The new Kia Soul - Why no petrol/auto option?
Discussion
Mrs B. has been looking for a new car to replace her Ibiza for the past few months. She knows what features she wants and she has been checking out assorted manufacturers' offerings at the various car shows that we have attended since Spring. She had in her mind short list of about three or four cars. But, truth be told, nothing had really sparked her imagination.
Until Sunday, that is.
We were in Westfield in Shepherd's Bush. This is a humongous shopping centre, as big as some hamlets. There Kia, the Korean manufacturer, was showing off its new model, the 'Soul'. We had time to kill and Mrs B. suggested that we have a look.
To cut a medium length story short, she fell in love with the car. Especially, the top of the range MAXX. Whioh @ £22,000 is extremely well specced. Everything was going swimmingly. The Soul seemed to fit the bill perfectly. I could see that Mrs was genuinely interested and that she was about to arrange a test drive with a view to purchase.
Unfortunately, one thing killed her interest stone dead. You cannot buy a petrol engined Kia Soul with an automatic gearbox. You can only get an auto if you specify a diesel & even then, you cannot buy a top of the range Maxx with a diesel/auto combination. When she asked why that was, she was informed that the entire Kia range lacked any petrol/auto offering.
You cannot buy a petrol engined Kia with an auto box, apparently.
Now, Mrs B. is a fine driver. She's far from scared of using a manual box. She drives my manual 964 and drove my Hawk Stratos too, on occasion. However, the vast majority of her motoring is done in London traffic, where driving a car with an auto box is the only sensible option.
The diesel engine in the Soul has received bad reviews and diesels in general are anathema to me and have been since well before this sorry excuse for a government realised that these type of engines pump out noxious gasses that maim and kill people. So, we won't be buying a diesel any time soon.
I can't work out why a large car manufacturer such as Kia decides not to offer a petrol/auto combination. They've lost one sale, they are probably going to lose quite a few more.
Minor rant over.
Until Sunday, that is.
We were in Westfield in Shepherd's Bush. This is a humongous shopping centre, as big as some hamlets. There Kia, the Korean manufacturer, was showing off its new model, the 'Soul'. We had time to kill and Mrs B. suggested that we have a look.
To cut a medium length story short, she fell in love with the car. Especially, the top of the range MAXX. Whioh @ £22,000 is extremely well specced. Everything was going swimmingly. The Soul seemed to fit the bill perfectly. I could see that Mrs was genuinely interested and that she was about to arrange a test drive with a view to purchase.
Unfortunately, one thing killed her interest stone dead. You cannot buy a petrol engined Kia Soul with an automatic gearbox. You can only get an auto if you specify a diesel & even then, you cannot buy a top of the range Maxx with a diesel/auto combination. When she asked why that was, she was informed that the entire Kia range lacked any petrol/auto offering.
You cannot buy a petrol engined Kia with an auto box, apparently.
Now, Mrs B. is a fine driver. She's far from scared of using a manual box. She drives my manual 964 and drove my Hawk Stratos too, on occasion. However, the vast majority of her motoring is done in London traffic, where driving a car with an auto box is the only sensible option.
The diesel engine in the Soul has received bad reviews and diesels in general are anathema to me and have been since well before this sorry excuse for a government realised that these type of engines pump out noxious gasses that maim and kill people. So, we won't be buying a diesel any time soon.
I can't work out why a large car manufacturer such as Kia decides not to offer a petrol/auto combination. They've lost one sale, they are probably going to lose quite a few more.
Minor rant over.
Could you buy one and ship it over to Mrs B. please?
I have to admit, I was quite smitten myself. The Maxx spec. is really impressive for the price. The car has loads of room. Obviously, I'm a well built company director. Even with the driver's seat as far back as is possibly, I could sit comfortably behind.
It really was an impressive little car. I was looking forward to 'borrowing' it. Until that is, the engine/gearbox issue became apparent.
Silly, silly Kia.
I have to admit, I was quite smitten myself. The Maxx spec. is really impressive for the price. The car has loads of room. Obviously, I'm a well built company director. Even with the driver's seat as far back as is possibly, I could sit comfortably behind.
It really was an impressive little car. I was looking forward to 'borrowing' it. Until that is, the engine/gearbox issue became apparent.
Silly, silly Kia.
It will be some British account plan decision. The car is certainly available in RHD as a petrol manual or auto with top spec (Si) here in Australia. Get on the phone and have them special order it, or buy one here and have it shipped (sans warranty I expect)
http://www.kia.com.au/build-and-price/submit-reque...
http://www.kia.com.au/build-and-price/submit-reque...
Edited by craig_m67 on Monday 11th August 23:56
HTP99 said:
Lack of petrol auto is probably all about C02 emmisions, to be fair the emmisions in general on the Soul don't look that competitive.
Oh and £22k seems an awful lot of money, howeve maybe that's just me.
You're probably correct. Bloody polar bears. As for the price, having seen offering from Ford, MINI, Skoda, Toyota & Honda, amongst others, I believe that the Soul offers a lot of bells and whistles per pound.Oh and £22k seems an awful lot of money, howeve maybe that's just me.
Plus, apparently, they'll do a good deal under list.
No good for Mrs Blib, though.
craig_m67 said:
It will be some British account plan decision. The car is certainly available in RHD as a petrol manual top spec (Si) here in Australia. Get on the phone and have them special order it, or buy one here and have it shipped (sans warranty I expect)
http://www.kia.com.au/build-and-price/submit-reque...
Blimey! How come you get petrol.auto? I'm not happy about this. Not happy at all. http://www.kia.com.au/build-and-price/submit-reque...
mybrainhurts said:
Blib said:
Stop that!
You're the only poster on here that remembers and used horse drawn buses.
I refer you to my previous post....You're the only poster on here that remembers and used horse drawn buses.
If he's forced to read your inane witterings, he'll bugger off to the Flemke thread instead.
Blib said:
craig_m67 said:
It will be some British account plan decision. The car is certainly available in RHD as a petrol manual top spec (Si) here in Australia. Get on the phone and have them special order it, or buy one here and have it shipped (sans warranty I expect)
http://www.kia.com.au/build-and-price/submit-reque...
Blimey! How come you get petrol.auto? I'm not happy about this. Not happy at all. http://www.kia.com.au/build-and-price/submit-reque...
"This country is stuffed I tell ya!"
PS, I'd be more inclined to buy the equivalent Skoda or Toyota/Nissan cube thing myself
Edited by craig_m67 on Tuesday 12th August 00:12
Blib said:
mybrainhurts said:
Blib said:
Stop that!
You're the only poster on here that remembers and used horse drawn buses.
I refer you to my previous post....You're the only poster on here that remembers and used horse drawn buses.
If he's forced to read your inane witterings, he'll bugger off to the Flemke thread instead.
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