By Benjamin Chunga (@benjaminthecreative)

“Be fearless in whatever sets your soul on fire”. We’ve all heard this saying before but how many of us are? If given the chance, can you sit down and write a list of what you’ve done that made you fearless? I feel that these were the questions posed by the Kia team when it came to designing the new Kia Soul. There was plenty of opportunity to go with the flow and release yet another car that looks like all its competitors on the market, but Kia went against the current and produced something of note. The Kia Soul is not for everyone, let’s just get that out of the way. The odd box shape of the Soul is somewhat of an acquired taste. It does not come off as appealing at first glance, but given a few seconds to take in exactly what you’re looking at, you begin to pick up on just how cool this little big car is.

Recently, I got to test the Kia Soul in the Street trim powered by a 1.6 turbo-diesel engine with 94 kW of power and 260 Nm. My first observation with regards to the Soul was that it is both big and small. Now, before you shut me out let me explain myself. From the outside, it comes across as a car that’s been raised, nothing hectic. It’s when you step inside when you realize just how big it is. You’re elevated above most drivers on the road, and have ample space on the inside of the car. Aside from size and space, the Kia Soul boasts an arsenal of features, such as a convenient touch screen system (with buttons on either side for extra convenience) which allows you to navigate through your Bluetooth, Radio, Contact, Media and more. You also have a nifty rear view camera which lets you scan your surroundings in those pesky situations that require a bit of assistance, a sunglass rack which folds out of the roof, and some of the coolest looking disk shaped speakers I’ve ever seen. No seriously, they’re super cool. They look like something out of a Hollywood blockbuster flick. Aside from that my absolute favorite feature would be the folding mirrors. It’s not anything special, but it just makes the car look that much cooler.

The looks aren’t all the Soul has to offer though. It drives like a beauty, the only qualm being the amount of fuel it runs through. Now, let me stress that I personally believe it had to do with the driver because when my co-reviewer dropped the Soul off, he was impressed with its fuel consumption, I on the other hand was not. At one point, I lost 7km of range after driving down the road to the mall (Ed – but how? Only electric cars driving uphill are capable of that trickery!). Then there was the head rest issue. It can move up and down but that’s about it. A little wiggle room would be great for those of us who prefer a certain angle to out head rest, not the default, straight setting. Other than that, the Kia Soul managed to fit in my life easily. I used it to get to shoots and had no problem fitting all my equipment inside and there was still space for everyone to fit. When in sport mode you really feel it turn into another car though. The suspension gets firmer and the breaks sharper, resulting in an epic experience you otherwise miss out on in economy mode.

The Kia Soul is beautiful, practical and different. It goes against everything conventional and in my opinion that’s what makes it such a great car.

These are the prices of the entire Kia Soul range:

Soul 1.6 M/T Start – R309,995

Soul 1.6 A/T Smart – R322,995

Soul 1.6 Diesel Start – R329,995

Soul 2.0 M/T Street – R347,995

Soul 1.6 Diesel M/T Street – R376,995

Soul 2.0 A/T Smart – R391,995

1.6 DCT Diesel Smart – R431,995

The prices include a 5-year/unlimited kilometre warranty, a 4-year/90 000 kilometre service plan and a 5-year/unlimited kilometre Roadside assistance.