Kia Soul EV

REPORT 5

£34,545 OTR/£34,545 as tested/£406pcm

WHY IT’S HERE

An EV to do the job of a normal good-value family car

DRIVER

Paul Horrell

I HAVE A STANDARD TEST OF A CAR’S VERSATILITY: WILL A ME-SIZED bicycle fit in the back? I mean laid down flat, with the rear seats folded. In most smallish hatches, I have to take the front wheel off. But the Soul will swallow it intact. I have to move the front passenger seat forward, but then in it goes.

The warm weather means the Soul is using less energy. My most recent battery charge took me from home in north London to somewhere beyond Chelmsford and back, then on another day from home to somewhere beyond Guildford and back, and on another day from home to Oxford and back. And some intermediate local running about.

That’s about 11 hours of driving – 290 miles. Then I just plugged it into a lamp post two minutes’ walk from my house, and it was fully recharged in the morning. At a cost of just £16.

This is the first time that I’ve ever taken an EV beyond its WLTP range – it’s important to remember that all the main arterial dual carriageways out of London have over the past few years had their speed limits reduced and average speed cameras installed. So these journeys rather suit an EV.

Carrying bikes around and fitting my tailgate mounted carrier means I’ve been spending a lot of time looking at the car’s back end. I don’t mind the look of it, and its shape-defining light-cluster outline. But the rest of it? I’m not so sure. It’s the least crisp of all the three generations of Soul.

Imagine you had an original Soul and you asked your kid what shape birthday cake they wanted. And they said “our car”. You get something that looks like this one. It’s only missing the candles on top. My wife disagrees. She says it’s like Postman Pat’s van. So I asked our friendly postal worker Liam if he likes it. He does, actually.