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oh and i want to thank key in marin in the san francisco bay area for letting
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me come in film here today so let's get to it
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now looking at the souls exterior design here
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I mean this is a really nice looking car going to some of the details here you
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can see that the design team here really put a lot of attention to his chisel the
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lines look about the wheel arches the front lighting the front grill it all
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just looked very mature compared to the first soul
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it was a little more youthful-looking but i think this soul second generation
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has come a long way in a very short amount of time
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now if you remember a key is back at just maybe 10 years ago they're very
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boring looking economy boxes but that's all changed now I hyundai and kia oh
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honey is a key a sister company
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it's the head designer is a guy named Peter Schreyer now
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he used to work for volkswagen back in the nineties and his previous works
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included the first generation audi TT and the in the new beetle which come out
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and about 1998-99 I believe but his talent is is everywhere he brought that
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very crisp clean German like styling to kia and hyundai as well and the results
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speak for themselves
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I mean it it's a sharp-looking car it definitely gets tears
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it's me it's certainly the shirt from the first generation and so far I I
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can't really find a bad angle
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under the hood here you have a 2.4 liter engine now this is the optional engine
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comes in the exclaim trim which is the highest trim model that you see here
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this too . oh it is a naturally aspirated it has a hundred sixty four
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horsepower and a hundred and fifty one pound feet of torque the the base engine
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is actually a UH a 1.6 liter engine
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it only has somewhere around 230 horsepower and a hundred eighteen
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pound-feet of torque
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if we're up to me I would try to go for the two-point wieder you're going to get
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a little more power
2:52
especially when a of a car of this size well it's not exactly big the whole idea
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of a of a cross over whether it's compact midsize or largest to have
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enough space to to haul some stuff around and I think the bigger the engine
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the better you're going to be and the the power jump from the 1.6 to the to
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point out you're going to feel it and overall the this all comes with a really
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nice aesthetic feel even down to the wheels here these you know you get these
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18 inch wheels i believe 16-inch our standard you can also offer 17 inches
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but these 18 inch wheels are the really nice it there
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they're not offensive but overall it looks really solid and compared to that
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that the original sold this one
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it definitely has a little bit of a box here look now
3:53
people are always going to compare the soul to nissan juke and looking at the
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Nissan Juke
3:58
I i think its proportions are just a little off
4:03
I think this all is a little more handsome looking especially as we as we
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step inside here
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the overall layout here in this key is just really really nice
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it's got this really nice premium feel I mean looking at those old key as they
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were
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it was just this very sort of basic design boy here everything is seriously
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upgraded I mean I was just blown away by the overall interior quality can
4:34
purchase General Motors even just a few years ago they had this hard plastics
4:38
front and back but here at kia has gone all the way with soft-touch materials
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even in the back seat
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I felt all the door handles the armrest was it felt solid and that is really
4:51
nice to see in in the car in this class
4:56
it's it's not a very stylish or quirky way out
5:04
like what's a compared to this - nissan juke again you're going to have a nice
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large infotainment screen here believe this one is 4.3 inches
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your basic steering wheel here you're gonna have a typical buttons for cruise
5:21
control audio Bluetooth pretty much every single car these days comes with
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buttons on the steering wheel
5:27
I i think the only card not too is let's say the porsche 911 that sits during
5:33
wheels button free and that's something enthusiasts like but here today
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this is a kia these are the features people want very nicely laid out
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yeah
5:55
yeah
5:56
yeah
5:57
yeah
5:59
ok
6:05
yeah
6:08
yeah
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and with that engine that you heard it's a it sounds okay
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it's it's a it's a four cylinder your it's not a Ferrari
6:19
not even close so it's not going to get a nice growl of a supercar but this is
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clearly not a super car and the soul also comes with God that start stop this
6:29
is that you know a premium feature in this in this particular model here you
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exclaim which also comes with a premium package but i think you get some really
6:39
nice features within this price range that infotainment screen and nav system
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you're looking at here it's very clear concise
6:49
it's not too small to press the buttons i don't have a hard time doing it at all
