Test Drive: Kia Soul EV vs Bolt Premiere vs 2013 Leaf SV

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LeftieBiker

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Jan 10, 2017
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I posted this in the Leaf forum, and thought it be of interest here as well.


Since more than a few of us are going to be faced with some hard choices if the EV tax credit gets axed, I thought I'd post my thoughts about the Kia Soul EV, and directly compare it to my 24kwh Leaf SV. I'll also compare it to the Bolt Premiere I drove recently.

As often happens with test drives, this one was just a little rushed because of the hour, and I didn't think of everything at the time. Still, I did get to walk around the car (tiny truck?), move the seats around, check out the parking sensors, and drive it at 45MPH on a lightly trafficked four lane boulevard.

SIZE: The Soul, like the Bolt, is shorter than my Leaf, and seemed slightly narrower, while being the same height or slightly taller. The rear cargo area is a mixed bag: with the rear seats up, it's fairly tiny, like the Bolt's, and similarly fairly shallow because of the hidden storage compartments under the rear deck. The Leaf's cargo compartment is clearly larger and more useful with the rear seats up. Lower the back seats, though, and the cargo area opens up nicely, with a much larger seeming, squared off area in the center of the car. I've seen photos of the Soul with seats folded, and they seemed flatter than the one I tested, but that have been because the front seats were well back in their tracks. Anyway, the Soul appeared to me to have the most useful cargo area of the three cars in two-seater mode. It would have been hands-down the best if not for the relatively tiny rear hatch, which seems to have been designed more for style than for ease of stowage. As it is there is the same kind of "bottleneck" back there as the Leaf has, in the area of the rear strut towers. It was my impression that the Soul has the lowest liftover height of the three cars, but I'm not certain of that.

Conclusion: none of these cars make great station wagons, but the Soul seems to have the most useful storage with the rear seats down, and the least with them up. The Leaf is the best with the rear seats up, and the Bolt may be the best compromise because of its flatter-folding seats.

DRIVING IMPRESSIONS: The Soul is the most truck-like in the way it seats people, high up with excellent visibility. I hope that the driver's seat can be lowered from where it was, but I didn't try because I didn't realize it was too high until I was on the road. The Bolt, however, is definitely the most truck-like in suspension compliance and road noise. The Soul, like the Leaf, is fairly quiet on the road, and absorbs bumps well without being too soft. I've read complaints about the lack of steering feel, but after four and a half years of driving my Leaf I didn't notice it - I guess that "numb" is "normal" for me now. I didn't do any hard cornering, but I have no reason to doubt accounts of the Soul handling well. Acceleration was bit of a disappointment: I don't know how Nissan managed to make the Leaf so quick off the line with 108HP and 189lb-ft of torque, but even though the Soul has one more HP and something like 21 more lb-ft of torque, the off the line acceleration is adequate, but not thrilling. I'm guessing that mid-range power is better than the Leaf's (and both of course are worse than the Bolt's). Otherwise the slightly faster 0-60 time for the Soul would make no sense. I didn't try to change dash options, but the large digital speed readout on the right side of the dash was OK - no straining to interpret a 19th century dial display. The cruise control is slightly harder to activate than my Leaf's (and similar to the 2018 Leaf's) because you are pressing two buttons out of six or so on a TV remote-style shuttle pad located on the steering wheel. Anyway, the fairly short drive was neither disappointing nor invigorating. The car's Guess O Meter was optimistic, but not as much as the Leaf's GOM. I was told that we were the second test drive since the car was last charged, and it was still reading 85% SOC when I parked it, having blasted the heat in 36F weather for the whole drive. This suggests to me that the Soul really is more efficient than the Leaf, and really does have significantly more range. (The heater is, however, noticeably slower to provide heat. It took about three minutes. I wonder if the heat pump runs alone in mild weather, to save power?)

FEATURES & COMFORT: The Soul comes in two trim levels (three in California), the EV and EV+. As with the Bolt, if you choose the higher trim option you are forced to accept leather seating. This seriously Irks me, because I usually want the higher option level, and have no desire whatsoever to sit on leather. The seats are actually only a little more comfortable than the Bolt's crappy seats, and are also too narrow, although not as much so. I also found the driver's seat too hard. There is a panoramic sunroof available on both trims, IIRC. It doesn't interest me, and the only thing you get bundled with it for about $1k more is pulsating lights on the speakers. Riiight...

I drove an EV+ because I wanted to check out the parking sensor system, which is of course only available on the EV+. It was a big disappointment. I drove the car to a well-lit part of the lot with no cars around, turned the sensors on, and crept towards the 6" curb. Nothing happened. I knew that I was close enough, so the salesman got out and waved me forward. Just about when I expected to hear loud scraping and popping sounds from the nose, the car started beeping hysterically, and the salesman signaled me to stop. I got out, and the front bumper was actually ABOVE THE CURB and several inches in above it at that. There was a light post with a concrete base about 2' behind the curb, and the salesman theorized that the sensor system had focused on that instead of the curb. FAIL. It's a good thing the Soul has plenty of ground clearance.

