KIA Soul

While the Kia Soul has all the funkiness and modernity on the outside, the approach towards the interior is comparatively a bit toned down. However, there is a touch of funkiness in the cabin, which carries a round-themed all-black cabin with satin chrome inserts.

The steering wheel, with its round-themed buttons and satin silver finish for the lower spoke feels nice to hold, while the instrument console, though slightly dated in its appeal, is pretty informative. The round theme is carried out for the main centre console, which houses an 8-inch touchscreen infotainment system along with AC vents above it.

The lower centre console also has a rounded theme for the buttons of dual-zone automatic climate control, while the transmission tunnel is finished in a gloss black theme. For its price and positioning, the Kia Soul is generously equipped with modern features like power, heated and ventilated front seats, a sunroof and a head-up display. The cabin too feels spacious and has enough room for five people.

The Kia Soul is a very unique and a bit quirky SUV to look at – there are no two ways about it. The tall stance and almost-box-like design might give it a traditional Japanese kei car look, though it has its own set of quirky design elements which sets it apart from the rest. However, not all will develop a good taste for this unique design of the Soul, making it a subjective thing.

At the front, the Kia Soul has a very sleek design for the traditional ‘tiger-nose’ grille, which extends towards the horizontally-stretches full LED headlamps, which look sleek too. The front bumper looks muscular with its massive trapezoidal air dam with gloss black surrounds and inserts and angular housings for the daytime running LEDs and fog lamps on its corners.

From the side, the Kia Soul looks tall and boxy, and thanks to the large 18-inch alloy wheels and high ground clearance, it looks SUV-ish too. The angular A-pillar and almost vertical C-pillar look very interesting. Also, the angular window panels and rounded wheel arches with smooth contours over them add some more character to the side profile of the Soul.

It is at the rear where the visual drama is at its highest in the Kia Soul, with huge boomerang-shaped LED tail lamps placed beside the large curvy windscreen, which also houses a body-coloured panel between the lower edges of the tail lamps. The entire windscreen is a part of the frameless rear hatch, while the Soul also gets a huge rear bumper with C-shaped air curtains on its corners.

Due to its boxy design and stance, there is a bit of body roll which can be felt while driving the Kia Soul at higher speeds. However, the suspension of this compact SUV is well-tuned to take on bad roads with ease and offer a plush ride quality, especially in urban conditions.

There are two petrol-powered engine options offered in the Kia Soul – a 1.6-litre petrol and a 2.0-litre petrol. While the 1.6-litre petrol engine claims 123 PS of power and 151 Nm of torque, the 2.0-litre petrol engine produces 152 PS of power and 192 Nm of torque. A 6-speed automatic gearbox is standard for both powertrain options, though the 1.6-litre engine also offers a 6-speed manual gearbox.

For safety, Kia has equipped the Soul with modern features like front and rear parking sensors, six airbags, hill start assist, vehicle stability control, traction control, ABS and EBD and a reverse camera. The top-spec variants come with more advanced safety features like blind spot collision warning, rear cross-traffic collision warning, parking distance warning (forward) and a rearview monitor.

While the Kia Soul’s quirky design language might not appeal to everyone, this is surely one attention-grabbing vehicle, while faring well in other aspects like performance, ride quality and features.