Discovering the Soul on the streets of Seoul

The Kia Soul is a young car both in its outlook and target audience. It is also a fairly young car (into its third generation) in terms of its history from a fairly young Korean brand. Its popularity amongst this demographic is the reason why the Soul has been such a hit in the US market, where sub-compacts are a tough sell. At less than 4.2-metres, it is a tiny car by US standards. But it has managed to sell more than 1.36 million units in the US alone due to its quirky urban design, unique positioning and some clever marketing. It was designed and conceived at Kia’s California design studio and aimed at hip urban buyers. The first generation debuted for the model year 2009.

The urban car segment has moved on to become a more competitive market and the Soul needed more oomph to keep buyers under its spell. That is where the new third generation for model year 2020 comes in. What’s more, this new gen model makes a far more serious pitch to woo buyers who are also conscious of their carbon footprint. The 2020 Soul EV is a big leap from the all-electric model based on the second generation that was introduced back in 2014. This is significant also because the third generation’s design truly captures the maturity of the model line with its futuristic fascia and outlook.

Design

The third gen Soul is based on the same platform as the Hyundai Kona. With Hyundai India scheduled to launch the Kona electric later this year, Kia Motors may get impatient with its plans for the Soul EV, even though they haven’t been finalised yet. To get a heads-up about the 2020 Soul EV, I travelled to Seoul last month and got a first hand experience of driving an all-electric bereft of any range anxiety. The new Soul EV is a significant upgrade over the second-gen EV variant with improvements in design, technology, driving performance and range. The design sees minor variations to the front fascia and charging port location, etc. But it shares the overall sleeker, more aerodynamic design of the base ICE (internal combustion engine) model. Thin LED DRLs, sleek headlamps, a raised bonnet and a sculpted front fender with a very new interpretation of the tiger nose grille gives the new Soul EV a very futuristic and European design feel.

The 2020 Soul EV now has a longer driving range than its predecessor; and it is also now offered in two different versions — a 64 kWh long-range option offering 452 km per charge and a 39.2 kWh mid-range offering 277 km per charge. The car is now capable of achieving a top speed of 167 kmph and goes from 0-100 kmph in 7.9 seconds. Compared to the predecessor, the new Soul EV has (along with the model line) marginally grown in dimensions too. It’s length and wheelbase are up 55 mm and 30 mm respectively; and inside the cabin too the interior volume is up marginally with rear legroom increasing by 13 mm and boot volume up by 34 litres at 315 litres. All of these contribute to making the new Soul EV a practical, no-compromise hatch too. The battery pack is neatly tucked away under the floor and despite the tall-boy design, the car’s aerodynamic profile and optimised weight distribution for improved centre of gravity helps in its performance.

The Soul EV’s interior also has a futuristic theme

The new Soul EV’s cabin also features trim that takes the futuristic theme forward. LED surrounds for door and dashboard panels and unique back-lit door speaker housings that light up and change to the beats of the track being played liven up the cabin. The other elements of the interior are all classic Kia style features like the chunky steering wheel, the sporty bucket seats with raised side bolsters and dark grey and black theme, giving it the air of a European hatch. In place of the usual gear selector lever, the Soul EV simply has a rotary knob with the park button at the centre. The centre console has a few other controls including the start/stop and drive mode buttons, in addition to the infotainment screen at the top of the centre stack.

On-road performance

I turn the knob to drive, pull out of the basement car park at the hotel in downtown Seoul and find myself smack in the middle of peak hour traffic. The Soul EV is totally silent inside in the cabin and there is only a mild electronic whine that one hears on the outside when it is moving. Of course, when I hit the highway going out of town, there is a bit more noise in the cabin coming off the tyres and a bit of wind noise too. I did miss the satisfying noise of an IC engine and the bit of vibey feel at the wheel, but the Soul EV doesn’t feel like an electric car when it comes to on-road performance.

The new Soul EV’s power unit includes an electric motor, controller and two different battery sizes based on whether it is a long-range or mid-range version. Aside of the stat that the long-range version features a 64 kWh, the electric motor produces a peak power of 150 kW and a peak torque of 395 Nm. The mid-range version features a 39.2 kWh battery and an electric motor that produces a lower 100 kW of peak power, but the same 395 Nm of peak torque.

I was driving the long range version with a fully charged battery and the route I was taking was going to be about a total of about 200 km. So, range anxiety was certainly not heaving on my mind. The new Soul EV also offers four different drive modes and they include Eco, Eco+, Normal and Sport.

There is no engine rpm meter that one can look at to benchmark a change in performance between the modes, but there is an immediate jump in throttle response when I switch from Eco or Normal to Sport mode. There is also a reduction in the brake-energy regeneration in sport mode, with the Soul EV tending to cruise in Sport mode. The steering mounted paddles are an interesting addition that give you the +/- power (irrespective of which mode you are in) to control the amount and pressure of regenerative braking. The Soul EV also gets a whole host of safety tech including forward collision assist, blind spot collision warning, lane following assist and adaptive cruise control. There is a suite of telematics services and app-controlled features that come as part of the package in the Soul EV. So, starting from keeping a tab on the charge available, to remotely setting the temperature inside the car before getting in, to finding the location of the car in a crowded car park, will all be possible with the UVO app.

Bottom Line

In everyday driving conditions, the Soul EV will not feel like a compromise at all. There is enough torque on demand to keep your commute interesting and quick. The long range version will mean that a trip from Mumbai to Pune and back should be possible without the need to plug it in for a charge anywhere. It could also mean a week’s worth of commuting even for drivers living in the suburbs and getting into town for their work. In addition to the regular charger, there is also the option of a DC fast charger that brings up the battery upto 80 per cent within 54 minutes. So range anxiety should really be a thing of the past. In the dynamics and on-road behaviour, there wont be any major differences between the EV and the 2020 model year base IC engine Soul. And that is still a good thing, though the suspension may be a bit rigid for Indian conditions, the Soul EV benefits from a fairly stiff chassis and suspension set up.

Compared to the previous generation Soul EV, the new one’s design is much more appealing. There are viewing angles from which it now looks like a compact Range Rover. It definetely seems more like a small SUV and has much improved road presence. With so much action building up in the EV space, Kia should consider bringing the Soul EV even if initially it may just be a tech showcase.