Kia Soul Burner Road Test Report
Performance 
The Kia Soul is available with the choice of either a 1.6-litre Petrol engine, or 1.6-litre diesel unit. The Kia Soul Burner, however, is only available in the diesel and having also driven the petrol Kia Soul Shaker in my opinion the diesel unit is the pick of the two. Offering plenty of torque at low revs the car gets up to speed quickly, and while not particularly quiet it is in no way “agricultural”. Anyone expecting outlandish performance because of the outlandish aesthetics will be sadly disappointed, the car isn’t built for speed – the boxy nature of the body should have given that away – instead you’ll find competent performance figures lurking in the car literature. The 1.6-litre diesel engine produces 126bhp at 4000 revs, and can muster a top speed of 113mph. The car’s 0-62mph time of 11.3 seconds just goes to confirm that the Burner isn’t a drag racer. However one of the more positive aspects of the diesel unit is its fuel efficiency, where it scores a good 54.3 mpg on its combined cycle.
Ride & Handling 
After establishing that the performance of the vehicle isn’t the cars strongest point, a lot rests on the cars handling ability and it’s pleasing to report that the car is enjoyable to drive. The handling is responsive and provides the right amount of feedback to ensure the car remains glued to the road – those large 18” ‘burner’ alloys help with the traction too. The ride is pretty firm, those Macpherson struts hard at work dampening a lot of the larger “craters” on the roads, however don’t get fooled by the look of the car - no Kia Soul comes with 4x4 capability.
Build Quality & Reliability
Love or loathe the Kia Soul, the Burner is sure to raise even more eyebrows with its distinctive black bodywork, 18” alloys, red wing mirrors and over-the-top dragon body wrap. For my money they’ve gone too far with the dragon wrap and I can’t imagine anyone over 25 interested in driving a car styled as such, which is a real shame. Looking past the visual style of the car there is much to like, the car comes with an impressive five year warranty, including unlimited mileage – Kia is making a name for itself as having the best warranties available in the car industry – and the way the car is put together I doubt many people will have need to call on the warranty. Externally the car is well put together, while inside the cabin the car continues the red and black theme with a two tone colour scheme used on the upholstered seats, and plastics making up the dash. Nothing looks cheap or hastily put together, the plastics used have a stylish Kevlar-style finish to them, while only the gear stick appears out of place. Sure fire way to interest the younger crowd is the iPod connectivity, not just a basic AUX socket either, and the car comes with an excellent speaker system, including sub-woofer. One superfluous design flourish are the red lights in the front speakers housed in the doors, which throb and glow to the music, the designers have even been so kind to provide a multi-point dial to operate the lights!
Safety & Security 
Kia has made a real conscious effort to make all their new models achieve the highest possible Euro NCAP rating and the Kia Soul joins the Kia cee’d and the latest generation Kia Sorento in being awarded the maximum five-star award. The car comes with six airbags, and Electronic Stability Control as standard. The higher, SUV-like driving position provides a good, clear view of the road, and the wing mirrors are pretty large too, so there aren’t too many blind spots around the car which all helps give the driver a level of confidence in the car. Overall the Kia Soul Burner is one very safe car and with it sitting in insurance group 6 the car will not be prohibitive to run.
Space & Practicality
Pitched as a “radical urban crossover” vehicle the car is probably best described as an over-sized super-mini. The amount of room available in both the front and rear of the car is excellent, with rear passengers enjoying an amount of space rarely found in a car of this segment. Boot capacity of 340 litres is pretty decent too, although the space available is fairly vertical, and the boot does lack a little depth – push those rear seats down however the available space increases to 671 litres.
Ownership & Value
The Kia Soul Burner is the top-of-the-range Soul available at the moment, with a price tag of £14,995 which is an attractive price for what is a compelling car packed with equipment. If, and it’s a pretty big if, you can look past the two dragon’s prancing about on the sides of the car then the Kia Soul Burner would be my pick of the range, as it is the ‘distinctive’ styling is just too much to bear. The level of specification on the car is first class though, with iPod connectivity and a tremendous speaker system sure to appear to the car’s target market. For the level of kit, the build quality, and the warranty the car is exceptional value for money, the concern would be for the resale value on a car which will probably be the motoring equivalent of marmite; those two dragons could really take a bite out of the residual – equally it could well mean that second hand this car could be an absolute steal.
Performance
When you see a car the size of the Kia Soul Burner, and you take into account its’ modest 1.6 diesel engine, you’d assume it would be a little sluggish. And you’d be right. It has a basic 4-cylinder diesel engine and 5-speed gear box, which gives you a not particularly staggering 126 BHP. The final depressing performance statistic is its’ 0-62 MPH time, which is a woeful 11.3 seconds. In defence of the Soul Burner, it does perform well as an outlandish urban motor, providing good torque in the lower range. Apparently, it will also get up to a comparatively impressive 113 MPH, though there might not be enough motorway in Britain to achieve this theoretical maximum. It’s noisy, but not as noisy as some of the “eco-cars” I’ve reviewed recently, basically meaning it sounds more like a diesel, and less like a 30 year-old tractor on its’ last legs. Having said all this, if you’re not a crazed petrol-head, and happy just to chug along through the leafy suburbs of whatever city you reside in, carefully observing the speed limit, then the Soul Burner will do you just fine. Just don’t try and “burn” anyone off at the lights.
Ride & Handling
Kia would describe their entire Soul range as a cross between an urban super-mini and an SUV, which sets them the challenge of building something both sturdy and that handles very nicely. I am very pleased to report that the good folk at Kia have achieved just that. I was very pleasantly surprised by just how easily the Soul Burner cornered, without feeling like it was going to end up on its’ side at any point. The Soul Burners’ 18 inch alloys no doubt helped with this, but just about the right resistance from the steering wheel and very forgiving suspension makes this, all in all, a pleasing ride.
