The Kia Soul is the Last Box Standing

"ethan drives dumb cars" (helloroad) 01/02/2020 at 20:55 • Filed to: kia soul gt line, kia soul turbo, kia soul, scion xb

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This is the 2020 Kia Soul GT Line, the top of the line model with the 1.6L turbo motor. It’s pretty quick. It’s unique. It’s insanely practical. And I kind of love it!

I’ll be quite honest—I was extremely excited when this little box on wheels was dropped off in front of my house. I’ve been making car and travel videos for the last two years, and I’ve grown my !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! to the point where I’m slowly breaking into the wonderful world of press cars.

Perhaps jaded automotive journalists wouldn’t be all that excited to see a Kia econobox show up at their doorstep, but I was undeniably giddy. This Kia Soul was just the third press car I’ve received. More importantly, I’m a huge fan of boxes on wheels. I still own and love my !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , so I was looking forward to experiencing what is now the last of the box cars available in the United States.

Cubes on wheels were relatively popular in the mid to late 2000s, driven mostly by the popularity of the Scion xB. But this class of vehicle was mostly gone a decade later. The Honda Element kicked the bucket in 2011, the Nissan Cube bit the dust in 2014, and the Scion xB faded away in 2015.

The Kia Soul is the last box standing. Introduced in 2009, it has gone on to be one of Kia’s best selling cars. If you’re wondering why the anthropomorphic hamsters were always dancing in Kia Soul commercials, its because they were dancing on the grave of the Scion xB.

This top of the range GT Line Turbo has the same 1.6L turbocharged engine and dual clutch transmission found in the previous Soul Turbo model. It’s fast, it’s fun, it’s practical, but it’s not without a few quirks.

If you’re a fan of box cars and have a few minutes to spare, please check out my full review of the Soul GT Line Turbo below. I conduct a thorough review of the car, drive it around the canyons outside of Los Angeles, and then take it on a little road trip to the Korean Bell of Friendship in San Pedro, California. Box cars FTW!

DipodomysDeserti > ethan drives dumb cars 01/02/2020 at 21:04

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[laughs in Jeep]

facw > ethan drives dumb cars 01/02/2020 at 21:08

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I guess it’s dying (dead?) anyway, but isn’t the Flex a box?

ranwhenparked > ethan drives dumb cars 01/02/2020 at 21:11

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I think Kia’s secret, aside from a marque with more mainstream appeal than Scion, is that they’ve kept the formula consistent. The second generation xB was such a dramatic change from the first one, moving up a full size class, that it totally alienated existing xB owners without attracting enough new buyers to replace them.

With the Soul, Kia has evolved it carefully over 3 generations, taking care to preserve what people have always liked about it without making too drastic of a change. The gradual drop off of all competitors has certainly helped, too. 

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > ethan drives dumb cars 01/02/2020 at 21:19

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[scoffs in Italian]

SiennaMan > ranwhenparked 01/02/2020 at 21:21

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I think this is right, but the other thing worth mentioning is price.  If you are ok with the box styling,  the Soul gives you SUV cargo capacity for a similar or lower price than a small sedan..  

dogisbadob > ethan drives dumb cars 01/02/2020 at 21:23

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Too bad no more panoramic sunroof :(

And you can’t get the cool colors in the good models (orange, yellow, and of course the signature Kia Soul Green)

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > ethan drives dumb cars 01/02/2020 at 22:05

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I really like the Soul as well. I’ve liked the styling of the Soul from the first gen, and it’s only gotten better IMO. In fact looking back I really dislike the first gen now, because he newer ones looks so much better. 

I think part of the reason for it’s success is as simple as the fact that’s Kia calls it a Corssover. It has no cladding, no AWD, and no off road pretense at all, but if you ask Kia the Soul is a crossover, not a Hatchback. This is a lie. But I think it’s an effective lie.

I do wish the Turbo could be had with a manual, and more color options than  red, white, and black.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > facw 01/02/2020 at 22:07

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It is boxy, but I think he meant more the stubby, skinny, small tall hatchbacks. 

facw > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 01/02/2020 at 22:11

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I’d agree, but he listed the Element, which isn’t a stubby skinny tall hatchback. If just the other three were listed, I think that’s a more consistent grouping.

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo 01/02/2020 at 22:15

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I should say that I do like the Soul.  Not a huge fan of the new one, but the old one was a really solid car for the money.

ethan drives dumb cars > ranwhenparked 01/02/2020 at 23:55

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Totally agree. Second gen xB was a fine car but it didn’t have many of the things that made the first gen so special . The Element was quite good but Honda left it to wither on the vine. In contrast, Kia made small but necessary changes when everyone else threw in the towel.

ethan drives dumb cars > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo 01/02/2020 at 23:56

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You’re right, the Renegade is also a CUV (cute utility vehicle)

ethan drives dumb cars > facw 01/02/2020 at 23:57

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Yes I suppose you could lump the Flex into this category. It’s like an xB for grown ups. I not so secretly want an Ecoboost Flex...

ethan drives dumb cars > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 01/03/2020 at 00:02

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Same. This third gen is my favorite of the Soul designs. Took me a while to get accustom to the rear end of this thing, but I dig it. I want a Kermit green GT Line Turbo with a manual. If it weren’t for the DCT I’d own one.

