Faults:

Some corrosion on the front alloys; I will bring this up when it is in for a service, and see what the dealer will do. The rest of the car is fault free.

General Comments:

Great safety kit with lots of airbags, ESP and a five star crash rating (hope we never test it out though).

Car seems pretty well built, and at eight months of ownership, my wife is pretty happy with the quality. We were a bit worried moving from Toyota to Kia, but our fears seem unfounded.

For someone shorter than average, the driving position is very good with comfortable (though firm) seating and a commanding view of the road.

Car has plenty of low down pull, but is a bit breathless at high motorway speeds. About 37 mpg in mixed driving seems pretty good, and is consistent over time.

Faults:

None.

General Comments:

We were given a Soul as a courtesy car whilst our Picanto went in for a service. My wife asked for a 'small' car, and when she saw the Soul, got quite worried. For a vehicle in the mini-SUV category, this car looked huge. Once she started to drive, she quickly settled, and after that decided she wanted one - that was a year ago.

Now we have a MY10 Soul, the difference between this and MY11 Soul is the bluetooth for the phone, trip computer and a few other 'toys' now fitted as standard. We have a Soul 2 in White, which looks really nice.

I like the high driving position; the downside to this is the quite harsh ride, necessary to prevent body roll, but you get used to it. This apparently is worse on the 18" wheels.

The boot takes a week's shopping.

Usual things are as standard: automatic air-con, alloys (on 2 and above), decent radio with I-pod/aux input, front and rear fogs etc.

Too new to establish fuel economy, but at 3000 miles, no rattles, squeaks or problems.

Faults:

The car is too new to have problems, the only thing is I scratched it in the parking lot, but it was fixed very well. The repair was a little bit on the expensive side, for the size of the scratch.

General Comments:

The car is great, the driving position is like an SUV, you have a commanding position from there (I was used to driving only cars). My Kia Soul has 18 inch wheels, and the ride is a little bit hard, but is acceptable.

The nice thing of the suspension is when you drive on the corners, for its height the Kia Soul is great, the ESP controls the car wonderfully, and you can take fast corners.

The electronics inside are good, although in my country, bluetooth is not an option. iPod connectivity is nice, and the sound of the stereo is good.

The inside space is generous, you'll notice when you drive other cars, the steering wheel is soft and is designed to be more comfortable than to give feedback to the driver. The space in the trunk is OK, for long travels it's adequate for two people. Mine doesn't come with the floor organizer, and I think it's better.

My Kia Soul has 1.6L engine, and works adequately, but is not a sports car. With automatic transmission, its ride is very smooth. In mountain terrain it's good, but in rough surfaces, you will notice bumps.

Now the best part its style, the Kia Soul is very different, inside the dashboard is very clean and easy to use, with the 18 inch wheels looking very handsome, and it has a very sporty look.