Kia Soul Hyundai Elantra

Well our 2010 Ford Edge blew a head gasket and fill crankcase with antifreeze. Would have to pull engine to fix and decided cost versus value of vehicle it's just not worth it. Also factored in antifreeze and bearing don't play well together.

Will need a second car probably high mileage and cheap to drive around town possibly pull behind motorhome. Quick internet search for reliable used cars turned up Hyundai Elantra (sedan or hatch) or Kia Soul. Probably prefer styling of Elantra Hatch but could live with Soul. Would like to stay under 3000 lbs for towing on dolly. Anyone with first hand knowledge. Other suggestion?

My brother has an early Soul (with a stick). It feels a little tinny but, as far as I know, no issues so far. 

And stick shift Kia Souls hold their resale value only slightly better than V12 Mercedes products, mostly because not too many people are looking for the combination of transportation appliance and manual transmission.

Yes, on this crazy new high priced car market the one thing that still seems to be available at a value price is, non-sporty cars with manual trans. 

The boomers are done driving a manual (bad knees, bad hips, etc) and the milenials have never know anyone who drives a stick and subsequently have never known anyone who could teach them. 

These non-sporty manual trans cars are slow to sell and slow can often be converted into a lower priced sale. 

A manual trans might also allow you to eliminate the dolly and just flat tow. 

The missus has a Kia soul from 2012.  It has been incredibly reliable requiring only $24 in parts to keep it going about 80K miles.

That said I wouldn't describe it as a "good car" It is a reliable one, but there is nothing that it does well. The cargo space is appallingly small for a car of its type. I describe it as a car that two people cannot pick up two people at the airport with.  The hatch will not hold two standard suitcases. It is tight to fit 4 paper grocery bags back there. It will also make your ears ring after an hour on the freeway. A decibel meter read just over 70db at 75mph.

If your only goals are high seating position and ample rear seat legroom then it is an OK choice. 

All that said, I just can't bring myself to replace it because it owes us nothing and it is so cheap to keep on the road.

Got my mom a 2013 elantra in late 2016. Aside from the dealer techs needing to be coaxed into doing both sides of brakes at the same time, it's been a decent little appliance. 

Heated seats, decent AC, surprisingly roomy. Even my 5'10 280+lb frame doesn't need the seat the whole way back to drive, and I've carried way more stuff in it than any normal person would. She regularly hauls a group of old ladies around in it who don't seem to have any issues in the front or back seats. 

I will say it's picky about tires, some are much much noisier than others. 

My wife's aunt has a mid-2010's Soul. She's rough on vehicles, and she's put it through the ringer, and it's still alive and kicking. She loves the thing. I drove it once and didn't like that it had no center armrest, which drove me nuts, but YMMV. I have read that the ones with manual transmissions are not fun to drive for various reasons, but again, YMMV.

I've had my wife in some nice Hondas and Toyotas over the years but she somehow wound up with a 2015 Soul as the current car. It's her favorite by far, over the Toyotas and Hondas. 

I try not to judge her questionable taste but the little Kia has been so good to us thus far that I could recommend one to people. She's just enamored with the silly thing.

I know two (otherwise rational ... ha ha) people who own Souls, and both love the heck out of them.  Neither are "car guys", for what that is worth.  Neither have had any reliability issues that I have been made aware of.  

SWMBO has a 2013 Soul + with the 2.0 and 6-speed manual. We didn't set out looking for one but got it for a steal and rolled the dice.

As a car guy, it sucks. It has a ropey shifter, no clutch feel, handles like a boat, and I hate the seats (I'm a 6'3" 185lb beanstalk, so YMMV).

As an appliance, it's been great. Hers has about 100k now and aside from a window switch that went on the fritz, it has needed nothing beyond typical maintenance any car would need. It has excellent heat and air conditioning, it's easy to work on, has a decent stereo, and gets good gas mileage.

I wouldn't buy one for me but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend one to a non-car person.

Also look at the Forte, it has a lot in common with the Elantra, and probably Soul as well.

