My first car purchase — 2010 Kia Soul sport

// January 24th, 2010 // General musings

I’ve been wanting to write about the first big purchase of my life, but couldn’t get around to it. However, a recent convo on Twitter energized my thoughts.

I want to make this review quick and to the point.

First, let me say that I love the car. My viewpoint that led me to looking at the Soul — I wanted an SUV (because I always loved driving my mom’s Ford Escape). SUVs are expensive, though, and are generally out of my price range. Also, driving that type of vehicle in the Lowcountry doesn’t seem practical. There is no snow, hills or anything. I’d be better off with something better on gas, but has SUV-type room. This led me in the Honda Element or smaller hatchback options. With all this in mind, when I first saw the Soul I really liked it. It is small, competing with the likes of a Scion or Nissan Cube, but doesn’t possess the boxy look (which I don’t like at all). Instead, the Soul looks like an SUV, just in a miniature form. It also rides like an SUV and when you put the seats down in the back, it has the room like one. It was a perfect fit.

If this is anything like you’d be interested in, then I promise you’ll enjoy the Soul. Just give it a ride. Further details after the jump.

Likes:

The price (it can’t be beat): My model, the sport, is the top of the line model and came with the sunroof already installed. Factor in the 18-inch wheels, all the technology hookups and goodies the Soul is equipped with and it’s just amazing. I got it all for under $19,000. Fully loaded vehicles in this class were pushing well over $20k.

All the technology. Bluetooth built-in (use it all the time with my Storm2). iPod sync. Excellent sound system (mine came with the upgraded sound system). Free Sirius for 3 months (I already had a subscription anyways).

The room, like I said. When you need the space, the seats fold down to give you SUV room. If you don’t need it, then there’s plenty of room in backseats for passengers (or dogs!). The little car is also good on gas. I’m beginning to average around 28 mpg, which is worlds better than what my Sable was doing.

Dislikes:

The extremely small engine, even on the sport model. I wish at the least sport model had the 2.4 that the top of the line Kia Forte possesses. Sometimes, that little extra pep is needed.

A simple thing, but the Forte has a MPG function built in on the mileage counter. It was a nice little feature. Don’t understand why it wouldn’t be on the Soul as well. I use a BlackBerry app (mileage meter) to keep track of it all.

There aren’t many dislikes because I really do love the car. What bothers me the most is that I bought mine on the first go around of the vehicle. With each production cycle, Kia seems to be tweaking with little things inside (changing the speaker lighting, adding leather seats, etc). Obviously I’d enjoy some of these changes, but that’s to be expected.

Even if you don’t want something in this class, check out the Soul. It’s a fun vehicle. If you want a car, I’d test drive the Kia Forte as well. I took one for a spin and would have bought it if I wanted that type of vehicle. Instead, I’m the proud owner of this: