# Anyone have a Kia Soul?



## Moustache rider (Jun 1, 2007)

How well do bikes fit in the back?
Any provision for mounting a trailer hitch for a hitch rack?
Any other input on this car.


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## cth978 (Feb 9, 2009)

Theres a couple Gerbils down the street that just bought one and put a rack on ill have to ask them.......FYI most retarted commercial EVER......


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## XJaredX (Apr 17, 2006)

Haha I love that commercial.


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## tsp_2177 (Jun 16, 2009)

if you do happen to get it please keep the paint waxed lol around here i have yet to see a kia with a good paint job on it after five years lol maybe its a lack of paint care or just bad paint.... i'm really not sure either way i hope its not the latter, but with the warranty that they have i guess they would have to shortcut on something....


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## XJaredX (Apr 17, 2006)

Well, 5 year old Kias pretty much suck. But their new ones are absolutely leaps and bounds better.


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## tsp_2177 (Jun 16, 2009)

lol yeah. i like how their new commercial states that they outsell lexus, volkswagon, and mazda. so what? lol most of those brands are higher end car companies and aren't out to sell 12345678123 million cars in a year. and all but volkswagon are both under bigger companies.... i just dont get why they threw that in the commercial lol


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## XJaredX (Apr 17, 2006)

Outselling VW in America is a huge deal for Kia, same with Mazda, as that shows how much respect they are gaining here. Kia is a subsidiary of Hyundai anyway, and while originally they were supposed to be the cheaper models, they are now positioning them to be the "sporty" division. 

VW is actually out to sell like eleventy billion cars this year, they have some insane sales goal they're trying to achieve. So to outsell VW, that's good for a company mostly known for crappy imitations of Japanese cars.


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## tsp_2177 (Jun 16, 2009)

yeah but throwing lexus in there? thats not that big of achievement since most of their cars cost 5x more than kia's lol but yeah i get your point. i just hope VW doesn't go like american cars have, meaning sell as many cars as you can and then their resale and value drop because of over flooding the market....


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## pimpbot (Dec 31, 2003)

tsp_2177 said:


> lol yeah. i like how their new commercial states that they outsell lexus, volkswagon, and mazda. so what? lol most of those brands are higher end car companies and aren't out to sell 12345678123 million cars in a year. and all but volkswagon are both under bigger companies.... i just dont get why they threw that in the commercial lol


Brittney Spears sells more records than Talk Talk, but that doesn't mean she's a better musician.


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## Rufudufus (Apr 27, 2004)

tsp_2177 said:


> ...meaning sell as many cars as you can and then their resale and value drop because of over flooding the market....


Sorry, but resale value on domestics dropped because they break down all the time. Camry's the best selling car in the US, but it has a strong resale because they run forever. Don't take my word for it, go to Edmunds.com and look at owner reviews for Toyotas vs domestics.

And yeah, I realize not every American car is junk, I put 200K miles on a Ford Escort.


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## XJaredX (Apr 17, 2006)

Rufudufus said:


> Sorry, but resale value on domestics dropped because they break down all the time. Camry's the best selling car in the US, but it has a strong resale because they run forever. Don't take my word for it, go to Edmunds.com and look at owner reviews for Toyotas vs domestics.
> 
> And yeah, I realize not every American car is junk, I put 200K miles on a Ford Escort.


That sentiment is fast becoming outdated. I for the most part agree with it, and 10-15 years ago it would have been spot on, but over the past 5 years or so the trend is starting to reverse. The American car companies (well, mostly Ford) have really ramped up their reliability of their vehicles, while Toyotas of today are just not as reliable as Toyotas from the late 70's to late 90's.

Toyota has become rather arrogant in their rise to the top, they've been riding that reputation of reliability for years, and it was silly how bad it got. Remember a few years back when Consumer Reports (god i hate them) was automatically giving every new Toyota a Best Pick rating for anticipated reliability of new models? Then they realized their mistakes when the Tundra, and two other models (forget which) were actually having a lot of issues when they came out.

Toyota, in my eyes, is fast becoming as American in their mistakes as the actual American car companies. They would do well to take a lesson or two from Honda, lest they end up years from now in the same boat as GM is in.

But anyways, resale value is only partly due to reliability. If that was all there was to it, people wouldn't be able to sell their 3 year old Mini Coopers for what they paid for them new.


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## jj53913 (Jun 17, 2009)

Well i dont know much about the Soul but the wife and I are considering one. We drive a Yaris for the good gas milage rig and we both like the looks of the new Soul. Haven't drove one yet but I have crowled all over a couple at the dealer. The opening in the back is a little odd. Its smaller that what it looks but I know that they offer a top rack for it and I would imagine there is a hitch that can be purchased. The intererior is nice but cheap but it starts at 14k so its not going to be BMW quality by any means. I think we are going to go testdrive one here soon. The only bad thing is you have to buy the fully loaded one to get the sunroof.


