A funny thing happened when I took this Sorento out on my quick drive loop. The loop takes less than an hour but provides a decent mix of freeway/highways and twisty canyon roads. Anyway, about that funny thing. On the way back to the office, "Rio" by Duran Duran came on the radio (yes, I was listening to the '80s satellite station). And in addition the fine ladies and the cool yacht in that video, I was reminded how far Kia had come in less than 10 years. I remember doing a road test on the first-generation Rio and my feeling was I'd rather buy a two-year old Honda Civic instead. But like its parent company Hyundai, Kia has turned themselves around. Follow the jump for my quick take on the new Sorento.
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Categories: Kia, Test Car Notes
I've been digging Bluetooth audio a lot lately. Not so much from a sound quality standpoint, but because it can be much more convenient than having to fumble around with wires. And because I find myself listening to Pandora more and more.
I've also been finding that Bluetooth audio can be much more reliable than a wired connection when switching back and forth between an iPod and Pandora. In a 2011 Kia Sorento EX AWD, the wired hook-up for an iPod (with a proprietary cable that plugs into both the aux-in jack and USB port) was a fail, as shown in the video above. Sorry for the blurry quality; the vids after the jump are clearer.
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Categories: Kia, Test Car Notes
I recently returned from a Kia Sportage event in San Francisco. Luckily, I was allowed to drive one of the vehicles back to Los Angeles so we would have the opportunity to run it through our usual battery of tests. In the 300-plus miles on Highway 101 I came away generally impressed.
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Categories: Kia, Test Car Notes
Back in the fall of 2008, I visited South Korea to get a sneak peak at the then-new Kia Soul. I wrote then that "South Korea is a car guy's nightmare. It's not that the cars on its oft-congested roads are crap; it's just that they collectively have all the variety and character of a Joe Lieberman Comedy Hour. Everywhere you look on the highways of Seoul, there's a white Sonata, a black Ssangyong sedan or a silverish compact SUV. The only way there could be less color on the road would be if someone set the country to grayscale."
It wasn't just color, either. South Korea was completely devoid of interesting automotive design. Well, some things were interesting, but interesting in a "oh god, kill it! Kill it!" sort of way.
Fast forward less than two years and it is staggering how much things have changed.
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Categories: Kia, Thoughts from the Curb
I recently ended up with a rental Kia Rondo to cover one of our long-term test cars while it was being repaired. I was on the lot with the rental guy and we did a little Rondo walk around. There wasn't any damage, so I signed the paper, hopped in and started it up. The tire-pressure warning light was illuminated.
Me: "Hey, oh...Wait up!" He came back and I told him it had a warning light. And this part is verbatim:
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Categories: Kia
Originally, this was going to be a thematic comparison -- the "Battle of the Boxes" wherein we'd put the new-for-2010 Kia Soul up against the Nissan Cube. But we subsequently expanded the test to include the Honda Fit (the winner of our last subcompact hatchback comparo) after realizing many shoppers would likely be taking a look at all three.
Can the Fit retain its title belt against these two unconventional competitors? The answer lies beyond the jump.
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Categories: Comparison Test, Honda, Kia, Nissan
So I'm back in my native Northeast this week, and I've managed to procure a 2010 Kia Forte Koup SX for the occasion, replete with California plates. Yes, I already wrote a Test Drive on the Koup, but I've rarely felt this conflicted about a car. "Hey, Kia," I wrote in that review. "Crank up the horsepower or smooth out the ride; then we'll talk." But I also remembered the Koup SX fondly for its cheeky styling and sharp handling, including a remarkable 68.5-mph slalom run (that's 1.4 mph faster than the GTI can manage). Some additional seat time was clearly in order.
Having now spent the past six days navigating New England's winding rural roads in this intriguing Kia, I've got some thoughts to share. Three of 'em, in fact.
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Categories: Kia, Weekly Top 3
The Kia Soul proved to be an excellent little runabout car for my annual holiday vacation to Toronto. Is it as fun to drive as a Honda Fit? Nope. Is it as spacious and versatile as a Honda Fit? Not even close. Would I rather own a Fit? Not a chance.
See, as much as I write my model reviews and comparison tests with a firm eye toward rational buying decisions, my real-life purchasing decisions would be much different. I mean, just look at the 10 cars I want for Christmas -- hardly what you'd consider the most reliable group. Hell, there were four British cars on there.
I like the Soul because of its unique styling inside and out, the Houndstooth seats, the iPod interface and the impressive stereo (for its price). I also like the idea of driving something different than the pack. However, the Soul still has a lot going for it in the rationality category, especially in regards to price and features. Plus, there's still plenty of room and I appreciated the handy under-floor cargo organizer on Christmas day.
Is it the most versatile or rational car purchase in the class? Nope, but I'd be fine with that.
James Riswick, Automotive Editor
Categories: Kia, Road Trips
Once you get the right iPod wire for your Kia (be it a Soul, Forte or otherwise), you'll need to know how to use it. Well, this video may help in that regard.
Or, if you're bored at work and have exhausted the long-term blog for morsels of information, this may kill a minute and 27 seconds. Other ways to kill time at work include putting a whoopee cushion on Takahashi's chair, convincing Sadlier that he'll almost certainly be promoted if he bakes Karl Brauer a pecan pie every Thursday and concocting an elaborate problem with the Ford Flex that Magrath needs to get fixed immediately or it will almost certainly explode.
Enjoy.
James Riswick, Automotive Editor @ 6,130 kilometres
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Categories: Kia, Road Trips
You've probably seen or heard about the speaker lights in the Kia Soul. When I ventured to Korea to drive the Soul, I was told that these weren't cleared for the United States because they'd cause people to crash or something. Apparently that's no longer an issue with Kia or the government. It didn't prove an issue for me as I didn't seem to crash at any time.
