Kia Soul.

We are thinking of adding another car to our garage. something with a little more carrying space for the dogs and weekends away, keeping the Micras for the day to day run abouts.

Has anyone driven or had any expereinces with the Kia Soul?
I've yet to take a test drive but was thinking of the diesal version.

Any comments on the car, diesal model or otherwise. I'd get the manual.

I really like the soul and would consider one myself. I have not driven the soul but had a kia cerato hatch for the past two weeks at work and it was really good, in fact the new 6 speed auto it came with is one of the best out there.

I'm going to try have a look at one today or maybe Monday. I'll post back.
Not sure when I'll do the deed if I like it, money as always being the thing.

Stagea :-)

+1

+2

-1 to a Stagea. I avoid grey imports but mostly want new with warranty plus your thinking performance. I'm thinking utilitarian with design to suit my needs.

cube, xtrail, toyota kluger or a rav4?

but im a jap car lover.

not personally a fan of the soul appearance wise, but i haven't heard anything bad about them.

I don't know if you can buy a Cube new over here, at least as much as I've never seen them in Nissan showrooms.
Xtrail/Kluger too big for my needs.
Rav4 great car but I don't need any kind of 4x4, even the soft roader type.

I wanted to check out a Toyota Ruckus but they only come in auto and are around 30k.

Lastly I also the support the Sea Sheppard Foundation (which is as much as I can say without breaking forum rules about politics) but hopefully the astute among you will get the drift of what I'm saying.

Yeah an earlier Commodore would be cheap to buy. Used to drive one at work, they are ok, certainly easy to get parts. If I found one on gas it would be a bonus.
Having said that my taste in vehicles is probably not mainstream.

I used to own Lada Niva 4x4, I like the new Fiat 500 but not the new Mini's. Talked my friend into getting a Renault Koleos, which she loves btw.

I'm a sucker for old British stuff.

If you are tall forget the Cube, they are squishy in the front seat which is a shame. I had a Niva too those things will go anywhere have a decent ride but the interior build quality was lacking to say the least.

I hate the cube. The Toyota Ruckus is way overpriced and think the Kia soul looks heaps better anyway. kluger? Haha why would anyone buy a huge, heavy, overpriced, ugly white goods on wheels I don't know.Cant even take them offroad as they are useless (Most/all are 2wd?). The Rav4 is ok but overpriced. Best part of the Kias is there 5 year unlimited km warranty. I was going to buy a new micra but I am holding off until the new rio comes out as it look like a great package.

I'm aware the korean cars are still not up to the standard of the Japanese/European cars for fit and finish but I do think they are value for money.

No that is not true anymore. Maybe some like the outgoing Rio or the Getz that statement is true but for the new stuff its not. The 6 speed auto for a start is better than a lot of others and the jap cars at best have 5 speed autos in a few models but most still have 4 speeds in the small car segment. Japanese have rested on there past and have not kept up with the times and it really shows in a lot of there base model cars. Cars like Toyota are boring, overpriced and lacking in features now standard in most European and Korean cars. And while fanboys will go on about how toyotas are still the most reliable the recalls and customer complaints over faults speaks for itself. Also at work we hear so many horror story's from owners and mech with European cars and two of our work cars have had so many issues and the parts cost a fortune so while there are some nice cars they aint what I would call reliable or cost effective. I think we got lucky with the K11 micra as its been a reliable and well built car.

My Micra has been the most reliable car I've ever owned. Period.

I like VW but am aware parts and servicing is expensive.

Micra_king +1.....

My dad's e93 m3 electric water pump went a 54k 1900+1100 for labour... Not under warranty btw

In a nut shell for how its been over the years with jap v's euro cars.

Jap cars = cheaper to buy and with better/more reliable drive trains but lacking cutting edge/up to date styling of the euros. Normally screwed together better as well.

Euro cars = more costly to buy and maintain. Less reliable drive trains but they make up for it with more fun factor. Dodgy electrics (VW, Alfa) Poor resale with lesser brands in aust. But they have the most up to date style and dont put you to sleep like most of the japs do.

Now theres a 3rd group that Hyundai and kia ae moving into which is a mix of the best of both worlds.

My old 1975 Merc was pretty good for parts cost and reliability but it was getting smokey and was too big and too expensive on fuel for me to justify keeping it but it was a nice day cruiser.

Yeap but the old mercs where in a class of there own and built like tanks. Even Mercedes lost the plot in the 90's and built a lot of crap and gained a bad rep for been unreliable and poorly made. Good thing they now build good cars again.

It was an interesting comparison. I looked up an old dealer price guide for 1975. My Merc a 280SE would have been about $15,000 when new.
It had 4 wheel disk brakes, central locking, 4sp auto and power steering and aircon.

A holden kingswood of the time was about $8K.

Well I went today to take a look at a Soul. No test drive, they only had a single petrol/auto vehicle in the yard and I'm interested in the manual diesel. Only a dinky single sheet sales brochure as well.

Sitting in the car I liked it, modern after my 16yo Micra, I liked the tilt/rake adjust for the steering wheel. Trim a bit plasticy and seats firm but that's ok.

The 5yr unlimited K warrenty is a plus but for me the things that are currently a deal breaker is the $28,990 drive away price so not a cheap set of wheels and the fact that the the rear seat bases do not fold up like in my Series 1 SLX which means there is a large gap behind the fronts seats when the rear seat backs are folded flat so no good for my doggies.

When they finally get some more stock in then I'll take one for a test drive but wont be buying any time soon.

Well I've gone off the Soul, largely because the Kia mob are FN hopeless. Ages I've been trying to track down a manual and Kia Australia took ages to reply then their information was wrong.

Finally find a dealership that had one, we chat on the phone a bit and I drive down today to have a look and take a test drive.

Never bothered, they have the usual disclaimer form to sign before you take it for a drive $2,500 excess if it gets damaged!!!. Now I know I would not prang it but there are a lot of unlicenced drivers in unregistered cars out there and if they could not get the money from them if one hit the car then they'd be chasing me. Told the guy he just blew a sale and walked out.

By comparison I drove a Toyota Rukus for comparison with no form to sign just a copy of my licence and also drove a Hyundi i30 but their form only said if the accident was my fault and the excess was only $1,000.

A bit about the i30, loved it. 8yr warranty, 8yr!!! and 100,000k's. Back seats fold properly flat like the series one Micras do and it drove well.

When I do have to get one new car for the household it's gunna be the i30.

Manual 2L petrol. Might try the TD another day.

They did not have one in a manual for me to try. Not sure I could afford the extra in any case.

The thing I notice with all modern cars, suppose it's emission thing or maybe 'drive by wire' throttle but you have to alter your clutch to throttle action as the motors seems to shut off slower then our Micras do so if your fast on the clutch going up the gears the motor sounds a little revvy as it does not drop the revs as fast. The more you had the throttle pushed down the more obvious it is.

Maybe it's the clutch? I'm used to Toyota clutches and the Nissans and Hondas I've driven has got a very light clutch action. I don't know if that's the case or not, just putting it as a might-be-reason.

Could be, the clutch was very light, not a lot of feel. I did just try revving it up out of gear, it was my perception it still takes longer to drop off but maybe just me.