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| The Soul is, we believe, an ambulance carved from a solid block of vanilla ice cream |
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There was much disagreement in our household about the styling of the Kia Soul. Him Indoors reckoned it looks like it's been carved from a solid block of very hard ice cream, whereas I think it looks more like an ambulance - particularly from the front three-quarters, with that deep, angular roof, which ensures plenty of headroom for gangly teenagers but does look strangely medical from the outside. Not to mention those oddly squared-off front windows, the exaggerated taper in the height of the side windows, and the retro fairground rear lights. All jolly amusing - but, more surprisingly, high-quality in the details and abundantly practical.
Kia's 'urban crossover' is the size of supermini with the styling of an off-roader: chunky, muscular and high off the ground. We're told that buyers will comprise a wide mixture of "individualistic, adventurous people aged between 18 and 39", so I think the Soul is meant to appeal to young-ish people. But a 22-year-old told me it was the ugliest car he'd ever seen, while it was my 87-year-old father who proved the most effusive. He positively raved about it - "it's really well-designed and look, there's all that room inside." We shouldn't be such luddites, he told us. I didn't dare ask what he thought of the houndstooth upholstery, in case we came to blows over it. Even at 87, he's tougher than me.
Then there's the name. Our test model was, er, a Soul Shaker, meaning it's in 'Shaker' trim - an unfortunate moniker, since it suggests the ride will be appalling. But it's not. Anyway, we were grateful for small mercies - at least our test car was a Shaker and not the more upmarket trim level... known as 'Burner'. Soul Burner sounds much too fire-and-brimstone to me. Who comes up with these names?
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