Do your research, some years had serious engine problems.

pointofdeparture said:

SWMBO has a 2013 Soul + with the 2.0 and 6-speed manual. We didn't set out looking for one but got it for a steal and rolled the dice.

As a car guy, it sucks. It has a ropey shifter, no clutch feel, handles like a boat, and I hate the seats (I'm a 6'3" 185lb beanstalk, so YMMV).

As an appliance, it's been great. Hers has about 100k now and aside from a window switch that went on the fritz, it has needed nothing beyond typical maintenance any car would need. It has excellent heat and air conditioning, it's easy to work on, has a decent stereo, and gets good gas mileage.

I also have a 2013 Soul+ with a 2.0/6spd.  I agree with the above.  Except the seats.  They are appliancey (no bolster support), but they get the job done.

Mine has 115k on it.  The engine does not sound/feel happy at higher RPMs.  Its not one of those cars that feels underpowered (really as far as appliances go, it isn't bad.  164hp/~2700lbs) but is fun to run through the powerband.

It gets bad gas mileage and has some really weird design flaws.  (Where the berkeley is the pause button on the radio?!!?)  If you need to carry anything larger, the roof rack options are all fake.  I have a thread on it here.  The suspension is bad at best.  Its got a terrible rear suspension with almost no travel, combined with a SUV-like CG.

That said, it seems to do its job reliably and I give zero berkeleys about it, which is nice.  It can hold some larger/awkward items that most cars would really struggle with.  The cargo area is fine for what I need it for and I appreciate that the overall size is not large and difficult to parallel park downtown.

In this market they don't seem to demand a high price which is good.  I'm thinking about biding my time in mine until I give in and grab a Maverick.

one of my co-workers has an old soul,  he recently retired it to second car status after it passed 200,000 miles and he bought a nice used Audi Q5.  

In reply to ProDarwin :

Seat comfort is pretty subjective, but I always get a charlie horse when I drive the Soul for more than an hour; the seat cushions are too flat for me and there's no thigh support. Because my legs are rather long (34" inseam), it forces an awkward driving position where my ass is in the seat but my thighs are above it. If I could just tilt the seat bottom like you can in some cars it would make a huge difference.

That's really my only complaint with it though, other than it being boring and not exciting to drive.

In reply to pointofdeparture :

Upper trim level souks should have had the adjustable seat base. I'd grab one from the junkyard and make a swap. 
 

the soul, elantra, forte and veloster all share platforms. All can be reliable abs sone fun to drive. 

In reply to bobzilla :

Hers does have the adjustable, the problem is that it goes up or down, you can't angle it. I checked a ! model at one point and it doesn't angle either. Maybe something they wisely added for the 2nd gen.

Yeah mine I have lowered all the way, but you can't angle the nose up.  Its got a very upright seating position, which I agree is not ideal.  But I think that comes with the tall-car territory

Thank you for input may also look into similar sized Honda, Toyota and Nissan . Though smaller Honda Fit might work well for our needs however they appear to be more expensive.

In reply to pirate :

Caution on the Nissan choices.  Most all automatics are CVT and have a poor reputation of reliability for the auto trans.  Avoid the Rouge!  

In reply to pirate :

iF you're looking at Fit, check the Rio5 and Accent hachbacks. Same drive train as the base Soul and less weight. The 6-spd auto and manual are both a hoot to drive.

Honda Fit or Nissan Versa Note manual gets my vote. Both solid choices as I've had both. Fwiw, Kia dropped the manual option for the Soul and 21 is the last model year you can get one with it. 

Ive had two Elantras from the early 2000's and both(including my current chump car) have been beaten to death and still run perfect. Cant say enough about the stout drivetrains in the earlier cars. You can also find them for under $3000 with moderate mileage.

Yeah. I would recommend an elantra to anyone. we have 2 in the extended family and both have been flawless. They are not the best taken care of cars so that means a lot for me. They actually drive really pretty decent with good tires on them too.