Build Quality & Reliability
The Kia Soul Burner has one key differentiator that makes it stand out not just in its’ class, but stand out above pretty much any car that your average Joe could afford. It is without doubt, the coolest looking car on the road. It’s not just that its’ a black car with red trim. The red parts are the bits that would in fact turn Red if you happened to enter the Earth’s atmosphere in a Kia Soul Burner. And as if that wasn’t enough, it’s wrapped up in no less than Dragon-design stick-on’s. My colleague Richard reported that no-one over 25 would really be interested in this car. Well I can confirm that at the ripe old age of 26, there is not a shadow of doubt in my mind that I would buy this car. As if the paintwork wasn’t enough to clinch the deal, it has 18” alloys as standard, a Red dashboard, and an absolute belter of an ICE system (including a sub-woofer in the boot). You want more? The cherry on the ridiculously over-decorated cake, is the lights in the speakers that come with no less than three fabulous settings. Either switched on constantly, in time to the music, or the “mood” setting, which means they just glow on and off gently, no matter what cool tunes you have playing. Some would tell this makes it look like some kind of house of ill-repute on wheels, and they’d probably be right, but I love it. And so do you. Admit it.
Safety & Security
With Kia billing themselves as very-affordable family cars, one of the things that they can’t compromise on is safety. They’ve achieved maximum NCAP safety ratings, and come with a plethora of air bags and safety features, such as the ABS, stability control, traction control, two Isofix child seat mounting points, three three-point rear seatbelts, and optional tyre pressure monitoring. The version I drove also had sensible rear parking sensors. When I say sensible, I mean it doesn’t start screaming at you when a mouse sneezes 3 miles behind you, like some vehicles I could mention. It also comes with an immobiliser as standard, not that any car thief worth his salt is going to try and steal this hardly conspicuous motor.
Space & Practicality
One thing you get bags of for your money, is space. You get 340 litres with everything set up as normal, though admittedly in some pretty odd dimensions. When the seats goes down, this goes up to 671 litres, which is really rather a lot. As most of the cars space is through height rather than excessive width or length, this isn’t at the cost of manoeuvrability, so you can still fit it into normal-sized parking spaces.
Ownership & Value
The Soul Burner comes in at £14,995, which is staggeringly cheap for a car of this size, looks and handling. It comes with a 5-year, unlimited mileage warranty, which whilst notably is two years less than the C’eed, is still good when compared to other manufacturers of motors of similar ilk. As with any novelty car, the residual value entirely depends on the person who wants to buy it. If you’re like me, you’ll happily pay good money for a motor with this much built-in cool, though less exciting folk might be turned off by swirly dragons gracing your pride-and-joy’s exterior. But I guess they’re just not cool.
Performance
The performance of the Soul Burner 1.6 diesel engine is quite impressive especially compared to the petrol variants. Fun is the first word that comes to mind and the diesel engine feels quite smooth. If you can imagine a mean looking beach buggy the size of a small SUV, this is the easiest way for me to describe this crazy little machine. The performance of the dragon style exterior is great, turning almost every head on the road as you burn past them. The exterior art as well as the burning red grill which I think is supposed to resemble a dragons mouth makes this car look fierce. I can imagine looking through a rear view mirror and being slightly intimidated if I see a Soul Burner revving behind me.
Ride & Handling
Surprisingly the Soul Burner has a sporty feel to it but with an edge, sort of like adding a shot of Tequila to your pint of lager. Good corner handling with light steering and a substantial amount of torque the Kia do not disappoint here. The car easily coped with long distance driving down the busiest motorway in the North West as well as making city centre driving less stressful.
Build Quality & Reliability
Kia seem to have stepped up a level recently with some nice looking vehicles, the Kia Soul certainly is an example of modern design. The Soul Burner on the other hand has the edge with the dragon style exterior art, tinted windows and the funky interior which is consistently reliable as all the other Kia models. If all this isn’t enough for you then brace yourself for the disco speaker lights, what’s that, disco lights… YES, door speakers that can strobe in time with the music. Another extra for the fun value and If all this is too much for you to take in with one breath then the Soul Shaker is the model for you.
Safety & Security
The Kia Soul Burner offers a reasonable standard of safety and security than your average small car with it almost being a small SUV in size. The Soul Burner I suppose isn’t targeted at small families but is just as reliable and safe as the other Soul variants. The car has a solid presence about it and is a firm drive which gives you a sense of security behind the wheel also with airbags, ABS and ESP as standard which you would expect from a new car.
Space & Practicality
You are treated with a substantial amount of head room in the front and back with ample leg room making this very comfortable for the driver and passengers. You will find funky little storage cubbyholes which come in handy as well. With the higher seating position and airy feel, vision on the roads is more than sufficient and if its practicality your looking for the Soul gets a conventional 60:40 split rear bench that can’t be folded completely flat, more than ideal for loading furniture after a shopping spree at Ikea.
Ownership & Value
The Soul is Kia’s latest weapon of destruction annihilating it’s competitors with great value for money. You can expect to pick up a Kia Soul Burner from around £14,995 which is a bargain especially as it comes packed with extras that will grab your attention by the scruff of the neck. Any car which has glowing speaker systems, striking red dashboards, mean 18”glossy alloys, Dragon style body art and tinted windows without looking like a boy racer car is a must. Other Kia Soul variants start from around £10,495 which again is a very competitive price.