Price: £12,805
Top speed: 115mph
0-62mph: 10.6 seconds
MPG: 58.8
CO2: 128g/km
It is 25 years since Kia first arrived in the UK. Back then the Korean company offered just one model for sale – the little Picanto. Today Kia has 188 dealers across the country, offering a range of 12 different cars and sales of about 3,600 a month. Kia – and motoring – has come a long way in the past quarter-century.
To see what the next 25 years will be like, Kia commissioned a study from the Centre for Future Studies. You can boil its fascinating in-depth 12,000-word report down to just three words: “autonomous, connected, electrified”. (See how much time I just saved you?) In 2041, it sounds like cars will be super smart and super clean. And they’ll be having fun driving about by themselves, chatting to each other and sharing their intimate data. We drivers, on the other hand, will be bored out of our minds, loitering in endless traffic jams. As if that were not bad enough a new generation of satellite controlled speeding cameras will be hovering above us, monitoring our every move. The Centre estimates that speeding tickets will range from £420 to £10,000, depending on circumstances. The roads, however, will be much smoother as intelligent tyres will alert local councils about potholes…
The report, which must read like an apocalyptic horror story to today’s legions of unsuspecting motor cars, almost made me well up with nostalgia for these carefree days of open tarmac, oil leaks, creaking leather seats and a socially unconnected vehicle… Ironically, the car I’ve been driving this week is a Kia, too – a Soul, which is a robust, cheap five-seater. Like all such cars, its days are presumably numbered. In 2041, the report chillingly intones: “Cars will not be visualised as individual vehicles, but as part of a broader transportation network.”
Today’s Soul is a funny-looking thing. It’s a Boxy McBoxface, as drawn by a car designer with an interest in naive art. Its sheer squareness meant it never really caught on in this country, but its weird blend of utility off-roader crossed with kitchen unit has got our American cousins very steamed up it. This latest edition is better looking than the last. Some of its folded-paper corners have been smoothed out and the roof has been lowered slightly, which makes it look less top heavy and it now boasts roof and wing mirrors picked out in contrasting colours. It makes an arresting distraction in any car park.
The real joy of all this boxiness is the interior. You’ll be hard pushed to find better headroom anywhere. It feels very light and airy inside. Fold down the back seats and you have a huge area to play with. The vertical sides mean you can load it like a van. It swallows Bunter-esque levels of kit.
The ride is soft and verges on squidgy at times. This clearly is not a vehicle designed for high performance. But the Soul’s easy handling and gentle manner, combined with the superb visibility and sheer amount of glass, made me feel I was in a sort of souped-up Popemobile.
There are six trim levels available and two engine choices: a 1.6 petrol and a 1.6 diesel that can be paired with a 6-speed manual or 7-speed auto. The latter is very much the one to go for and the new integrated infotainment touchscreen is excellent. It’s worth splashing out for.
In all, the Soul is affordable, reliable and biddable. It does almost 60mpg and comes with a seven-year warranty. What more do you want from a car? An awful lot if Kia has anything to do with it…
Email Martin at martin.love@observer.co.uk or follow him on Twitter @MartinLove166
Correction: the first car Kia offered for sale in the UK in 1991 was not the Picanto but the Pride
