2023 Kia Soul Reviews, Pricing & Specs

It may be a few years old, but the current-generation Kia Soul’s styling still looks fresh. It takes the signature boxy profile of the previous two generations and adds funky touches like big upright taillights that wrap into the rear hatch and a furrowed-brow headlight design that mixes toughness and cuteness.

For 2023, the Soul gets a few styling changes. A new front fascia includes redesigned horizontal fog lights thank flank the truck-like grille, as well as upright elements that curve back to blend with the wheel openings. The large daytime running light elements are now gone, and the headlights have a new design. The taillights were changed as well, although the differences are harder to spot. New 17-inch and 18-inch alloy wheel designs round out the changes.

The Soul is also available with two-tone paint in Clear White or Surf Blue, both with a black roof. Our GT-Line test car was the sportiest looking Soul model, thanks to optional 18-inch wheels and a massive centered exhaust tip which, combined with the hard-to-miss taillights, gives the Soul one of the most unusual rear profiles of any new car.

While the exterior is defined by hard angles, the interior is defined by curves. The infotainment touchscreen sits in an ovoid housing, with a shape echoed by the dashboard speaker grilles. Our GT-Line test car added some welcome pops of color to the mostly black interior, including red contrast stitching and red trim for the doors, which also have large scalloped elements that add more flair to the interior. Little touches like these make the Soul feel like more than an entry-level car.

In addition to looking nice, the interior is also nicely equipped—if you get a fully-loaded GT-Line model like our test car, that is. The optional GT-Line Technology Package added convenience features like a power-adjustable driver’s seat, heated front seats, and a dual-level cargo floor and cargo cover. Cloth seats are standard regardless of trim level or option package, while dual-zone automatic climate control is standard on all but the base LX trim level.

Kia is offering only a single powertrain for 2023. The carryover 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine produces 147 horsepower and 132 pound-feet of torque, and is only available with a continuously variable transmission (CVT) and front-wheel drive (FWD).

The Soul was previously available with a 1.6-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine that produced 201 hp and 195 lb-ft of torque, and was paired with a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, but that’s been dropped for 2023. A Soul EV was also once part of the lineup, but Kia opted not to bring the current-generation version to the United States, opting to focus on the Niro EV as its base electric model. And the Soul has never been available with all-wheel drive (AWD).

Any of those items would likely enhance the driving experience, but the basic package is still pretty good. CVTs have a bad reputation thanks to excessive noise and a lag in acceleration known as “rubber banding,” something Kia has tried to distance itself from by labelling its CVT an “Intelligent Variable Transmission.” This isn’t just marketing nonsense though; the Soul’s transmission was mostly free of the aforementioned CVT bad habits. It was able to quickly crack off whatever the CVT equivalent of a downshift is, making the most of the engine’s 147 hp for stress-free overtaking. Switch the drive mode from Normal to Sport, and the throttle gets even more responsive.

The Soul handled corners reasonably well but still felt more like an economy car than hot hatchback. The suspension isn’t anything special after all, with the same front MacPherson strut and torsion beam rear axle combination used on most entry-level FWD vehicles.

Our GT-Line test car’s larger 18-inch wheels may have affected ride quality a bit, as some impacts with broken pavement felt harsher than expected, but overall there wasn’t much to complain about. The Soul felt fairly buttoned down, but with enough compliance in the suspension to keep the ride comfortable most of the time. Cabin noise levels were reasonably good for an entry-level vehicle as well, although on highways we experienced a level of crosswind buffeting rivaled by only the Jeep Wrangler.

The Soul launched just before the subcompact crossover segment came into existence, but it has a lot in common with some of these vehicles. The Nissan Kicks and Hyundai Venue have similarly square profiles and lack AWD, showing just how amorphous the definition of “crossover” can be.

The Kia is between the Hyundai and Nissan in size, and offers about the same amount of front seat headroom. Nissan managed to find a bit more front legroom, but the Soul offers more rear seat legroom and headroom than both the Kicks and Venue.

Kia says the Soul offers up to 24.2 cubic feet of cargo space with the rear seats in place for models with the optional dual-level cargo floor and cargo cover, plus 62.1 cubic feet with the rear seats folded. That easily beats the Venue’s tiny cargo area, but the Kicks still offers more cargo space with its second row up.

Still, the Soul packs an impressive amount of interior space into a small footprint. The Mazda CX-30 is longer overall than the Kia, with an additional two inches of wheelbase length, but its narrower, lower body shell (derived from the Mazda 3 compact hatchback) means it offers less headroom in both rows, less rear legroom, and not as much cargo space as the square-bodied Soul.

