Kia unveiled the Shadow Dragon Soul Special Edition at the 2010 North American International Auto Show.

Kia has released another Soul special edition model. The Shadow Dragon Soul is the third of four special-edition Soul cars destined to hit the market, according to Kia Motors America. It features an attractive exterior appearance package that looks pretty close to the Soul Burner concept car, which made its official debut at Geneva auto show two years ago.

The third Special Edition model is coated in unique, deep shadow black exterior finish and features matte black dragon graphics on the hood and tail-gate. The hot-looking exterior is spiced-up with attractive body-colored wing-type spoiler, high-gloss black accents on the bumpers and 18-inch alloy-wheels with machined accents.

The interior of the Shadow Dragon Soul provides a little more exclusivity than both previous Special Edition (Soul Denim and Ignition Soul) models. It features leather-wrapped seats – the first leather seating available on any Soul model – with integrated seat warmers for additional comfort.

The equipments of latest special edition model also include Audio Upgrade Package with subwoofer, dash-mounted center speaker, external amplifier and pulsing front-speaker lights. Steering-wheel controls, iPod cable, sun-roof and carpeted floor mats and fog lights are also a part of standard package.

Equipped with five-speed manual gearbox, Kia Shadow Dragon Soul Special Edition model starts at $18,195 (add the $695 destination charge).

Look for these cars to begin arriving at Kia dealers by the end of this month, but don’t expect them to last long because only a limited number of vehicles will be built!

Kia Shadow Dragon Soul gallery: 

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How do you spin your wheels? Take a look at this interesing video of Kia Soul Ignition burning out the tires and let a grandma teach you. Have fun!

New 2010 Kia Soul Ingnition Special Edition arrives to Kia dealerships across the USA.

Kia Motors America today announced the arrival of the Soul Ingnition Special Edition model. The Soul Ignition is the second Kia Soul Special Edition thus far in 2009, after the Soul Denim, which has been unveiled earlier this year, and represents the second out of four Special Edition Souls that are destined to hit Kia’s U.S. within the next couple of months.

What sets the Ignition Kia Soul apart from other Souls is its attractive exterior appearance, spiced-up by attractive unique body paint and off-set black racing stripe that runs the length of the car. The orange colour is called Ignition and it is the only exterior paint offered for the 2010 Ignition Soul.

Rounding up the unique orange-black exterior treatment of the all-new Kia Soul Ignition are cool looking 18-inch alloy-wheels with machined accents, aluminum gas door, rear spoiler and athletic-looking body kit.

Just like the very first special edition Kia Soul, the Soul Denim, the 2010 Ignition Soul is also built upon the Soul+ model, which hosts a plethora of standard features, but ads a few extras including an Audio Upgrade Package, which involves subwoofer, center speakers, external amplifier and LED lights built-in front speakers that pulse to the beat of the music. The Audio Upgrade Package also includes standard i-Pod cable and steering wheel controls.

Other standard features also include sun-roof, carpeted floor mats, fog-lights and fender vents with side marker repeaters. The special edition Kia Ignition Soul is priced at $17.500 for the five-speed manual. If you are interested in this cool-looking urban crossover vehicle, you better act fast as only a limited number of vehicles will be produced. [Photo-source: Kia Soul Forum]

New Kia Ignition Soul Special Edition gallery:

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The winner of November Soul of the month competition is a proud owner of black Kia Soul with really attractive black-yellow alloy-wheels and striking yellow decals. We asked the owner a few questions about his ride and here are some thoughts from him. Enjoy your read!

1. How long have you owned your Soul and what are your experiences so far?
We’ve had the car since August and we couldn’t be more pleased. We get stopped by people asking what it is all of the time. It is also truly a pleasure to drive. Sitting at a stop light or in a parking lot, virtually anyone that sees it has to do a double take. It’s quite interesting.

2. If you had to pick one thing what was it that really sold you on the Kia Soul?
I think just the unique style of the Soul. It doesn’t look like anything else and it stands out in a crowd. Sharon didn’t want to drive something plain.

3. Did you name your Soul?
Yes.

4. How and when did you find out about the Kia Soul?
TV commercial.

5. Can you tell us some interesting comments that you have heard about your ride from friends, family and other people?
People are always staring at it. Women look at the car, men look at the wheels. People ask what it is, where we got it, if it came this way etc. It’s quite entertaining.

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Kia introduces Soul Tempest limited edition in the UK…

Kia launched the funky new Soul earlier this year to include a range of ‘Originals’ - limited edition versions of the car - and with the change in season comes a change to the Originals collection. These ‘character’ models are designed to showcase equipment features and styles available on Soul which customers can match to their lifestyles and personalities.

