Faults:

Interior scuffs and dirties easily. Front is rock chip magnet, and has multiple marks from touch-up paint.

General Comments:

I got the car on a decent deal. I often get comments about how the car is bigger on the inside than it looks from the outside. If you would look at the maintenance schedule, it is also incredibly lenient -- by the way, the turbo model requires more maintenance, so if you're concerned about that, there it is.

It being an economy car, you can see places where they have cheaped out. Areas where surfaces are hidden from the scrutiny of onlookers are often devoid of clear coat, which was not overlooked by the outgoing Corolla. Plastic and carpet also feel cheaper, and are harder to clean out the scuffs, if not outright impossible. The latter probably will not affect the reliability in any way, but it just will not age well. The former may affect the reliability in the form of paint degradation and/or rusting, but we will see. But it IS an eyesore every time I open the trunk.

Design is good. Ride is true and excellent, although the steering is a little numb. The 2.0L engine makes 160 horsepower and it's a good match for the car. Gas mileage is honestly not great, but it's also a very boxy car that doesn't know the meaning of aerodynamics. Road and wind noise is on par with others in the segment. Radio is great, but AM/FM reception is lacking. Seats are nice, but you won't get heated seats as they aren't standard. They also lack lumbar support -- keep that in mind if your back is bad.

All in all, a good car so far. Hope it stays that way.

Faults:

Absolutely nothing.

General Comments:

Terrific little car. Purchased the base model in Alien 2 paint. We needed something with better fuel mileage, and small for commuting (30 miles/45 minutes one way) that would be comfortable and have a decent ride. Looked at so many used cars our eyes turned inside out. Had settled on a Scion xD/xB, but their fuel mileage was just a little better than my pickup truck, and folks were asking almost original sticker price for them. The Soul is more comfy, and gets better mileage (display says 30.8 at the moment).

Base sound system is adequate, as is Bluetooth functionality. I use my smartphone for navigation, just have a small device to hold it on the dash, works great. Couldn't ask for a better commuter car.

Only complaint I can really talk about, is it is susceptible to cross winds. However I can't think of another crossover that isn't tossed by strong crosswinds; it's never scary, it's just that you must pay a little more attention to your tracking.

Plenty of room in the back for hauling, and even more with the rear seats down.

Faults:

On occasion the automatic transmission shifts hard, and continues that behavior for a few days. It then goes back to normal. Dealer doesn't know what to do about it.

Tire pressure monitoring system keeps giving false readings, when tires are in fact inflated properly. Dealer has offered to fix this for an outrageous charge.

General Comments:

Nice car for the money, and other than the faults above it's been very reliable. However, this is a tough car to drive on the highway. The steering is extremely light and has no feedback at all, and the suspension doesn't feel like it will keep the car pinned down to the road at highway speeds. Ride is jiggly even when on smooth pavement. We bought it as we needed a cheap, reliable car for our business, but wouldn't buy another one primarily due to the handling issue. If Kia could get the European handling down, this car would be an unbeatable value.