Kia Soul (2025)

Car Confections is highly enthusiastic about the 2025 Kia Soul’s value and practicality. The boxy design creates unusually roomy rear seats and useful cargo space, while the naturally aspirated engine, smooth ride, impressive 54.8-dB cabin reading, and available Harman Kardon audio add surprising refinement for the price. They praise its straightforward powertrain, strong warranty, standard driver assistance, and sub-$30,000 pricing, especially the Soulmate Special Edition. Performance is merely adequate, and the Soul lacks all-wheel drive, adaptive cruise control on most trims, and some interior polish, but the overall verdict is that it is an exceptionally appealing affordable commuter and family vehicle.

Joe Rady is highly impressed by the 2025 Kia Soul’s practicality, comfort, and value. He praises its roomy, well-organized cabin, generous cargo flexibility, clear technology, heated seats, quiet ride, strong visibility, and distinctive two-tone styling. The EX’s 147-hp engine is understandably slow and produces an uninspiring note, though manually selecting the simulated CVT gears adds some responsiveness. Rady also flags the beige headliner, conventional lighting, confusing shift direction, and lack of AWD, but treats them as minor compromises. Overall, he views the Soul as an unusually comfortable, versatile, affordable urban vehicle that delivers substantial usefulness in a small package.

Gold Pony is highly enthusiastic about the 2025 Kia Soul, especially its unmistakable styling, value, warranty, roomy cargo area, and playful steering. The test drive finds surprisingly lively naturally aspirated acceleration, confident braking, comfortable seats, good visibility, and a feature-rich cabin, with the Soulmate Edition’s mood lighting and Harman Kardon audio adding personality. Ride quality is somewhat road-focused and the audio falls short of expectations, but neither is a dealbreaker. Gold Pony recommends the S trim or higher as the sweet spot, while wishing Kia offered all-wheel drive.

Scotty Kilmer is strongly negative on the Kia Soul, warning buyers away because this owner’s nearly new car burns oil. He examines the spark plugs and finds uneven oil contamination, despite only 17,000 miles, and criticizes Kia’s oil-consumption test and refusal to document or repair the issue. He also dislikes the CVT’s noisy, hesitant acceleration and rough auto-stop restart. Still, he acknowledges the Soul’s excellent visibility, responsive brakes, decent handling, smooth ride, and impressive 38-mpg economy. His conclusion is unequivocal: practical design and fuel efficiency do not outweigh his concerns about engine durability and dealer treatment.

Ben Hardy is clearly positive about the 2025 Kia Soul, calling it cool, practical, and surprisingly pleasant to drive. He appreciates its distinctive styling, excellent visibility, roomy boxy cabin, useful hatchback cargo area, good fuel economy, and affordable $27,840 GT-Line price. The 147-hp engine handles daily driving and rough roads adequately, but he finds it noticeably slow and misses the discontinued turbocharged option. Hardy also wishes Kia offered all-wheel drive, arguing it would attract different buyers than the Seltos. Overall, he views the Soul as a smart, spacious, budget-friendly commuter with personality rather than performance.

Anthony is positive on the 2025 Kia Soul GT-Line, calling it a strong-value “get it” for everyday driving. He likes its distinctive styling, roomy cabin, comfortable seating, easy maneuverability, useful cargo space, and generous equipment for roughly $25,000. The 147-hp engine is adequate and fuel economy is respectable, but the GT-Line is essentially a visual upgrade: there is no added performance, sportier suspension, hybrid option, or AWD. Anthony also criticizes road noise, limited interior and exterior color choices, and modest storage details. Overall, he recommends it as an affordable, stylish commuter, though performance-focused buyers should skip it.

