2013 Kia Soul 2.0

Need a car for my sister. What are they like for reliability? Closer to Prius or to biturbo.

The one she is looking at has 90k miles. 

Thanks in advance.

SWMBO has one and loves it but it's also a 6-speed manual. No problems so far other than an occasional hard start/rough idle that was cured by new plugs.

She wanted one and I researched the hell out of them and couldn't really find anything negative. My impression was that the '12-13 are the years to have for the first gen because of the DI engines and 6-speed.

Thanks for sharing your experience. That is what I thought. I can't find  anything really wrong with them but they are not really high on ltqi site either. 

Same chassis with the Forte/Elantra IIRC. Drivetrain is solid. If it was going to fail, by 90k it would be a goner. Platform is basic. For the right money, they are decent transport. 

The missus has a 2012 Soul. It has had exactly two issues. The main power relay died and left her stranded but was replaced the next morning with a random relay I had in my toolbox after 20 minutes of troubleshooting. It threw a CEL and idled a bit rough which was the fuel tank purge solenoid. I think I got the part for $26 and replaced it in 5 minutes. That is it for the 90k we have put on it. 

As much as I hate that car, it has been mostly trouble free.

My review of the car itself is that it is a car that does nothing well. The hatch is uselessly small and the narrow opening kills any utility it might have. It has the worst traction control I have ever experienced. Two people cannot pick up two other people at the airport in a Soul. My 2 door GTI would seat four with room for two bags in the hatch but the Soul simply will not. The hatch is just that useless. Fuel economy is like 24 mixed in our experience. 

She likes it because "You can sit real high and there is a lot of back seat leg room" Those two things mean little to me I guess.

I may be in the market for one of these soon.  I have to ferry my 80 yo mother around, and the hip point looks to be ideal for getting in and out with a walker.  Back in 2006 I had an HHR that was perfect for carrying her around, and was thinking of getting another if I could find one in halfway decent shape.  This gives me another option to consider.

I have a friend who has one that survived from 70-100k with no oil change. Granted, now the cam phaser makes a constant rattling noise, but it still runs! 

Seems pretty decent then. We'll see what it is like on the second test drive.  I am a mostly a Toyota guy so needed to check first. Thanks all. 

I can jump in here. I am on my second Soul that I use for a DD. It's the new turbo model. My previous Soul was a 2.0 6-speed.  The only problem I had with that was the rear brakes/rotors basically imploded at around 30K miles. I live in Michigan so it went through a few insanely cold and salty winters but I was still a little surprised when I took the wheels off as there was chunks out of the pads and there rotors were eaten up. Consumers reports indicate the brakes being a weak area. Other than that, good reliable transportation.  The Soul is one of those vehicles that many people seem to have a problem with much like the Honda Ridgeline as it doesn't really fit into a typical category. As previously mentioned it's not really big so it can't carry that much but the flip side is that it is somewhat "frisky" and is bordering on fun to drive, especially the turbo version. No it's not a GTi and it isn't meant to be. My other car is a MIata so it carries a lot more than that. I personally liked the Element/Xb/Cube genre and all that's left is the Soul. I am happy with mine.  My 2.0 Soul was good for around 30 mpg in town and upper 30s on the highway. 

06HHR said:

I may be in the market for one of these soon.  I have to ferry my 80 yo mother around, and the hip point looks to be ideal for getting in and out with a walker.  Back in 2006 I had an HHR that was perfect for carrying her around, and was thinking of getting another if I could find one in halfway decent shape.  This gives me another option to consider.

I had an '08 HHR and absolutely loved it, beyond the fact that it was slow.  It made me very tempted to get a Soul, which I really do like, but again...too slow.  My oldest son is 3 months away from getting his permit, and HHR is very, very high on my shopping list if we get him a car.  Soul would be too.

Any issues or things to look out for with the 2020s? I might be going to look at a base 2020 lx with the stick..

We had a 2020 Soul as a dealer loaner for a few days.  It was automatic, not a base model, but it wasn't leather-sunroof-nav either.  It felt competent and solid and a great size for the city.  I don't think I even opened the hatch, so I can't comment about that.  It had a heated windshield, which was a bit strange; if you looked (and it's tough not to look at your windshield) you could see the tiny filaments.  That might be a deal-breaker for me as a DD, but I have no idea if it's standard or optional or Canada-only or what.  Also, the headlights were seriously lousy, and the IIHS agrees with me... but upper-level models get LEDs that do much better and presumably swap right in.

