Thread: Competitive comparisons are over: Soul wins! But here's why I probably won't buy Soul

Over the last few months, I have very carefully compared the Soul against:

All 2012:
Ford Fiesta and Focus
Chevy Sonic and Cruze (and even the 2011 HHR)
Honda Fit and Insight
Hyundai Accent, Elantra, and Veloster
Jeep Patriot

My final comparison happened today with a Veloster test drive. It's a cool car, but I decided that I simply need the space provided by the Soul. The Veloster was the last competitor to fall. So why won't I probably be buying a Soul?

In a word: Kia itself! I have decided that I want an Exclaim. I have talked to five Kia dealers, and none of them have any Exclaims at all. Some claim to have not gotten any Exclaims at all so far in the 2012 model year, and they have no idea when they might get one. Sounds very hit and miss, even amateurish. The closest Exclaims are hundreds of miles away in another state. I'm not willing to buy one with hundreds of miles on it (that's a used car, IMHO) nor am I willing to pay $1K to flat-bed it one in to make up for Kia's distribution shortcomings. And apparently, there is no way to order one from the factory. Reminds me of Henry Ford circa 1920: you can have any color you want as long as it's black.

The inability for the customer to order what he wants seems to be common among the imports. Meanwhile, the domestics all told me that I could anything that I wanted, and it would arrive exactly that way (I've always ordered my previous cars, all of which have been domestic...and six weeks later...poof!...I've got EXACTLY what I want sitting in my garage).

I'm getting tired of Kia dealers trying to sell me what they happened to have on their lots, Souls with trim levels and options that I simply don't want. End of rant.

The Ford Focus is starting to look better now.....

patience is a virtue -

Kia makes it hard for one to become a Kia customer.

(And their dealers who don't bother to return phone calls don't help.)

All I can say is DON"T buy a Kia!

Sorry to hear about the Exclaim or Plus not being available.

Sounds like more of a problem with your local dealers. Before we bought our base model we had received calls from two different dealers.

Our "local" dealer (about an hour away) has lots of base models, and at least one each of any color you would want in the ! and + you would want.

They "only" had one Hamster, but more coming.

You do need to let KIA know about the lack of product available in your area.

Originally Posted by gowron

... I simply need the space provided by the Soul. The Veloster was the last competitor to fall. So why won't I probably be buying a Soul?

In a word: Kia itself! I have decided that I want an Exclaim...

I ran into a similar lack of inventory when I bought my Exclaim last month. There were 2 in metro Chicago, 1 in Northern Indiana, 1 in Wisconsin, 1 in Michigan and 2 in Ohio. My dealer tried to trade for all of them, and only 1 was willing to let theirs go. That's the car I now own. It was driven to Chicago, so it had a couple hundred miles on it when I took ownership, but that didn't bother me in the least. It really is a great car - I'd suggest letting go of any hangups you have about it and getting one! ;-)

Sounds like crummy dealers to me.

I ordered a shadow black exclaim /w premium package but then they found a titanium one an hour away and they went and got it for me.

Given my past experience with my 2011 sport and now this new one kia has bent over backwards to make me a happy customer. Even my local dealer has done that as well.

I also had trouble finding a new 2012 Soul a couple of months ago. New England dealers simply weren't getting the inventory. Unfortunately, patience would do me no good as my Honda Element was totaled in a head-on. Auto insurance only gave me 30 days on a rental, so the clock was ticking.

None of the Rhode Island dealers could tell me with certainty what vehicles were coming or when they would arrive. Interestingly, one dealer did tell me that I couldn't get an Alien because the next one in was already sold.

During a two-week search, I saw only six 2012 Souls - two Base models, three Pluses, and a Hamstar. There were no Exclaims. I test drove the base and the Plus. By the time I decided on the Plus, there was only one left in the Ocean State. So I got the Rhode-Island-Red one.

Because of the lopsided supply vs. demand, I was only able to get 400 off of the sticker. I could have gotten a 2011 for 2000 off sticker, yet I didn't believe the tradeoff was worth it.

I've been looking at just as many cars as the OP, and it looks like the Soul will be my choice.
At my dealership, they have no manual Souls available for me to test drive though. I went in last night (wanted to make sure my hockey bag would fit), and spoke to the sales guy. He asked me what I was looking at (2u, manual tranny). He told me he will bring one in for me on Saturday for me to test drive.
They also had 4u's in stock and even one Burner if I wasn't mistaken. It does seem to me like they have more of the base than anything else, but I just chalk that up to the popularity of the vehicle.
Also, look closely at the Focus reviews (not the reviews from magazines, but the forum reviews). There seems to be a lot of problems with them and the quality of the build. Guys are blowing oil out of the top of the engine, headliners coming apart, water buildup in the doors, steering issues. Not to mention the regular tranny complaints (which I'm not sure if they are really valid), and MFT complaints.

Originally Posted by gowron

The inability for the customer to order what he wants seems to be common among the imports. Meanwhile, the domestics all told me that I could anything that I wanted, and it would arrive exactly that way (I've always ordered my previous cars, all of which have been domestic...and six weeks later...poof!...I've got EXACTLY what I want sitting in my garage).

....

What's import and what's domestic these days. Even on domestics (I am assuming you mean Ford) you still have to get the vehicle within the parameters of the available options and features for that model, you just can't mix and match in any configuration. Pick a model and do a build, sometimes if you want one feature, it automatically gives you additional items that come along with that package.

My dealer did not have the model I wanted, but we made a deal and we had it in 5 days even though he had to send a guy on a 10 hour trip to get it by truck and trailer (9km on the clock when I picked it up). They bent over backwards to help me out, can't speak more highly of them - great dealership.