"Get With This" The Kia Soul: A Crossover You SHOULD Cae About

OK, so you might not have any knowledge (or interest) in vintage hip-hop (in this case, the Black Sheep's "The Choice is Yours" and you may even care less about animatronic hamsters in car ads. And that's okay.

But you do care about things like fuel economy, carrying space and overall performance, or at least you should. If our assumptions are correct, then you should be turning your attention to the crossover that beat the Nissan Cube into submission(the model is being pulled due to disappointing sales), and which Car & Driver declared the "winner of the box-car wars"

Well, the Soul isn't exactly a box, but its design is on the quirky side, and in fact, that's in keeping with the general flow of ideas in the compact market - we've already reviewed Nissan's Juke, which is emblematic of the segment in a somewhat different way.

But back to the Soul. Even local dealers Kia Jamaica have sold their last in-stock unit this past week, the model did not exactly fly off the lot in the way it has in the US, where Soul sales have helped propel Kia to its best year ever.

The aformentioned style quirks and the offbeat marketing may partly attribute to that, but for whatever reason, the Soul is not to be slept on (and note: we have yet to fully test the vehicle; that will come with the next batch)

But one figure does jump out: 54, as in 54 miles to the gallon (Mpg) - that's what the folks at Kia are claiming forthe unit, although the auto publications we have read thus far peg it closer to 35; but even at the lower figure, that's still more than respectable, meaning a trip to Montego Bay and back to Kingston can be accomplished on roughly have a tank, good for mile-logging mmedia types like us.

Anther media-friendly feature is the over 240 cubic feet of carrying space, with the rear seasts fully folded down. This means work trips need not call for the hiring of a separate vehicle.

Reports on handling and overall road-worthiness will have to wait for our test drive, but in the meantime, if your looking for a capable cross-over at a convenient price (US manufacturers list for the Soul Plus variant is around $17K, so figure somewhwere in the J$3-4million range; we'll confirm soon) then you should , as the rappers say "get with this".


roomy

54mpg