Kia Soul: End-of-lease review

[phucheneh]

Scion is definitely a pretty fail brand. Instead of trying to compete with Kia/Hyundai and others in the super-budget segment, with the selling point of, 'hey, same money, and it's a Toyota;' they decided to they'd price them higher and let people say 'what the fuck is a Scion?'

Seriously, how do just throw away one of the most respected nameplates in the industry and expect it to help your sales?

 

[Kaido]

VWs in general can quickly become a money pit. As nice as my Dad's A6 is, he's spent a small fortune maintaining it. The TDIs are more expensive to fix but they do last longer than the petrol engines. So far nobody has brought an economical diesel car to North America yet. They all start around $25k.

We loved our New Beetle, but a TON of stuff broke even on lease, and they charged us for most of it - basically anything that wasn't bolt to the frame - 12V plugs, trunk latch, cupholders, you name it. My buddies warned me that the Mexican-made VW's weren't up to the same quality standards as the German-made models and they weren't kidding

Would still love another Beetle though, it was a super fun car, and with the new design I wouldn't mind it being my car (instead of "her" car :biggrin. The 2014 GSR Beetle has a Transformers-style paintjob with a 210hp 6-speed drivetrain:

http://www.autoblog.com/2013/02/07/2014-volkswagen-beetle-gsr-chicago-2013/

 

[Kaido]

Wow, that really is pretty crummy highway mileage! I've got a 2009 Hyundai Sonata, with the 2.0L & automatic, and I routinely get 33-35mpg on the highway, even with the A/C running. I'd probably get better around town, but I tend to put my foot in it too much.....but still get ~24-25 in town, depending on the weather (A/C kills it a little bit, in the Texas heat of summer).

I figure that if I had to, with the cruise control set at ~75mph, I'd still get about 500 miles on a tank of gas, driving rolling terrain (like in the southeast). Of course, I'd pretty much have to have a gas station waiting for me, once I hit 500 miles!

Yup, and it was advertised at either 32 or 34 MPG, I forget. The EPA laid the smack down on them for lying about their numbers, so the new EPA rating of 28 MPG is actually what I got for 3 years straight of mostly highway driving.

However, I really liked the color & design, and 28 MPG was a far cry over my previous cars, so I wasn't too worried about it. It's a box on wheels, I wasn't really expecting super great mileage hehe.

 

[Kaido]

Scion is definitely a pretty fail brand. Instead of trying to compete with Kia/Hyundai and others in the super-budget segment, with the selling point of, 'hey, same money, and it's a Toyota;' they decided to they'd price them higher and let people say 'what the heck is a Scion?'

Seriously, how do just throw away one of the most respected nameplates in the industry and expect it to help your sales?

Well, in most kid's minds, Toyota = Corolla = boringsauce. Or the Camry is the first thing that springs to mind. I've never been crazy about the tC, but the new front-end doesn't look too bad:

http://www.scion.com/cars/tC/gallery/

 

[Kaido]

Hah, the commercial is out for the 2014 model:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsJiGF_Groo

It's growing on me. I think the nose looks too much like a Scion xB tho:

Scion xB (modified)

2014 Kia Soul

But the feature list is great:

* 164 HP 2.0L with 6-speed automatic
* Panaromic roof
* Push-button start (located in a non-dumb area!!)
* Overhauled interior (nice leather!)
* Heated AND cooled seats!
* HID headlights & LED tailights, with blinker side mirrors
* 4.3" display with backup camera

Curious to see:

1. Safety (last model did terrible; hopefully this does well)
2. Do the rear seats fold FLAT? (angled fold-down seats did not make me happy)
3. Better gas milage? (mine hovered around 28 MPG)

I really miss my little Soul. Such a fun little half-wagon. Would like one in black, or maybe red. It looks like it'd be about $26k fully loaded with all the bells & whistles, which sounds expensive for a Kia, but you also get a lot of extremely nice features in a fun package for the money.