2024 Kia Soul

For 2024 all four Soul trims (LX, S, GT-Line, EX) share the same naturally aspirated 2.0-liter Nu MPi four; the 1.6T was dropped with the 2023 facelift, so there is no model-range maximum above this figure.

Peak torque of the sole 2.0L Nu MPi engine, identical across every 2024 trim. The 4,500 rpm peak means there is little low-end pull available in ordinary driving.

Edmunds track-tested the 2.0L/IVT Soul at 8.5 seconds to 60 mph; other published runs of the same unchanged naturally aspirated configuration fall between 8.0 and 8.6 seconds. Sub-8-second figures from earlier model years belong to the discontinued 1.6T, which the 2024 car does not offer.

The port-injected 2.0L is smooth and predictable at town speeds with no turbo lag to manage, but reviewers of the 2024 car consistently report it getting loud and strained when merging or climbing, with no reserve of torque to fall back on. Adequate rather than refined — mid-pack among subcompact economy hatchbacks and clearly behind the turbocharged and hybrid powertrains elsewhere in this segment.

Kia's IVT is a better-executed CVT than most: simulated stepped ratios and a sound-insulated case largely suppress the full-throttle drone that defines the type, and around town it is unobtrusive. It still flares and holds revs under sustained load and offers no genuine manual mode, so it sits above the CVT average without matching a good conventional automatic.

The Soul has never offered all-wheel drive in any model year or trim, and 2024 is no exception — it is front-wheel drive only despite the crossover-adjacent styling and the GT-Line's appearance package. Scores in the low band by definition, with nothing beyond traction control to offset it.

2024 is a single-powertrain year: one 2.0L naturally aspirated four with one transmission across all four trims. The 1.6T and its dual-clutch went away with the 2023 facelift, the six-speed manual left after 2021, and the Soul EV was never revived for the US market — so a 2024 buyer has no engine, transmission or electrification choice at all.

2024 is a carry-over year in the facelifted third generation: the 2023 update killed the 1.6T, leaving the 147-hp 2.0L Nu MPi with the i-VT as the only US powertrain, so LX, S and GT-Line all rate 30 MPG combined and only the EX (EPA "Soul Eco dynamics") reaches 31. Thirty combined is mid-pack for a gas subcompact hatchback — the tall, boxy body and a naturally aspirated engine with no electric assist leave it well behind the Corolla and Civic hatchbacks.

The i-VT and standard idle stop-and-go help in traffic, but without any electric assist and with a tall, blunt-nosed body the Soul manages only 27 MPG in the city — decent against gas-only rivals, nowhere near a hybrid subcompact.

Highway is the Soul's weakest cycle relative to its segment: 33 MPG sits below the middle of the gas-hatchback band because the upright roofline and flat face that buy the interior space also buy the aerodynamic drag.

A 14.3-gallon tank at 30 MPG combined gives about 429 miles between fills — fine for commuting, but short of the 500-mile figures efficient compact hatchbacks post from similar tanks. There is no electrified variant to extend it: the Soul EV had already left the US lineup years before 2024, and Kia wound the electric car down in Canada in late 2023 and in Europe during 2024.

EPA puts annual fuel spend at $2,050 on regular unleaded — a middling result, since the cheap fuel grade holds the bill down while 30 MPG combined means the Soul simply burns more of it than the efficiency leaders in the class.

The 2.0L Nu MPi is specified for regular 87-octane, so the Soul avoids the fuel-grade penalty that drags on turbocharged hatchback rivals like the Golf GTI and Integra Type S. Points are withheld only for the lack of any alternative: no E85, no diesel, and no hybrid, plug-in or EV variant offered in the US for 2024.

NHTSA rated the 2024 Soul 4 stars overall — 5 stars driver-side frontal but 4 passenger-side, a clean 5 stars in the side barrier test, and 4 stars for rollover at a 14.7% rollover risk that reflects the tall, boxy body. The one genuinely weak result is the side pole test at 3 stars, which keeps the car off the 5-star overall mark that most of the compact-hatchback field reaches.

Everything IIHS has actually measured on the 2024 Soul is Good — driver- and passenger-side small overlap and the original moderate overlap front — and the same third generation earned Top Safety Pick in 2020–22 with Good in the original side test, roof strength and head restraints. But the Soul carries no award for 2024, and the reason is what is missing rather than what is poor: it has never been run through the updated side test or the updated moderate overlap (rear-passenger) test that current TSP criteria are built around, so its record is an unrefreshed one from a 2020-vintage protocol.

