KIA’s New-Age Beat Is Soul-ful
Bright new colors, more planted stance,interior upgrades, direct-injection engines improve Soul for 2014.
By John Gilbert
The hamsters are back, bobbing their heads in trendy rhythm as they avoid more humdrum vehicles that insist on sharing the roadways with the Kia Soul, and it’s a welcome and comforting cast that has become as trendy as the little square car itself. Almost.
Revised and upgraded engines, with gasoline direct-injection in both the base 1.6 and upgraded 2.0-liter 4-cylinders, plus revised and improved suspension systems for better stability and handling, and a stiffer platform with lighter and stronger body components, makes for a deceptively improved driving experience. The first Soul was neat and trendy; the 2014 model is neat, trendy, and significantly improved as a driver’s car.
Over its five-year lifespan, the Soul has become bigger than even Kia imagined, and the revised 2014 model proves Kia has finally maneuvered around to take advantage of its trendiness. For example, Kia picked Minneapolis as the site for introducing the new Soul, because Minneapolis seems to be the hot ticket in surveys of trendy places to live and visit. The introduction was held at the trendy Graves 601 Hotel, which is across the street from the legendary First Avenue nightclub made trendy as an enduring music venue by Prince, an iconic hometown hero.
Such symbolism, and the similar but longer-wider-more-refined car itself, indicates the remarkable popularity of the Soul can only increase with the new generation.
Kia can be excused for questioning the Soul’s identity, and even its own during its whirlwind rise in popularity, which pretty well parallels the lifespan of the Soul. For example, even company executives were unable to provide a satisfactory answer to whether it should be “Kia,” or “KIA,” because the corporate logo of the South Korean automaker is in all cap letters. Similarly, Kia seemed uncertain where it stood back in December of 2008, when it introduced the somewhat bizarre squarish subcompact called the Soul.
At that time, at a fancy hotel on the Miami coastline, the Soul had to share the spotlight with Britney Spears, who was shielded from the masses by an entourage of security forces and policemen trying to protect the budding media star. And we mean Ms. Spears, not the new little square car from Kia. However, in the five years since, it’s anybody’s guess which one’s identity has proven more popular and enduring, but that’s another story.
The original Soul introduction made media stars out of some weird little furry cartoonish hamsters, using them liberally as a bopping bunch of critters rhythmically driving along in traffic in the ad campaign. Obviously, the intent was to try to lure a younger batch of customers, but Kia seemed unsure and maybe even embarrassed that its tangential move might be going too far. At subsequent car introduction, officials even apologized, saying not to worry, there would be no more hamsters. I argued with company executives that the hamsters were not only a clever and memorable symbol, but the furry critters might be more iconic than the car itself. It took time, but the hamsters returned.
More symbolism, perhaps, just as when the thriving Hyundai automotive operation took over a struggling Kia in 1998. Nobody, even the South Koreans, knew that Hyundai engineers were only a few years from drivetrain breakthroughs, so Kia fortuitously was in position to share a new generation of high-tech engines and transmissions, to say nothing of style. Over the last five years, the South Korean partners have taken the auto world by storm in a two-pronged rush from mediocrity to the upper regions of automotive excellence.
In almost every case, from subcompacts (Rio/Accent) to compacts (Forte/Elantra) to midsize (Optima/Sonata) to entry-luxury (Cadenza/Genesis), including some coupes, and in SUVs from compact (Sportage/Tucson) to midsize Sorento/Santa Fe), Kia models offer at least technical reflections to its Hyundai counterparts. Often, because Kia hired former Audi designer Peter Schreyer, Kia’s designs often were more attractive to many consumers. Despite similarities at every segment, the Soul stands alone. Hyundai has luxury cars such as the Equus and Genesis that Kia doesn’t have, but Hyundai doesn’t have a Soul, so to speak, or any remotely similar box.
Familar and distinctive boxy rear gives Soul extra versatility.
Marketing vice president Michael Sprague, speaking at the 2014 Soul introduction in Minneapolis, said: “We thought we might sell as many as 40 or 50,000 Souls a year at first, but since its introduction as a 2009 model, the Soul has been wildly popular. It became one of our three most popular vehicles, along with the Optima and Sorento, and in the last year, we sold 115,778 Souls. And we were contstrained by production limitations.”
Ralph Tjoa, who was born in Chicago, describes himself as a history major at UCLA who always has had a passion for cars. He seized an opportunity to go to work for Kia in product planning in 1999, a year after Kia had joined up with Hyundai. He describes the Soul as Kia’s first vehicle created uniquely for Kia.
“It’s lovable and classical,” Tjoa said. “When you look at cars such as the Volkswagen Beetle, or the Porsche 911, they are iconic because they maintain their identity from generation to generation, and that’s what we’re aiming for with the Soul. Everyone has a practical side for what they need, and an emotional side for what they want. Unlike most other vehicles in the marketplace, the Soul appeals to both practical and emotional sides.”
