![\"Bestinclass\"](\"#BLOGPATH#\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Bestinclass.png\")
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As is our Friday tradition at Leith Cars, we honor an outstanding blog that employs superior narrative skills to captivate our attention while informing us about some aspect of the auto industry. This week\u2019s choice gives us insight to the Kia Soul, a best-selling model for the Korean automaker. Let us head over to Leith AutoPark Kia for Best in Class to get a first-hand account of test driving a 2014 Kia Soul.<\/span><\/p>\n Behind the Wheel: The 2014 Kia Soul<\/strong><\/p>\n The General Manager of Leith Autopark Kia<\/a> wants his dealership to feel like a small town, country store. Appropriately situated just outside the beltline in Wendell, that is exactly what the staff has achieved. Coming from Raleigh, the dealership is eight easy minutes from I-440, and it\u2019s just down the road from Knightdale, Zebulon, and Clayton.<\/p>\n Walk in the door and you will be greeted right away with a warm smile and a firm handshake. The showroom is intimate with nary a desk in sight, save the reception counter. Instead, you\u2019ll find round tables where everyone can take a seat and have a long conversation before getting down to business.<\/span><\/p>\n In our case, the business was taking a <\/span>2014 Kia Soul<\/a> on a test-drive. Showing us the car that day was Travis Thornton, a three-and-a-half year veteran of the Leith Kia sales team. Travis is a real believer in the Kia product. He drives a Forte, and he loves the direction that the automaker is taking their lineup, constantly improving year in and year out. His pride in the brand works hand-in-hand with his personal experiences, so you know that when he shows you a Kia, you\u2019re not just getting a sales pitch. You\u2019re getting the truth.<\/span><\/p>\n Walkaround, Inside and Out<\/strong><\/p>\n We started off looking at the Soul on display in the showroom. The display model is actually the special edition Red Zone Soul, and Leith has several available. The tuxedoed hamster mascots were nearby, looking dapper in cardboard effigy, but handsome as they look, the Soul looks better. Revised from its first generation, the new Soul is a genuinely good looking car, and the Red Zone body kit gives its already energetic personality a more aggressive flare. As you might guess, there are red accent bars outlining the grille and running boards. Like the ! (Exclaim) trim, it has LED headlights and taillights. The Red Zone also gets special eighteen inch wheels.<\/p>\n Travis popped the hood so we could look at the 2.0L GDI (Gas Direct Injection) four-cylinder engine. It\u2019s a very clean and well organized engine block, with everything where you would expect it to be. No need to go hunting through the owner\u2019s manual to figure out where to refill your wiper fluid. The battery is also easy to access, and you\u2019ll be tempted to change your own oil with how simple they\u2019ve made the access.<\/span><\/p>\n Next, we went around back to the trunk. The taillights might be our favorite thing about the second generation of this model. They\u2019re large and distinct, probably among the most recognizable rear lights on the road at this point. The final aspect of the Red Zone is the spoiler integrated into the roof. It probably doesn\u2019t add much in terms of aerodynamics, but it keeps the sporty vibe intact from front to back.<\/p>\n Opening up the trunk, it\u2019s a highly flexible storage space. There\u2019s a rubber floor mat to catch dust and dirt, plus a shelf that fits over top for two-tiered stowing and to keep items out of direct sunlight. You get a cargo net, too, and the floor lifts up to reveal a generous hidden storage compartment. The Soul doesn\u2019t come with a spare tire, but you do get a repair kit and compressor.<\/span><\/p>\n The backseats fold down in a sixty\/forty split, but they\u2019re comfortable to sit in and give passengers in the second row plenty of room. The red accents from the outside of the Red Zone continue on the interior with nice-looking red stitching on the seats and steering wheel. We would have no qualms about going on a road trip in one of these.<\/span><\/p>\n Drive Time<\/strong><\/p>\n With our introduction out of the way, Travis led us outside to our actual test-drive vehicle. Walking onto the lot, you get a sense of how many vehicles Leith has to choose from. It may have a small town vibe, but you\u2019ve got a big city selection. The Souls are all lined up, dozens of them in a row. It\u2019s a veritable Soul train. They have all levels to choose from, everything from the Base package all the way up to the Red Zone, and there\u2019s a wide variety of colors.<\/p>\n Travis ended up picking a Fathom Blue Soul ! for us. This one has all of the same features of the Red Zone, just without the unique body kit. One thing it does have that the special edition was missing is a panoramic sunroof. They aren\u2019t quite as big of a deal as they once were a few years ago when you had to get a luxury car if you wanted one, but it has a big impact on the Soul. The sunroof takes up the whole ceiling. Draw the shade back with the push of a button and suddenly the whole cabin is filled with sunlight. It makes a car that does not suffer for space feel even more open. You can only open the front portion, but this is still one of our favorite features.