On the volume S trim four of the five suite items are standard — Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist with pedestrian detection, Lane Keeping Assist, Blind-Spot Collision-Avoidance and Rear Cross-Traffic Collision-Avoidance, plus Driver Attention Warning, Rear Occupant Alert and High Beam Assist. The hole is adaptive cruise: Smart Cruise Control cannot be ordered on the S at any price, existing only inside the GT-Line's $2,400 Technology Package. The base LX is thinner still, with blind-spot and rear cross-traffic demoted to options.

IIHS rated this generation's front crash prevention Superior for both vehicle-to-vehicle and daytime pedestrian detection, and for 2024 that system is standard on every trim rather than optional as it was when tested. What holds the score short of the top band is coverage rather than quality: there is no nighttime pedestrian result for the Soul, and cyclist detection with Junction Turning is locked to the GT-Line Technology Package, so the volume S runs the narrower version of the system.

Kia's feature chart lists the avoidance-grade systems — Blind-Spot Collision-Avoidance Assist and Rear Cross-Traffic Collision-Avoidance Assist, both of which intervene rather than merely chime — as standard on the S and up, which is strong coverage for a sub-$23,000 hatchback. It falls short of the top band because the base LX gets them only as an option, there is no Safe Exit Assist and no 360-degree camera anywhere in the range.

Lane departure warning and Lane Keeping Assist are standard on every trim, so the Soul is never without lane assistance — but that is where the volume trim stops. True lane centering arrives only with Highway Driving Assist inside the GT-Line Technology Package, so an S owner gets a bounce-off-the-line corrective system rather than the steady in-lane steering the compact-hatchback field now offers as standard.

The volume S trim has plain fixed-speed cruise control and no adaptive option at all — Smart Cruise Control is not on the S order sheet at any price. The lineup's only adaptive system is the navigation-based SCC bundled with Highway Driving Assist in the GT-Line's $2,400 Technology Package, and that version is well regarded, reading the map to slow for corners. Scored as the volume configuration, this is basic cruise only, which is where the segment's economy end has largely stopped competing.

No hands-free highway system is offered on the 2024 Soul in any trim or package. The closest thing in the range, Highway Driving Assist in the GT-Line Technology Package, is explicitly a hands-on system requiring the driver to keep the wheel; Kia's hands-free ambitions sit in far pricier models.

This is the Soul's worst safety result. IIHS rated the halogen-reflector headlights fitted to the S, GT-Line and EX trims Poor, finding low-beam visibility inadequate on both sides of the straightaway and inadequate in all four curve tests. The only third-generation variant to earn a Good was the LED-projector Turbo, and Kia discontinued that trim for 2023 — so for 2024 the sole route to LED headlights is the GT-Line's $2,400 Technology Package, leaving every volume build on Poor-rated hardware. Standard High Beam Assist earns partial credit, as IIHS noted it compensates for some low-beam limitations.

The Soul's defining boxy shape pays its clearest dividend here. The upright, tall greenhouse, deep side glass, high seating position and near-vertical tailgate give sightlines that reviewers consistently single out as among the best in any small car, with unusually small over-shoulder and rearward blind zones. It is marked down only slightly because no 360-degree camera is offered to back up the natural sightlines, and rear parking sensors are not standard across the range.

IIHS rates the Soul's LATCH hardware Acceptable — a notch below Good — with two complete anchor sets in the rear outboard positions plus a third tether-only position. In practice the tall roof and big, square door openings make the job easier than the rating alone suggests: Cars.com's car-seat check installed an infant seat and a convertible in both orientations without difficulty and found room for all three seats, which is more than most subcompacts manage.

Every 2024 Soul trim (LX, S, EX, GT-Line) is a five-passenger front-wheel-drive hatchback; no 4-seat or 7-seat configuration exists.

Kia publishes 39.9 in of front headroom for the sunroof-free LX and S trims — the tall, boxy roofline is the Soul's defining packaging advantage and puts it at the very top of the subcompact-hatchback band.

41.1 in is the same on every 2024 trim and sits only modestly above the 40 in floor of the hatchback band — the Soul buys its space in height rather than front stretch-out room, making this its weakest interior dimension.

