Thread: Note To KIA President P. Schreyer

Dear Peter,

Congratulations on your promotion to President of KIA Motors. The best is yet to come!

KIA builds some excellent products. Here are my suggestions to make the Soul line more excellent. They could also apply to the Fortes:

1.) Replace current engines with the 176, 200 & 270 HP Optima engines.
[1.2) Bring us a diesel!]
2.) Fit quality tires as standard equipment.
3.) Improve strut and shock quality.

I'm not pleased that the EPA MPG "errors" now match my real MPG. I'd say there's something wrong with a strategy wherein a 2013 Soul 1.6 138 HP rated, gets about the same Fuelly MPGs as a 2012 Impala 3.6 with 300 HP.

My proposed solution: Ditch the dog 1.6 Gamma and 2.0 Nu in Soul (and Forte) iterations with the current Theta mills. UNLESS you can punch, GDI, and turbo the Nu to output that exceeds the HP and MPG of the 2.4 and 2.0t Thetas as currently used in Optima, Sportage, etc.

Since the abovementioned Nu products don't exist yet to the best of my knowledge, Plan B is replace the two Soul (might as well do the Forte while you're at it) underperformers with the 176, 200, and 270 HP Optima/others engine. Gear that baby up so owners can punch through and beyond 30 MPG on the road. Get SOMEONE to do a bit of aero work, get that Cd down below .42 please.

You could put the non-GDI 176 HP 2.4 motor in the base model, the 2.4 GDI 200 HP in the midrange + model, and the 2.0t 270 Hp in the !.

EASY button please.

OK, hopefully the power and MPG problems are now solved.

The second leg of the stool is replace the low-performance, harsh and noisy OE tires that KIA uses. Hankook, Nexen, other off brands like these that are somewhere below #20 at the Tire Rack customer ranking scheme.

I replaced the junk Nexen 195.65.15 stock tires with 215.60.15 Michelin Defenders when my Soul 1.6 was new. The improvements in ride, handling, and sound quality were remarkable to put it mildly.
If I were doing it again, I'd probably use Primacy MXV4s in 205.65.15s. Either way is far far far superior to the stockers.

Third. Talk with Bilstein, KONI, Monroe, or others to develop better-performing stock struts and shocks. The mediocre stock equipment could use some help.

Thanks for reading. There will be no charge for this incredible list of suggestions, but I'd be glad to drive some of the mules as you develop some decently-powered Souls for future customers.

you should post that on:
http://www.facebook.com/Kiamotorsworldwide?v=wall
Kia BUZZ : Kia

the current Nu Soul engine is used in Optima's in other parts of the world. The Soul Nu 2.0L engine was never used in the Forte, it currently uses the Theta-II series, same as the 2.4L.
Like I commented on the other thread maybe the 2.0L GDI engine on the 2014 Forte might be used in the 2014 Soul (but I don't know what series engine that is but I suspect Nu). This will give you 173 hp vs current 164 hp.
The Nu series engine are new (hence the series name) so can't see them ditching that, but they will tweak them, just like they've done on all previous engines.

Lot's of tech went into the Nu engine. It does come in several variants, one being GDI.



Personally, I am glad my Nu does not have GDI, I will give it another generation to work the kinks out.

I just want the turbo 1.6L from the veloster :-D. 200 HP Kia soul would be pretty sweet.

Originally Posted by dmwagner

Lot's of tech went into the Nu engine. It does come in several variants, one being GDI.



Personally, I am glad my Nu does not have GDI, I will give it another generation to work the kinks out.

Ya, the Nu is the newest and seems like the best of these. If there was a 2.4, 2.4 GDI, and 2.0t version I'd say that's the way to go. In a heartbeat.

Originally Posted by Neanderthal

The second leg of the stool is replace the low-performance, harsh and noisy OE tires that KIA uses. Hankook, Nexen, other off brands like these that are somewhere below #20 at the Tire Rack customer ranking scheme.

this is should be done immediately b/c no one wants to buy a new car and then have to spend $400+ to get decent tires just so they can get up their hill in the winter... not to mention, most women i know do not want to buy/store a second set of tires either!!

I agree. I had to replace my ****ty Hankooks at 12,000 miles. Went back with General AltiMax RT.

EZ

Originally Posted by msnider

I just want the turbo 1.6L from the veloster :-D. 200 HP Kia soul would be pretty sweet.

That would be cool. BTW, Fuelly numbers on the Veloster 1.6 GDI run several MPG better than the Soul. Is their automatic a more efficient unit?
Their aero is certainly magnitudes better. Cd is listed as .32, certainly better than the Soul's .42 but not remakrable by any means.

Fuelly 2013/2012 Veloster/2013 turbo: 30.2 (26 cars)/32.4 (80)/26.0 (19)

2013 Soul numbers, which includes the 2.0 and 1.6, are right where my overall MPG is today, 26.7, including a total of 43 cars.

The 2012 Souls (168 cars) are at 27.2. No way to easily separate the 2.0 from the 1.6. The 1.6 sticks seem to consistently get the best MPG.

What all that translates to in my mind is you're going to get equal to or greater performance from the 2.4 GDI/200HP with superior MPG.