While spacious for its size, unsupportive seats made the interior slightly less pleasant. The driver’s seat in particular forces a splay-legged position that got uncomfortable after awhile. Interior functionality was fairly good, though. We found the large buttons for our test car’s heated seats helpful, along with the large smartphone storage tray that leaves plenty of room for large center-console cupholders.

A digital instrument cluster and 8-inch touchscreen infotainment system are standard on the base LX trim level; higher trim levels get a 10.25-inch touchscreen with navigation, plus wireless phone charging and two USB center console charge ports in addition to the standard port located at the base of the center stack.

Like other Kia models, the Soul gets wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the smaller touchscreen offered in the base model and wired versions with the larger screen. Bluetooth is standard as well, with voice recognition on Soul S and higher trim levels. The GT-Line Technology Package also adds a Harman Kardon premium audio system with an external amplifier, subwoofer, and door-mounted tweeters.

Kia continues to offer one of the best infotainment systems among mainstream brands. The digital instrument cluster display wouldn’t look out of place on the bridge of a Romulan Warbird, but it was still easy to read. It was a refreshing departure from the uncreative virtual dials most other automakers use.

The main touchscreen’s graphics carry over from other Kia models, with a dark theme and images of old timey vacuum tubes for the radio display, but they still looked good here. Menus were also generally easy to navigate, although switching SiriusXM satellite radio stations through the touchscreen could be a bit easier, as the dropdown menu needed to do this isn’t obvious at first.

The Soul doesn’t have any really novel tech features, but this is a basic car after all, and we see no need to add tech just for its own sake.

For 2023, Kia has made some previously optional driver-assist features standard, including forward collision warning, automatic emergency braking, lane keep assist, and a driver attention monitor. Moving up from the base LX trim level to the Soul S adds lane change assist, lane departure warning, blind spot monitoring, rear cross traffic alert, and automatic high beams.

Our Soul GT-Line test car also had the GT-Line Technology Package, which adds a junction-turning feature for the forward collision warning that detects oncoming vehicles while making left turns, plus navigation-based adaptive cruise control and Highway Drive Assist, which combines adaptive cruise control with automated lane centering for highway driving. It’s roughly equivalent to Volkswagen’s Travel Assist in capability.

Making customers purchase an option package on top of the priciest trim level to get adaptive cruise control doesn’t help the Soul’s value equation; competitors like Honda and Toyota offer this feature (and others that are optional on the Soul) as standard equipment across their lineups. Highway Drive Assist’s automated lane centering also didn’t work very well in the Soul, as it was sometimes overwhelmed by the flat bodywork’s tendency to catch crosswinds.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) gave the 2023 Kia Soul top “Good” ratings in all crash-test categories, but a lower “Acceptable” rating for child-seat anchor ease of use, and it hasn’t published headlight or crash-avoidance tech ratings for this model year.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) a four-star overall safety rating, with four stars in frontal and rollover crash testing, and five stars for side-impact protection.

Most 2023 Kia Soul models get EPA-rated fuel economy of 30 mpg combined (28 mpg city, 33 mpg highway), but the Kia Soul EX is rated slightly higher at 31 mpg combined 29 mpg city, 35 mpg highway). Our Soul GT-Line test car came fairly close to its lower fuel-economy target with an observed 29.1 mpg average.

One of the main selling points of any Kia remains the automaker’s generous warranty coverage, including a 10-year, 100,000-mile, powertrain warranty and five-year, 60,000-mile, limited warranty. It’s unmatched by most rivals, although Hyundai, Kia’s parent brand, offers the same warranty.

Pricing starts at $21,215 for the base Kia Soul LX trim level (all prices include a mandatory $1,325 destination charge). Moving up the trim ladder, the Soul S and Soul EX start at $24,715 and $25,515, respectively. The top Soul GT-Line trim level has a $24,815 base price, but you’ll need to select the GT-Line Technology Package to get the full array of driver-assist features, adding $2,400 to the MSRP.

Even with all boxes checked, the Soul remains relatively affordable by current new-car standards, coming in below many similarly equipped subcompact crossovers, albeit without the availability of AWD. The Soul also boasts competent driving dynamics and a stylish design that doesn’t impact practicality, making for a well-rounded small car that’s definitely worth considering. Sometimes thinking inside the box can be a good thing.