6:53
now just a few years ago there was a lot of problems these infotainment systems
6:57
Ford had what they called it sync system that co-developed with microsoft and
7:03
that system rebooted hundred regular basis for had a lot of problems with it
7:08
dealerships had a lot of problems with it and overall customers were not at all
7:12
happy but automakers specifically key your days they sort of that problem out
7:17
i did not experience any problems
7:20
it was a very clean and smart system it functioned everything that is needed to
7:27
do specifically with the audio controls here that you can also can be done
7:33
through the knob and tube in traditional buttons and i like that combination
7:38
I think there's some some other cars where the entire audio system is on the
7:42
flat panel screen which it works for some people
7:47
I i like this mix when I say flat panel screen I'm also referring to what say
7:52
you
7:53
the tesla model s where that's just completely stable yard
7:57
it's literally an ipad tablet this is a six-speed automatic transmission you can
8:04
get the soul with a six-speed manual if you like in the base model
8:07
I think most people are going to want to go for the for the automatic but if you
8:11
want you i have a decent man you won't throw that around and throw your own
8:15
gears that's going to be an option for you there as well
8:18
now my premium soul here also has the the 10-way power seats for the driver
8:24
see and it's very easy to find a seating position and it's it's a really nice
8:32
feature you can get your phone in there with the USB port i had no problem
8:35
fitting my iphone into the end to the slot their course you always have a
8:41
couple of cup holders that standard
8:44
they're also in the rear seat just a few years ago not all cars really handle cup
8:49
holders which is really shocking
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it's all here now you have plenty of storage space and then and the soul here
8:56
yet that storage that the center console been
8:59
you can put your sunglasses here
9:03
ah and this is this is undoubtably my favorite feature this is a panoramic
9:08
sunroof a premium future obviously but it's incredible how can manage to get
9:14
this into a car in this price range now just a few years ago it was only the
9:18
German premium brands or or lexus family including BMW Audi Mercedes that has
9:23
panoramic sunroof
9:24
but here it is in a compact crossover for twenty seven thousand dollars
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all in that's incredible and and that's I think one of the the souls best
9:36
attributes here is that it's its premium
9:39
it's what I don't like to brand affordable luxury these the the steering
9:45
wheel here it is it's a leather-wrapped it's heated the
9:49
the seats are black nappa leather there
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ventilated and they have died
9:56
heating and cooling it's just a wonderful overall packaging here now he
10:04
is also really good coming up with some really kind of quirky features that
10:08
would make a cartoon normally be kind of born not boring you have something
10:13
called this instant atmosphere
10:15
audio or lighting system that the water the lighting actually adjust to the to
10:21
the audio music that you're playing at the same time for a sort of like an in
10:24
interior light display
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it's a really really cool feature but again it's just I just can't get over
10:33
the build quality
10:34
I just a few years ago I was in a Kia and and I didn't think it was anything
10:39
spectacular but even these those chrome door handles their they didn't feel like
10:46
cheap plastic or anything but when you're gonna if you're considering
10:56
buying the key is all you need to remember that it's not what they call
11:00
like an SUV SUVs are body-on-frame construction
11:05
this is unibody it's front-wheel drive bays body-on-frame means it's typically
11:10
rear-wheel drive standard four wheel drive
11:12
you can kick in this is not going to do anything off road nor is it meant to and
11:17
if you're looking for something like a cross over but you want all wheel drive
11:21
for an example
11:22
you also have options such as the ford escape the subaru forester but the kia
11:27
soul is is more for city dwellers commuting
11:33
but no matter where i went i was always getting really positive looks in this
11:37
car that the front headlights are LED unit same goes for the rear and and a
11:42
lot of people actually comment and how much they they like that rear taillight
11:46
design which I i really like I it's really cool how it sort of wraps into
11:51
molds into the body
11:53
now clearly it's not for everybody but I appreciate the fact that Kia under peter
11:59
schreyer took a design chance and I think it's really paying off
12:03
and as far as interior space goes out
12:09
sitting in the front seat I was completely comfortable it doesn't have
12:12
the 10 way of trying to power cedes it's manually control which is just fine
12:17
I want to be surprised that in the third generation so whenever that comes out
12:21
that the interior
12:23
I'm sorry the the front passenger seat will also the electronically controlled
12:26
just give it
12:27
just give me a few more years
12:34
and when I was in the back seat again it
12:38
I'm about average height I felt just fine the the headrest they're there
12:44
they're adjustable so no matter what you can find plenty of comfort three people
12:48
can sit in the back there's a centre roll armrest and then going into the
12:55
trunk space now this is probably one of the best things about the soul you have
13:00
more than enough space to do whatever it is you need to do around town
13:04
underneath the carpet you have the these nice dividers here
13:08
so nothing will roll over and crushed something that you don't want to it's
13:13
just part of smart design and like many cars are 60 40 split folding rear seats
13:19
and to increase the cargo space putting all my camera equipment into the back
13:23
you can see just how much space is available to you and that's not even
13:28
going into the the rib to have our vaccine area
13:38
it's just a very well designed in package car now the the car you're
13:44
looking at the exclaim with the premium package retails for around twenty seven
13:48
thousand dollars with destination but the base key is Seoul starts off at just
13:53
over sixteen thousand dollars again that's with 1.6 engine but if you're
13:58
just gonna drive around town that car is more than good enough but if you want
14:02
all the nooks and crannies the kia soul exclaimed with a premium package is a
14:06
fantastic bargain
14:08
it's affordable luxury at great price the fuel economy is also very good for
14:13
that too . no engine it's got 24 Matt miles per gallon in the city
14:16
31 the highway and combine 27 miles per gallon and this will also get a
14:22
five-star crash safety test rating from the US government
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so overall 2016 kia soul
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fantastic compact crossover I liked it better than nissan juke I felt it was
14:32
more space inside i like the styling better neck white is kirky but Kourtney
14:38
excuse me but very stylish and overall just one hell of a good value and I
14:44
think that's exactly what people buying these compact crossovers one is valued
14:49
at the mini countryman for example
14:51
that's forty thousand dollars all the way in this key is all 27 grand
14:55
affordable luxury
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it's great thanks everybody be sure to check out carbs . com for our full
15:01
review and be sure to like us on youtube
15:04
we'll see you next time