A few weeks with the Kia Soul EV
Back on March 18th I swapped from a Nissan Leaf (24kWh version) to a 2016 Kia Soul EV. At first I felt kind of weird about bailing on the Leaf (30kWh version) but after a few weeks of driving I know I've made the right decision. The Soul is so much better!
On the most basic side, it's simply a better fit for my body shape and size. More room inside, bigger windows with better visibility, better seat feel, better armrest heights. Sitting in two hours of Bay Area stop-and-go traffic is much easier on the back and overall mood in the Kia vs. the Leaf. While some of the creature comforts are the same (good AC, good heater, heated seats, heated steering wheel) the addition of cooled seats was definitely appreciated.
Safety-wise I feel better in this car. The larger windows and better sitting height give better visibility. The low-beam headlights are slightly better than the Leaf's, but the high-beams are worlds improved by comparison. The driving lights are no better or worse. The visibility-by-other-cars is better due to the large size of the rear red lights, and they don't suffer from the strobing the Leaf has (low-refresh LED pulsing).
The infotainment unit is also much improved over the Leaf, at least from a UI perspective. The screen layout is better organized and updates much faster and the navi/maps pages are more readable. It's also smart enough to do things like temporarily slow down the climate-control fans when you use Siri-hands-free or are on a phone call; a rather nice touch. Speaking of that the iPhone integration is pretty good. The dedicated voice-control button the steering wheel will directly trigger Siri if you hold it down one full second, bypassing the always terrible OEM voice system. The downside: the bass is not as good as the Leaf's top end option, which includes a Bose mini sub in the trunk. I installed a Rockford Fosgate P8 in the Soul's trunk and it's now back up to par.
Luxury-wise it's better on the features but not quite as nice on the materials. The super sunroof, the auto-folding mirrors (they close every time you get out and lock the car) and the huge center console storage and glovebox are very nice. The interior LED lights are the brightest (and most OMG-WHITE) of any car I've ever been in. However there is no option for a darker colored interior which I prefer (the Leaf nailed this, when they permitted a black interior starting in 2014). The seats are more comfortable IMHO but more 'plastic-y' than the leather-ish high end Leaf interior.
(Oh, and can I rave about that sunroof again? It's hard to stress just how big and open the car feels when that full-glass-roof is uncovered, and it's even better when you open up the front half to the sky. With all four big windows down it's about 80% like being in a convertible, which I'm completely adoring on the drives home from work!)
Passenger-wise it's more accommodating, both in seat room and in ease of getting in and out of the back doors. Cargo-wise it's actually a little smaller in volume but taller in shape. Since I only really haul groceries in my commute-vehicle (the role the EV plays in my life), that's not a huge difference so far.
The actual driving experience is also improved but not radically so. It feels more sure-footed and slightly more zippy off the line. The electronic steering has three modes, all three of which seem nicer than the Leaf's power steering. Even though the Soul is taller the low-lying battery pack keeps it from feeling tippy; a common benefit to most of the EVs currently on the market.
Now here's the part that surprises me: the Soul is driving more efficiently than my Leaf did. My average commute to work would get me between 3.7 and 4.1m/kWh in the Leaf. That same trip is getting me 3.8 to 4.4m/kWh in the Soul. This is a 21 mile trip that about 15 miles are on the highway. 7 of those miles can be stop-and-go and the other 8 can be up to 75mph, so it's a decent mix. When micro-managing the numbers I can tell that the Kia is worse than the leaf once you're over about 55mph, but it's better-to-notably-better at the slower speeds. Considering the Kia is slightly heavier and much less aerodynamic this was unexpected. It must have something to do with the specific electronics and motors that Kia put in this car.
In the same-same category it's just as bad as the leaf when it comes to being able to dynamically control the regen; it's either "a little" or "too much" with no variability. It also charges in the same amounts of time, has similar remote-app features and the same three-light charger indicator. The charge door is in the same place and it uses the same L3 chargers (CHAdeMO). Access to fill the washer fluid and the general lack-of-needed-maintenance are equal too. The daily-care-and-feeding EV life is unchanged when going from Leaf to Kia and back.