At 39.5 in the Soul clears the top of the hatchback band outright and out-measures most compact SUVs; rear passengers sit upright with obvious clearance instead of under a sloping roof.

38.8 in of second-row legroom is generous for a subcompact and well clear of the boxy-rival norm; reviewers report four adults fit without complaint, though it stops short of the 40 in-plus figures larger hatchbacks post.

24.2 cu ft behind the second row is far past the top of the hatchback band and beats most compact crossovers — the vertical tailgate and square load bay are the entire point of the Soul's shape.

Solid everyday storage without a headline trick: door pockets, an overhead console, front cupholders, assorted bins, a rear fold-down center armrest, plus a dual-level cargo floor (standard on EX, optional elsewhere), cargo bag hooks and a lit cargo area. Against that, there is no underfloor console bin, no fold-flat front passenger seat, and the 12-volt cargo outlet and cargo cover only arrive on the EX — competitive rather than class-defining.

Front seats are consistently described as comfortable over multi-hour stints, helped by a height-adjustable driver's seat and generous wheel adjustment; the volume S trim adds an 8-way power driver's seat with 2-way power lumbar, unusual at this price. The rear bench is upright and roomy with a fixed but well-judged backrest angle, though it is flat and lightly padded and cloth is the only upholstery below EX.

The short 102.4-in wheelbase and torsion-beam rear axle give a firm, occasionally busy ride over broken pavement — Consumer Reports calls the ride stiff outright — and the tall body leans in corners. It stays controlled and never crashes through impacts, so it lands mid-band: fine for commuting and tolerable on the highway, but it does not isolate you from a bad road.

Noise is the clearest cost of the Soul's shape: the near-vertical windshield generates obvious wind roar at highway speed, tire noise carries into the big open cargo bay, and the 2.0-liter Nu MPi drones under load through its CVT. No acoustic glass or active noise cancellation is offered on any 2024 trim, and Consumer Reports flags both a noisy interior and pronounced engine noise.

Dual automatic temperature control is standard from the S up (the LX gets plain air conditioning) and a rear heat ventilation duct is standard throughout, which is respectable for the money. But heated front seats do not arrive until the EX and are only optional on the GT-Line — the volume S cannot be had with them — and a heated steering wheel, ventilated seats and rear climate controls are offered on no 2024 trim. That is comfort kit at mid-trim-and-up at best, the lower edge of the 50-79 band.

The 2024 Soul was Kia's least expensive vehicle and one of the cheapest new cars on sale in America, undercutting every subcompact-hatch and subcompact-crossover rival on entry price. At $20,190 before freight it sits below the floor of the hatchback pricing band, so it maxes this item outright.

The S is the retail volume configuration — for $2,500 over the LX it adds the 10.25-inch touchscreen with navigation, dual automatic climate control, power driver's seat and the fuller safety-tech set, which is the equipment level most shoppers actually take. Even the top EX lands under $26,000, so the entire 2024 ladder sits at or below the bottom of the hatchback band.

Running costs are low for the class: the 2024 Soul uses only the naturally aspirated 2.0L Nu MPi four with a CVT, a simple non-turbo front-drive drivetrain shared with the Forte, on 16- or 18-inch wheels with cheap parts and a dense dealer network. The figure sits above the raw scheduled-maintenance projections because it budgets tires, brakes and unscheduled repairs, and because Kia includes no complimentary maintenance in the US, so the owner pays from the first oil change.

The Soul has always been a strong value-holder — cheap to buy, cult following, and a boxy package with no direct replacement in Kia's lineup — and it depreciates from a low base, so the absolute dollar loss is small. The figure is set several points below the published estimate because Kia has since ended Soul production with no successor, and orphaned badges typically shed some residual over a five-year horizon as parts and dealer familiarity thin out.

Kia's 5-year/60,000-mile basic coverage tops the band outright and is two full years longer than the 3/36 offered by Honda, Toyota, Mazda, Nissan and VW. It is brand-wide and applies across the whole 2024 Soul range.

The 10-year/100,000-mile powertrain warranty is the ceiling of the segment band and double what Honda and Toyota provide. It covers the original purchaser only — subsequent owners drop to 5 yr/60,000 mi — but for a first buyer it is best-in-class, and it matters more than usual on a nameplate that has since been discontinued.

