Recommend me a good commuter car *HOLY SH*T UPDATE*

[Kaido]

Those Kia Souls are fun cars. Sucks what happened, but at least you got a new car out of it. It should last fairly long as long as you remember to keep up on your maintenance.

I got 40k out of mine (before lease-end) with only oil changes & tire rotations, great car :thumbsup:

 

[Kaido]

Got the 2013 Kia Soul+ 6-speed Automatic 4-door with 164 hp @ 6500 rpm in Titanium (let's call it gray) Exterior / Black Cloth Interior (other colors looks horrid).

16" tires. 6.5" ground clearance, 162" length, 26mpg combined average mpg.

It has the word soul written all over the seats--kinda cheesy. Came with the auto package, adds auto headlights, door speakers that change color to the music (stupid add-on), rear-view camera, remote start, fog lights.

MSRP was $20,229.00. I paid $17,211.06 ($100 above invoice and haggling) - $5000 down = $12,211.06+tax. Got 1.9% financing for 60 mos. With tax and other crap, monthly payments are $220*60. On top of that, I got 1-year free maintenance (buibs, oil changes, tire rotations, wipers, etc) and loaner car if if it needs 2 hours or more of work.

The deal was done about 2-minutes before closing, they didn't have time to fill it up, so the manger just handed me a $40 sunoco gift card instead, he wanted to go home.

Didn't want leather or navigation or moon-roof.....less crap to break.

Ride is pretty good, you do feel every bump, but it turns real well and there isn't too much road noise. I wasn't expecting the comfort/ride of a Lexus but so far, so good. Acceleration is acceptable, was able to beat out a tractor trailer entering the highway.

Rear view camera is awesome, makes parking simple. Like bluetooth and have a usb connection. Long term, we'll have to see. Can't wait for our first snowstorm to see how it rides 🙂

>Have to do something with the seats, the word soul all over the place looks crazy.
>Thinking about removing the "soul" and "kia" logo off the rear.
>I made the dealership take off there logo.

Yeah, it is a fairly stiff ride. My wife liked the car (not as much as me), but that was always her main complaint, next to the blind spots. Other than that, no complaints. It was a bit stiff for me, but the handling was so good, it was worth it!

I'm amazed at how much wiggle room their salesman have. I think my Soul was a couple grand more than our Fit lease at the time, but almost $40 less per month because they beat out Honda for a second Fit lease quote. Yay!

As far as snow performance - great in snow up 40 MPH. Then the rear-end starts bobbing, it's weird (not quite fishtailing, just...bobbing). With the great traction control, it makes it feel like you're driving through mud. I made it into work every single day that I went in throughout our nasty New England winter this past year. Easily the best car I've ever driven in the snow.

If my '99 Escort coupe ever blows up, I'd seriously think about getting another one. Even my wife misses it 🙂 (although she wants a red one)