Conclusion: I'd cheerfully lease an EV trim Soul instead of an EV+ and install aftermarket parking cameras, but naturally the dealership only has EV+ cars left on the lot. The interior wasn't as nice as my Leaf's, at least from my perspective, but it was still less annoying than the Bolt's. The button for the electric parking brake is located down in a well in front of and between the seats with the parking sensor button, and it's both hard to locate and rather indifferent to requests to activate - you have to press it firmly.There is no reason, IMO, to get an EV+ unless you like leather-covered seats with air conditioning channels in them. I did like the energy saving driver-only climate control mode, but didn't test it as I had my housemate along for the ride.

FINANCIALS: The Soul lease is the best buy out there, right now. For $2k down I'd get a 36 month EV+ lease for $173 a month, plus state tax. If they had an EV trim Soul in stock, the lease would have been $157 with the same down payment, again with tax not included. I forgot to ask about the residual, but I've read elsewhere that it's about $11k, making the car affordable to buy when the lease ends. The Bolt is the worst lease deal by far: for the same $2k down I'd be paying $360 a month for a well-optioned Premiere, with a residual North of $25k. Feh. I'm going to get a quote for a well-optioned LT, again having to add my own parking cameras.

I'm not going to get a lease quote for a 2017 Leaf, because the 30kwh packs are so terrible, apparently, that you have to live in the Upper Midwest or Northwest to risk even leasing one...






2013 "Brilliant Silver" SV with Premium Package and no QC, and 2009 Vectrix VX-1 with 18 Leaf cells.

The most offensive, tasteless phrase in use here is "Pulled the trigger." I no longer respond to posts that use it.
 
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this car. I still haven't gotten a chance to get behind the wheel of one yet, although from the sound of it, I wouldn't enjoy the car.

Interesting that the cargo area is so tiny with the seats up. Unfortunately, that's when I need it most - when my kids are in the back and the family's luggage is in the trunk. What ever happened to the old school station wagon? Why are today's hatchbacks so short? If they just made these cars (Leaf, Soul, Bolt etc) a little longer, you could have a significantly sized trunk. As a bonus, the aerodynamics would actually improve. Instead, they make them all taller which add no useful cargo room, but significant aero drag.
 
I drove a 2015 Soul EV base trim on a 3 year lease that expired in October. I'd probably still be driving one IF they had a 60kW battery in the car. Two problems other than the manageable 100 mile range anxiety was an OBC (on board charger) failure at about 4000 miles and the annoying lack of the touch screen's sensitivity .
KIA and it's dealers are fairly new compared to Chevrolet and it's organization, They're good but definitely have some growing pains to work out.

I chose to lease a 2017 Bolt EV LT recently and have no regrets. I'm paying a little more per month than I would to get back into a Soul EV but I have no problem with that. A 250 mile range, awesome performance made it an easy move for me. The high residual means nothing as I will want to move to the next step of EV tech in three years.. Hopefully an FCEV/BEV plugin hybrid.

AJ
 
GetOffYourGas said:
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this car. I still haven't gotten a chance to get behind the wheel of one yet, although from the sound of it, I wouldn't enjoy the car.

Interesting that the cargo area is so tiny with the seats up. Unfortunately, that's when I need it most - when my kids are in the back and the family's luggage is in the trunk. What ever happened to the old school station wagon? Why are today's hatchbacks so short? If they just made these cars (Leaf, Soul, Bolt etc) a little longer, you could have a significantly sized trunk. As a bonus, the aerodynamics would actually improve. Instead, they make them all taller which add no useful cargo room, but significant aero drag.

The Leaf is long enough, and the cargo area is reasonably large with the seats up - especially if you don't add a spare under a false floor. Any longer and it would have to be a Leaf Wagon. The Bolt and Soul are the really short cars.
 
LeftieBiker said:
GetOffYourGas said:
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this car. I still haven't gotten a chance to get behind the wheel of one yet, although from the sound of it, I wouldn't enjoy the car.

Interesting that the cargo area is so tiny with the seats up. Unfortunately, that's when I need it most - when my kids are in the back and the family's luggage is in the trunk. What ever happened to the old school station wagon? Why are today's hatchbacks so short? If they just made these cars (Leaf, Soul, Bolt etc) a little longer, you could have a significantly sized trunk. As a bonus, the aerodynamics would actually improve. Instead, they make them all taller which add no useful cargo room, but significant aero drag.

The Leaf is long enough, and the cargo area is reasonably large with the seats up - especially if you don't add a spare under a false floor. Any longer and it would have to be a Leaf Wagon. The Bolt and Soul are the really short cars.

The Leaf could be longer. Yes, it would be a Leaf Wagon. That was my question - what ever happened to the station wagon?
 
Station wagons became "uncool" and were replaced by "crossovers," which are just station wagons with more curves. My point about the Leaf was that the car is long enough. If they wanted to make a longer version it would have to be a crossover variant so people wouldn't avoid the sedan for being excessively long.
 
You have an interesting perspective. Very different from my experience. I want to explore two things here.

