Article from Monthly Specials and eNews

When was the last time you bought a new vehicle and thought, “Wow, this should have cost more.” You just might think that after looking at the 2012 Kia Soul. The newly revised 2012 Kia Soul offers more power and fuel economy than before, along with more features and greater refinement.

Have you seen the TV commercials with the giant hamsters driving the Kia Soul? They’re fun to watch and perfectly match the personality of this urban hipster on wheels. There’s a serious side to the Kia Soul as well, one that caters to your life as no other vehicle in this price range can. There’s so much more here than meets the eye, and it makes you wonder why other brands don’t give you nearly as much vehicle for the money.

Boxy, yet cleverly tapered exterior lines give the Kia Soul more interior room than some midsize sedans while that funky profile and roof design make it look like a bulldog hunkering down to chase something. With more power and new six-speed manual and automatic transmissions for 2012, the Kia Soul will sprint like a puppy that’s just discovered squirrels.

Starting at an MSRP of just $13,900, the Base Soul features a new, 138-hp direct-injection 1.6-liter powerplant that’ll kick some sand in the grilles of cars like the MINI Cooper (121 hp) and the Volkswagen Jetta (115 hp). That’s just an expression, by the way. Kia reminds you to always treat other cars politely, even slower ones. Hitched to either transmission, the new 1.6 also nets you 35 mpg on the highway.

Choose the Soul + (Plus) or Soul !(Exclaim) models and you raise the fun factor with a new 2.0-liter engine with 164 hp and 148 lb/ft of torque. You still won’t pay a lot for gas, though, because even with this power infusion, the 2012 Kia Soul models give you 34 mpg on the highway with either transmission.

If that were all you needed in a car, you could just pick the 2012 Kia Soul and feel you got your money’s worth. Aside from a low price, fun performance, high fuel economy and newly sharpened styling for 2012, the Kia Soul also delivers a quieter, more comfortable ride, new infotainment and connectivity technology and more amenities.

Speaking of comfort, the Kia Soul offers a rather amazing 39 inches of rear-seat legroom, which is exactly the same as in a $63,170 Cadillac Escalade. Fold the rear seats down and you get 53.4 cubic feet of carrying space in the Soul.

Recall the $13,900 MSRP for the 2012 Kia Soul and then consider that you get a vehicle with standard air conditioning, a tilt and telescoping steering column and a rear wiper/washer – and try to find another vehicle in this price range with standard four-wheel disc brakes. Many low-priced vehicles have cheaper, drum-type rear brakes, which aren’t always as effective with repeated hard stops. The brand’s attention to safety has earned the Kia Soul a “Top Safety Pick” rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) three years in a row.

Many brands in this price range remind you of how little you paid by giving you plain trim like cheap-looking flat-black mirrors and door handles. The 2012 Kia Soul, on the other hand, comes with a standard chrome-accented grille, clear-lens headlights and body-colored door handles and side mirrors. A standard body-side molding helps protect the doors from parking lot dings. Even the Base model offers SiriusXM^™ Satellite Radio with three months complimentary service.

Choose a higher-line Kia Soul and the amazing “How do they do this for the money?” value gets even better. The Kia Soul !, for example, offers the UVO powered by Microsoft^® voice-activated infotainment system with touch-screen and rear-view camera, and a new, 350-watt, seven-speaker Infinity audio system plus an available Premium Package that includes leather seating and heated front seats.

Finally, remember that all 2012 Kia models come with a five-year/60,000-mile Limited Basic Warranty, a five-year/60,000-mile Roadside Assistance Plan, plus a 10-year/100,000-mile Limited Powertrain Warranty.