This is where Kia hands back part of its warranty lead: unlike Hyundai's 3 yr/36,000 mi plan or ToyotaCare's 2 yr/25,000 mi, Kia includes no complimentary scheduled maintenance in the US, so the 2024 Soul owner pays for the first oil change. What is included is solid but conventional — 5 years/60,000 miles of 24/7 roadside assistance, plus the standard 12-month Kia Connect trial (the extension to a 3-year trial did not arrive until the 2025 model year, so this sits a couple of points below the 2025 car). No fuel or charging credits apply to the gas-only Soul.

$24,065 volume-trim price minus its estimated resale value after 5 years (57% retained, or about $13,717) leaves about $10,348 in depreciation. Add the projected $4,200 in 5-year maintenance and repairs, and owning this vehicle for 5 years costs about $14,548 in total.

J.D. Power rates the 2024 Soul 87/100 for Quality & Reliability — inside its 81-90 "Great" band — and Consumer Reports places it above average for predicted reliability within its segment, ahead of several non-hybrid compact rivals. Solid but a notch below the Corolla/Prius benchmark because the SK3 generation's engine and IVT history is not spotless.

Kia was the top-ranked mass-market brand in J.D. Power's Vehicle Dependability Study three years running (2021-2023) and still finishes above the industry average, but has since slid to mid-pack rather than holding a top-5 seat. Consumer Reports has it inside the top ten brands for predicted reliability.

The 2024 model year itself is clean — NHTSA lists zero recall campaigns for it — but the third-generation Soul as a whole carries serious campaigns, including two piston-oil-ring recalls that can end in engine replacement, an Idle Stop & Go oil-pump fire risk, and an inadvertent side-curtain airbag deployment. The 2024 build sits outside every one of those affected production windows, which is why the year-level record and the generation-level record diverge.

The 2024 Soul's sole powertrain is the naturally aspirated 2.0L Nu MPi four with the IVT continuously variable transmission — a long-running, port-injected engine family that sidesteps GDI carbon buildup, but one whose Soul/Seltos application produced the piston-oil-ring oil-consumption and seizure failures, and an IVT that drew judder and low-mileage failure complaints early in the generation. 2024 production falls after the defective oil-ring window closed in April 2022, and the IVT complaint pattern thins out on later builds, so this is a mid-band "mixed history" rather than a known-bad powertrain.

Hard plastics dominate the cabin and reviewers say so plainly, but the execution — grain quality, switchgear, the synthetic leather on the door rest and leather-wrapped wheel on volume trims, and a genuinely well-organized dash — reads better than the price. Competitive for a sub-$22k subcompact, not class-leading.

Kia's initial-quality standing is strong — 4th overall in the 2024 J.D. Power IQS, up four places year over year, and the brand took the most model-level awards in the 2024 APEAL study — and reviewers describe the Gwangju-built Soul as tightly assembled with no notable rattle or panel-gap complaints. Scattered infotainment-nag gripes keep it out of the top band.

Roughly 775 US Kia dealers give near-nationwide coverage with an expansion program underway, so access is rarely a problem. Service satisfaction is the weaker half: Kia sits mid-pack in J.D. Power's Customer Service Index and slipped a point year over year, well behind the Buick/MINI/Subaru leaders.

One of the Soul's real strengths: repair and maintenance cost runs well below the all-vehicle average, unscheduled shop visits are half the industry norm, and parts for a nameplate that sold 100,000-plus US units a year for most of a decade are cheap and everywhere. Kia's 10-year/100,000-mile powertrain and 5-year/60,000-mile basic warranty further cap early-life exposure.

The volume S trim and everything above it carry Kia's 10.25-inch touchscreen with built-in navigation; only the entry LX makes do with the 8-inch unit. 10.25 in is also the maximum available — the 2024 Soul never offered a larger panel.

One of the Soul's genuine strengths and the best part of its tech story: the 10.25-inch system is quick, the home screen splits cleanly into media/nav/phone tiles, and Kia kept real volume and tune knobs plus a row of hard shortcut keys below the screen alongside separate physical climate controls. Reviewers consistently rate it easier to live with than the touch-heavy systems in the Civic and Golf, which is why it sits at the upper end of the hatchback calibration band despite the car's economy-class price.

Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard on every 2024 Soul, but the availability is inverted in the annoying way Kia/Hyundai systems of this era were: the base LX's 8-inch head unit runs both wirelessly, while the 10.25-inch navigation unit fitted to the volume S and above requires a cable. The scored configuration therefore gets wired-only projection despite being the more expensive one.

Native navigation is standard from the S trim up — unusual generosity at this price — and Kia's map graphics and routing are competent, with SiriusXM traffic on the connected trims. Voice control is the older embedded command-word system rather than the natural-language assistant in Kia's newer ccNC cars, so most owners still fall back to Siri or Google Assistant through phone projection.

Six speakers on every trim — adequate and no more — with the only upgrade being the Harman Kardon system with center speaker, subwoofer and external amp, which is confined to the GT-Line's optional Technology Package. That means most Souls on the road, including the volume S and the top EX, cannot get premium audio at all.

The 2023 facelift replaced the Soul's analog needles with a reconfigurable full-digital meter cluster and made it standard on every trim, including the $20k LX — genuinely ahead of most subcompact rivals, which still run analog dials with a small mono trip display. It is held out of the top band by modest size and resolution and limited display themes next to the 12.3-inch panels in pricier Kias.

Kia Connect on the navigation-equipped trims delivers over-the-air map and infotainment-software updates roughly twice a year, so the Soul is not stuck at dealer-only USB updates — but nothing beyond the head unit updates remotely. There is no whole-vehicle OTA of the kind Kia's newer ccNC-based models (EV9, Carnival) get, and the base LX, having neither navigation nor the connected head unit, gets nothing at all.

The Kia Access app covers the core set — remote start with climate, lock/unlock, vehicle locate, alerts and diagnostics — and every new Soul ships with a complimentary Kia Connect trial. Two things keep it mid-band: remote functions move to a paid plan (~$14.99/month or $149/year for the Plus package) once the trial lapses, and there is no digital key on the Soul.

Thin by 2024 standards: the volume S gets a wireless phone charger and front USB inputs but no dedicated rear-seat charging ports — the second row makes do with a 12-volt outlet, and only the EX and GT-Line add a pair of center-console USB chargers plus a cargo-area 12V socket. The ports are the older USB-A architecture rather than USB-C, and there is no household AC outlet.

Smart Key with proximity entry, push-button start and key-fob remote start is standard on the S and every trim above it, with a new-for-2024 anti-theft "sleep mode" that disables the fob's transmission 40 seconds after locking. The base LX still gets a plain folding key, there is no phone-as-key, and the liftgate is manual with no hands-free function — solidly mid-band conveniences, nothing beyond them.

A rearview monitor with dynamic parking guidance is standard on all four trims and Rear Cross-Traffic Collision-Avoidance Assist covers the reversing blind spot from the S up, but that is the whole toolkit — Kia's official 2024 features list carries no ultrasonic parking-distance sensors, no surround-view monitor and no automated parking on any trim. Good outward visibility from the boxy body offsets some of it, but the hardware simply isn't offered.

No head-up display is offered on any 2024 Soul trim. The SK3 Soul did have a combiner HUD, but it was tied to the 1.6T GT-Line — and Wikipedia confirms the 2023 facelift discontinued the turbo in the US, leaving the 2.0L Nu MPi/IVT as the only powertrain and taking the HUD with it. Kia's own 2024 features list shows no HUD on LX, S, EX or GT-Line.

The boxy packaging is a real family asset rather than a styling pose: near-vertical rear doors open wide onto a cabin with 39.5 in of rear headroom, so a toddler is set into a seat at adult waist height instead of lowered into a low hatch, and 24.2 cu ft behind the second row takes a full-size stroller upright with the 60/40 bench still in use. The hardware is the demerit — IIHS rates the LATCH provisions only Acceptable because the lower anchors sit too deep in the seat bight, there are complete anchors in just the two outboard positions, and 70.9 in of width makes three seats across a squeeze.

The standard driver-assist content is generous for a car that starts near $20,000 — Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist with pedestrian detection, Lane Keeping Assist, Driver Attention Warning, High Beam Assist and Rear Occupant Alert on every trim, with Blind-Spot and Rear Cross-Traffic Collision-Avoidance standard from the volume S up. The crash record and the lighting undercut it: NHTSA gives the 2024 Soul 4 stars overall (3 stars in the side pole test), it holds no IIHS award for 2024, and the halogen headlights fitted to LX/S/EX rate Poor, with LEDs available only inside the GT-Line's $2,400 Technology Package — the same package that holds the only adaptive cruise in the lineup.

