2017 Kia Soul Review | Unboxing Kia’s Block Star

Once marketed as the poster-child of what Kia was capable of in terms of design, the boxy Soul’s glory days are now behind it with just a single variant available in Australia and the previously available almost-endless personalisation options pared right back.

But the Soul lives on, which is more than can be said for its similarly boxy Toyota Rukus rival. Interestingly though, instead of grooming the upright Soul as a small SUV - a key segment Kia is unrepresented in - the Soul keeps hanging onto its versatile hatch title.

Though it may have been fresh out-of-the-box thinking when it arrived (oh, the irony) the Soul is conspicuously unusual in a market that’s fallen in love with small SUVs

Vehicle Style: Small hatch
Price: $24,990 plus on-road costs
Engine/trans: 112kW/192Nm 2.0-litre 4cyl petrol | 6sp automatic
Fuel Economy Claimed: 8.0 l/100km | Tested: 8.8 l/100km

OVERVIEW

The Kia Soul comes in just one flavour for Australia, the Si automatic, powered by a 2.0-litre petrol engine and with six-speed automatic from $24,990 - a little high as far as entry level small cars go, but not too far off the pace.

The standard equipment list isn’t overstuffed, though there’s not much missing with Bluetooth, power windows, alloy wheels, cruise control, and more as standard though unlike Kia’s newer models the Soul misses out on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity.