Kia Soul, 2010

 

 

•  Kia Soul, 2010

The Edgy and Confident Exterior
The Kia Soul's exterior remains true to the original Kia Soul concept design implying power and strength. With an angled window line, rounded nose, large flared back headlamps and chrome grille, the Kia Soul is given a friendly face and exudes a youthful exuberance for coasting along the beach or cruising downtown city streets, redefining the concept of freedom.
The beltline rises from the front wheel arch to create a gentle wedge shape and continues under and around the rear side window. The rear is dominated by the vertical combination rear lamps set into the body color panel with clear outer lenses. The body and wheel arch crease line extends around the bumper for a tough, not rough, style matching the look from the front.

The State-of-the-Art Interior
In the cabin is where Kia Soul really shows its power to surprise. For those who want a personal lounge on wheels or an efficient cargo carrier with 14 storage zones, Soul has it covered. While Kia Soul offers a relatively small footprint, it offers a surprisingly spacious interior. Passengers will find comfort in the roomy cabin. All five adult passengers will find ingress and egress simple and effortless, credited to tall doors and a high seating position, and each Kia Soul will be able to have its own personality thanks to multiple options for interiors with different colors, fabrics and audio system packages available for selection.

The Soul's interior design is decidedly influenced by the car's highly specified audio system. An uncluttered dashboard with a three-dial instrument cluster, LCD illumination, a floating center stack design is the key visual feature and offers enticing access to the AM/FM/CD/MP3 audio system outfitted with SIRIUS Satellite Radio capabilities and three months complimentary service . Standard auxiliary and USB input jacks also can be found in the center console with full iPod® controllability via the audio head unit and steering wheel controls.

The additional standard interior features include a tilt steering column, power door locks, power windows with driver's side auto-down, map lamps and a rear wiper and washer. Stylishly appointed cloth seats provide comfortable seating while a 60/40 split-folding rear seat offers multiple seating and cargo arrangements depending on driver and passenger needs.

The Advanced Platform/Chassis
The Kia Soul is different, right down to its all-new platform. With its own distinctive style, Soul features front-wheel drive, a high roofline and an unusually long wheelbase. Built on a platform with a wheelbase of 100.4 inches, an overall length of 161.6 inches, an overall width of 70.3 inches and overall height of 63.4 inches the Soul offers a comfortable interior with roomy seating for up to five passengers. With more than 70 percent high-tensile-strength steel to enhance structural strength without adding a lot of weight, the all-new, Kia-engineered body achieves high torsional stiffness, benefiting handling, ride quality and refinement. Additional measures to help ensure good noise vibration and harshness (NVH) qualities are fitted throughout the Kia Soul.

Mounted on the front sub frame that supports the engine and transmission, the Kia Soul is fitted with a fully independent front and twist-beam rear suspension system, with front MacPherson struts and coil springs, designed to deliver responsive handling and an agile ride. In the rear, the Soul suspension is sub-frame-mounted with a transverse torsion beam axle with trailing arms for a smooth ride and minimum intrusion into the cargo space. For optimal space, the rear anti-roll stabilizer bar is mounted inside the torsion beam.

Under-the-Hood Options
The Kia Soul offers an agile, smooth and spirited ride. Its 1.6-liter, four-cylinder engine is mated to a five-speed manual transmission, which produces approximately 120 horsepower. For those looking for a little more power, a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine is available with either the five-speed manual or a four-speed automatic transmission. The latter engine produces approximately 140 horsepower, and is available for Soul+, Soul! and Soul sport. Fuel economy for both engines is estimated at 30 or more miles per gallon.

The Standard Kia Safety Features
The Kia Soul continues to offer the same high level of standard safety equipment as all Kia vehicles, with features such as front seat active headrests, dual front advanced airbags, front seat-mounted and full-length side curtain airbags and a tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS). An antilock brake system (ABS) with electronic brakeforce distribution (EBD), electronic stability control (ESC), and rear disc brakes are standard on Soul+, Soul! and Soul sport models.