"like no other KIA we seen before!"
Another car maker with its eyes set on the so-called "urban on-roader" market. KIA first previewed its challenger at the Geneva Motor Show two years ago (2008) by revealing the SOUL concept car. Look past the glitzy concept detailing because what we have here is a very attractive little runabout with "chunky" styling and a spacious, versatile interior. When the real thing debut this year in the Philippines the response was "Hey what was that oddly good looking thing running around?!"hahaha.
Soul's inside theme is high-end audio components, so the dashboard is arranged around speaker placement rather than vice versa. With this emphasis on interior styling its clear Kia knows its target market, Generation Y (77'-94'). Additionally the souls power lift gate has an integrated configurable backpack compartment that can hold variable items in variable sizes and shapes. Now that's good news for people who bring their closets with them.
Highlighted safety perimeters of the chunky includes detailed information on everything from fuel mileage to seating capacity. Another class on this class is the traction control and the anti-skid system just like Mazda's CX series! And of course the curtain side airbags. The rest are all safety standards. Soul is a front wheel drive powered by a 1.6L 4-cylinder engine that teams with a speed manual transmission and 2.0L variant for both 5speed manual and 4speed automatic transmission. And just what you wanted to know, YES a diesel engine variant is available.
Personally the Soul's funky factor seems more superficial than the quirky-to-the-bone Nissan Cube, and this likeable little box deserves serious consideration in the class. And FYI to those planning to drive this odd looking thing you might want to hold your belts a couple of months more because an insider tipped me that the price will be down a couple of hundreds to three from its market price now. You can do the math I suppose!
