If the spirited Kia Soul caught your fancy last year, the 2019 Kia Soul massages your senses with its sharp and sleek looks, boxy profile, sporty intent and spacious interior combined with standard safety features, and all these while staying quite affordable. Offered in three trim levels, the Base, Plus and the turbocharged Exclaim it remains to be seen if the 2019 Soul provides soulful driving.
Exterior
As told by the experts of the Pala Mesa Kia dealer, nothing much has changed on the exterior of Kia Soul since its last release except for a few lines here and there to add more maturity. The choice of front and rear bumper inserts stays similar with Matte Black in the Base trim, body color inserts in the Plus giving it a smooth profile and Gloss Black inserts with red accents in the Exclaim. Dual body color mirrors are standard on all trims which is a relief.
Interior
For the price bracket the Soul is offered in the neat seating arrangement with good quality cloth seat trims in black, grey or two tone is a pleasant surprise. The Base trim comes with a 6-way adjustable driver seat which is quite cool. The Plus takes this up a notch higher with Woven Cloth Trim and an amazing geometric insert pattern. The 6-way adjustable is standard here too and can be upgraded with the available 10-way power adjustable seat with power lumbar support for extra driver comfort. The adjustable seating continues in the Exclaim which comes standard with Black Cloth or Leather Seat Trims to choose from that come with an orange accents and contrast stitching that give the interiors some pep. The sport leather steering and soft touch dash and upper door panels add pizzazz to the Exclaim.
Infotainment
The Base trim comes fitted with a SiriusXM® audio system, Rear Camera Display, a 5-inch Touch Screen Display that can be upgraded with an available UVO with 7-inch Display and 6 speakers with Dash-Mounted Tweeters to stir up your soul as you drive. This is topped off with Bluetooth® Wireless Technology with Steering Mounted Buttons. The Plus and Exclaim come with all these and a UVO with 7-inch Display as standard and a Siri® Eyes Free and Voice Recognition to top it off.
Power & Transmission
At the Pala Mesa Kia dealership we came to know that the Base Soul comes with a 1.6-liter DOHC 16-valve I4 with Dual Continuously Variable Valve Timing (CVVT), Gasoline Direct Injection (GDI) the promises 130fps of horsepower producing 118 lb.-ft of torque delivered through a 6-speed manual transmission. This can be upgraded to the available Electronically Controlled 6-speed Automatic. The Plus trim is benefitted with a 2.0-liter DOHC 16-valve I4 that delves our 161fps of horsepower and a powerful 150 lb.-ft of torque. The electronically controlled auto transmission with Sportmatic is standard here. The Exclaim comes with a 1.6L I4 Turbocharged GDI, 201hp that can kick up a storm. The 7-Speed Dual-Clutch Transmission (DCT) with Sportmatic in this trim is tops.
Conclusion
The 2019 Kia Soul with its spirited and zippy engines that are complemented with neat interiors and stylish exteriors does create a practical city ride and does provide that soulful drive.