Cube vs Soul vs ???

Has anybody in GRM land had a chance to test drive either of these? Not sure that I'm really in the market for a tiny box, but I'm real tempted to go test drive them anyway (Souls appear to be in stock now, not sure about the Cube).

The Soul is the first Kia that I've ever found appealing. Neat little car.

The Cube captures what the first-gen xB was (and the bloated 2nd gen isn't)

Our review of the Soul will be online very soon. Short answer, it was quite impressive.

I would have picked one up if they were on the market 6 months ago...Soul

astro?

As a Kia owner, I can say the dealer, warranty and support have so far made me very happy. The Soul wasn't on the lot when I was there, but it has won a lot of reviews.

MK1 XB?

David S. Wallens wrote: Our review of the Soul will be online very soon. Short answer, it was quite impressive.

I might make you guys decent car lovers yet..... It's about time you agreed with me.

I drove one of the 2 litre ones. It is not a fast car or a great handling car, but it seems like a decent package. I like that it is not incredibly heavy and I do like boxes. I think my sister in law is getting one. My wife wants one too, but we don't spend that kind of money on cars (well at least not on one car)

Yep, we had the Soul, and it was.........stay tuned!

Funny thing was, it garnered a ton of comments and thumbs up when I was driving it through the paddock at the Sebring 12 hour. Never would have guessed, but people LOVED it.

The Soul Engine/trans is what's been abused in my Elatnra for the last 7 years/106k miles. I have no doubts about the drivertrain.

Motortrend just compared the soul to the cube to the xb. The soul seemed like it won to me but they picked the giant xb anyways. It did have the most power but the soul just seemed cooler even though it didn't off as much as the bloated xb. It's really anoying how every car has to get bigger and bigger, I swear, the new xb i saw was bigger than the older rav4 it was parked next to.

I can't wait to read the grm review of it.

I read N/T's review....I thought from the way I read it that they "awarded the prize" to the xb. The Soul was a very close 2nd place. If it was my money, I'd buy the Cube.

EF Civic Si. A lot better looking, cheaper and probably easier to work on.

96DXCivic wrote: EF Civic Si. A lot better looking, cheaper and probably easier to work on.

And damn near as expensive, is now pushing 20 years old and finding one not beaten to death or swapped is next to impossible. Not to mention fitting 3 adults into it is laughable at best.

The Beta II in the Soul is a breeze to work on. T-belts are simple, plugs are not complicated and buried. No EGR like a honduh to clog. Most inmportanly, these engine make torque. I know.... you honduh guys aren't quite familiar with that word....but trust me, that's a good thing.

Something about the Soul makes me want one. Especially the red one in the commercial with the hamsters. I think it looks great in red with the dark tinted windows. Then I remind myself that A its slow B its front wheel drive and C I don't need another car. But yeah if I was buying a box that would probably be the one just based on looks.

David S. Wallens wrote: Our review of the Soul will be online very soon.

soon is not fast enough.

thank you.

I too stop after hours on a Kia lot and looked at the Soul just last night.
My wife really liked it and i could be convinced. My comment at the time was that it is bigger than her old original Rav4 and also bigger than her current Versa.

The Versa (which is the underpinings for the Cube) is not bad. It is her car and at the time, it had the best highway road manners of that type of cars in the "Scion class" like lowest highway road noise.
In no way, shape or form should a Versa be considered Sporty.

jrw1621 wrote: In no way, shape or form should a Versa be considered Sporty.

Eerything I've read about the Versa pegs it as the least dynamic, most bland, boring car on Earth to drive. Decent A to B transportation, though.

Her need at the time was highway commuting about one hour each way. A straight and boring run on the Ohio Turnpike. She wanted new, and I was okay with that. Personally, I buy used for myself but my wife is not real good at listening to her car. She is more the type that if the key turns and the radio works, its fine.

For its price the Versa SL had the nicest interior and the most user features. Road noise was a big factor and samples like the 2 door Yaris were nearly unbearable at highway speeds.

We came down to Versa or Prius and I just could not personally make the return on investment numbers work on the Prius. As a side note, the Fit had not been released and was not tested. She was coming out of an early Rav4 which also is not a highway car or a road handler. compared to the Rav4 the Versa felt "spirited."

So far, the Versa has over 50K and no issues.
The back seat is truely amazingly big and my favorite feature is the squareness of the rear side doors makes it possible to put large items in the back seat. The side door openings seem to actually be larger than the hatch opening.

I give props to Kia- the Soul is the first box-shaped I like based on styling, which is good for them because I'm in their target demographic and I much prefer swoopy cars. I wouldn't be caught dead driving an xB or Cube, no matter how useful they are. I'd take my Soul in Sport trim, red, M/T with the glowing speakers. Lightly used, of course- gotta love that steep Kia depreciation curve!

When I was in Trinidad last Feb, I saw several Cubes. Really nice looking. No idea how they drive tho.

Surprised this is relevant, with all the mini-van love around here.

HHR standard, panel or SS.

Appleseed wrote: Surprised this is relevant, with all the mini-van love around here.

Big difference between a minivan and a microvan.