Space is the strength and it is not marginal: 38.8 in of rear legroom and 39.5 in of rear headroom seat four adults without complaint, and unusually the luggage does not compete with them, because 24.2 cu ft stays available with all five seats occupied. Everything else thins out — no rear-seat USB charging ports and no rear air vents (only a floor-level heat ventilation duct), a cargo cover and dual-level cargo board that are EX equipment rather than standard, a firm short-wheelbase ride, and the loudest issue in the car: the near-vertical windshield generates obvious wind roar at highway speed.

In the stop-and-go duty the Soul was built for it is easy and unintimidating — light steering, an i-VT with a torque-converter clutch that pulls away smoothly with no turbo lag or dual-clutch shunt, a high upright seating position with excellent forward and over-shoulder sightlines, and Lane Keeping Assist standard even on the base LX. Fatigue creeps in above town speed: 147 hp and 132 lb-ft peaking at 4,500 rpm mean the engine gets loud and strained on merges (8.5 sec to 60 mph), and no volume trim can be ordered with adaptive cruise at any price, so a traffic commute is entirely manual.

Cheap to run in absolute dollars: EPA puts the volume trims at 30 MPG combined on 87-octane regular for about $2,050 a year, and the consumables are as inexpensive as new-car consumables get — a naturally aspirated port-injected 2.0L with no turbo or hybrid hardware, common 16- and 17-in tire sizes on LX/S/EX, and a parts pool built on more than a million units. Repair and maintenance costs run well below the all-vehicle average. What caps it is the era: 27 MPG in the city is ordinary for 2024, when a hybrid commuter of the same footprint returns close to double that per city mile.

This is the Soul's best use-case attribute and it is earned on the tape measure, not on impressions: 165.2 in long on a 34.8-ft curb-to-curb turning circle — tighter than a Honda HR-V (35.1 ft) or Toyota Corolla Cross (35.4 ft) — plus flat sides, deep glass and a nearly vertical windshield that make all four corners easy to place. It stops short of the top band only because the aids are thin: a rearview camera with dynamic guidelines on every trim and Rear Cross-Traffic Collision-Avoidance from the S up, but no surround-view camera and no front or rear parking sensors on any 2024 trim.

Kia publishes no towing rating for the US Soul and the owner's manual does not recommend towing at all, so the trailer figure is not low — it does not exist. Motive capability matches: 147 hp through the front wheels only, no AWD in any 2024 trim, and roughly 1,000 lb of GVWR headroom over a ~2,950 lb curb weight to cover passengers and cargo together. The one genuine work merit is the box itself — 62.1 cu ft behind a square, vertical tailgate with a flat folded floor honestly serves light courier or trade-supply duty.

The mechanicals are the proven part: the 2.0L Nu MPi and the i-VT are long-serving high-volume Hyundai/Kia units, J.D. Power scores the 2024 Soul 87/100 for Quality & Reliability and Consumer Reports puts it above average, with 10 yr/100,000 mi of powertrain coverage behind it. Everything around them is passenger-car spec — hard, thin plastics rather than wear-friendly ones, cloth or synthetic-leather seats with no rubber-floor or vinyl-trim option, a torsion-beam rear axle on a unibody subcompact chassis, and no commercial or fleet variant or hard-use service history to point at.

There is essentially no work-provision content. Kia offers no factory roof rails on the 2024 Soul at any trim — the rail-equipped X-Line was deleted in the 2023 facelift and was not reinstated — so every rack is an aftermarket bare-roof or bolt-on kit. Onboard power stops at 12V outlets in the center fascia plus a single cargo-area 12V on the EX alone; there is no AC inverter or household outlet, no factory hitch or trailer wiring, no upfit ecosystem, and only basic bag hooks in a carpeted cargo bay.

The Soul's shape works against it exactly where a road trip lives. Wind roar off the near-vertical windshield and slab sides is the dominant highway note, the 102.4-in wheelbase and torsion-beam rear give a firm and occasionally busy ride at speed, and 147 hp with the i-VT gets loud holding pace on grades. Range is merely adequate — a 14.3-gal tank at 30 MPG combined is about 429 miles. The real fatigue penalty is that the trims buyers actually get have plain fixed-speed cruise: navigation-based Smart Cruise Control and Highway Driving Assist exist only in the GT-Line Technology Package. Front seats stay genuinely comfortable over multi-hour stints, which keeps it clear of the bottom band.

