It’s been over a year since I’ve been in the infamous hamster vehicle. You know what I’m talking about right, you’ve seen the commercials? Our family drove and rocked out in the 2013 Kia Soul back in October of 2012 and thought it would be a great commuter car for my husband as far as price is concerned. The 2014 is an okay update to the former model we drove and worked well for the two of us on a long weekend in Vegas!
Right off the bat the color stood out, I mean acid green is a unique color on a car, or on anything for that matter! Especially since so many of the car reviews we’ve done came in a shade of red, we had to have a good laugh even in the dim airport parking garage! During the day the color popped and was an attention grabber for sure! As far as highways are concerned, well I’d hate to be noticed by a bored patrol man who picked me out of a sea of gray and black cars!
Out of the airport madness, the Soul maneuvered the road well in and out of traffic. Our first night in Las Vegas we really needed a car, our resort was in Summerlin about 10 miles off the strip. The compactness of the Soul makes it easy to park in lots and garages which is important when you travel. Driving back to the strip, in and out of hotel parking garages, and with all the stop and go of the strip traffic was no problem for the Soul.
The weather was fabulous during the day, we enjoyed the panoramic sunroof to let the sun shine in and for the first time, my husband enjoyed the seat warmers on the cool evenings and late nights! 
We noticed softer seats, a wider 8 inch LCD screen that can show directions as well as your favorite radio station info at once. Also there were those light up speakers on the door like the 2013, but also a raised speaker on the dashboard for unmuffled crisp sound! The trunk space held out large suitcase nicely, I appreciate the rollout cover that conceals items in the trunk in case of any theft temptation.
We road tripped to Red Rock Canyon state park! The adventure we went on was a 13 mile car tour, stops had plenty of parking, and some slightly off road/gravel areas for photo ops.
It was a smooth ride, more new items include a longer wheelbase, slightly wider body, and not quite as tall (which my husband balked about). He’s not a huge person, but at 5’10” he regularly bumps his head on the door or feels slightly claustrophobic nearly touching his head to the interior ceiling. Driving with the sunroof open the majority of the time gave the feeling of openness so that help him a little.
Though we didn’t have other passengers, there’s slightly more legroom in the back seat as well as the option to fold down the rear seats and make more truck space.
The look still has a square, yet smoother appearance, there’s more color on the back, I’m not loving the large enlongated taillamps. The front grill/fog lights combo isn’t appealing to me, it’s personal taste and I have to admit it could be a deal breaker. It’s not “pretty” but it’s functional and neat in it’s own way.
Over the long weekend, we got good gas mileage, 24 city/30 highway is the average. We took a last minute drive to Hoover Dam and made it good timing.
For two, or a family of four (2 small kids), this is a decent ride. I don’t love or hate it, it worked nice as a loaner for us, but even at it’s $14,900 starting price (the ! model can be $20,000 plus fully loaded) it’s probably not in the cards for us. We could consider it as a sporty first car for one of our children, but we’re in denial that my oldest will be driving in less than 6 months!
We reviewed the 2014 Kia Soul to facilitate this post, all opinions are our own.
My car is that color! I love it! Totally stands out!
It looks so awesome, spacious and I love the color!
I love Vegas. I want to start hanging out with you. Life looks fun. The car is nice too. Lol!
Wow the views are amazing. Just another reason I want to go out to Vegas.
I rented one of these and I was pleasantly surprised. Really nice drive.
I love the color an all the accessories it has,,that is a very nice car
What an amazing review – they could use this as their formal advertisement! I like this little car and the color, too! Vegas is a great place for your to try this car out again. Fantastic photos! Good luck with your teen driving, they do say it is much better to have them start younger, rather than wait til they are older, but I know that doesn’t make a parent any less nervous!
Interesting review. I couldn’t disagree more, but interesting all the same. We bought our first Kia Soul five years ago, and our second two years ago. They are both + models, 2.0 Liter, with automatics, we paid $21K for one and $24k for the other (including tax and interest). Combined we have 150k miles in them. We are a family of three, I’m 6′, the wife is 5′ 11″, and franken-daughter is 5′ 9″. We are not small people. The three of us have taken several long road trips, one being 10 days, and 2500 miles. Camping along the way, which required us to purchase a roof rack to carry our gear. I have no complaints with either of our cars. The redesigned car, which I’ve test drove a couple of times now, made great improvements in comfort over the 2010-2013 models. They are good (not great) on gas, have plenty of room overall for their size, and have modest power for their weight. As a side note, we live in Northern Arizona, which has given us opportunity to drive in snow, ice, hail, rain, and mud both on the freeway and the dirt goat trail we call a road that leads to our house. I haven’t gone into the off pavement assessment of the little grocery getter, we live 10 miles from the nearest pavement, but let me state, that with a little driving skill, a light right foot, these little cars can do 100 thousand miles on dirt roads, and not have a rattle, squeak, or oil leak, making them a great car for their price, I should also mention our maintenance costs, besides the normal oil changes, I’ve replaced the front brake pads, and a battery on one, and a total of three sets of tires for both.