What’s it like?
Kia has a number of small and compact crossovers, including the Stonic, Niro and Sportage models, but in and amongst those the Korean firm has also sold three generations of the boxy-looking Soul. Kind of an Asian alternative to the now defunct but much-loved Skoda Yeti, the second-generation Soul was sold between 2013 and 2019 and came with three forms of motive power: petrol, diesel and electric.
With a high-quality and typically well-equipped cabin, plenty of spaciousness, a sizeable boot and pleasant driving manners, the Soul has a sort of charisma that most SUVs can’t quite match. Rivals for the Kia include not only its trio of stablemates and the ideologically similar Yeti, but also the likes of the Peugeot 2008, Opel Mokka, Renault Captur, Ford Puma, Hyundai Kona, Fiat 500X and SEAT Arona, among many more B-segment crossovers.
Which model to go for?
By far the most common example of the Mk2 Kial Soul you will find on the used market is the turbodiesel. The 1.6-litre CRDi ruled the roost in terms of showroom new-car sales back in the late 2010s, and with its 128hp and 260Nm, it’s a pleasant enough thing to drive.
It was later (from late 2014-on) marginally uprated to 136hp and 300Nm, but in either format it drives the front wheels only through either a six-speed manual transmission, or an automatic. For the 128hp cars, this was a six-speed auto; for the 136hp models, it was upgraded to a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission (DCT). In any version, expect 0-100km/h in around 11 seconds.
The CRDi was more rewarding to drive than the petrol version because of its turbocharged torque, as the solitary petrol we got here was a 1.6-litre unit which made do without turbocharging. This meant 124-132hp, but the torque was a lot lower at 156-161Nm. Again, manual and automatic gearboxes were available, but petrol Souls are far rarer in Ireland than the diesels.
There was, briefly, a turbocharged petrol option called the Kia Soul Sport, a mad piece of product planning which dropped the 204hp engine from the Kia Ceed GT into the front of the upright SUV. This could do 0-100km/h in 7.5 seconds, but it was never sold officially in Ireland so if you find one, it will be an import from the UK – where it wasn’t massively popular, either.
The final powertrain option for the second-gen Soul was the fully electric EV. It was a shorter-range electric car, only coming with a 27kWh battery pack at first, which was increased to a 30kWh unit for the 2018 model year. There was 150-180km of range from either of these, although those theoretical numbers will likely be eroded by the Soul EV’s age in the mid-2020s, but as an intriguing alternative to the petrol and diesel norms, it’s a quirky zero-emission machine.
Spotting an electric Soul won’t be difficult, as it has a different front bumper and blanked-off radiator ‘grille’ panel to the combustion-powered cars, to improve its aerodynamic efficiency.
Does anything go wrong?
There are no significant issues with the second-generation Kia Soul, although the diesel might suffer with particular-filter-blockage issues if it is one that has been used for lots of short-distance, low-speed journeys during its life. But as Kia Souls were mainly used in urban and semi-urban environments – this is especially true of the electric Soul – then what you’re looking at is the exterior condition of the car. Watch for scuffed bumpers, dented panels and kerbed alloys as the main negatives on used examples.
Kia issued five recalls for this generation of the Soul, which pertained to potential for a short-circuit and risk of fire in the battery management system of the electric Soul; unintended vehicle movement, even with the car in ‘park’, if the parking brake was not manually operated, again relating to the EV and only when the car is charging; frontal impact sensors not activating the airbags; defective software possibly impairing the function of the brake booster; and a loose connection between the steering rod and steering box.