OK, Kia has SOME Soul.

If you saw my other thread, you know that I was having trouble with the sleazy bait-and-switch advertising practices of my local Kia dealers. (Pittsburgh, PA) They advertise a great low price, and then you find out that it was on one car only and it always "just sold". Really? How many excellent credit, active military, recent college grads who are current Kia owners and have a qualifying competitive trade-in, who want a base Kia Soul are there in Pittsburgh anyway??? Apparently hundreds.

So thanks to my friend the Internet, I found a dealer with a few base model Souls on the lot. (You could say they had a lot of Soul. James Brown doesn't have this much soul. There are fewer Souls in heaven. OK, you get the point) I called and the conversation with Danielle in the call center was pleasant and refreshingly straightforward. She put me through to Evan at the dealer and again, honest and straightforward. So we ended up driving 2 1/2 hours to the other side of Cleveland just to look at a car.

I have to give a shout-out to Montrose Kia in Sheffield, OH. We test drove the base model and loved it. There was no pressure, so sales gimmicks, no tricks. We had a surprisingly good rate on a line of credit from the bank, so we decided to test drive the Soul+ as a comparison. The addition of cruise, bluetooth, and a host of other nice touches convinced us to step up to the next trim level. (I think the Soul+ is the sweep spot in the model range anyway.) We were offered optional extras, but not pressured. We were offered financing, but no pressure and no tricks. We even bought a few accessories and had them installed while we waited. Overall, a pleasant experience. So let me introduce the wife's new ride:

It is a 2.0 with a 5-Speed and while not a Miata, it is pretty fun to drive. More importantly, it's safe, reliable, gets 30+MPG on the highway, has room for a rear-facing car seat, and has a lots of room inside with a rear hatch and fold-down seats. It's a lot of car for less than $14K including tax, fees and title.

PS - I'm aware of the driveway. It's crap, I know, I'm getting to it.

Ah, yes, Danielle. Can't say my experience with her was as pleasant (I think she does the internet for all the Montrose dealers).
But anyway it looks nice (The car, not the driveway) . Once you break it in, I'd like to know what real world mileage you get from it.

Very nice! I have to say I like those things. They are far less self-consciously goofy looking than most of their competitors.

I like it - 5-speed, red.....Great deal for $14,000!

That Beta engine is indestructible. Do yourself a favor though..... buy a 6-pack of OEM filters. They don't like many aftermarket ones.

Congrats on the purchase!

pinchvalve wrote: PS - I'm aware of the driveway. It's crap, I know, I'm getting to it.

Yeah, but at least the hedges are trimmed nicely.

Sweet deal. You're drinking the Kia Kool-Aid too. We bought our Sedona in early '07 and have been thrilled with it. Fun to drive? Hell no. Handle well? Well...it does turn a corner, but the kids and wife will puke if I go too fast. I will say it's damn fast off the line for a minivan. But for $17k out the door, and now nearly 58,000 trouble free miles of hauling the family, I've got no complaints at all. Incredible value.

And I've still got 5 years and 42,000 miles left on my powertrain warranty.

If there is anyone in Florida looking, the KIA dealership in Daytona has at LEAST 3 base Souls with a manual. After an especially bad experience with the Caddy service department regarding our Astra, we decided to stop in and have a look. The seats don't fit me, but the car is otherwise great (and available).

I am more than a little tickled that it was such a big deal you couldn't get the base model anywhere and then when you did find it you didn't buy it. Maybe there's a good reason they're not around...

What's it like being married to a hamster?

I have two friends that have them, one in that Alien Green color and one in a Grayish Blue metallic. Both 5 speeds. I have to say the red looks good.

Datsun1500 wrote: In the other thread you wondered why no one carried the base models. Dealers don't carry the base models because no one buys them. But YOU want to buy one was your response...... and you did not buy the base model..... that is why no one carries them, no one buys them, even you.

Funny how that turned out, huh?

Congrats to OP and good luck with it.

Needs to be dropped (just a smidge), and add black wheels :).

I see a bit of Nissan GTR in the front end.

pinchvalve wrote: PS - I'm aware of the driveway. It's crap, I know, I'm getting to it.

What? I seem to remember when I lived in Cleveland that all the roads up there looked like your driveway.

Nice find with the car, and it's good to hear you finally found an upfront dealer. Too bad nobody from the other places you called probably aren't reading this thread, or if someone from there is, he's probably the mechanic who can't set any policies and is preparing a Challenge car at home...

If it makes you feel better, the designer loves old Mopars and is a BMX kid:

http://www.autotraderclassics.com/car-article/The+Classics+Perspective+_+A+Very+Old+Soul-62155.xhtml

For the record, I don't care if dealers don't carry the base. If they are not a strong seller, then fine. What I DO object to is telling me that you carry them when you don't. And telling me that you have them on the lot and when I get there they are suddenly all gone. I object to advertising a low price on a car you do not currently have, never did have and cannot get. I wanted to look at a base and the plus, and be able to buy the base if the deal on the plus didn't work out. I can't compare something to a base if you lie to me and don't actually have one.

Datsun1500 wrote: Dealers don't carry the base models because no one buys them.

I always think dealers should have one base model to sell people on the upgraded model. You take one look at the base model and ask to see the next one up.

I recently looked at a base model Corolla and was totally turned off........

MadScientistMatt wrote:

pinchvalve wrote: PS - I'm aware of the driveway. It's crap, I know, I'm getting to it.

What? I seem to remember when I lived in Cleveland that all the roads up there looked like your driveway. Nice find with the car, and it's good to hear you finally found an upfront dealer. Too bad nobody from the other places you called probably aren't reading this thread, or if someone from there is, he's probably the mechanic who can't set any policies and is preparing a Challenge car at home...

Actually, his driveway looks pretty good compared to some of the roads around here. I recently went on a 4800 mile road trip out west and was shocked when I got back and realized how bad our roads are. I'm outta here as soon as I retire, if not sooner.

In reply to pinchvalve: Hey Pinch - I don't know how old you are, but I'm starting to get to the age where how hard a car is to get in and out of is an increasingly important factor. The Sould seems to have a fairly high roof. Is it easy to get in and out of?