Affordable and spacious, the 2021 Kia Soul also manages to have loads of personality and style. It’s a subcompact crossover/hatchback, but despite its boxy appearance, it has a real presence and character. There’s also plenty of choices, with a base 4-cylinder engine and a 201-horsepower turbo. The all-electric version is on hold for the moment but is expected to return for the 2022 model year.
The Soul is also impressively affordable. The base LX with a manual transmission costs just above $18,000 out the door, including destination. Prices can climb pretty quickly after that, however, with the top Turbo model starting around $27,000. But the 2021 Soul has a lot to recommend, starting with plenty of head- and knee room for all passengers as well as 24.2 cubic feet of luggage space behind the rear seats, which expands to 62.1 with all seats folded.
The Soul is actually fun to drive, with a compliant ride. And while the standard engine equipped with a continuously variable automatic transmission gets the Soul moving, it can whine under hard acceleration. We prefer the Turbo, which also comes with a 7-speed dual-clutch automatic and a sportier suspension. Inside, the Soul is decently equipped, with six airbags, air-conditioning, a USB port, and 7-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay/Android Auto integration, although one ding against the Soul is that some advanced driver aids aren’t even available on the base trim. Every Soul comes with a 10-year/100,000-mile powertrain warranty.
Six Trim Levels
A 147-horsepower 2.0-liter 4-cylinder engine powers five trim levels of the 2021 Kia Soul, with the top, the newly named Soul Turbo, getting the turbocharged 1.6-liter I4 with 201 horsepower.
All Souls are front-wheel drive, and while the base LX model gets a 6-speed manual transmission as standard, all the rest have a continuously variable automatic except for the Turbo, which has a 7-speed dual-clutch automatic. We actually prefer the CVT over the manual, which improves city mileage from 25 to 28 mpg and highway mileage from 33 to 35 mpg. On the base, it costs an extra $1,500. All prices add $1,175 for delivery as well.
While it starts $3,000 above the base LX trim, we still recommend the second-tier S trim. Not only does it come standard with the CVT (an extra $1,500 in the LX), it adds an 8-way power-adjustable driver seat and perhaps most significantly, driver aids such as forward-collision mitigation, lane-keeping assist, rear cross-traffic collision avoidance assist, and blind-spot monitoring, which are not even available on the base LX.
Next above that are the X-Line and the GT-Line, which add some groovy exterior trim pieces for a look more like the sporty Soul Turbo, but still powered by the base engine. Then the next is the EX, which ups the comfort with amenities like heated front seats and dual-zone climate control.
Here’s the Complete Rundown on 2021 Kia Soul Trims and Prices:
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