A bit of Soul goes a long way

MANILA, Philippines - Mainstream cars aren’t really expected to give you a rise. Over the years we’ve come to understand that you can have “Reliable”, you can have “Practical”, you can have “Affordable”, and you can have “Exciting”, just that you couldn’t have all four traits in one car. Just looking at the specs, the Kia Soul seems like your everyday, fully-featured, 5-door car. 2-liter, 144-horsepower engine. 4-speed automatic. Standard modcons like a power moonroof, back-up sensors, and steering-wheel mounted stereo controls. Oh, it’s got 18-inch wheels? That’s nice. So do at least two other cars in the same bracket.

Then you check out the photos, see it in the flesh, and realize that what those wheels are bolted to happens to be one of the most striking designs yet to hit the mainstream car market. From Kia, no less.

Word has it that the design inspiration for the Soul was a “boar with a backpack”. Yes, the tough cousin of the bacon you had for breakfast, the one with the sharp teeth, the scary tusks, and leg muscles powerful enough to run down the careless hunter. It shows in the Soul’s many intriguing design elements.

The eyes at first dismiss the Soul as just a tall, five-door wagon, and then slowly begin to appreciate the details. The complex, bulbuously shaped front bumper does work to give it the look of a square-jawed snout, the character line in the middle of the bumper running from the front, along the sides, and all the way to back giving it the look of muscles straining to gallop the car forward. The roofline – and the cut of the side windows – tapers downward to the rear, creating a raffish look that’s not too practical if you’re thinking headroom, but helping to make the profile that much more interesting.

Inside, have we ever seen a cabin so riveting? This is the first mainstream wagon to sport Arrest-Me-Red upholstery, dashboard, and door panel trim pieces. It’s a savvy move, because not only does it turn the interior into a 5-place conversation piece, it also helps you forget the fact that there’s a lot of plastic in there.

Aside from the fabric of the seats, headliner, and carpeting, everything else is unashamedly synthetic. A lot of thought also went into the design of the dash which, aside from the brightly lit instrument panel, is complemented by a center console that’s both logical in its layout and which also borrows from the look of high-end stereos. Buttons and dials for the stereo (it takes CDs, iPods, and USBs) are laid out on a control panel just a glance and a few inches away from the steering wheel.

You will first notice that the dash is crowned by two tweeters at the base of the A-pillars and a woofer at the center, but start ‘er up and the piece de resistance is revealed: woofers at the bottom of the door panels sport variable lighting that can be set to “Mood” or in sync with your music. They work even if the dash lighting is turned off. At night, with the red lighting of the dash, the red hue of the seats and door panels, the pulsating red of those woofers, hell, the red everything, you will feel just slightly demonic. A Soul with a devil-may-care attitude? Just the thing to get college kids playing nice to their parents, and young, married couples stoking the fires of whoopie. (Note: more subdued interior color schemes are available)

That’s just the cabin, but firing up the engine will also do the average soul a world of good. The 144-hp motor is aided by the 4-speed’s tight gearing and the car’s light weight. It practically jumps off idle if you’ve got a heavy right foot, so some personal modification to driving style is required. The torque converter isn’t shy about letting the juice go down to those wheels, and the Soul proves to have plenty of pep up to around 140kph, above which the blocky aerodynamics start to become a drag. The engine note isn’t particularly soulful but it does get the job done and will upset teenage Civic drivers who can’t fathom that they’ve just been dusted by a box-on-wheels.

Helping the cause of the Soul are its underpinnings. The steering has very little slop on center, has good straight-line stability, and turn-in is just a little slower than a proper sporty car. You don’t get a lot of feedback from the road from the electrically powered steering, though. At parking speeds, the boost is a lot. You can parallel-park in a flash because the steering effort is so light you can turn the wheel from lock to lock with very little effort. The driving position also helps. It’s not a fighter plane-like cockpit, but the bucket seat grips you well enough, the steering wheel’s thick rim feels nice in the hands, the copious glass area lets you see all around with ease, and the standard armrest helps you relax for when you switch off the afterburners.

The all-disk brakes are powerful and backed up with ABS. The days of floaty Kia suspensions are also well and truly gone with the Kia’s taut setup belying its mainstream orientation. Jounce and rebound will feel too tight for those with back problems, although it’s not choppy like a pickup truck. There’s just a bit of body roll to help keep you from overcooking a fast corner. Like any other car with a twist-beam rear suspension, the “tail” hints of stepping out if you enter a corner too fast and feather the brakes. Remember: it feels sporty, but it’s still not a sports car.

As expected, the 45-series Hankooks are nearly as rigid as our late President’s honor guard, and considerably noisier. The price of their grip, not to mention their visual mojo, is tread noise that’s magnified by the sort of rough pavement we encounter on a daily basis. Which is probably why you’ll be turning up the volume on the stereo and enjoying that funky mood lighting even more.

The Soul’s youthfulness will be highly appreciated by its target market, while those looking to recapture some of that spirit without sacrificing the merits of a proper family wagon may have to do some, ahh, soul-searching. At 4,105mm. long, 1,784mm. wide, and 1,661mm. tall it is a smaller car than its own, and slightly older sibling, the Carens (4,545 x 1800 x 1,650mm LWH).

It’s also a 5-seater, whereas the Carens seats 7. There are no packaging miracles inside, either. The rear seatback is split 60-40 to create a flat load floor. It can just about swallow a mountain bike with the front wheel off, but the lower half doesn’t fold, slide, or tumble forward like in the Honda Jazz. Young couples with kids will therefore be short on cargo space. With wife and baby in the backseat, the stroller takes up most of the space in the remaining cargo area. There are some hidden compartments under the floor back there, but larger items will have to share the backseat. To its credit, there’s ample leg- and headroom for just those 5 passengers. So travel light, and maybe think about getting those aftermarket roof racks for your stuff.

And then there’s the price. P1.320M for the EX, a little bit less for the LX if you’re willing to forgo those funky speakers, the moonroof, and the rear parking sensors. This is not your el cheapo “people’s car”.

Practicality may be beside the point with the Soul. After all, Kia has got a lot of choices in its lineup for the pragmatist these days. To look at it, to sit in it, and to drive it spiritedly is its own reward with this car. Boxes-on-wheels aren’t supposed to be this much fun, but the Soul proves otherwise.

The Good

• Peppy performance and handling.

• Exuberant styling.

The Bad

• Expensive for what’s essentially a tall wagon.

• Not as roomy as you’d expect.

• A little too much plastic for the interior.

The Verdict

• A 5-door fashion statement for the young and the relatively well-heeled