Literally would rather own anything over a Soul. Even a lowly Prius because at least that gets 50 mpg and it's Toyota quality.

 

I never thought I'd say this, but I really dig the Prius.

My wife is a non-car person who wanted only two things from a car: absolute reliability and great gas mileage. We got a used '10 Prius, and I liked it myself much, much better than I thought. I'd driven a 2nd gen Prius as a service loaner and I thought it was dreadful. Slow, loud, a tin can on the highway. To my surprise, the 3rd gen looked the same but behaved much better in every way. So much so, I ended up recommending and locating another one for a friend's kid, who loves the economy and is pleasantly shocked at being able to stuff near-CUV quantities of college gear into the back. And unlike the new Prius, it even has enough rear seat room for grown-up passengers. Especially for its time, it was a remarkable engineering achievement.

 

My understanding is the 3rd gen Soul engine is not related to the previous engine- I may be mistaken, time will tell. As far as what was previously stated, this is a utilitarian vehicle, nothing fancy, just to get one from point A to point B. In doing so, this vehicle for us so far is working out just fine. Has all the safety features along with good MPG and plenty of room considering its size.

 

Best of luck to you. In terms of space efficiency, style and bang for the buck, the Soul is hard to beat.

 

i know a few people with kia souls. they LOVE LOVE them.

 

Absolutely. My brother would probably still be in his, instead of a Sportage, except that he wanted AWD. The Soul's FWD wasn't very effective in slick conditions, especially with the standard Korean Kumho tires.

The Soul admittedly had many virtues, particularly in space-efficiency, but one thing that undoubtedly also helped was Kia's marketing campaign for it, based on image. The Hamster-theme was especially effective....and Kia made sure that the theme was even in the showroom. The dealership my brother bought his Soul from had one in the showroom wrapped in a bow and with four giant stuffed-hamsters in it.....just like in the ads. (That dealership, BTW, was owned by His own Congressman).

 

They seem to have a huge following for those who like these cars. I always compared them to the Toyota/Scion xB or whatever it was called. Similar fanfare, but Toyota messed up and made an awful 2nd Gen then abandoned it completely.

 

One reason Scion pulled the xB was that, despite its own admitted popularity, it simply couldn't compete with the Soul in sales. This is not necessarily fact, but my own opinion was that one thing that prevented some sales is that both the 1Gen and 2Gen versions of the xB were saddled with those cost-cutting center-stack gauges that make the driver look to the right for everything instead of straight ahead behind the steering wheel. A lot of drivers, including me, don't like that.

 

Bumped this thread to say that my brother's ex-girl friend just bought a (slightly used) 2023 Soul with low-mileage on it, and just loves it. Even though it is a subcompact and not really designed for long-distance cruising, she drives it from the D.C. area to Richmond and back on I-95 to see her family and is very pleased with how it drives.