The all-new Kia Soul has bolted out of the gate, with its first full month on the market resulting in a total of 12,870 units sold.
Kia’s redesigned boxy crossover comes with three different trims, the Base, Plus and Exclaim.
Most of you are probably already aware that the Exclaim is the top of the line Soul trim level.
What you may not be aware of is the ridiculous amount of standard features that come with this particular model.
It all starts with the 18-inch alloy wheels and continues with the LED positioning lights and LED halo lights found around back.
On the inside you will find such cool upgrades as a cooled glove box, leather wrapping on the steering wheel and gear shift knob, 10-way power-adjustable driver’s seat, and a ton of other goodies that make this Soul an absolute must have.
If you want even more extras, you have to take the “Whole Shabang” package which makes your ride look even more attractive.
The $2,500 package adds features such as cooled driver’s seat, heated rear seats, push-button start with smart key and many others.
The Soul was already a popular nameplate, but there are other big reasons why the new version is proving to be such a big hit.
Let’s take a look at a few of them:
Unique Exterior Design
Kia has done a fantastic job of building a link between its popular concept models and the ones that go to production.
In the case of the 2014 Soul, it was the wildly popular Track’ster concept that served as the inspiration for many of the new design elements.
Kia was actually under some pressure to make the Track’ster a production model, but instead, chose to take some of the cooler elements and put them into the new Soul.
Note: Kia has just announced a “Red Zone” special edition model with some cool styling accessories. Find more details about the Soul limited edition here.
High Quality Interior
One of the biggest complaints about the outgoing model was the quality of the materials used on the interior.
Those have all been given a significant upgrade, which also includes the quality of the available options.
At the top of that list for many people is the 8-inch touch screen, as that will be the largest size ever made available for the Soul. We imagine a lot of those will be chosen by drivers looking to upgrade a little.
New Chassis, Improved Ride And Handling
The all-new chassis that this version of the Soul is built on is 29% stiffer than the outgoing model.
While that may not mean much to the layman, they will definitely fee the difference once they get behind the wheel.
The stronger base and use of Ultra High Strength Steel means that engineers had a stronger base upon which to improve driving dynamics.
The way in which the new Soul handles and steers is drastically improved when compared to the older model.
More Comfortable Ride
Big changes were made to the suspension, particularly in the torsion bar at the rear, which has now been turned vertically and lengthened.
Improvements were also made to the shock absorbers, all of which adds up to a smoother ride, yet one that you can still feel without being jarred out of your seat or deafened whenever you hit a bump in the road.
Related Kia news: Top 5 Soul video reviews
Hey jtz did you get a Wii U with Pikmin 3?
of the 12,870 units sold, 7,402 was the 2014 model, 5,468 the 2013 model
In Canada: 428 sold of the 2013 model and 198 of the 2014 model.