A week in the 2010 Kia Soul: Day 2 (seats, cargo, interior details, visibility)

The 2010 Kia Soul's boxy shape gives it lots of space for a small car, but the styling of the rear windows makes for an over-the-
shoulder blind spot. 
See detail photos of the Soul's interior below the article in today's slideshow.

It's a rare small car that's perfectly pleasant to drive in for an extended period. Many are cramped and noisy, with uncomfortable seats that make long drives tiresome. 

The 2010 Kia Soul Sport, which is spending the week with the DC Car Examiner, is not quite an exception to that rule, thanks to excess wind noise and an unsettled ride. 

However, it does beat most small cars -- especially other subcompacts -- in its seat comfort, offering both bountiful space and long-distance support. 

Like the Hyundai Elantra Touring, the Soul has firm front seats. But fortunately, unlike that Hyundai, this Kia's seats are firm in a good way: they don't cave in over time. In several hours of driving around Southern Maryland today, the Soul demonstrated none of the problems the Hyundai did on its long-distance drive. The Soul's front seats also don't feel hard when you first get in, another difference from the Elantra Touring, but they aren't as nice as the Nissan Versa's. There's also minimal lateral support even in this Sport version. 

The rear seat is also SUV-spacious and mounted fairly high off the floor for good thigh support, but the cushion is flat. The Soul is several inches wider than most subcompacts, which makes it easier to fit a third passenger in the rear seat. However, the center hump on the floor is also unusually wide, forcing that center-rear passenger to balance his feet or splay his legs far into his neighbors' personal space. 

Sitting in the subcompact Soul gives the feeling of a small SUV rather than a subcompact hatchback, at least looking forward. You have a high seating position and a seat that's chair-high off the floor, and excellent forward visibility. However, the high-mounted taillights and just-for-show rearmost side window combine to make for an oversized view-blocking D-pillar, a side effect of the car's eye-catching exterior styling. 

The interior styling on this Sport model -- a red plastic dash and door panels, along with red inserts in the seats -- also has a practicality tradeoff that goes beyond the love-it-or-hate-it appearance: the red reflected heavily on the windshield, especially in low lighting. The distraction should be minor, at least. 

The bright coloring does serve to add a unique ambiance to the Soul's interior, at least, distracting from the rather basic quality of the plastics used. That's not to say the styling is disguising cheapness, but it does prevent occupants from paying as much attention to the lack of soft-touch surfaces. The center armrest is an exception -- it's undeniably hard and feels cheap when you drop your elbow on it. And without eyes on your elbow, styling won't distract from this. 

Another quality lapse that is hopefully specific to my test Soul was the detachable rearview mirror, which fell off its mounting yesterday while being adjusted. It reattached easily, though it did pop back off again a few minutes later. It's been on good behavior since then, at least. 

Ergonomics of the dash are largely sound. Most controls are very easy to figure out even without opening the owner's manual, and there's a large clock and outside temperature display. There's also a switch to make the speakers glow red, an interesting novelty item. The speedometer is large and clear, and the fuel gauge is also generously sized. Some car enthusiasts would likely prefer to see a larger tachometer, though. 

The glovebox is very large, and features two tiers of trays inside. Contents rest on the trays rather than the glovebox door, so nothing will likely fall out when you open it up. The glovebox of my Soul Sport is simple dark plastic inside, contrasted against the bright red dash. (The base Soul, curiously, is red inside the glovebox, with the color jumping out from an otherwise gray interior.) There's no light in the glovebox, but the two layers should keep things easy to find for the well-organized driver. 

The Soul's extra width also benefits its cargo space, as does a few inches of extra height. The car offers 19.3 cubic feet of volume behind its rear seat, which expands to 53.4 cubic feet when you plop down the seatback. While this is generous for a small car, it doesn't match the Honda Fit, which has a lower cargo floor. The Soul's high floor also makes it harder to load bulky objects or dogs, but its cargo area is conveniently shaped to accommodate big items. 

On an unrelated note, the Soul drank 8.873 gallons in its time with me. Over 272 miles, that works out to 30.7 miles per gallon. That's above this car's EPA estimates of 24 mpg city / 30 highway, in a mixture of rural highways and moderate to heavy suburban stop-and-go. That's decent mileage, but not too great for such a small car. A base Soul with a smaller engine is rated at 26 mpg city / 31 highway.

Check back for more information on the 2010 Kia Soul over the coming days, and please ask any questions you have about the car in the comments section below or by sending an e-mail to dc.car.examiner@gmail.com.

Day 1:  Introduction
Day 2:  Seats, cargo, interior details, visibility