Kia Soul

In an attempt to rent a car I had never rented, I got the Kia Soul.  I described the Soul to my colleagues as "goofy" and everyone agreed.

It is a little box of a car with the wheels way out at the edges and my rental was a kind of puke green color which added to the goofy factor.  The car is easy to get in and out of which was greatly appreciated with my back not being in the best condition.

You would think with all the apparent glass from the outside the visibility would be good but it is not for tall drivers.  The pillars are in bad spots and the interior rear view mirror is so large that it blocks a good portion of the windshield directly in front of the car.  So bad is the blockage that I almost turned right into an oncoming car because I could not see it at all.  Thank goodness I had a passenger at the time who could see.  This blind-spot issue is a huge problem though once I realized it, I took extra precaution.

The Soul is fun to drive and can zip along though at highway speeds there is a good deal of road noise.  That isn't all the unexpected for such a little car.

I used the hands-free phone which worked very slick.  It is voice activated and very easy to setup.

Because of the problems with visibility, I cannot recommend this vehicle.