Hey guys, I'm new to Kia, not new to cars. Just purchased a 2021 Soul LX with the 6 speed, mainly because I didn't want to deal with the CVT (IVT) issues that I've read about in the complaints section on NHTSA.gov. Also, I'm not into turbos and GDI engines that get carbon buildup, but otherwise I love the car so I went with what would or should be the most trouble-free combination, the 2.0L Nu engine (MPI) and the 6 speed manual.
After about 500 or 600 miles or so I started to have trouble shifting. At about 800 miles I took the car back to the sales dealer where they said there's nothing wrong with it.
Now it's got about 1700 miles and today I grinded a gear change (1st to 2nd), first time that happened. What's been happening is, the tranny is very touchy about where (what RPM) and how I shift. It's not just, you push in the clutch, make your change, and release. It's much more than that, it's very moody and if I try to shift in a certain RPM range, it doesn't like it and will feel like I'm grabbing the gear clutchless, doesn't go in smooth, it clunks. Sometimes, when I shift from 1st to 2nd, it won't let go of 1st gear easily, I have to fight it, and getting into 2nd is also a fight (that's how I grinded 2nd gear today). Now if I double clutch it, this doesn't happen but obviously when you're city driving and you double clutch you're just pissing off the person behind you in the automatic when you have to slow down a bit more to allow you time to double clutch. On the highway at high speeds this isn't too much of a problem although it will still clunk a little into gear if the RPMs aren't flat down at rest (about 1100 RPM) or if the RPMs are like at 4000+ it'll shift smooth. Anything in between will clunk or you have to fight to get it into gear, not smooth like on other cars I've driven and I've driven manuals with very high miles that didn't feel like this.
I called Kia corporate today to being some sort of process/open a case, I don't know, maybe a Lemon Law dispute or arbitration or something. I'm having a local mechanic that's worked on my other cars take a look at it tomorrow, he said if he finds something wrong he'll write up a report for me. I'd like to keep the car but if the tranny is FUBAR from the factory, I just don't want it, you know what I mean?
Any ideas of what's going on? Am I not shifting properly? Any input would be greatly appreciated.
**Edit: Forgot to mention, sometimes it feels like the revs hang between changes, the RPMs don't fall like they're supposed to or maybe not fast enough, so don't know if this would affect gear changes, usually as soon as you let off the accelerator the RPMs should start to drop, on my car it floats around a little, almost like the ECU is bypassing the fuel pedal and still applying fuel. Bizarre.
After about 500 or 600 miles or so I started to have trouble shifting. At about 800 miles I took the car back to the sales dealer where they said there's nothing wrong with it.
Now it's got about 1700 miles and today I grinded a gear change (1st to 2nd), first time that happened. What's been happening is, the tranny is very touchy about where (what RPM) and how I shift. It's not just, you push in the clutch, make your change, and release. It's much more than that, it's very moody and if I try to shift in a certain RPM range, it doesn't like it and will feel like I'm grabbing the gear clutchless, doesn't go in smooth, it clunks. Sometimes, when I shift from 1st to 2nd, it won't let go of 1st gear easily, I have to fight it, and getting into 2nd is also a fight (that's how I grinded 2nd gear today). Now if I double clutch it, this doesn't happen but obviously when you're city driving and you double clutch you're just pissing off the person behind you in the automatic when you have to slow down a bit more to allow you time to double clutch. On the highway at high speeds this isn't too much of a problem although it will still clunk a little into gear if the RPMs aren't flat down at rest (about 1100 RPM) or if the RPMs are like at 4000+ it'll shift smooth. Anything in between will clunk or you have to fight to get it into gear, not smooth like on other cars I've driven and I've driven manuals with very high miles that didn't feel like this.
I called Kia corporate today to being some sort of process/open a case, I don't know, maybe a Lemon Law dispute or arbitration or something. I'm having a local mechanic that's worked on my other cars take a look at it tomorrow, he said if he finds something wrong he'll write up a report for me. I'd like to keep the car but if the tranny is FUBAR from the factory, I just don't want it, you know what I mean?
Any ideas of what's going on? Am I not shifting properly? Any input would be greatly appreciated.
**Edit: Forgot to mention, sometimes it feels like the revs hang between changes, the RPMs don't fall like they're supposed to or maybe not fast enough, so don't know if this would affect gear changes, usually as soon as you let off the accelerator the RPMs should start to drop, on my car it floats around a little, almost like the ECU is bypassing the fuel pedal and still applying fuel. Bizarre.
That's where I'm at right now. And strangely enough, my throttle response is very good, granted it's 100% electronic, I don't have any problems there, aside from the (perceived) occasional rev hang. I've owned many, many used and new cars, so I'm not surprised, just disappointed. I've had new cars with warranty issues right out of the box, and I've had cars that ran 10 years before the check engine light went on and it was for a loose gas cap. So it is what it is.