Then there's the issue of range. My leaf had 24kWh of battery. With my highway commute patterns it got me a realworld 72mi on average before it would try to go dead on me. If I tried to take it over the Santa Cruz mountains it'd go one way but I'd be sweating bullets trying to do the return trip without a charge. The new-leaf is 30kWh, a nice 25% improvement. Doing the math it'd take me up to 90mi. By comparison, the Kia lists a 27kWh pack, but that's a 'usable' number out of the actual 30.2kWh or so. Why they de-rate the battery in their marketing is beyond me, but what it means is that I've gotten a realworld 105 miles out of it. More impressively, I got that 105mi while going over the Santa Cruz mountains *twice*. I expected it to not quite be as good as the 30kWh Leaf but it seems it's just as good, maybe almost better for my particular driving habits.
Both cars have a range meter the EV community lovingly nicknames the GOM: Guessometer. :) It has a 'miles remaining' that is woefully inaccurate on the Leaf but the Kia one seems to be getting more and more accurate as I drive it on the same paths. Evidently it does a bit of learning vs. whatever root algorithm the Leaf is using. They also have 'bars' showing the tank: 12 full on the Leaf, 18 on the Soul. I appreciate the higher resolution. The trip to work in the Leaf would use either 3 or 4 out of 12 bars (25-33% used). The trip to work on the Soul uses 3-4 out of 18 bars (17-22% use). While this is still nowhere near the upcoming 200+mi ranged cars, I gotta say the Soul takes a lot of my range anxiety away.
Last, and honestly least important (to me) and most important (to many of my friends): The Kia Soul EV looks like a Kia Soul gas version; pretty snazzy. The Leaf look like a cross between a lumpy potato and a shoebox. The Soul is not only more pleasing to the eye, it looks far more normal around other cars. My car-geek friends don't tease me about it like they did endlessly about the Leaf. :)
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tl;dr version: Glad I upgraded. Improved experience in all ways but interior color and stereo quality (which has been since fixed). If you're trying to get a *current* EV I highly, highly suggest this one over the Leaf. If you're waiting for the next gen for 200+ mi, get a Bolt or a T3. :)
On the most basic side, it's simply a better fit for my body shape and size. More room inside, bigger windows with better visibility, better seat feel, better armrest heights. Sitting in two hours of Bay Area stop-and-go traffic is much easier on the back and overall mood in the Kia vs. the Leaf. While some of the creature comforts are the same (good AC, good heater, heated seats, heated steering wheel) the addition of cooled seats was definitely appreciated.
Safety-wise I feel better in this car. The larger windows and better sitting height give better visibility. The low-beam headlights are slightly better than the Leaf's, but the high-beams are worlds improved by comparison. The driving lights are no better or worse. The visibility-by-other-cars is better due to the large size of the rear red lights, and they don't suffer from the strobing the Leaf has (low-refresh LED pulsing).
The infotainment unit is also much improved over the Leaf, at least from a UI perspective. The screen layout is better organized and updates much faster and the navi/maps pages are more readable. It's also smart enough to do things like temporarily slow down the climate-control fans when you use Siri-hands-free or are on a phone call; a rather nice touch. Speaking of that the iPhone integration is pretty good. The dedicated voice-control button the steering wheel will directly trigger Siri if you hold it down one full second, bypassing the always terrible OEM voice system. The downside: the bass is not as good as the Leaf's top end option, which includes a Bose mini sub in the trunk. I installed a Rockford Fosgate P8 in the Soul's trunk and it's now back up to par.
Luxury-wise it's better on the features but not quite as nice on the materials. The super sunroof, the auto-folding mirrors (they close every time you get out and lock the car) and the huge center console storage and glovebox are very nice. The interior LED lights are the brightest (and most OMG-WHITE) of any car I've ever been in. However there is no option for a darker colored interior which I prefer (the Leaf nailed this, when they permitted a black interior starting in 2014). The seats are more comfortable IMHO but more 'plastic-y' than the leather-ish high end Leaf interior.