1) You say the Leaf is "long enough"
You have stated this more than once, but haven't qualified it - long enough for what? If it was longer, it would a) be more aerodynamic (more efficient = longer range per charge) and b) have more storage space. These are two common complaints I hear about EVs. They don't go far enough and they don't have enough room (compared to the much more popular crossovers/SUVs.

2) You say people "avoid the sedan for being excessively long"
I have to admit, this is a new one to me. At least in the states. I've heard this complaint from Europeans, and I get it. Things are much more crowded over there. But here in the states, I don't know of anyone who moved from a sedan to a crossover because the sedan was too long. In every case it's a) the higher seating position and b) the larger cargo area that makes the crossover more appealing than the sedan.

Yes, I realize that 2a) answers my objection that the typical car is too tall. But I'm interested to hear more of your side of this if you care to share it. Again, the things that you are taking for granted are completely new to me.
 
The Leaf fits into smallish parking spaces, but just barely length-wise. I park mine facing the garage, and it just reaches the street. Handicapped spaces, the smaller ones at least, are just filled lengthwise by my Leaf. Any longer and parking would be an issue. There is a photo of a Leaf, Bolt, and Prius C parked together. It illustrates this nicely. Shame I have no way to post it.
 
I park mine facing the garage, and it just reaches the street.

This right here is telling to me. I could park 3 Leafs in front of my garage, and still not reach the street. So you live in a more compact area than I do, and frankly many of my friends and family. In that context, your impressing of the Leaf's length makes perfect sense.

Sometimes I appreciate the small footprint. Like on the rare occasions I venture into the city of Syracuse. Most of the time, I don't, but when I do park downtown, a compact car is a blessing.
 
Yes, essentially the Leaf is as long as you can get without having an unusually, sometimes inconveniently long compact.
 
Thanks for posting your review.

In terms of power/acceleration I found the Soul EV pretty lackluster too but I think a lot of us tend to do the drag race thing on test drives which can yield an unfair overall bias to the car with the most power. For some, tire-shredding acceleration is very important to them. For me, I drive my car around in the "economy" power mode which limits the motor's output in favor of driving efficiently. Only rarely do I unleash the fury of "sport" mode, and it's ludicrous 177 hp & 251 lb-ft of torque. :)
 
oilerlord said:
Thanks for posting your review.

In terms of power/acceleration I found the Soul EV pretty lackluster too but I think a lot of us tend to do the drag race thing on test drives which can yield an unfair overall bias to the car with the most power. For some, tire-shredding acceleration is very important to them. For me, I drive my car around in the "economy" power mode which limits the motor's output in favor of driving efficiently. Only rarely do I unleash the fury of "sport" mode, and it's ludicrous 177 hp & 251 lb-ft of torque. :)

I too use Eco mode 95% of the time. It should also be noted that there were three people in the Soul at the time. Maybe it does accelerate as fast as a Leaf at low speeds if there is just one person aboard.
 
LeftieBiker said:
Conclusion: I'd cheerfully lease an EV trim Soul instead of an EV+ and install aftermarket parking cameras, but naturally the dealership only has EV+ cars left on the lot. The interior wasn't as nice as my Leaf's, at least from my perspective, but it was still less annoying than the Bolt's. The button for the electric parking brake is located down in a well in front of and between the seats with the parking sensor button, and it's both hard to locate and rather indifferent to requests to activate - you have to press it firmly.There is no reason, IMO, to get an EV+ unless you like leather-covered seats with air conditioning channels in them. I did like the energy saving driver-only climate control mode, but didn't test it as I had my housemate along for the ride.

FINANCIALS: The Soul lease is the best buy out there, right now.

So, is a Soul EV your next EV?
 
I remain wary of the Soul EV simply because there are rumors of battery degradation and the 93 mile EPA range is only about 10 miles more than the very least range I'd accept. If I have to lease a car now, I'm leaning towards the Bolt LT, although I could also forgo the Federal tax credit, spend more than I want, and get a Leaf SV without the Tech Package next year. I don't like ANY of the options in that "no tax credit" scenario...
 
If I was going to be looking for a stopgap EV with range around 90 miles, I'd find myself a Spark EV which is quicker and more nimble in traffic than a KIA Soul EV. Fold the rear seats down and it'll carry lots. Turning radius is so small it makes U-turns where other cars have to stop, back up and resume. But I'm from California - if you are from where no Spark EVs were sold, then ignore this post. Unfortunately...
 
There is at least one Spark in my area. Too small. The Leaf is about the perfect size for me, although I wouldn't hate one a few inches shorter. The Bolt isn't too small for me, just too uncomfortable and...disjointed?...inside.
 
KentS said:
If I was going to be looking for a stopgap EV with range around 90 miles, I'd find myself a Spark EV which is quicker and more nimble in traffic than a KIA Soul EV. Fold the rear seats down and it'll carry lots.

I dig the Spark EV too, but my wife veto'd it. I was intoxicated by it's tire melting torque but she made me come to the logical realization that it was too small. Lots of guys like the 500e too. Fun, and incredibly affordable (especially used) but way to small for us - yes, even with the rear seats down.
 
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