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## Jim Z in VT (Sep 9, 2007)

Interesting: JD Powers 2009 reliability top 10

Lexus
Lexus
Mercury
Buick
Buick
Mercury
Toyota
Acura
Lexus
Toyota


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## tsp_2177 (Jun 16, 2009)

JimZinVT said:


> Interesting: JD Powers 2009 reliability top 10
> 
> Lexus
> Lexus
> ...


in my eyes you can't judge a cars reliability in a year (or probably a few months like they did) but more in like 5-10 years. 
people are still on the toyota bandwagon, heck even my dad is, he has a 2008 corolla, i bet i could get more miles out of my 2005 civic then that thing but who knows. i've already got 84k on it and yet to have a problem but a bad wheel bearing. and as long as i dont put any old gas from the no name stations it runs perfect and i get 35 mpg combination and i can scratch 40 mpg all highway, i just dont get in any hurry and usually dont go over sixty on the highway. now my dad drives his corolla a little harder but i bet he'll still get 250k out of it, i'm hoping to get a little more than that before i get my diesel jetta


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## dragbike (Jun 10, 2005)

:thumbsup: Just want to give a vote of confidence to the poster:

Don't rip Kia. We traded in our 04 Honda CRV on a 2007 Kia Sedona minivan. Wanted more room and 3rd row seating (actual usable 3rd row seating). Could not justify paying $5k more for a similiar equipped Honda or Toyota Vanwith only a 36k warranty. Plus it has like 10 airbags in it. 

Only problem we've had was a tricky pulling to the left that dealer thought was an alignment issue. Ended up being a defective tire which was replaced under warranty.

Liked it so much much that we also traded in our 03 Accord on an 07 Kia Optima. I have nothing but good things to say about the vehicles. In fact I'd say the Optima is the best car I ever owned, and I've owned ALOT of different brands, domestic and foreign. Our Accord was FULL of squeeks and rattles and the power steering rack went bad after only 500 miles of driving.

Here she is with aftermarket rims


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## XJaredX (Apr 17, 2006)

I don't even know where to begin in talking about how flawed the JD Powers system is


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## pimpbot (Dec 31, 2003)

*Don't care how good they are...*



Moustache rider said:


> How well do bikes fit in the back?
> Any provision for mounting a trailer hitch for a hitch rack?
> Any other input on this car.


I'm not going to buy my Soul
I'm not going to Aspire
Not going to buy my Esteem
And I'm not going to buy Smart


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## XJaredX (Apr 17, 2006)

Wow that's clever, you lumped in a Soul which is a decent car, with a ****-era Kia rebadged as a Ford, with a bad example of an otherwise good car company in the Esteem, with a smart which is, in it's U.S. incarnation, equipped with a mismatched transmission and the worst of the like 6 engine choices.

I'm not sure if you're just ripping on small cars for the sake of it, but to say imply that all compact cars are rubbish, as it seems your clever little poem did, is very ignorant.

Go read about: Ford Fiesta/Mazda2, Honda Jazz/Fit, Suzuki SX4, Alfa MiTo, Fiat 500, MINI Cooper


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## $ally Hu$tle (Apr 6, 2007)

why would anyone in their right mind buy something that looks like this?


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## dragbike (Jun 10, 2005)

cuz it's different/unique? fits his/her lifestyle? very well equipped for the $$$ compared to the competition?, etc....


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## Raymo853 (Jan 13, 2004)

$ally Hu$tle said:


> why would anyone in their right mind buy something that looks like this?


I think the Kia Soul is a fantastic looking car. Not handsome like a Passat CC, not beautiful like a Alfa 8C but fantastic looking like a well designed Sci Fi set.


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## Rufudufus (Apr 27, 2004)

$ally Hu$tle said:


> why would anyone in their right mind buy something that looks like this?


I drive an Element, so I'm probably not the one to ask. Might have something to do with not giving a rip what others think about what you drive, as long as it meets your needs. Plus I'm married, so impressing the chicks isn't high on the agenda.


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## Moustache rider (Jun 1, 2007)

If anyone is still interested I finally got around to test driving a Soul. With the seats folded down you could easily fit a couple bikes back there with a wheel/s off. The hatch opening is a little smaller than it could be but shouldn't be a problem. Trailer hitches are available so a hitch bike rack could be used. 
The interior looks nice even though materials feel cheap. The door panels are one big piece of molded plastic. In fact much of the interior looks like it could have come out of a rubbermaid factory. 
It drove nicely and had decent power and handling. I drove a manual and it was one of the easiest manual transmission cars I have ever been in. Very smooth clutch and shifter. Would be a good car to teach someone how to drive a stick in. 
It is definitely aimed at the Scion XB market and includes a lot of crap I don't really care about. Can you imagine something more utterly worthless than a ring of lights around the speakers that pulsate to the music? I would prefer they delete some of the fluff and spend the money on a better interior.
I am interested for more practical reasons as it happens to fit what I am looking for right now as far as size, fuel economy, seating/cargo configuration, etc.


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## WhiteNoise (Jun 1, 2009)

The Soul is too small. My Buick Rainier is too small as well come to think about it. No actually my 15" sub and amps take up too much room. Damn that Soul probably has more space than my Buick considering all my audio equipment. Good thing it has a hitch for a proper rack.

Not to mention the Soul probably gets around 25+ mpg. My Buick gets around 12-15 mpg.

I commute on my Ninja though which gets around 40mpg


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## rabidchicken (Apr 16, 2009)

Rufudufus said:


> I drive an Element, so I'm probably not the one to ask. Might have something to do with not giving a rip what others think about what you drive, as long as it meets your needs. Plus I'm married, so impressing the chicks isn't high on the agenda.


WHAT? Every chick that has been in my Element has been impressed with it.


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## threebikes (Aug 27, 2007)




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## tsp_2177 (Jun 16, 2009)

does anyone remember the last "convertible" CSUV that kia made and how horrible they look in a year or two? just saying lol


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