KIA SOUL EV URBAN
You can now save £6200 on this cheerful crossover by taking a 37% range hit
Does what it says on the tin, this one. In swapping the Kia Soul’s 64kwh battery for a 39kwh one, the logically titled Urban provides a cheaper, shorter-range entry point to Kia’s fast-growing EV line-up – one aimed at city folk who do lower speeds and shorter drives.
It’s a pretty enticing prospect, saving you a whopping £6200 over the standard car (renamed Explore) while offering performance and usability that stand it in good stead in an increasingly competitive class.
It may be a townie at heart, but there’s nothing to suggest the Urban couldn’t also find favour in rural areas. We drove exuberantly and mostly on fast, winding roads for 60 miles and claimed 4.1mpkwh overall, translating to a range of 161 miles, so more judicious throttle use could net you 200 miles fairly easily.
And if that’s still not enough for you, its ability to take 100kw means public charging needn’t be arduous.
While a bit fussy on rough bits at low speeds, the ride is remarkably composed, and it’s still an agreeable steer, with predictable and nicely weighted steering, minimal roll and decent grip – although there’s not a lot of steering feedback and putting the power on mid-bend can send the front wheels scrabbling for grip.
Subtly refreshed at the front with slick LED headlights and the new KN – ahem, Kia – emblem, the Soul remains one of the more jovial and charismatic affordable EVS on sale. But there’s no getting away from the fact that it’s now Kia’s oldest EV and starting to feel as much inside.
The seats may be comfy and the leg room generous, but the scratchy plastics and dated switchgear are a far cry from the lavishness to which we have become accustomed from Kia (exacerbated here by an array of blanked buttons); and the infotainment, while functional and well laid out, is pretty rudimentary, even if marks should be given for its clarity and wireless Apple Carplay.