The beginning of the month saw the launch of the all-new ‘Tempest’ Original, which replaces the outgoing ‘Samba’ model. The Tempest features standard metallic paintwork in Titanium Silver with black high-gloss bumper inserts and door mirrors, and is fitted with unique black 18-inch alloy wheels. Completing the look inside is the modern ‘Soul-Shine’ black seat trim with metallic centre fascia and chrome accents on the dashboard and instrument clusters.

Other key features include Kia’s Advanced Reversing Camera system with Electrochromic Rearview Mirror, as available on its sister model Shaker, and an upgraded audio system which features a dash-top centre speaker, rear sub-woofer and external amplifier.

Tempest is available in 1.6-litre petrol and diesel engines with a four-speed automatic transmission available on the latter - the first time automatic has been offered on any Original model. And with the price of Tempest starting from just £12,845, it’s certainly a tempting offer.

There are other minor model year changes to the rest of the Soul range being introduced as running changes. The entry grade ‘1′ trim now gains driver’s seat height adjust as standard.

Metallic centre fascia highlights and chrome accents have been improved and made brighter and are now offered as standard on the Soul 2 grade as well as all Originals. Also, the lidded storage tray in the upper dash has been redesigned for improved functionality and usage.

Colour availability has been revised on the Soul ‘2′ mid-grade. With the deletion of Samba from the line-up, the vivid Tornado Red paintwork is now made available on all ‘2′ models, while the vibrant metallic Cocktail Orange is no longer offered. This quickly changing line-up ensures that all Soul customers feel special knowing theirs is one of a limited number.

Local dealership Loughborough Kia recently hosted a visit from a very rare guest - a unique Kia Soul designed exclusively by Jeff Banks for fashion retailer Matalan. The one-of-a-kind car was styled by the celebrated designer for an in-store competition that Matalan will be launching to its customers in the winter.

The ‘Unwrap a car for Christmas’ promotion will run from November 16^th to 24^th December within all 200+ Matalan stores around the country. The promotion with Kia is exclusively available to Matalan Reward Card holders who swipe their card when they purchase in store or online. Reward Cards are free and available in all stores so you can pick one up next time you visit your local Matalan.

Remodelled from the stylish Kia Soul Samba - already a head-turning vision in bright Tornado Red - international designer Jeff Banks was inspired by its bold personality and wanted to adapt the model one step further. He added red alloy wheels, racing seats and an in-car cinema system, complementing its existing sound system with red LED mood lighting. Jeff Banks’ crest features on the roof of the car, plus his autograph on the tailgate.

“The car looks absolutely amazing - very inspiring,” commented Cliff Johnson, Dealer Principal, Loughborough Kia. “One of Soul’s main benefits is the fact that it can be customised to suit its owner. There are many packages available from Kia with all sorts of design options so that anyone can customise their Soul to reflect their personality.”

Starting at only £10.775, Soul’s appeal is more than just its looks. And, with a host of options and accessory packs available, customers can tailor their Soul exactly as they wish. Individual options vary from interior and exterior items, including leather seats, body styling kits, a selection of decals and carpet mats.

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To buy a used Kia Soul, visit your local Kia dealer or browse through the websites offering used cars information.

If you’re looking for a used car with a different and unique exterior design you might wanna look at the Kia Soul. The Soul is a sub-compact crossover vehicle from Kia, which has been a popular choice among young and “young-at-heart” buyers.

At this point, there might not be a wide selection of used Kia Souls at the market. The model is still fresh and its been only about ten months since it made an official US debut. Still, the model is really attractive and stands out of the crowd, so it might be well worth to waste some minutes and search over the web to find out a reasonably priced used Soul crossover.

The all-new, entry-level, Kia Soul starts at approximately $13.300 to low 20s for the top of the range model. With some luck, you could get a used model priced anywhere from $10.000 to $15.000 (depending on trim level).

But you should know that the Soul is relatively a new vehicle, so it’s unreasonable to expect to find a model priced below $10.000 after only 10 months on the market. Plus, Kia’s are holding up their values much longer these days than they used to be. If you find the current prices too high, I suggest you to wait a few more months before you buy a used Soul crossover.

Before buying a used Kia Soul you should conduct a research to gather more information on the cars history, pricing and recalls. You can browse through various car related websites that offer information on new or used Kia cars. Once you do your “homework” and complete the initial used car research, you can contact or visit your nearest local Kia dealers and begin your buying process.

