The Kia Soul is known to be one of the most reliable SUVs on the market. But are all Kia Souls created equal?
Key Points
- The Kia Soul ranks third overall on Repair Pal’s top-seven compact SUV list.
- The 2012-2016 Kia Souls tend to be the least reliable, with engine failure at under 100k miles being common.
- The best years for the Soul are 2017 to 2020, which saw Kia correcting course, with a dramatic decline in severe issues.
Kia Soul’s Low Maintenance Cost and High-reliability Rankings Make the Compact Car Worth Considering
If you’re buying a Kia, odds are that you’re buying something that’s a little better than the price tag suggests.
The Hyundai subsidiary doesn’t produce the prettiest, fastest, or toughest cars on the market, but they produce prettier, faster, and tougher cars than you expect for under $25,000 new, and their flagship SUV, the iconic Kia Soul, is a perfect example of that design ethos.
The Kia Soul is one of the more reliable SUVs in its class right now, ranking in third place out of seven on Repair Pal’s list of subcompact SUVs.
They give the car a rating of 4.5 stars out of a possible five, a whole half-point better than average for its class.
On average, Repair Pal estimates an annual maintenance cost of $437 for the Soul, which comes out to less than ten dollars a week.
But we’re talking averages here. There are always going to be outliers and exceptions.
So, which Kia Souls bring that average down, and which ones bring that average up?
Mid-2000s Kia Souls Faced Severe Issues Like Engine Failure, Making them Among the Worst Model Years
Picking an absolute worst year for the Kia Soul may be a matter of some debate.
Car Complaints notes that the 2014 has the most complaints overall, but they ultimately settle on the 2015 as the worst Kia Soul, owing to complicating factors like the severity of the complaints, and the fact that they tend to happen at a lower mileage than with the 2014.
Ranking in at number one on their list of worst Kia Soul problems: engine failure in the 2015.
And according to Car Complaints‘ data, this tends to happen at an average mileage of just 77,200, years before you should expect to have the engine drop out on you.
Car Complaints report 16 complaints, averaging a repair cost of around $3,840.
In the second place, the 2016 has a tendency to blow its engine at just 82,000 miles. The website only reports four complaints total for this one, but the severity and the average cost of four grand for repairs may be enough to justify crossing any 2016 Souls off your maybe list.
In third, seven drivers reported a ticking noise at around 101,400 miles, usually pointing to, you guessed it, engine failure, costing $4,100 to fix.
2015 Kia Soul’s Engine Damage Issue is Most Concerning of Five Recalls
Checking in with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the recall, complaint, and investigation numbers would seem to support Car Complaints‘ conclusion that the 2015 is the worst model year to buy.
The 2015 has been recalled five times, first for broken accelerator pedals in March 2015, then for the steering gear separating in September 2017, an overheated catalytic converter in February 2019, a faulty park mechanism in July 2020, and finally, engine damage potentially causing fires in December 2020.
Almost all of these recalls affected more than 200,000 Hyundais and Kias in total (the July 2020 recall only affected 3,714).
Add to that, the car has been investigated twice for random vehicle fires, first in 2018, and then in 2019. And the 2019 investigation is still ongoing.
The 2015 has 493 NHTSA complaints on file, which isn’t a huge number for a six-year-old car that sells in the low six figures, but the fact that 334 of those complaints point to engine problems, it’s a bit worrying.
So, our takeaway: stay away from the 2015 Kia Soul.
Actually, avoid the 2012-2016 models entirely for that matter, as these Souls have a rate of engine failure much higher than average for the nameplate.
2017 to 2020 Kia Souls Had Notable Drop in Recalls from Previous Years
A neat thing about buying Certified Pre-Owned over brand-new: the older model years have already been field-tested. This year’s Kia Souls look great, but we don’t know what’s wrong with them just yet.
So even if a fresh-off-the-lot Soul is within your budget, you might wind up getting a lot more miles out of a CPO than you would a brand-new SUV.
But, that’s only if you do your research. Or better yet, let us do your research for you, and figure out which model year you can really count on to go the distance.
As mentioned above, 2012-2016 were rough years for the nameplate, with frequent engine failures and some scary recalls. Fortunately, Kia realized they were dropping the ball, and corrected course pretty quick.
For the 2017 Kia Soul, Car Complaints reports just three complaints total. Down from 22 the previous year.
We can safely say that if you buy any car from 2017 to 2020, you’re going to buy a safe, reliable SUV, and it’ll even have a bit of that new-car smell leftover from the day it rolled off the lot.
2019 Kia Soul’s Zero Recalls Add it to List of Best Model Years
But let’s narrow it down a bit further. Which model year is the very best used Kia Soul on the market today?
Based on the data we have available to us right now, we’re gonna have to go with the 2019.
At present, the 2019 Kia Soul has zero recalls and zero investigations on file with the NHTSA, and just 22 complaints. And those complaints are pretty disparate, with nothing really being common enough to suggest a pattern.
The 2019 was also the year Kia added a five-inch touchscreen and rearview camera as standard features on the base trim level. So, among the Souls that have been on the road long enough that we can collect some meaningful reliability data, the 2019 is the one that feels most modern.
All of that being said, the 2019 only beats out the 2017 by a nose, and the 2017 goes for around three grand less than the 2019 on average, with Certified Pre-Owned Souls starting in the $15k and $19k range, respectively.
You Can’t Go Wrong With a Kia Soul (Or Can You?)
Although the 2015 Kia Soul has a higher-than-average rate of engine failure, the company sold 147,133 units that year, and Car Complaints reports 29 incidents. You could triple that number, and it still wouldn’t amount to one in a thousand. So to say that the 2015 Soul is a lemon would be a stretch.
Sure, if you can help it, you don’t want to be that one driver in five thousand whose odometer never had a chance of reaching 100k.
So shop around for a 2017 or a 2019 if you have the option. But even the worst model year for the Kia Soul is going to be one of the safest, most dependable SUVs on the road.
Photos: Kia