2014 New Kia Soul

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Text Cor Steenstra, photos Jaap Dijkshoorn / Edward Breedveld-fwdmotiontv

We never had the pleasure to drive the previous generation Kia Soul, so I was really looking forward to experience this new generation one. The first Kia Soul has become a very familiar face on the streets here, seemingly outdoing the original Scion Xb’s substantially. It defiantly showed more style than the simple box the Scion was offering, even in the latest guise.

From the outside, I had always seen the Soul as a small compact car. First impressions of a boxy shape do that to you. I was totally astonished that, when I stand next to it, it is almost Minivan height, and then, when I entered the 2014 Kia Soul, I was floored. It is a very spacious vehicle, definitely not as Mini as I thought it was.

I had plenty of space to get comfortable with my 6’4″, and had plenty of space to the sides as well. The rear passengers can also find their seat in space and comfort, so the car offered much more than I expected. I was therefore concluding that the trunk must be tiny, if there is so mud passenger space, but again, I was floored. The trunk is more than ample as well. I had no problem putting a substantial amount of shopping bags in there at all.

The exterior design of the Soul is clearly still very related to the previous generation. Why would you change a winning strategy? But the new design is definitly new, in all the righ places and from all the right angles. It differentiates itself enough from its predecessor without being to far removed from it. Very nice work. Also the detail design is very nicely done and executed.

On the interior the design is kinda hip, without being too overboard like the Smart tends to be. It is young but not brash. It is young enough that young people feel at home in it, but not too young that it would turn of older people. In fact, given the space, size, design and quality, I would not be surprised if there was a substantial amount of customers for this car in the older segment. It offers a nice height to get in and out of the car, plenty of space inside, yet small enough exterior dimensions to make it a handy car to drive in daily use.

All in all a job very well done! Yet again!

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