Kia Soul (09 on) - Review

Review by Simon Harris on
Last Updated: 05 January 2010
The Kia Soul is a practical small car. It's not much longer or wider than a Vauxhall Corsa, but it's usefully spacious and stands out for people who'd rather choose something more distinctive than a run-of-the-mill small hatchback. There is a choice of a petrol or diesel engine and sitting above the normal trim levels, the Soul launched with three different limited editions: Samba, Shaker and Burner - reflecting its youthful image. Plenty of rear passenger space, a decent boot plus a well put together interior make the Soul a great small family car, while a smooth ride and light steering make it ideal for town and city driving. In January 2010 the standard warranty on new models was upped from three years to seven years, making it even better value.
4 out of 5

Other Kia reviews

3.5 out of 5

Running costs

The Soul costs about the same as a conventional small hatchback (with the same specification) to buy, but is bigger and arguably more stylish. Fuel consumption is pretty average, with more than 40mpg typical for the petrol and close to 55mpg for the manual diesel. Insurance groups are quite low for a car of this size and servicing costs are modest.

* based on most recent data

Estimated fuel cost for 10,000 miles per year

Unleaded

£1,395 - £1,574 *

Diesel

£1,125 - £1,364 *

The estimated fuel cost figure is a guide to how much this model will cost to fuel each year, so you can compare between cars. It's calculated by using the model's average mpg (calculated from both town centre and motorway driving) and the average fuel price. It's based on the following cost-per-litre: petrol 135p and diesel 141p. Prices are updated daily.

Summary Running Costs

Servicing period

10,000 miles.

Warranty

Five years/unlimited miles. From January 2010 this was increased to seven years/100,000 miles.

Road tax (12 months)

£100.00 - £195.00

Vehicle excise duty (VED) varies according to the CO2 emissions and the fuel type of the vehicle. For cars registered after March 1st 2001 VED or road tax is based on the car's CO2 emissions. For cars registered before March 1st 2001 it is based on engine size.

Full running costs data

3 out of 5

Green credentials

  • A
  • B
  • C
  • D
    129
  • E
  • F
  • G
  • H
    167
  • I
  • J
  • K
  • L
  • M

CO2 emission figure (g/km)

Fuel economy rating

The arrows indicate the best and worst CO2 bands for this model.

Emissions summary

The highest carbon dioxide emitter in the Soul range is the diesel automatic, with 155g/km of CO2. The petrol achieves 153g/km and the manual diesel reaches a commendable 137g/km. These are all decent levels given the size of the car although the diesel automatic is a little disappointing. A better score would be possible if Kia had used a five-speed instead of a four-speed gearbox.

Find the exact engine and CO2