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.

Kia Soul

The return of auto reviews....Aunt Donna :-)

There just aren't that many different vehicles available but I'll try to find the ones I haven't had before.  So this week I saw this strange looking little car at the end of the row.  I really didn't know what it was until I got up to the front grill and saw the Kia badge.  The upholstery has "Soul" all over it...so a Kia Soul.

This thing is small on the outside but fairly roomy on the inside.  The Soul is square like the Honda Fit and not a silhouette I particularly care for.

The drive from the airport to the client site is high-speed toll way the whole way.  The Soul zips along just fine at tollway speed but there is a lot of road and wind noise.  The controls are easy to use and reach.

The Soul probably gets good gas mileage but there is not a readout to tell you.  The model I rented was pretty basic.  I think a manual transmission would be more fun to drive.