(Oh, and can I rave about that sunroof again? It's hard to stress just how big and open the car feels when that full-glass-roof is uncovered, and it's even better when you open up the front half to the sky. With all four big windows down it's about 80% like being in a convertible, which I'm completely adoring on the drives home from work!)
Passenger-wise it's more accommodating, both in seat room and in ease of getting in and out of the back doors. Cargo-wise it's actually a little smaller in volume but taller in shape. Since I only really haul groceries in my commute-vehicle (the role the EV plays in my life), that's not a huge difference so far.
The actual driving experience is also improved but not radically so. It feels more sure-footed and slightly more zippy off the line. The electronic steering has three modes, all three of which seem nicer than the Leaf's power steering. Even though the Soul is taller the low-lying battery pack keeps it from feeling tippy; a common benefit to most of the EVs currently on the market.
Now here's the part that surprises me: the Soul is driving more efficiently than my Leaf did. My average commute to work would get me between 3.7 and 4.1m/kWh in the Leaf. That same trip is getting me 3.8 to 4.4m/kWh in the Soul. This is a 21 mile trip that about 15 miles are on the highway. 7 of those miles can be stop-and-go and the other 8 can be up to 75mph, so it's a decent mix. When micro-managing the numbers I can tell that the Kia is worse than the leaf once you're over about 55mph, but it's better-to-notably-better at the slower speeds. Considering the Kia is slightly heavier and much less aerodynamic this was unexpected. It must have something to do with the specific electronics and motors that Kia put in this car.
In the same-same category it's just as bad as the leaf when it comes to being able to dynamically control the regen; it's either "a little" or "too much" with no variability. It also charges in the same amounts of time, has similar remote-app features and the same three-light charger indicator. The charge door is in the same place and it uses the same L3 chargers (CHAdeMO). Access to fill the washer fluid and the general lack-of-needed-maintenance are equal too. The daily-care-and-feeding EV life is unchanged when going from Leaf to Kia and back.
Then there's the issue of range. My leaf had 24kWh of battery. With my highway commute patterns it got me a realworld 72mi on average before it would try to go dead on me. If I tried to take it over the Santa Cruz mountains it'd go one way but I'd be sweating bullets trying to do the return trip without a charge. The new-leaf is 30kWh, a nice 25% improvement. Doing the math it'd take me up to 90mi. By comparison, the Kia lists a 27kWh pack, but that's a 'usable' number out of the actual 30.2kWh or so. Why they de-rate the battery in their marketing is beyond me, but what it means is that I've gotten a realworld 105 miles out of it. More impressively, I got that 105mi while going over the Santa Cruz mountains *twice*. I expected it to not quite be as good as the 30kWh Leaf but it seems it's just as good, maybe almost better for my particular driving habits.
Both cars have a range meter the EV community lovingly nicknames the GOM: Guessometer. :) It has a 'miles remaining' that is woefully inaccurate on the Leaf but the Kia one seems to be getting more and more accurate as I drive it on the same paths. Evidently it does a bit of learning vs. whatever root algorithm the Leaf is using. They also have 'bars' showing the tank: 12 full on the Leaf, 18 on the Soul. I appreciate the higher resolution. The trip to work in the Leaf would use either 3 or 4 out of 12 bars (25-33% used). The trip to work on the Soul uses 3-4 out of 18 bars (17-22% use). While this is still nowhere near the upcoming 200+mi ranged cars, I gotta say the Soul takes a lot of my range anxiety away.
Last, and honestly least important (to me) and most important (to many of my friends): The Kia Soul EV looks like a Kia Soul gas version; pretty snazzy. The Leaf look like a cross between a lumpy potato and a shoebox. The Soul is not only more pleasing to the eye, it looks far more normal around other cars. My car-geek friends don't tease me about it like they did endlessly about the Leaf. :)
------
tl;dr version: Glad I upgraded. Improved experience in all ways but interior color and stereo quality (which has been since fixed). If you're trying to get a *current* EV I highly, highly suggest this one over the Leaf. If you're waiting for the next gen for 200+ mi, get a Bolt or a T3. :)