A Fun Little Car With Plenty of Room
I searched high and low for a used Kia Soul that I could afford to help my daughter get over a few rough spots in life. I was looking at 2012s; the paint on the plastic armrests is always worn off (can we say "cheap?"), and they just looked a bit half baked. I was getting ready to travel to Texas to find a good one, when I was blessed to find a 2014 Base model a few miles away from home with 124,000 miles on it. Most of the vehicles in my family have over 100,000 miles. We take very good care of them, and they provide very good service. I am well aware that I have to pay for maintenance to bring a used car up to my high standards, but I have little doubt that the payback will be at least 100,000 miles of good service. That 2014 Kia was obviously well cared for and mostly dealer maintained (the dealer's phone number was on the license-plate holder - I called them). This little car is just simply fun to drive. It revs nicely, and the 6-speed automatic makes the best of 130 horsepower. I'm tall, and I fit pretty comfortably. You sit somewhat high, which makes the car feel larger than it is. I put four new tires in the back of it (with the seats down) and still had plenty of room to spare. Speaking of spares, the Base model of the car does not come with one, but parts are pretty easy to find, and you can shop around plenty of online Kia dealers who are willing to undercut each other's prices. Mine has alloy wheels, cruise control, and keyless entry, so the car isn't missing anything that I find necessary. All in all, I am very happy with my purchase, and my daughter loves it! She will love it even more once I have completed all of the maintenance tasks and the catalytic converter / firmware recall. The only flaws that my mechanic could find were a broken inner tie rod, a "seeping" transmission cooling oil line (not a crisis), and worn rear brakes (a wear item). I already knew about a small leak at the oil drain plug, and of course, the recent recall. The car feels great, including the suspension. The car looks and feels almost new, which says a lot for the quality of materials and workmanship that Kia put into it 6 years and 124,000 miles ago.
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