It is up to you which dealer to buy from. You can even buy from a private seller, but from my experiences, the best way to get a used car is to buy it from your nearest reputable used car dealer. If you get it from a dealer you can be sure that the car has been extensively inspected at the same moment it was delivered to the store. Oftenly, the dealer also gives a car a limited warranty (12 months or in some cases even longer) to make you confident that the vehicle works fine. But the warranty might vary from dealer to dealer.

Before you sign the papers, make sure to take the vehicle for a spin. You can agree with the dealer to allow you to take an hour or more long test-drive (the more the better!). Once behind the wheel, you should try out the vehicle in wet and dry conditions. Pay attention to every detail on the car and notify the dealer if you find anything suspicious.

Buying a used car is not a joke. Since you will be spending a considerable amount of money, make sure you do an extensive research and conduct a test-drive with the car you want to buy.

Buying a used Kia Soul could be a great investment. The Soul is a unique looking car that features a complete safety equipment, up-to-date powertrain technology and high fuel economy ratings. What’s most important, the Soul proved to be a reliable car and there have not been many complaints from the owners. Enjoy your Kia Soul!

The October 2009 Kia Soul of the month contest was won by a forum member RelenaRelena and we had a brief talk about his nice looking ride yesterday. Living in Holland, RelenaRelena became the very first non-North American Soul owner after five Canadian and one US Soul owners that won our monthly contest.

RelenaRelena drives a beautiful Soul crossover, coated in silver paint. Under the bonnet, the Soul features a 1.6L engine with 128 horsepower. The car is equipped with 16-inch tires and five-spoke alloy wheels.

Although RelenaRelena has owned his Soul only for a very short period of time, he already equipped his car with numerous (chrome) accessories. Sidebars, pushbars, chrome door handles, chrome head-lights, chrome rear wiper and other accessories provide his ride with classy and extravagant look.

Congraulations for your win RelenaRelena!

Here’s the honourable interview with the Soul of the month winner:

1. How long have you owned your Soul and what are your experiences so far?
We have owned the Soul for almost 12 days. We find the Soul a perfect car for us. Pleased that we have implemented with 16 inch wheels. Driving behavior is better for us than the 18 inch model in which we have done our test drive and we absolutely love everything about it.

2. If you had to pick one thing what was it that really sold you on the Kia Soul?
Not so sporty shape but rather modern retro exterior style. That makes you feel immediately that this car has something you do not see by other cars. We have not opted for black with this car because we wanted to retain the shape accents. In black you see this less than in bright silver.

3. Did you name your Soul?
Yes we call our Kia Soul “Diva Platinum” that was the first thing we thought after we had made some modifications. On the Internet we had seen a “Diva” Soul with gold accents.

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The Kia Soul has made it into winning ways once more - this time taking a class victory in the 2010 Caravan Club Towcar of the Year Awards, announced today.

The Soul was victorious in the highly competitive under £16,000 category.

Entrants to Towcar of the Year awards are tested at Millbrook Proving Ground by a number of specialist motoring judges. Evaluations cover the towing ability, acceleration, braking and capability with demanding hill starts.

Then, a team of caravan specialist judges take to the controls and assess the vehicles’ suitability in everyday caravanning situations.

The judges said of the Kia Soul; ‘The Soul Shaker gives a spirited performance, has a usable bodyshape and promises low running costs’, adding that ‘As a towcar for small caravans or trailer tents, Kia’s hatchback is a worthy winner’.

Kia Motors (UK) Ltd. Managing Director, Michael Cole, said of the award; ‘Kia Motors has great history in the Towcar Awards, with Sorento having taken a number of category wins over the years. But now Kia Soul has provided towing fans with something stylish and capable to tow with. We’re pleased that Soul could take up the mantle and move forwards in such style’.

With prices starting at £10,495, the Kia Soul has braked and unbraked towing capacities of 1,300 kg and 550 kg respectively, with a ball weight of 52 kg.

The Kia Soul was first seen in production form at the Paris Motor Show in 2009, before going on sale in the UK in early 2010. The fresh-looking car was created by design teams in the US, Germany and Korea, with the deliberate aim of creating a unique looking, emotionally inspired car that appealed to a wide range of customers. In the UK, Kia Motors managed to sell 1,000 cars within 100 days of its launch. Current sales are now over 1600 since the car went on sale early this year.