The crossover styling is not backed by any crossover hardware. The Soul has never offered all-wheel drive in any model year, 2024 included; ground clearance is a car-normal 6.7 in; there is no terrain or drive-mode selector, no published tow rating for even a small trailer or teardrop, and no factory roof rails for a cargo box or bikes now that the X-Line is gone. What it does offer a camper is interior: a flat 62.1 cu ft load bay long enough to sleep in with the 60/40 bench down, which is why the boxy Soul keeps a following for car camping despite being firmly pavement-bound.

For a 165-in footprint the cargo box is exceptional — 24.2 cu ft behind the rear seats and 62.1 cu ft folded, through a square vertical tailgate with a low load lip and a flat floor, out-carrying several compact crossovers and every subcompact-hatch rival. The 60/40 bench folds on all four trims and a dual-level cargo board adds a hidden well (standard on EX, optional on S and GT-Line), with bag hooks and cargo-area lighting. It falls short of the top band on attachment points rather than volume: no factory roof rails, no factory hitch or trailer wiring, and no fold-flat front passenger seat for long items.

The Soul corners better than its tall-box shape suggests — testers report nimble responses, genuine stability when pushed and strong tire grip, helped by a short 102.4-inch wheelbase and a light 2,888–2,998 lb curb weight. It is still a high-roof economy hatch on a coupled torsion-beam rear axle with front-drive only, and the firm tune trades ride compliance for that body control rather than delivering real cornering reward, so it lands as secure and agile rather than engaging.

Reviewers split on the Soul's motor-driven rack: Edmunds calls the weighting natural and accurate, while Consumer Reports flatly calls it vague. The consensus that reconciles them is a quick 12.8:1 ratio with only 2.5 turns lock-to-lock that makes the car feel alert and easy to place in town, paired with electric assist that transmits essentially no feedback about grip. Precise enough to use, numb enough that it never encourages you.

Hardware is modest but adequate for a sub-3,000 lb car — 11.0-inch vented front and 10.3-inch solid rear discs — and emergency stopping performance draws no complaints from testers. The recurring criticism is calibration rather than capacity: an over-servoed pedal that grabs at parking-lot and stop-and-go speeds and takes acclimation, which is exactly the 'adequate stopping power, grabby pedal' description for the middle band.

The port-injected 2.0L Nu MPi and IVT are predictable and free of turbo lag, giving clean tip-in and unobtrusive around-town manners, and Kia's simulated ratio steps keep the CVT from hunting objectionably in normal driving. Response is the weak half: with 147 hp, 132 lb-ft peaking at 4,500 rpm and an 8.5-second 0–60, any real demand sends the ratio to its extreme and the car feels strained, so merges and grades require planning.

Kia's stepped-ratio programming and cabin insulation genuinely suppress the constant-rpm drone that defines cheap CVTs, and at cruise the powertrain stays in the background. Under load the naturally aspirated four still has to rev hard and becomes clearly audible and coarse, which is the ordinary outcome for the class — audible but inoffensive, with no vibration issues reported through the controls.

Kia lists a single 34.8-foot curb-to-curb turning diameter across LX, S, EX and GT-Line — near the tight end of the hatchback band and one of the Soul's genuine strengths, a product of the short 102.4-inch wheelbase, front-drive-only layout and quick 12.8:1 rack.

This is the Soul's best driving-experience attribute. The tall body yields a chair-height hip point that makes entry and exit near-effortless, deep glass and a low beltline give an unusually clear forward and side view, and the height-adjustable driver's seat plus a generous tilt-and-telescope range accommodate a wide size range. Only thick rear roof pillars and their over-the-shoulder blind zones keep it out of the top band.

The Soul has personality in its styling and is genuinely satisfying to thread through a city, but 2024 removed the last of the driving-enthusiast case: no turbo since the 2023 facelift, no manual since 2022, no AWD ever, and a CVT with no true manual mode. What is left is a willing, easy 8.5-second box that nobody takes the long way home in — pleasant and characterful, but recommended for its practicality rather than its driving.