W.T.F Car Reviews is highly enthusiastic about the 2025 Kia Soul LX. He praises its surprisingly strong acceleration, comfortable ride, nimble handling, spacious rear seat, easy-to-use technology, and excellent value around $22,000. The Soul feels quicker and more capable than many similarly priced rivals, while its sharp turning radius and effective lane-centering system suit urban driving. Tradeoffs include a small cargo area, hard interior plastics, halogen lighting, key ignition, no rear vents, and mild CVT hesitation. Even so, he calls it an “unbelievable value” and strongly recommends the LX with its Tech Package.

The Driveway Auto Reviews is genuinely fond of the 2025 Kia Soul, viewing it as a memorable, practical final act. Its quirky styling, comfortable and surprisingly roomy cabin, easy city maneuverability, useful cargo space, strong feature content, and sub-$30,000 value earn enthusiastic praise. The reviewer especially appreciates its personality and everyday usability, including room for tall passengers and impressive flexibility with the rear seats folded. Performance is the clear compromise: the 147-hp engine and IVT feel relaxed, Sport mode adds only modest excitement, and road and tire noise are noticeable. Still, the Soul’s charm and practicality make its discontinuation feel genuinely bittersweet.

Matt The Carguy is genuinely enthusiastic about the 2025 Kia Soul, calling it one of the coolest-looking subcompact SUVs. He especially likes the Soulmate Edition’s Surf Blue-and-black styling, roomy square cabin, generous cargo flexibility, premium Harman Kardon audio, useful technology, and sub-$30,000 pricing. His test drive suggests the 147-hp engine is adequate for merging and city driving, though not exciting; he also mentions some body roll and wishes Kia would revive the quicker turbo version. Overall, he sees the Soul as a highly practical, distinctive, easy-to-drive urban vehicle with strong value, despite its modest performance and lack of a sunroof in this package.

Petrolectric is highly impressed by the 2025 Kia Soul, calling it a standout bargain for practical commuters. After driving one over 2,000 miles, including a California road trip, Derek praises its remarkably roomy cabin, usable cargo space, easy urban handling, solid fuel economy, and playful styling. He considers the S trim the sweet spot, especially for its keyless start, larger screen, and added convenience features. His main complaints are the unpleasant auto start-stop system, noisy cabin, light steering, mediocre driver assists, halogen headlights, and long-term CVT concerns, but he still strongly recommends the Soul for value-conscious buyers.

Executive Auto is strongly impressed by the 2025 Kia Soul S, calling it a fun, quirky, and surprisingly capable bargain. The review praises its roomy rear seat, intuitive touchscreen, digital gauges, abundant safety customization, remote start, and playful handling, with the 147-hp engine feeling adequate once you press the throttle. Criticisms include halogen lighting, no sunroof or AWD, limited rear-seat amenities, and an awkward cargo floor when the seats fold. Despite those compromises, the reviewer drives away smiling and considers the Soul an enjoyable, practical choice near $25,000.

TyDrives is clearly enthusiastic about the quirky, practical 2025 Kia Soul EX Soulmate Edition. He admires its distinctive styling, roomy rear seat, squared-off cargo area, quality-feeling upholstery, excellent Harman Kardon audio, intuitive 10.25-inch infotainment, physical controls, and useful features such as wireless charging and heated seats. The review is primarily a detailed walk-through rather than a driving evaluation, so performance, ride quality, and fuel economy receive little attention. Still, he acknowledges the base halogen lighting and hard interior plastics, while framing them as reasonable compromises for a well-equipped, attractively priced commuter.

Maddox Boyd is warmly enthusiastic about the 2025 Kia Soul, especially its quirky styling and practical packaging. He praises the surprisingly deep trunk, available spare tire, roomy-feeling cabin, attractive wheels, effective blind-spot monitoring, and highway-friendly lane-keeping assist. His rental-car perspective makes the review feel hands-on, though the inspection is mostly a walk-around rather than extensive testing. He criticizes the basic hard-plastic interior, sparse rear-seat amenities, lack of keyless access, and no rear USB ports. Most significantly, he worries about Kia’s reputation for oil consumption and considers the CVT a long-term reliability concern, yet still calls the Soul an affordable, modern, worthwhile basic car.