Congratulations for September 2009 Soul Of The Month win go to a 17-year old Peter, whose Kia Soul crossover has received the largest number of votes from his “Soul mates”. Here is his honorable interview, where he reveals some details about his Soul, ownership experience so far and future plans regarding tuning and modifying. You can also see some images of his ride, after the jump.

1. How and when did you find out about the Kia Soul?
I was watching the NBA finals and Kia’s hamster commercials caught my attention!

2. How long have you owned your Soul and what are your experiences so far?
I have owned the Soul for a little more than 2 months and I absolutely love everything about it. Both the drive and the looks are great.

3. If you had to pick one thing what was it that really sold you on the Kia Soul?
The one thing that really sold me is probably the combination of nice exterior and the roomy interior.

4. Did you name your Soul?
Yes, I named it Milk Carton thanks to my girlfriend Connie who though of it.

5. Can you tell us some interesting comments that you have heard about your ride from friends, family and other people?

First, my friends ask when they hop on my car is to turn on the LED speaker lights. And everyone of them has so-far said my car is roomy, cute, and better than a Scion

6. What are your plans as far as modifications? Are you interested in that at all?
My plan is to get some front, rear, and side skirts as well as some lowering springs. Yes I am very interested in car modifications because my brother Mike has added all the modifications for my car over the past two months.

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Kia Soul Forums website breaks two-thousand members in less than nine months and keeps rising fast!

This past week was a big milestone for the Kia Soul Owners Club website! Our stats revealed that we have gone past the 2.000 members/Soul owners mark. Today, five days after, we already have 2.054 members and we are on a good way to pass the 2.100 members mark within the next few days.

This is awesome and a great result for us, especially when considering that our Kia Soul forums has only been on-line since December 2008. Those of you who are members of the world’s largest “Hamster World”, or at least browse through the website from time to time, do remember our 1.000 member announcement back in June 2009. Since then, the site exploded with more new members joining us each day! Less than three months after our first 1.000 member announcement, we already passed another 1.000 member milestone and we keep growing fast.

At this special occasion, I’d like to greet and thank all the members of the “Soul community” that make this forum the best of the best on the web. At the same time, I’d also like to thank our super moderators, as well as our two sponsors, Shark Racing and Evo Fusion USA. We wouldn’t be able to achieve these milestones without all of you! So, thank you everybody for your continued support!

Of course, special thanks go also to Kia Motors, the creator of the fabulous Soul crossover, which is making huge strides all over the world, but especially in the North American market, where it has been conquering hearts of thousands of young and young at heart people.

Visit our Kia Soul owners club here: Kia Soul Forums

The 2010 Kia Soul earns Top Safety Pick Award from Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

The 2010 Kia Soul has earned “Top Safety Pick” award from highly coveted North American Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Ratings from the Institute are based on crash test results from frontal, side and rear impacts. To earn the “Top Safety Pick” the vehicle must score the agency’s highest safety rating of good, and at the same time, it also has to be equipped with electronic stability control (standard on the 2010 Kia Soul).

Kia Soul has been on the market since February this year and so far, the popular eye-catching crossover vehicle has won plenty of accolades from various automotive institutions. Among all, the most important accolade that the Soul received so far was a 5-star safety rating received at EuroNCAP crash tests earlier this year.

The 2010 Kia Soul crossover has became the first subcompact car from Kia Motors that received the highly coveted safety result at EuroNCAP crash tests after cee’d hatchback. Kia’s halo car now adds a “Top Safety Pick” from the IIHS to its fast growing list of accomplishments.

Other Kia Soul awards include Best new MPV from Which? Driver’s 2009 consumer survey in the UK and the world’s most prestigious Red Dot design award. Funky looking Kia Soul has also been named “The coolest car under 18 Grand” by Kelly’s Blue Book, while Soul’s interior has been named as the “Grooviest Interior” on the Ward’s AutoWorld “Interior of the Year” list.

“Safety in particular continues to be a top purchase consideration for consumers in today’s market, and having Soul honored with a “Top Safety Pick” further strengthens its position as a vehicle that offers the entire package.” said Michael Sprague, Vice President, Marketing of Kia Motors America.

Latest sales reports from Kia show that Soul crossover continues to perform very well in the North American market and it’s sales numbers continue to climb each month. Just like the Soul, our Kia Soul Forums have been dooing great as well.

Since the forum has been put on-line - in December 2008-, more than 1,600 Soul owners joined the board already, which is absolutely amazing. It has grown fast and already became the largest Kia Soul owner community in the world.

