If Mini went old school with KISS, Kia appealed to a whole new generation, using Rana Sobhany, the iPad DJ, to mix the beats for its New York auto show press conference.
The Soul gets some love for the upcoming model year, revised for 2012. New LED light clusters and an overall smoothed shape might catch your eye, but the real news is under the hood.
A new 135-horsepower 1.6-liter four-cylinder GDI engine linked to a six-speed manual transmission is designed to boost fuel economy, although official EPA ratings have not yet been issued.
The 2012 Soul also gets an optional 160-hp 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine linked to either the six-speed manual transmission or a six-speed automatic transmission.
No hamsters were present for the debut.
tho76 says:
02:31 PM, 04/21/11
Glad to see they closed the panel gaps around the taillights a bit, they looked too separate on the previous model. Everything else looks like a simple tidy-up job. With the exception of the brown (no matter what they called it) I would pick one of these up in a heartbeat if I had the money. I've loved every time I've been in one at an auto show.
stovt001 says:
03:22 PM, 04/21/11
Nice little car, and I'm thrilled to see the manual is available with the larger engine.
93aero says:
06:33 PM, 04/21/11
could do without the LEDs already. But Kia is on fire this time around.
bankerdanny says:
06:43 PM, 04/21/11
I really wish they would offer the Optima/Sonata 198 hp engine as the performance option rather than the 160hp engine.
csubowtie says:
11:48 AM, 04/22/11
While I generally don't support Kia, I really like these cars. I keep trying to convince my inlaws to buy one. I wish they cleaned up the tailights just a little more, but it is better than it was, and the rest of the vehicle is cool enough to overcome that. I say Kia FTW in the small box segment.
cr_driver says:
06:56 PM, 04/25/11
Wonder about the other specs of the 2.0L 160 hp engine.....