The unmistakable Kia Soul has been seeing some big-time momentum lately, both in the news and in the marketplace. First, recent weeks have seen Kia’s self-styled Urban Passenger Vehicle get named one of “The Best Family Cars for 2010″ by a joint panel of experts from Parents magazine and the automotive researchers at Edmunds.com. Then, Kia released the fourth and final of its 2010 special editions of the car—the Ghost Soul—to the usual high demand from customers. The latest buzz comes from Kelley Blue Book’s KBB.com, which just put the Soul among the ranks of its “Top 10 Coolest New Cars for Under $18,000″—for the second year in a row.
“Soul continues to draw more customers into Kia showrooms because of its cool factor and overall value package,” said Michael Sprague, vice president of marketing for Kia America. “It’s reassuring to know one of the largest and most credible automotive consumer sites recognizes Soul for all it has to offer to a wide array of consumers, including design, practicality, technology features, fuel economy and the Kia brand’s core, standard value package.”
To put just one of those qualities in the spotlight, the Soul offers two responsive—and responsible—powertrain choices. The base Soul holsters a peppy 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine that delivers an eminently capable 122 hp and 115 lb.-ft. of torque, along with an EPA line of 26 mpg city/31 mpg highway/28 mpg combined. Chilling in the other Soul models gets you a little more bang for your buck: specifically, a 2.0-liter I4 making 142 hp/137 lb.-ft, of torque. But even that mill goes 24/30/26 with the folks at the EPA.
The experts at KBB.com certainly took those kinds of numbers, along with a variety of other consumer-oriented criteria, into account when making their choices, but the Soul really iced its position on the cool list by offering “that certain something extra, that je ne sais quoi, that separates the dullards from the brilliant.”
On the other hand, what it attracts is customers. April sales of the cool Kia were up a sizzling 62 percent, with 5,223 customers taking home a Soul that month. Maryland Scion conceded that’s more April sales than the Scion xB and Nissan Cube combined.
And remember, when it comes to cool cars, this Kia isn’t just “under $18,000,” it’s waaaaay under $18,000; the 2010 Soul has a base MSRP of just $13,300 at Charlotte Kia. Car buyers can also find the Kia Soul For Sale In CT.
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