Faults:

At 69398 miles, the car would not start after being parked for a couple of hours at a shopping center. Tried to start the car using jumper cables with 2 different cars to no avail. The technician from the road assistance company started troubleshooting and attempting to start the car with a "Jumper Starter" with no success. He correctly concluded the car had a starter problem. The car was towed to the nearest Kia dealership where they confirmed that the starter indeed was at fault. The starter was replaced to the tune of $770 (dealership price, they charged $151/hour plus parts). Starters in general tend to last for over 100,000 miles and more, my other car (2008 Chevy Impala LT) has more than 176,000 miles and its starter still works just fine. So I believe this was an early failure, caused probably by poor Kia component quality.

General Comments:

Cars like this have been the target of the infamous "Kia Boys" car thefts because Kia did not provide an "immobilizer circuit" making the car an easy steal. My car is not compatible with a software update that Kia claims may alleviate the problem, but they did send me a steering lock. Recently I received another letter from Kia Corporate stating that this car's engine (2.0 NU engine) is prone to catastrophic failure. So at this point I do not have a lot of incentive to keep this car for the long term, either because it can get easily stolen or the engine will fail catastrophically without warning. It is a pity because overall the car rides well. But lesson learned, if I can, I will stay away from buying another Kia (or Hyundai).

Faults:

I bought this car used from the local Kia dealer and the next day the check engine light came on. Brought it in to the dealer to get fixed. Found out it was just a software upgrade. Whew!

But what he did tell me was this upgrade could only have been done at the dealership.

It was a "Kia certified" car which means the 10yr/100k mile warranty continues so there was no charge.

So far it has been great... except the mpg; only getting around 20mpg (which is advertised) in the city. I always got over 30mpg with my Honda Fit or 27mpg with my Nissan Note.

Ride/seats very comfy and getting in/out (since I'm a pretty big guy) is very good and it's one of the reasons I bought the car. Utility was second... a lot of room.

I did buy a spare tire and kit because they don't come standard with one and I just didn't feel comfy without one. Kit cost around $200 US on eBay.

General Comments:

Great car... I love it!

Faults:

Absolutely nothing.

General Comments:

We purchased this vehicle for my wife as she was at the time a traveling Hospice Nurse, visiting patients in their home, and we didn't want to put a ton of miles on our family car, a 2012 Toyota Highlander Limited (which we love and is also extremely reliable and comfortable).

After looking at very overpriced used Scion xB's, and Matrix/Vibes, we decided on the Soul, because of the ease of entry/exit, surprising interior room and fuel mileage. It was perfect for her needs.

Now after owning the car for 3 years, and accumulating over 50k miles, we adore this little car. Yes, acceleration is not its strong point, but the simple and inexpensive maintenance, and reliability, more than make up for it. Highly recommend this vehicle.