2010 Kia Soul

• Overall
• Prices
• Performance
• Exterior
• Interior
• Safety
• Reliability
• Photos & Videos

Interior - What the Auto Press Says

Kia's new models are boasting nicer interiors than ever before, and the 2010 Soul is no exception. Its well-equipped cabin features decent materials (even if they are plastics), comfortable seating and a bright, bold color scheme. On the downside, however, the Soul has an especially small cargo area.

• "Beyond some mildly eccentric cabin decor options, including a bold red-on-black color scheme and disco-riffic glow-in-the-dark seat fabric, the Soul's fairly spacious interior doesn't fall too far from the Kia tree: glossy and hard but functional and inoffensive." -- Automobile Magazine
• "Interior packaging is one of the Soul's strong suits. The dash features a center switch pod with nice, big knobs. Some of the surfaces feel a bit hard, but the finish looks great for this price range, and the seats are impressive." -- AutoWeek
• "Our test car's red dashboard was hard to the touch, but the fabric seats pass muster, the cluster gauges are marvelously sharp and easy to read, and nobody started whining about the center stack before the ignition got a key poked into it." -- Car and Driver
• "For customers concerned with style and comfort, the Soul may actually win them over with its larger seats, reasonable space and funky-yet-intuitive dash complete with a crystal clear display." -- Jalopnik
• "There are lots of thoughtful storage nooks and crannies, along with cool, quirky features such as the audio speakers that flash mood lighting to match the bass notes. Rear seat passengers will find sufficient space behind even tall front seat occupants." -- San Francisco Chronicle
• "The interior is a lot more appealing than a traditional economy car's and less out-there than the xB's. With basic black cloth like our tester's, most of the cabin was black with red LED lighting on the stereo and red accents on the gauges. The red and black cloth interior gives the Soul a much more youthful attitude." -- Truck Trend

Seating

The five-passenger Kia Soul is very spacious and includes plenty of leg- and headroom for passengers. Virtually every reviewer calls the Soul comfortable.

• "Its 100.4-inch wheelbase pays real roominess dividends in the back seat, with six-footers having enough headroom to place a fist between their scalps and the headliner. From a comfort standpoint, this little vehicle is a winner." -- Car and Driver
• "Another key selling point of this vehicle for me was the driving position. The manual height adjustable seat and tilt steering column really helped me get the driver's seat exactly where I wanted it. An added bonus: The seats were comfortable in all positions for long stretches of time." -- Chicago Sun-Times
• "Legroom is more than adequate for most passengers in front and rear, and there's plenty of head and shoulder room for taller passengers. Kia claims the Soul offers more passenger space than the xB, and it certainly feels spacious, though the Scion wins the cargo comparison." -- Motor Trend
• "Suffice it to say that this 6-foot-5 driver found adequate leg- and headroom behind the wheel without even using up all the rear passenger space. The seats are full-size, too, which will please large Americans." -- Popular Mechanics
• "Front and rear rows are surprisingly roomy, but long-legged passengers should try to get the front seat -- the front seats are backed by hard plastic. There's plenty of headroom, and the car is surprisingly spacious overall." -- Truck Trend
• "We probably wouldn't recommend going more than two up in the back, but rear passengers will be treated to plenty of head, leg and toe room, although there's no center armrest." -- Autoblog

Interior Features

With its high level of standard features, the Soul offers a good value for its sub-$15,000 base price. The flashy red accents (on the Sport model) and multitude of interior add-ons should please younger buyers. While materials still consist of some hard plastics, reviewers are generally impressed with their look and feel.

• "Standard features in the base Soul include air conditioning, a tilt steering wheel, a CD stereo with USB and auxiliary inputs, and cloth seats. Stepping up to the + model adds cruise control, keyless entry, Bluetooth cell-phone connectivity and a height-adjustable driver's seat." -- Cars.com
• "Although the red seats are a bit much, the fit and finish beat the xB hands down and in some areas equal or better those in the Honda Element." -- Automobile Magazine
• "As usual with cars marketed for boys and girls just starting to shave, more than 50 doodad accessories await them. The add-ons range from some curious decal shapes (such as those found on the Soul Burner concept) to multispeaker music-makers and, as noted earlier, fabric seats with the word ‘soul' woven in that will glow in the dark, possibly taking the breath away from the entire female population of the Oklahoma panhandle." -- Car and Driver
• "The Soul Sport's bright two-tone red-black dashboard should be witnessed firsthand before committal, but it's an effective way to cheer up what would otherwise be an expanse of hard black plastic. Panel gaps on the Soul's dash are impressively tight, and Kia has done a fine job of creating the impression of more expensive materials." -- Edmunds
• "The dash -- with its cool red inserts -- is perhaps the most innovative of any Kia thus far." -- Popular Mechanics
• "While plastics are of the hard variety, they are all nicely grained and free of cheap-looking shine. Everything appears to be very well screwed together, with minimal, uniform panel gaps that issued nary a squeak or rattle during our test drive." -- Autoblog

Entertainment

In line with its youthful spirit, the all-new Soul boasts more entertainment and technology options than most cars in its price range.

• "Our Soul Sport was equipped with the 315-watt audio system and includes upgraded speakers with glowing lights that are variably adaptable to the pulse of the music you are listening to or can be adjusted downward to a less intense mood lighting mode or can be switched off. Once you leave the club, you can continue the party in the car, apparently." -- Left Lane News
• "The 2010 Kia Soul Sport features an upgraded audio package with more power and a dedicated subwoofer cleanly cached in the rear cargo area. Audio quality is plenty sufficient for the MP3 generation or baby-boomer talk radio." -- Edmunds
• An optional audio upgrade package will get you a center-channel speaker in the dash and a subwoofer in the back, and Kia will sell you a Garmin portable navigation system through its accessories program for all your direction-finding needs. An in-dash unit is in the works. That's lot of value for a car that tops out at $18,600, although it's not surprising from Kia, which has made its rep on the bang-for-the-buck equation." -- Motor Trend

Cargo

The Soul's cargo area is one of the only downsides of its spacious, well-equipped interior. Most reviewers register disappointment at the small hatch opening and cargo space. On the plus side, the Soul boasts plenty of interior storage cubbies for smaller items - including under-floor storage.

• "When we opened the hatch, the Kia's major shortcoming was finally exposed: the hatch opening, for loading large objects, is just too small." -- Popular Mechanics
• "Total interior cargo space is good at 53.4 cu-ft (rear 60/40-split seats folded flat), but others, like the Scion xB trounce it (69.9 cubes)." -- Autoblog
• "For smaller items, you'll find the partitioned underfloor tray in the cargo area useful for keeping things organized and from sliding around. Up front, you'll find plenty of cubbies for stashing cell-phones and iPods and the like, along with a glovebox deep enough to hold a laptop computer." -- Motor Trend
• "The rear load floor is at an easy height for loading, though space behind the rear seats is limited to a very vertical 12 cubic feet. The rear seats tumble forward in a 60/40 split to create more cargo area, but do not lie completely flat." -- Edmunds
• "If space is a key component, the 53.4 cubic feet of interior cargo space with the rear seats down may be an issue (the xB has 69.9 cubic feet, the Cube 58.1), though the under-floor storage is a nice touch." -- Jalopnik