An acquaintance I met recently has a Soul with 200k miles. He likes it.
Have to confess- I liked my Kia Soul rental
- Thread starter GON
- Start date
Unfortunately Kia has a company culture of just not caring after the car is sold. That's something they need to fix to solidify their reputation, because if you buy a 2022 or 2023 and wreck it, you'd probably like to get it fixed in a reasonable time frame (not several months). That IS a big problem right now, engines aside. Obviously, they aren't the only ones in this situation, I would not buy a new Ford either, but Kia is not doing any better. I would say aside from transmissions, they are generally worse than GM, and GM never really got sorted out after the strikes that were pre-C.
Really, everyone needs to get their act together. This is getting old. I want to go to tractor parts or heavy trucks parts, though I bet those are bad now too. I am sick and tired of car parts after the last two years. Though I will say through all of this, parts availability has remained good for 20+ year old Ford dinosaurs.
I ran on the hamster wheel in the gym today which looks out on Main Street in town watching all the vehicles go, everything from +20-year-old jalopies to a Bentley convertible and Porsche Taycan and everything in between. I had the following thoughts:
1. With the exception of the Bentley and Porsche I wasn't excited about a single vehicle that passed by in 40 mins.
2. I could off the top of my head name the major issue with roughly 90% of all the vehicles that passed and with Google I could probably find the common major defect with the other 10%.
3. 99% of what passed was garbage and it's a sad time for vehicles in general. Seems if you want reliability which is diminishing for most vehicles then you have to settle for something that drives like a refrigerator on wheels or deal with other major driveability/utility issues.
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My neighbors who are empty nesters who make tons of money drive now 2nd one as a commuter 1 hr away.
this bouncy ride and overly side-bolstered front seats made my recent test drive of a new kia soul lx a “no-go.” too bad, as the interior space, outward visibility and drivetrain were pluses.
I watch about 20 TikToks per day involving mechanics working on all makes and models complaining about how unfriendly the engineers were with respect to repair.
Well, I'm doing a meaningless n=1 experiment with my 2022 Soul with my own money on the line. Has moving the 2.0L to PFI made it more reliable? Does owner neglect play some part in engine reliability problems? My KIA will be immaculately maintained on a steady diet of 0W-40 Mobil 1 FS, OEM oil filters, and Techron every 5k miles. If I can't get +100K miles out of this engine without any major issues then no one can and it still has design and manufacturing flaws. The downside, my experiment doesn't end for 10 years.
I agree about the seats - although I drove 8 hours in it yesterday on the highway and it wasn't uncomfortable and I'm a large guy. I haven't noticed the bouncy ride - compared to my Tundra it feels like a go kart that is super buttoned down but comparing it to a pickup isn't saying much.
I was talking about the DEALER blowing off an obvious - and well documented - issue then sending a customer off to be stranded on the road. Completely inexcusable. Punishable!
As far as bashing, personally I have recollected many complaints with many brands - especially the FORDS I have owned in the past.
Having owned over 70 new cars I can tell you that only a handful were truly great and mostly trouble free.
The Grass is always Greener on the Other Side - ironic that the Other Side is making the same quip
Maybe the tires were over inflated . Dealers rarely drop tire pressure of new stock , usually 40+ from the factory . I usually bring a tire gauge and drop it to a few pounds over the recommended setting to get real feel behind the wheel .
Agree, odie, this has to be done. A couple psig too high - especially in the rear this will cause many problems - especially if you are just commuting unladen.
If they are severely over-inflated, I suggest to only take 2 lb out at a time as the tires take a "set", and will require a coupe days of driving to normalise. Then you can take a couple more psig out if needed.
I think this I taught myself as a motorcyclist in the 80's.
Always at the ready with a pencil gauge !
What's needed is a menu option to turn simulated shifts on/off.
But I don't want a CVT to "act like it's shifting". In all honestly, shifting is cool but inefficient and old fashioned. Why would you want a transmission to shift if the better way is to NOT shift?
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