Kia Soul Connect Plus

LEAPING into the spring car market comes a new version of Kia’s Soul, but whether it has the egg-stra appeal required to make it a hit still hangs in the balance.

Kia Soul Connect Plus

Engine: 1,582cc, four-cylinder, turbodiesel

Power: 126bhp and 192lb.ft. of torque

Performance: 0-62mph in 10.8 seconds and 112mph

Economy: 56.5mpg (combined)

CO2 emissions: 132g/km

Price: £15,900

As Kia forge ahead in terms of global sales is is the Cee’d and Sportage models that have grabbed the attention of buyers in the UK and become firm favourites for those who prize their abundance of standard features and seven year warranty.

The Sportage is far and away the Korean brand’s style icon though, a car that can cut it as a cut-price Range Rover Evoque.

Another of Kia’s products that aimed to put style at the head of its sales agenda has proved less of a success, however.

The urban warrior Soul hatchback stands four-square and, on the face of it, hit the small SUV cross over formula on the head.

Quirky features like the colourful disco lighting which surrounds the cabin’s front speakers and the dramatic decal packages offered by early ‘Burner’ editions of the Soul did not really do enough to capture sales or the imagination of buyers.

Now the Soul is back and Kia brought a clutch of the freshly hatched hatchbacks to Leeds for its UK launch ahead of the Easter break to give us a taste of what’s new and what Kia believes will help sales soar from 380,000 to 600,000 cars a year.

Priced from £12,600, the new Soul comes with a choice of two engines — a 130bhp GDi petrol and 126bhp CRDi diesel — and three specification levels.

Available to experience at launch was the mid-range Connect Plus specification car (from £15,900), which is expected to be the biggest seller.

First impressions are of a car that has benefited from a subtle re-style, but 20mm has been added to the wheelbase and there is a 15mm increase in width.

A more aggressive front bumper features trapezoidal faux air intake flanked by a pair of prominent fog lights, however, and the rear end is notably altered by a similarly aggressive treatment and defined by a boot panel and rear light clusters framed in a gloss black trim — a feature carried over from Kia’s Track’ster concept.

The entry-level Soul Start features 16 inch alloy wheels but Connect Plus Souls come with 17s, LED indicators in the wing mirror housing, LED running daylights and LED rear lamps as standard.

Striking a near-identical rugged off-road look to its predecessor, the Soul looks more premium for its smattering of LED jewellery, but it is not significantly different.

Inside things have been treated to changes which represent more significant improvements, both in terms of trim and equipment.

The cabin and dashboard design is immediately more tactile and of higher quality than the rather plasticky first-gen Soul.

Leather trims the Connect Plus’ attractively shaped, multi-function steering wheel and gear-lever, while artificial leather covers the instrument cluster housing.

Elsewhere, gloss black trim features on the door armrests and surrounds the central touchscreen which provides sat-nav and a reversing camera as standard.

DAB radio is standard on all new Souls, with Bluetooth handsfree phone connectivity, heated folding door mirrors and cruise control on everything above the entry-level Soul Start.

Those disco speaker lights remain in place on the Soul Plus, meanwhile.

The cabin is reasonably spacious, rear passengers in particular are blessed with good head and legroom, while the driving position is usefully tall, offering a confidence-inspiring view down the road and easy ingress and egress for older drivers.

The same cannot be said for the boot. Kia says that its opening has been broadened by a useful 62mm but it still feels an unnecessary restrictive access to the 354 litres of space inside.

Soul drivers will derive more fun from the Soul’s styling than its dynamics.

While Kia’s trademark numb steering seems to have improved somewhat — a reasonable amount of feel reaching the driver’s fingertips — both diesel and petrol engines disappoint a little, their performance not matching reasonable on-paper power outputs.

Kia claim the 126bhp diesel will reach 60mph in 10.8 seconds and return 56.5 mpg and 132g/km CO2 emissions, while the 130bhp petrol is two tenths quicker to 60mph and should return 41.5mpg and 158g/km, respectively.

The petrol car feels by far the perkier engine, but feels reluctant to rev.

On smooth roads the Soul’s ride is smooth and composed, it’s cornering attitude pleasingly flat and neutral and refinement a marked improvement over the previous generation car, but broken tarmac can send a jolt through the suspension, its initial travel failing to deal with abrupt strikes.

When Kia launched the Soul it was pitched at a young audience with its jazzy interior lighting and urban chic styling and this youthful feel has been cranked up in 2014.

It’s hard not to think that the cars strengths don’t appeal more to an older audience, though.

Improvements to trim and standard equipment make the new Soul a stronger prospect than the first-generation car but in a market where the easier-to-pigeonhole Skoda Yeti and Ford Ecosport are strong contenders it will still have its work cut-out.

It’s still hard to figure where the Soul’s soul truly lies.

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