A box of goodies is the Soul aim

HERE’S one for the fiercely individual folk out there.

It’s a rather box-like vehicle, but the important thing is, the box you buy is unlikely to be like that of any other Kia Soul owner.

The car, which turned out to be surprisingly pleasant and versatile, is described (by Kia) as a “celebration of self-expression” because buyers can get Souls in three levels of trim and a mind-blowing list of options and accessories to ensure that no two will be the same.

There’s the Soul, Soul2 and Soul3, (or, in mathematical terms, Soul squared and Soul cubed) all with either 1.6litre petrol or turbo-diesel power.

And buyers can pick from various alloy wheels, body-kits, audio upgrades, red “street demon” or beige “retro chic” interiors, body accents and countless others.

But a cutesy-car it is not.

The Soul is beautifully engineered, boasts the latest in petrol and diesel technology, comes with six airbags, complies with Euro 5 emissions and has more space than most of its many rivals in the over-populated light car segment.

It is also the first Korean car to win the prized German Red-dot design award.

No, Jeremy, there is no connection with those price chopping Red Dot stores.

Called a CUV (compact utility vehicle), it has a seating arrangement with the flexibility of a medium-sized MPV or SUV, with the footprint of a light car.

It has five doors, five seats, a wide track, a long wheelbase and is just a whisker over four metres from front bumper to rear.

Drives like a dream, too. Good performance, excellent stability, great comfort and loads of space.

With the back seats folded down, cargo room is expanded from 340 to 800 litres and it can take two full-size pushbikes in the back.

There’s a lot more packing space, including a two-tiered red-lined glovebox and a large open circular tray on models without the optional centre speaker.

The centre floor console has spaces for a mobile phone and other small items and contains a large cupholder and an open compartment big enough for a 1.5litre bottle.

Both front doors can also hold bottles plus maps or other documents, and there are spaces for more bottles in the luggage area. They must be a thirsty lot at Kia.

Clever styling has made the glossy piano-black cover over the windscreen and door pillars look as if the windows curl around most of the car in an unbroken arc.

The car stands a bit taller than most compacts and has a high hip point, which makes for easy entry.
Visibility is excellent in all directions.

The test Soul3 had the 1.6litre U2-series CRDi engine.

It’s a twin overhead cam unit with four valves per cylinder, common-rail high-pressure fuel injection and a variable geometry turbocharger.

It belts out 94kW and 260Nm, and official economy figures are 5.9litres/100km for the four-speed automatic and 5.2 for the five-speed manual.

It’s a quiet runner with extensive sound-proofing so the eight-speaker audio can be enjoyed to the max.

It can be linked to portable music devices, and the volume is automatically adjusted to the car’s speed.

It also had an optional switch that fired up some mood lighting in the door-mounted speakers, and a further click of the switch had the lights pulsating, just like someone whose soul has been stirred.

A must-have, I thought.

The dash has a three-dial instrument cluster made up of central speedometer, rev counter and fuel and temperature gauges.

While all Souls get the six airbags, ABS with EBD and BA, only Soul2 and 3 have ESP and traction control.

Soul3, which comes in automatic only at $27,390 petrol and $30,890 diesel, has 18-inch alloys, a top audio system, metallic trim and privacy glass. Other models start from $20,900.

It’s a sensible car with a generous dollop of fun thrown in.

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Thursday 24 May 2012

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