it became quite impractical. I drove it with dedication, however, and kept it meticulously maintained. I kept all the receipts for everything I did to it: all scheduled and recommended maintenance, all fuel-ups, even noting in the little notebook that I used to track gas mileage when I washed the car. Whenever I mentioned to someone that I kept the receipt for literally every single thing I did to the car, the usual result was an eye roll. Such dedication to my obsessive/compulsive disorder paid off, however. I paid right at $20K for the Civic in December 2019, and yesterday the Kia dealer offered me $17K for it on trade. I told them to make it $18K and they had a deal. They didn’t even have to think about it. Deal. I’m thinking I should’ve asked for a bit more. So I sold the Civic after 38 months and 46,900K miles for 90% of what I paid for it. Had I bothered to sell it private party I likely would’ve been able to get more for it than what I paid for it in 2019.
So now I have a “Neptune Blue” Kia Soul GT Line with the technology package upgrade, which adds a Harmon Kardon stereo, tilt and sliding sun roof, and fog lights. The fog lights were a mandatory feature so I had to get some superfluous stuff to get them. Having said that I really like the heated seats and lumbar adjustment so I’m definitely happy I got the upgrade package. Climbing in and out is much easier and more comfortable than it was in the Civic and I (and my kids) can sit in the back without feeling too cramped.
I miss the 6-speed manual of the Civic as well as the superior gas mileage but other than those quite minor things I’m very happy with the Soul. It’s already proven itself to be more useful than the Civic: loading up a cart full of groceries today was much, much easier than it was with the Civic.
135k and I’ve still never needed a repair outside of the usual brakes etc.
I didn’t even get to the second half of this sentence and was thinking, “Great timing!”
How’s the ride? I have looked at the Soul too but was a bit concerned about the (pretty) low horsepower and torque. They don’t seem to offer any other engine options with their trims. I don’t need a race car but I like a little pep and the ability to pass when needed.
Edited to add: I still have a 2008 Kia Rondo with 175k miles that my son drives now. That has a 6-cyl engine that was perfectly adequate.
Its pretty smooth in a “family sedan” kind of way. Definitely not quick but it isn’t exactly lethargic. The steering isn’t as stiff as I’d like and the CVT will take some getting used to as well but I drove to work this morning on a combination of open freeway, city streets, rural highway, and rural mountain road and never felt at all that it was underpowered.