A $20,190 LX arrives with an 8-inch touchscreen, wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto and Kia's core active-safety block — Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist with pedestrian detection, Lane Keep Assist, Lane Departure Warning, Driver Attention Warning, High Beam Assist and Rear Occupant Alert — which is more standard content than nearly anything else selling under $22,000, and 2024 adds a smart-key 'sleep mode' that arms 40 seconds after locking. The deductions are real: steel wheels and halogen reflector headlamps on the LX (IIHS-rated Poor), blind-spot and rear cross-traffic avoidance standard only from the S up, Lane Following Assist not offered on the volume trims, and adaptive cruise confined to the GT-Line's $2,400 Technology Package.

This is the Soul's whole argument and in 2024 it was at its strongest — an out-the-door base of $21,565 made it Kia's cheapest vehicle and one of the cheapest new cars in America, and it bought 120.9 cu ft of interior volume with 24.2 cu ft of cargo behind the rear seat, more usable space than compact hatchbacks costing thousands more. The $22,690 S adds a 10.25-inch touchscreen with navigation, dual-zone automatic climate, power driver's seat and wireless charging, and Kia's 5-yr/60,000-mi basic plus 10-yr/100,000-mi powertrain coverage is content no rival at this price matches; only the 147 hp naturally aspirated four and the absence of AWD keep it out of the top band.

Four trims — LX, S, GT-Line, EX — span only $4,300 from bottom to top, and beneath them there is exactly one mechanical configuration: the 2.0L Nu MPi four with the IVT, front-wheel drive only. The 1.6T with the 7-speed DCT and the rugged X-Line trim both died with the 2023 facelift, the manual was dropped after 2021 and the third-generation Soul EV never came to the US, so a 2024 buyer chooses trim and paint but never powertrain or drivetrain. Option flexibility is thin as well — the LX Technology Package, the GT-Line Technology Package and the new-for-2024 EX Designer Package are effectively the whole menu.

In absolute terms 52,397 US units is real volume for a subcompact and more than most cars in this price class ever see, and in 2024 the nameplate was still in production with no announced end — the discontinuation news was still 20 months away. The trajectory is what pulls the score to mid-pack: that figure was down roughly 14% from 61,263 in 2023 and is barely a third of the 154,768 peak set in 2016, the slide having run for most of a decade as buyers moved to taller conventional crossovers.

Kia's standing was genuinely strong in 2024 — 4th overall in the J.D. Power Initial Quality Study, the most model-level APEAL awards of any single brand, Telluride and EV6/EV9 halo products and an industry-leading warranty — so the badge cost the Soul nothing on a shopping list. It stops short of aspirational, and 2024 was the worst of the theft fallout: the 2011–2021 immobilizer-free Hyundai/Kia thefts had insurers refusing or surcharging Kia policies outright, a stigma a 2024 Soul with a standard immobilizer inherits unfairly but inherits nonetheless.

Scored on buyer benefit, the 2024 Soul was a straightforwardly negotiable car with real captive-finance support — subvented APR down to 4.75% at a time when market rates on a small car ran well above that, $750 customer cash for buyers who skipped the special financing, and $500–$800 lease cash by trim. It sits short of the top band because these are ordinary in-production-year programs rather than the clearance money the final 2025 cars attracted, and because on a $21,565 vehicle the absolute dollars available are small.

2024 is the sixth model year of the SK3 generation launched for 2019, and the one substantive update in that span — the 2023 facelift — landed the year before, so the car was cosmetically current but structurally six years old on a platform shared with the first-generation Kona. What the facelift gave in lights and fascias it took back mechanically by deleting the 1.6T and the X-Line, and the 2024 change list is a Designer Package and a key-fob sleep mode. Kia had already dropped the Soul in its home market in 2021, so redesign-or-deletion risk was visible to a buyer well before the October 2025 announcement.

Reviewers liked the 2024 Soul and it collected the awards a value pick collects — U.S. News scored it 9.2/10, ranked it at the top of its subcompact group and gave it both the 2024 Best Subcompact SUV for the Money and 2024 Best New Cars for Teens awards, and Edmunds calls it one of the best small cars for the money. It is not a comparison-test winner on merit: the 8.5-second 0–60 draws criticism in nearly every review, Poor-rated headlights and a 4-star NHTSA overall keep it off the safety-award lists, and the Soul has never taken a 10Best, NACTOY or IIHS Top Safety Pick. Well-regarded value pick, rarely the outright choice of the class.