AutoblogGreen editor Sebastian Blanco spends a week on the 2015 Kia Soul !. Yes, it has an exclamation mark in the name and the official name for the exterior paint is "Alien II."
TranscriptSEBASTIAN BLANCO: Hello, everyone. Welcome to another Daily Driver, I'm Sebastian Blanco here with Autoblog and Autoblog Green. Today in the 2015 Kia Soul. Or is that Soul! It's got an exclamation point in the name, which is the second most absurd thing about the nomenclature surrounding this car. The first being that the outside green color is called Alien II. I had a lot of fun in this car this week. It's you know, it's kind of sporty, it's just-- I don't know. I like the size, I like the shape, I like the design on the inside. Got a nice big sunroof, it's got a heated steering wheel, heated rear seats on top with a heated front seat.
There's an abundance of circles in this car, I think that's part of the design. It's kind of a boxy shape overall but just roundness everywhere. We've got it on the steering wheel, got it on the speakers, both in the center and on the sides, we've got it in the lights everywhere. On the door speakers, there's glowing colors that pulsate and you can set that either mood or music. It's going to blast your tunes at you. And so for me, this is the car to get if you want to spin the black circle a little bit. The touchscreen is just, everything reacts really fast. When you touch it, things happen. So I really like that aspect.
I don't quite understand why there are two 12 volt outlets and only one USB plug. I would think most people would rather have two USB plugs and one 12 volt. But hey you know, that's the way they do it for now. This car is rated at 26 miles per gallon combined. It's supposed to also offer you 23 in the city and 31 on the highway. I've averaged 27 miles per gallon, so not the best you can get on the market by any means, but at least I'm beating the EPA estimate. I had it in Eco Mode most of the time combined with sports steering which, to be honest, I didn't really notice much of a difference between what was it, sport, comfort, and normal modes with the steering wheel. Maybe I need to be going faster or doing things other than straight stretches on I-94, but I didn't notice a big deal with the steering controls.
In the 2015 Kia Soul exclamation point, this is Sebastian Blanco for Autoblog and Autoblog Green.
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