Kia also calls the Niro a “crossover” which makes my eye twitch a little bit.

SmugAardvark > ethan drives dumb cars 01/03/2020 at 00:26

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The fact that the Cube made it all the way to 2014 in America was kind of surprising.

-Signed, a guy that daily drives a Cube.

SmugAardvark > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo 01/03/2020 at 00:28

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And by extension...

Mike > ethan drives dumb cars 01/03/2020 at 00:28

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I love both of our Souls they’re infinitely practical making great use of interior space. They’ve both been bulletproof reliable. The only improvements I could ask for are AWD, (we live in the mountains of Utah, and I would love to see their 2.0 liter motor with the turbocharger instead, or maybe in addition to, the 1.6 liter. Other than those small desires this is a perfect car for my young daughters as a first drive. I've been very impressed with KIA's build quality as well.

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > SmugAardvark 01/03/2020 at 00:39

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Not quite as boxy... but I’ll allow it haha

SmugAardvark > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo 01/03/2020 at 01:04

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I like to think of it as a box that someone just left out in the rain. And so it melted down a bit and got frumpy.

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > ethan drives dumb cars 01/03/2020 at 06:21

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The Soul has never been popular in Oz: too expensive and not a decent driveline package for that coin . So much so that they aren’t bothering with this new generation at all... except perhaps for the EV version as an upmarket take on the Niro.

Meanwhile, they sell quite a lot of the smaller Picanto and the new Seltos has started well too.

Dusty Ventures > SmugAardvark 01/03/2020 at 07:11

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Does yours have the “Santa’s merkin” option on the dash?

The Ghost of Oppo > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 01/03/2020 at 09:15

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That’s an excellent point.  I wonder if the Golf would sell better if VW called it a Jetta Crossover

CalzoneGolem > ethan drives dumb cars 01/03/2020 at 09:20

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We have a 2020 Base with a 2.0 that we bought to replace a 2013 Base with a 1.6 that we passed down to our daughter. Both autos and I gotta say the cvt in the 2020 is pretty nice but it’s funny when it pretends to have gears. In sport mode it’s pretty responsive.

My wife wasn’t sold on the styling but she was never really sold on the 2013's styling. One highway merge with that 2.0 and she was sold.

https://oppositelock.kinja.com/tag/punkin-spice  

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > The Ghost of Oppo 01/03/2020 at 09:21

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That’s basically the Alltrack and I see more of those than regular Golfs. 

The Ghost of Oppo > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 01/03/2020 at 09:41

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Which surprises me because I’ve always assumed Americans stay away from hatches because of the stigma of “ station wagons” , and the Alltrack looks more like a wagon than the Golf.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > The Ghost of Oppo 01/03/2020 at 10:24

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But some Americans love the Subaru Outback. And the Alltrack is just a smaller(same size as the first one) Outback.

The Ghost of Oppo > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 01/03/2020 at 10:45

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But some smart Americans love the Subaru Outback.

Fixed it

ZHP Sparky, the 5th > ethan drives dumb cars 01/03/2020 at 13:26

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Subscribed to your YouTube channel. Haven’t watched anything yet but I see a great variety in your content - hope you’ll be able to keep that up as your channel grows! It’s nice seeing unexpected content instead of all the reviewers releasing videos of the same cars that embargoes get lifted on at the exact same time. Oh look, great - 15 videos on the new Sonata! I’m probably going to watch the one guy who just dumped a  video on the old Camry wagon instead.

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > ethan drives dumb cars 01/03/2020 at 13:31

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I had one of these hateful little shitboxes foisted upon me at the rental counter for the trip from Wichita, KS , to Minnetonka, MN and back. For my 5'5" frame these seats were the most ill-proportioned torture devices ever created by man. The front of the seat sticks too far forward and has an incredibly tight radius on it to give the effect of a knife-edge jabbing into the rear of my knee no matter how I adjusted the seats.

Also the lane-keeping was awful, the transmission sucked, and auto start-stop is enabled by default every time you turn the car on and if you forget to push the button to turn it off it’s INCREDIBLY intrusive.

Plus side: the speaker system was more than adequate and Android Auto worked flawlessly.

ethan drives dumb cars > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 01/03/2020 at 14:28

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Ah bummer! On the plus side, “Hateful Little Shitboxes ” is a great album name if you ever decide to release some music.

ethan drives dumb cars > ZHP Sparky, the 5th 01/03/2020 at 14:35

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Thank you! Hope you dig the videos. Yeah it doesn’t make sense for me to try to play the same game as the more established automotive channels. More new car reviews coming soon, but most likely way after embargoes lift . And of course I’m a fan of weird shit so more of that coming soon. My current wishlist: Subaru XT, Beretta Z26, Suzuki Swift GTI...

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > ethan drives dumb cars 01/03/2020 at 17:20

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For what it’s worth it was fine transportation other than the seat thing and  a massive upgrade over the second gen.

SmugAardvark > Dusty Ventures 01/03/2020 at 19:05

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Haha, no. Mine is long gone. It was too awkward of an angle to rub my tushy on.