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Kia adds refinement and maturity to its funky crossover without leaching out the charm. Still flawed dynamically

Like your most tragic greying uncle rocking out to The Rolling Stones at a family wedding, Kia Motors can claim to have been into supermini crossovers since long before they became fashionable.

And yet the second-generation Kia Soul follows a car that, despite having a head start on the likes of the Renault Captur, Vauxhall MokkaNissan Juke and Ford Ecosport, failed to pull up many trees in European sales terms.

The Soul’s insurance group ratings haven’t landed yet, but Kia expects them to improve versus the outgoing car. That’ll be critical for younger clientele

Now that the new crop of competition has arrived, Kia can ill-afford for the Soul to be so marginalised in one of the market’s fastest growing niches, so it has duly aimed for smarter styling, better quality, a more mature drive and a higher kit count this time around.

Like the previous Soul, this new one was designed in California primarily for the US market of 20-something college-goers. The irony is that, in the UK at least, the last car found more homes with customers the age of the parents those college-goers were so desperate to leave behind. Kia insists the new version's added material richness, refinement and polish will make it more palatable to Europeans of all ages.

The car has a new platform based on that of the larger Kia Ceed hatchback and a much more rigid body-in-white. More sophisticated suspension and steering arrangements are alleged to deliver much better ride and handling and improved sound insulation is employed to make for a quieter cabin.

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Meanwhile, the car is slightly larger and more roomy than it was, has more upmarket interior fixtures and fittings. On the standard equipment front, there are four trims to choose from - 1, 2, 3 and Sport.

Entry-level models come with 16in alloys, front foglights, roof rails, privacy glass and keyless entry and start as standard on the outside, while inside there is air conditioning, USB and Bluetooth connectivity, DAB radio and a trip computer. Upgrade to the 2 trimmed models and you will find the Soul adorned with 17in alloy wheels, heated door mirrors, cruise control, rear parking sensors, climate control, and automatic headlights, as well as Kia's 7.0in touchscreen infotainment system complete with sat nav, smartphone integration and reversing camera.

Opting for the mid-range Soul '3' garnishes the car with 18in alloy wheels, front parking sensors, more chrome, leather upholstery and an 8.0in touchscreen infotainment system complete with an eight speaker JBL audio system. While the range-topping Sport trim adds 18in alloy wheels, 17in front brake discs, LED front foglights, a panoramic sunroof, xenon headlights, heated front and rear seats, and numerous safety systems.

A trio of 1.6-litre powerplants make up the engine offering: a cheaper direct-injection petrol unit with 130bhp and a 134bhp turbodiesel, with the range completed with a turbocharged 1.6 petrol producing 201bhp, also found in the Procee'd GT. Both are available with six-speed manual, while the seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmissions is the reserve of the turbocharged petrol and diesel.

The manual diesel shows evidence of Kia's investment mostly by way of class-competitive cabin quality and equipment level, improved occupant space and decent mechanical refinement.

Kia's Soul could rival a Skoda Yeti on outright headroom, and while rear cabin space and cargo volume aren’t quite in the Skoda’s league, they’re still good for the smallest crossover class. The fascia could afford to be richer and more colourful, though. It still under-delivers on character relative to the esoteric exterior styling but the quality and finish of the Kia is up to the prevailing class standard.

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The diesel engine is as good as most of a similar size on performance, noise and response. It's a little bit off the pace on efficiency, but well capable of a day-to-day 45mpg. Expect that to be slightly poorer in the case of the torque-converter automatic, which we’ve yet to have a chance to sample.

The cheaper 1.6-litre petrol looks conspicuously short on mid-range torque on paper, and would be unlikely to better 40mpg in real-world use – although confirming that will likewise have to wait until we’ve had the opportunity to test one.

The Soul’s chassis has evidently been tuned to feel energetic and lively in order to chime with the tastes of the youthful customers who bought the first-generation car. So it’s stiff. It's also upright and quite directionally responsive to steering inputs, but a little too disposed to fidget and ping over bad surfaces than is ideal.

A re-specification of the suspension for a gentler, better-damped gait would solve that, but isn’t on the cards. The Soul has already been through a retuning program for Europe, Kia Motors Europe says. No more likely is a reappraisal of the power steering tune to suit UK tastes, unfortunately; it feels always light and offers little feedback.

Overall, you’d say Kia has made some of the changes needed in order to turn the Soul into proper competition for the burgeoning new ‘B-SUV’ set, but has left a couple of bases unguarded – and they’re important ones.

This is a practical, well finished, well priced and perfectly habitable car with plenty of kerbside appeal – but it does lack a clinching selling point next to the even more extravagant Juke, the pragmatic Yeti and the chic Renault Captur.

Proper alternative charm deserves to earn the Soul greater success than many of the bandwagon entrants it’s suddenly up against, mind you – but it’s likely to remain a bit-part player in Europe.

 

Matt Saunders

Matt Saunders Autocar
Title: Road test editor

As Autocar’s chief car tester and reviewer, it’s Matt’s job to ensure the quality, objectivity, relevance and rigour of the entirety of Autocar’s reviews output, as well contributing a great many detailed road tests, group tests and drive reviews himself.

Matt has been an Autocar staffer since the autumn of 2003, and has been lucky enough to work alongside some of the magazine’s best-known writers and contributors over that time. He served as staff writer, features editor, assistant editor and digital editor, before joining the road test desk in 2011.

Since then he’s driven, measured, lap-timed, figured, and reported on cars as varied as the Bugatti Veyron, Rolls-Royce PhantomTesla RoadsterAriel Hipercar, Tata Nano, McLaren SennaRenault Twizy and Toyota Mirai. Among his wider personal highlights of the job have been covering Sebastien Loeb’s record-breaking run at Pikes Peak in 2013; doing 190mph on derestricted German autobahn in a Brabus Rocket; and driving McLaren’s legendary ‘XP5’ F1 prototype. His own car is a trusty Mazda CX-5.

Kia Soul 2014-2019 First drives