Since April, we have been running the Soul of the month competition in the forums and so far we have got 5 winners, all from Canada! The winner of August 2009 Soul of the month competition is denim_guy and his funky looking Denim Kia Soul with Dragon tatoo. He has joined our Soul forum in June and has been one of the most active forum members since then.

I’d like to thank him for joining us at the forums and also congratulate him for the win! Here is his honorable interview:

1. How and when did you find out about the Kia Soul? I saw it driving by my local dealer in mid April. Our lease was going to be up soon on our other car and I told her she had to come with me and see this Soul. We went the next day and the rest is history!

2. How long have you owned your Soul and what are your experiences so far? We’ve had it since April and we are soooo in love with it. The looks, the handling, the comfort, the practicality and the price were a combination we couldn’t refuse.

3. If you had to pick one thing what was it that really sold you on the Kia Soul? I’m a big guy, so it’s hard to find a small car that is roomy enough. The Soul fit the bill in spades.

4. Did you name your Soul? My wife has officially named her “Lola”. She’s a naughty little temptress apparently.

5. Can you tell us some interesting comments that you have heard about your ride from friends, family and other people? Well, we loved the denim color from day one. And once we put on the dragon decal, well, lets just say we turn some heads. The mpg and roominess really impress as well.

6. What are your plans as far as modifications? Are you interested in that at all? Well, already changed the outside appearance a bit, but I can see new wheels in my future.

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Thanks to a number of thoughtful and very effective promotion activities of Kia Motors’ UK press team, Kia Soul has been one hot-selling car in the UK market over the past couple of months. In spite of lower overall new car demand, Kia Motors UK managed to sell a record high number of Souls.

BTW, so far this year, Kia sold more than 58,000 Souls across the globe; 11,500 units in South Korea and 46,500 units abroad. Pretty impressive number, don’t you think!?

Right now, the hot-selling Kia Soul crossover is on a three-month long tour across the UK. A convoy of eight striking Kia Souls drives from city to city, five days a week and visits various local events in the UK.

When not driving/traveling from town to town, usually on Saturdays, the Souls are put on display at major shopping centres across the nation. One of our readers has spotted the “Soul Train” at one o the shopping malls just recently and send us some interesting shots. He also added short general description of each Kia Soul you can see below:

“The Orange Soul is the UK Soul 2, done up like the “Dukes of Hazard” film. Then there is the unmistakable Soul Burner. The Red Soul Samba looking like Starskey and Hutch’s car from the Film. Then my favorite the Soul Shaker sporting the racing stripes from Disney’s Film Herbie.”

Thanks for the pics, Martin!!

Kia Soul Train gallery:

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The very popular Kia Soul Forum has the fifth Kia Soul Of The Month competition in the running at the moment. This is a monthly competition, where members of the Soul community select three buddies and their Souls and then vote for the best looking ride. Voting results are revealed at the end of each month and the winner of a competition gets a honorable interview published here at our Kia blog.

Here we have the latest honorable interview with Gail, the winner of June 2009 Soul Of The Month competition. She owns a great looking Kia Soul 4U coated in attractive Lava exterior color, which is also known as Cocktail Orange in some markets. Her hot-looking Soul ride is powered by 2.0L engine mated to 4-speed automatic transmission.

Gail has joined Kia Soul Forums in April and has been one of the most active Soul owners on the board. Her Soul looks very unique thanks to colorful flower graphics and a set of black 18-inch alloy wheels. It also features a bug deflector attached to the front fascia, which guards her Soul of the “bugfest”, eyeliners and window sport visors.

Congrats again to you Gail and your June 2009 Soul Of The Month win! It’s been great to having you at the site! Keep up with great work and let us updated on additional modifications that you implement to your funky ride.     

1. How and when did you find out about the Kia Soul?
I received an invitation from the dealership announcing the arrival of the SOUL on March 11 and to come in and have a look.

2. How long have you owned your Soul and what are your experiences so far?
I bought my SOUL on March 11 and took possession of it on April 25th. I love the uniqueness of the SOUL. It really attracts attention and turns a lot of heads!

3. If you had to pick one thing what was it that really sold you on the Kia Soul?
The roominess of the interior and the sunroof! I just loved my old Sportage and the SOUL reminded me of it.

4. Did you name your Kia Soul?
Amelia aka My Tropical SOUL.

5. Can you tell us some interesting comments that you have heard about your ride from friends, family and other people?
Everyone loves the colour! “It definitely won’t get lost in a parking lot!” All the features that came with the model…awesome sound system, roominess, and one interesting thing people have said is that the SOUL looks like it’s mine…

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