<\/span><\/p>\n Before we got on the road, Travis wanted to show us the 8-inch touch screen display. This model features Kia\u2019s UVO system, which stands for \u201cYour Voice.\u201d As you might think, the system works well with a robust selection of voice commands. With a button on the steering wheel, you can tell UVO to go to whatever radio station of your choice, including AM, FM, and satellite stations. You can also sync your phone with Bluetooth and make hands-free phone calls, or stream your own music. Finally, you can combine voice commands with the navigation system and UVO will tell you how to get where you need to go.<\/span><\/p>\n With all that out of the way, we were ready to take it for a spin. Travis took us out of the dealership, so we got a feel for how the Soul rides as a passenger. It\u2019s quite comfortable. Again, for a small car, there\u2019s plenty of room. Even those riders who might need extra legroom won\u2019t be bruising their knees. We were also going down what Travis says is the bumpiest road in Wendell, and although we could feel bumps, our discomfort was totally negligible.<\/span><\/p>\n We stopped very close by so that Travis could let us take the wheel for the better portion of the test-drive. First thing we noticed turning around is that the Soul has an excellent turning radius. You\u2019ll have no trouble maneuvering in one of these. A backup camera activates as soon as you put the car in reverse, and the screen will give you length markers like a traffic light, with a green bar for nine feet, yellow for six, and red for three.<\/span><\/p>\n The Soul has three different drive modes. Comfort, Sport, and Normal mode can be toggled via buttons on the steering wheel, so you can change the feel of the steering to suit your preference. You also have the choice for Active Eco mode, which is independent of the other three modes. Active Eco will work with the computer to streamline shifting and maximize your fuel economy.<\/span><\/p>\n You really see the benefit of having a smaller car when you press on the accelerator. The Soul has great getup with just a four-cylinder engine, and you won\u2019t have any trouble making your claim on the road. It has a six-speed automatic transmission with easy transitions between gears. There\u2019s also a sequential shifter for if you feel the need to pass someone on the highway.<\/p>\n You may have noticed in the commercials that the Soul has lights around its Infinity sound speakers that can be set to respond to your audio. They can also be turned to general mood lighting, or just turned off if it\u2019s not for you. Either way, the effect is difficult to notice in the day time. We would like to get back in a Soul after dark and really turn the volume up on the whole experience.<\/span><\/p>\n Travis said that he\u2019s had customers with misgivings about the way the Soul looks, but once they get behind the wheel, they can\u2019t get enough of it. We don\u2019t have any trouble seeing why there are so many of these on the road now. They\u2019re easy to get in and out of, and while they might be a small car, they aren\u2019t too low to the ground.<\/span><\/p>\n Soul Survivor<\/strong><\/p>\n Our experience with the 2014 Kia Soul<\/a> was very positive. This compact utility vehicle is a fun ride for passengers, and if you need to you can fold the seats down and pack in luggage. It\u2019s also quick and nimble with great fuel economy. You also have a large selection of colors and trim levels, and Leith has almost any variant you could think of on the lot, so you know you\u2019ll find the Soul that\u2019s right for you.<\/p>\n The other thing we want to point out is that there is quite a jump from the Base Soul to the ! in terms of technology and comfort, but that jump is not reflected in the price. The extra amenities are very reasonable, so you should definitely consider them. If you\u2019re lucky, you\u2019ll have an outstanding professional like Travis Thornton helping you measure the difference for yourself. We thoroughly enjoyed our ride with Travis, and we have no trouble seeing why he\u2019s one of our most valued sales representatives. You shouldn\u2019t take our word for it, though. Visit <\/span>Leith Autopark Kia<\/a> for your own Leith test-drive experience today. It\u2019s well worth your while.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As is our Friday tradition at Leith Cars, we honor an outstanding blog that employs superior narrative skills to captivate our attention while informing us about some aspect of the auto industry. This week\u2019s choice gives us insight to the Kia Soul, a best-selling model for the Korean automaker. Let us head over to Leith […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.leithcars.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.leithcars.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.leithcars.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.leithcars.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.leithcars.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blog.leithcars.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.leithcars.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.leithcars.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.leithcars.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}