Faults:

Nothing.

General Comments:

Good, inexpensive car. Totally reliable, and 33-35MPG on the highway, depending on how fast I drive. Reasonably roomy for a guy that's 230 lbs 5' 10". One thing I like is that I don't have to duck down to get into the vehicle.

The only real downside is the base engine doesn't have a lot of power. It's manageable enough for driving around in - I can do 80MPH+ without any problem - but it's not fast to get to that speed. So trying to pass another car on a 2 lane road is a little hairy.

Other than that, I'd have no problem recommending the car. In over a year and 25k miles it hasn't been back to the dealer for anything. And I've got 2 of these cars (the other is a 2012) and it hasn't had any problems either.

Faults:

I apparently left one of the interior lights on and awoke to a dead battery the following morning. In my view, there should be an automatic timer on any lights once the key is removed from the ignition, as I am accustomed on all my cars. My fault though. Kia was great in responding and recharging the battery after a thorough check of the vehicle.

General Comments:

The Soul is a wonderful small SUV with great headroom. Unfortunately, its interior is designed for kid tastes, but that didn't prevent me, an old timer, from choosing the Soul. I thought that it was the best buy for the bucks. I test drove it around the neighborhood and found it to be good - not great.

It was not until I purchased the vehicle and had it on the road, that I realized there is maybe a major worrisome flaw. The vehicle does not hold the road well on turns at high speeds. I suspect that this is because the wheelbase is too short and the center of gravity too high. I am not an engineer, but I have driven many, many different cars over the years, and have never felt this uncomfortable about any vehicle on the highway. The car is otherwise a great buy, but the flaw makes it unacceptable, and I'm shopping around, even though my car is brand new.

Faults:

Nothing.

General Comments:

So far, this has been an excellent car.

We bought it to replace a wrecked 2007 Ford Focus that we bought new. We looked at all kinds of small cars, and were just really impressed by the total package of the Soul. In fact, we liked it so much we bought a second one for commuting (we both have jobs). Mine, which I will do another survey on when I get more miles on it, is manual.

What I like about the car: it is ridiculously compact for daily use, yet has a lot of interior space. You ride like an SUV, but with small-car economy. Even the base models are loaded out with power everything, Bluetooth, satellite radio, keyless, etc. It's reasonably comfortable for a small car. We have been getting about 30 MPG city in this car, with the automatic. It has a 100k mile warranty on the drivetrain - actually, ours has a lifetime warranty from the dealer. Very inexpensive for a brand new car (about 16k including all the fees for the automatic).

What I don't like: it's a little sluggish with the automatic compared to the manual (now that I have both to compare). There are large blind spots because of the way the windows are designed. The Bluetooth system seems a little schizophrenic sometimes.

All in all, I think Kia really hit a home run with this car. I've had plenty of foreign & American cars, and I'm really impressed with this car's overall package.

Faults:

Nothing.

General Comments:

This was a car I rented when I visited the USA in 2010.

It had adequate performance with just my girlfriend and me on board. On the odd occasions we had 4 adults on board, it struggled. I didn't mind beating on it to get a move on, but it got noisy if I worked it hard.

The boot was tiny; we had to fold down the rear seat to get our cases in.

The fuel tank was also too small, 200 miles and I'd be looking for a gas station, although fuel consumption was OK.

We both agreed it was one of the ugliest cars we had ever seen.

It was OK for comfort, the A/C keeping drinks cold in the glove box was a neat touch.

It had a fairly comfortable ride on good roads; Texas country roads exposed some shortcomings though.

We didn't like the small windows, restricting vision more than on a lot of older cars.