But how do these speaker lights work? Well, why write it when I've got a perfectly good YouTube?
James Riswick, Automotive Editor @ 6,130 kilometres
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P.S. I just had to let the song play itself out. I wouldn't want to leave people hanging.
Categories: Kia, Road Trips
A couple of weeks ago I was in Denver and needed to rent a vehicle for a few days. I was fully expecting the usual bottom-of-the-barrel stuff: Chevy Cobalt, Dodge Caliber, etc. Yet somehow I ended up with a choice of either a Subaru Impreza hatchback or a Kia Forte. Score! I went with the Forte since I hadn't yet driven one.
Car: 2010 Kia Forte EX sedan with 1,600 miles
Location: Denver, CO -- Airport branch.
Fleet: Enterprise Rent-A-Car
Rental Car Pros: Big trunk (14.7 cubic feet; I could fit a large and medium suitcase side-by-side). Auxiliary audio and USB jacks. Bluetooth phone connectivity. Roomy back seat. Crisp, full nighttime illumination. Enough interior storage for all our stuff.
Rental Car Cons: Base 2.0-liter engine and tall-geared four-speed automatic transmission combined with Denver's high altitude made acceleration a bit pokey. My 30GB iPod wouldn't interface properly through the USB jack. Green "eco" gauge-cluster light gets annoying.
Overall experience: We had good things to say about the Forte SX in our test drive and comparison test, and the cheaper EX fared well here, too. The four-speed auto was a bummer, but for a rental car it was certainly adequate. Overall, this was the best small rental car I've driven in a long time.
Anybody else rent a car over his or her Christmas break that they'd like to comment on?
Brent Romans, Senior Automotive Editor
Categories: Kia
Last year was a beautiful white Christmas in Toronto. This year featured gusting winds and rain, which caused Lake Ontario to look like the high seas and challenged the wee Kia Soul on the freeway. Oh, and it was 1 Celsius, but I'm not complaining.
Despite being a light-weight, tiny boxy thing, the Soul was actually quite commendable in the wintery bluster as I travelled down Highway 404 from Newmarket, Ontario, on Christmas night. The steering is surprisingly communicative, providing enough reassuring information from the tires when particularly nasty wind gusts threatened to knock the Soul off course. I'm glad I wasn't in last year's Ford Escape, with its even boxier shape and nebulous electric power steering.
The windshield wipers front and rear also did their job. The fronts operate by dropping the right stalk down amongst three detents, with a variable intermittent setting controlled by a turning switch on the inside part of the stalk. A second turning switch on the end of the stalk controls the two-mode rear wiper. Also, pull back for front washers and push forward for rear washers. There, and now you know how the Kia Soul's windshield wipers work. Don't say I never taught you nothin'.
Unfortunately, as the above photo shows, my Soul 4U Retro is rather mucky (above right). The Vanilla Shake paint job looks more like cookies 'n cream now.
James Riswick, Automotive Editor @ 6,043 kilometres
Categories: Kia, Road Trips
Yes.
James Riswick, Automotive Editor @ 5,753 kilometres
Categories: Kia, Road Trips
There were no epic drives or road trips in store for the Soul today, just visiting friends and doing some last-minute Christmas shopping here in Mississauga, Ontario. Oh, and picking up the proper iPod cord from Kia (it's a BMW-style one that plugs into both the USB and aux ports, but more on that another day).
One of the first things I've noticed about the Soul is that it has a rather firm ride. There's quite a bit of impact harshness that comes through because of the big 18-inch wheels included with the 4U Retro trim. They look cool, but I'm not sure they're worth the resulting ride. Especially since the Soul is hardly the sort of car to go canyon carving in ... sorry, I'm in Ontario, cottage country carving in.
The 2.0-liter four-cylinder is punchy, but it's certainly got an agricultural sound to it. When approaching 120 km/h north of 3,000 rpm, the engine starts to assert itself over the otherwise manageable road noise. The four-speed auto is reasonably quick to downshift when needed and holds onto gears well when accelerating.
So, the Soul is hardly a finely crafted driving machine, but are you really surprised? What it did do successfully was fit my 6-foot-3 friend comfortably in its back seat, stuff a bunch of shopping bags in the trunk and draw compliments. I had the Soul for all of five minutes before a lady with a CR-V said she thought it looked neat and asked me what I thought of it.
"Yeah it's cool," I said. "You get an awful lot of character for not a lot of money."
James Riswick, Automotive Editor @ 5,753 kilometres
Categories: Kia, Road Trips
Tis the season for Mr. Riswick to venture to his home and native land for Christmas. In the past, I've borrowed cars from Ford (a Flex and an Escape), but this year I switched things up and turned to Kia for my winter week. Presently in my parking spot here in Port Credit is a 2010 Kia Soul 4U Retro.
Now, for you Kia Soul experts out there in the States, you'll know there is no such thing as a Soul 4U Retro. But there is in Canada and it seems to line up with the American ! trim level. My tester is in Vanilla Shake ("Dune" in los Estados Unidos) with the tan/Houndstooth interior and a four-speed automatic. Thankfully, I've got heated seats, though it's only about freezing here with scattered flurries.
This is the first time I've driven the Soul since the long-lead launch in Korea, so it'll be interesting to see how I enjoy it in a place with road signs I understand. So far, so good, though the car doesn't seem to like my iPod -- I may need a different cord.
Check back for more throughout the week and next, but please let me know if you've got any questions about the Soul.
James Riswick, Automotive Editor @ 5,703 kilometres
Categories: Kia, Road Trips