The introduction brought a herd of Souls down the Mississippi River bank to downtown Waseca, MN.
True, with a base price of $14,400, the Soul is “for people having fun,” Tjoa said. “It’s positioned in the heart of the marketplace, and it’s practical for students and their parents. It also appeals to both menand women. Guys like things like the audio system, and the room to haul things; women like the safety, and the room, plus features like mood lighting. A lot of people want a mid-level car but they want upgraded features, and we have a great sound system with out Infinity upgrade, and connectivity for things like iPhones, iPods, and rear cameras.”
The boxy shape indeed caters to versatility, and makes for an excellent sound studio, starting with the basic “Base” model, or going up to the Plus, or the Exclaim. Upgrading from the quite good standard audio system, the Infinity system has 10 speakers in eight locations, including rear coaxials, the better to pump the available 350 watts out. Upgrading also gets larger wheels, up from 16 to 17 or, on the Exclaim, to 18 inches.
New fabrics, electronics and instrument layout improves the Soul edriving nvironment.
Everything on the inside is more pleasing to the touch, with softer materials, four heated seats available in leather, and the whole instrument and control layout follows more of a circular theme. Some important information that can be summoned to the center stack nav screen also comes on the panel in the center of the instrument pod.
While it is more pleasing to drive and ride in, with its LED mood lights pulsing in rhythm to the amplifier’s hamster-friendly beat, the Soul feels more solid, with improved insulation from road and wind noise, and more planted, with its improved suspension and steering feel. Less obvious are the ride and drive benefits from the new chassis and the new engine applications.
With 35 percent of the new body made of ultra-high-strength steel, and 31 percent more of high-strength steel, the new Soul shows a 66 percent total restructuring of high or ultra-high. The front A-pillars are now thinner, for improved forward visibility, and because they are made of high-grade steel they are both lighter and stronger. That equates to a better-planted feel, too, and the added suspension bushings on the suspension, more vertical shock-absorber positioning, and improving the location on the stabilizer bar on the front McPherson strut suspension helps handling.
Under the hood, where Hyundai-Kia engineers have made their most significant tecxhnical advances, the new Soul gets the improved, direct-injection version of the 1.6-liter Gamma engine, with 130 horsepower at 6,300 RPMs and 118 foot-pounds of torque at 4,850 RPMs. Those aren’t big numbers, but, as Tjoa pointed out, the torque comes on at lower RPMs and stays high as the revs rise, providing more useful torque in traffic situations.
The optional upgrade is to the 2.0-liter Nu engine, now with direct-injection also, producing 164 horsepower at 6,200 RPMs and 151 foot-pounds of torque at 4,000 revs. Again, the torque nears its peak at low RPMs and maintains power output all the way up the tachometer.
In dimensions, the new Soul has a 101.2-inch wheelbase (+.8 inches), a width of 70.9 (+.6) and a height of 63 inches, which is actually .4 inches lower. At a glance, there isn’t a huge difference in the new Soul, although an altered grille with a larger low opening, and the LED light accents front and rear set it off. But Kia officials didn’t want major changes, choosing such elemental improvement as overall refinement, a 28.7 percent increase in torsional rigidity, and some flashy new colors such as Solar yellow, Kale green, and Inferno red.
Foglights and a larger lower air intake set off the second-generation Soul.
“From a design standpoint, the Soul has been such a runaway hit that our only rule was ‘don’t screw it up,’ ” said Kia public relations director Scott Vazin. “But the new model gives us a night and day difference to drive.”
Before departing from the Graves 601 for a pleasantly curving and hilly drive down the Minnesota-Wisconsin border where the St. Croix River joins up with the Mississippi, where the Soul proved it belongs in Kia’s “Big 3” with the Optima and Sorento, we got a look at some new advertising videos.
In one, a group of boring hamsters are in traffic on treadmills when the with-it hamsters drive up and past them in a bright, red Soul. In another, Hamster rappers in hoodies arrive in a Soul amid others who are driving toasters and washing machines, with the caption “A new way to roll.” A third shows transformer-type robots engaged in nasty conflict when some hamsters show up; sure enough, they get the robots bopping and dancing as they drop their weapons and lose their armaments. The other one I liked showed an opera’s Aria in a darkened hall, and as a Soul rises on stage, the orchestra conductor pulls off his fake head, revealing that he is, after all, a hamster.
Great creativity, impressive new car, and this time around, no apologies are necessary.
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About the Author
John Gilbert is a lifetime Minnesotan and career journalist, specializing in cars and sports during and since spending 30 years at the Minneapolis Tribune, now the Star Tribune. More recently, he has continued translating the high-tech world of autos and sharing his passionate insights as a freelance writer/photographer/broadcaster. A member of the prestigious North American Car and Truck of the Year jury since 1993. John can be heard Monday-Friday from 9-11am on 610 KDAL(www.kdal610.com) on the "John Gilbert Show," and writes a column in the Duluth Reader.
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