There’s a lot more than meets the eye in the 2010 Kia Soul. Sure, the Soul has the spunky great looks and cool customizable options you might expect from Kia, but this car also delivers one safe ride…all at Kia’s trademark unbeatable pricing.
Available in four different trim levels – base Soul, Soul +, Soul ! and Soul Sport – the 2010 Kia Soul is one good-looking, base-pumping, party on wheels. It’s fascinatingly boxy with quirky color options including the out-of-this-world Alien, red-hot Molten and tasty Java. Inside, you can add even more flavor with personal touches like Black and Sand Hound’s-Tooth or glow-in-the-dark seat fabrics.
USB and auxiliary input jacks come standard in all models, so you can groove with your MP3 player on the road. There’s Bluetooth hands-free connectivity with steering wheel-mounted controls in the Soul +, Soul ! and sport models. The Audio Upgrade Package, optional in the Soul + and standard in both the Soul ! and sport models, is the ultimate cool factor with a center speaker, subwoofer, 315-watt external amplifier and those signature, pulsing speaker lights you’ve seen in the TV commercials.
The Soul is more than just good looks and high-tech tricks.
The 2010 Kia Soul can add ‘Top Safety Pick’ to its list of superlatives – one of only 10 small vehicles to earn the award. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) gave the Soul its highest rating of “Good” in frontal, side and rear impact crash safety tests. The Soul has also earned a Five Star frontal crash safety rating from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
The carmaker isn’t surprised. Kia says this car was designed to deliver the unexpected with systems in place to help you avoid accidents in the first place and to protect you if the unthinkable occurs.
The Soul’s standard safety features include four-wheel disc brakes, four-sensor four-channel antilock brakes, a tire pressure monitoring system and rear child safety door locks. The Soul also comes standard with the all-important Electronic Stability Control (ESC), a feature the IIHS says can prevent almost one-third of all fatal crashes and reduce the risk of rollover by up to 80 percent. ESC is a lifesaving feature that detects skids, and then either prevents them or helps the driver recover from them. It is a safety system so effective that the U.S. Government has mandated that all cars must come standard with ESC by 2012, but not all do yet.
In the event of a crash, the Soul protects with advanced driver and front passenger airbags, dual front seat-mounted airbags, full-length side-curtain airbags, front active headrests, height-adjustable front seatbelts with pretensioners and force limiters, three-point seatbelts for all five seating positions, Lower Anchors and Tethers for CHildren (LATCH), side impact door beams, front and rear crumple zones, five-mph bumpers, adjustable rear seat head restraints and an impact-absorbing steering column.
The Soul also holds its own when it comes to performance. The base Soul has a 122-hp 1.6-liter DOHC four-cylinder engine with a five-speed manual transmission. The Soul +, Soul ! and sport models come with a standard 142-hp 2.0-liter DOHC four-cylinder engine matched with a five-speed manual transmission with overdrive. An electronically controlled four-speed automatic transmission is optional on these trims. A penny-pincher at the pump, the base Soul gets an EPA-estimated 26 mpg city and 31 mpg highway.
You can’t really put a price on safety or style, but Kia has managed to put both in one package at an attractive price. The 2010 Kia Soul MSRP starts at just $13,300. With Kia’s unparalleled warranty options, you’re really getting some bang for your buck. Schedule a test drive and see how much you get with the 2010 Soul.