Bought a 2020 Kia Soul in "EX+" trim level 6 months ago and its been exactly what I had hope/planned for. Previous DD was a 2005 Honda Element, and nothing compares to that in function over form, but the Soul is a nice compromise. The 2020 has a larger hatch opening than the previous model, and other minor improvements that made me choose one over a discounted 2019. At $25K Canadian it has all the features I wanted for a harsh winter DD, including heated seats/steering-wheel/windshield. I guess I'm not as observant as Stealthtercel since the filaments in the windshield don't bother me at all, but then I tend to look through the windshield, not at the windshield. Its also has some decent nannies such as rear cross traffic alerts, etc. but what I really appreciate is the ability to configure/disable everything via simple menus if you don't want certain behaviours (I'm looking at you honk horn on lock). I prefer decent cloth seats in a DD, and this trim has plastic side bolsters to resist wear which is anther good feature in a car that I intend to keep for 10+ years. All in all 6 months in and I've been satisfied with the purchase, more updates as developments warrant.

Can you kill the traction control on the 20S?

Yes it has two levels of being killed, partly dead and all dead (I think you might need to also disable the "Idle Stop and Go" feature):

So, Eric's making me think back to what bugged me about those filaments.  Yes, fair point: most of the time I was looking through the windshield, not at it, but if I was stopped at a light at night they managed to look exactly like the kind of accumulated goop you have to clean off the inside of the glass.  Or I could just be developing OCD issues.  This is clearly (see what I did there?) a case of YMMV.

Ottawa (Eric) said:

Yes it has two levels of being killed, partly dead and all dead (I think you might need to also disable the "Idle Stop and Go" feature):

 

Of course, as found by someone running a H-Street Elantra Turbo this year... "all dead" still kinda only means "partly dead" :(.  I would imagine this applies to the Soul as well.  Probably fine if you aren't autocrossing though.

Stealthtercel: I think my big win is my wife doesn't mind the filaments, and its her DD not mine. I guess like any car if it has a feature that bugs you everyday you have to be in contact with it, well then it can be a deal breaker for sure. Personally I hate keyless entry/ignition, that was my deal breaker to get the highest trim line without that "convenience".

ProDarwin: So can you tell me a little more about what wasn't disabled, and what you had to do to trigger it? If my wife needs to disable traction/stability on her short daily commute then there are issues, and if she were able to ascertain it wasn't actually disabled then there would have been law-enforcement-level of shenanigans involved.

I bought my wife a Soul 2U 4 years ago.  Its a 2012 model and it currently has 211000 km's on it.  We have driven it hard and my wife uses it daily.  It handles well, heated seats are nice in the Ottawa winters and it only left us stranded when the battery failed.  Other than that, regular maintenance and enough space for our groceries.  These are fairly bullet proof.  

Ottawa (Eric) said:

ProDarwin: So can you tell me a little more about what wasn't disabled, and what you had to do to trigger it? If my wife needs to disable traction/stability on her short daily commute then there are issues, and if she were able to ascertain it wasn't actually disabled then there would have been law-enforcement-level of shenanigans involved.

I don't know.  I'm sure its a non-issue on the street.  And in the case of the Soul its probably a good thing as it will keep it from ending up on its roof.

Anyway, this is the guy that was running one.  FYI in the video, the car applied the brakes on its own and killed all power.  He said no combination of buttons, pedal dance, or pulling fuses will turn off the system and he has been in touch with Hyundai.

https://www.facebook.com/jeff.yatsko.90/videos/10214897226051832/

That said, Hyundai has been very support of Veloster-N owners, so I'm not going to be too upset about stability control that is not defeatable on an Elantra or Soul.

Well that also assumes that Kia is doing the same thing as their parent Hyundai when it comes to ESC disabling software. next time I'm in a parking lot not covered in snow and ice I can try to trigger the same behaviour. Although you might have to wait 4-5 months for that to happen.

dxman92 said:Can you kill the traction control on the 20S?
Was autox the reason you wanted to know, or some other reason?

It was winter weather related. I like being able to turn off traction control to get more traction in winter weather.