Little things owners have noticed on the Soul EV

[fanbanlo]

Let's come up with a list that are rarely mentioned in reviews.

- Electronic Parking Brake will release on its own when the gear is shifted out of P
- Electronic Parking Brake can be engaged even if engine has not started
- P gear doesn't seem to lock the wheels well, so don't count on it
- Brakes are engaged for 2 seconds to make starting from a slope safer and easier.
- door auto locks at gear change or when it speeds up
- charging compartment has lights, nice touch
- navigation works together with a light sensor somewhere and turns into night mode when it's dark out
- SoulEV logo on the dash is white in D, turns green in B mode
- navigation voice prompts can be easily muted
- MP3 playback with cover and proper display of Unicode file name (including Chinese / Japanese / Korean)
- with the key leaving the car, the car will sound a long continuous beep
- there's a visor mirror light switch covered by the visors

 

[user 154]

+ range when charged to 100% is about 20 miles farther than similarly-priced competitors
+ only EV available with ventilated (cooled) seats?
+ great visibility

- nav system, and in particular the backup camera, takes a while to start up.
- reverse camera graphics do not move with steering to show vehicle trajectory.
- can't leave a USB drive with music plugged into USB port - manual says to remove it before powering car off.

 

[fanbanlo]

- can't leave a USB drive with music plugged into USB port - manual says to remove it before powering car off.

Really? why? I don't recall reading about that.

 

[user 154]

It's in there. The manual says the drive could be damaged by leaving it in, which seems unlikely.
But the car does leave the drive powered up when switched off, so there is a little bit of power drain.

 

[fanbanlo]

It's in there. The manual says the drive could be damaged by leaving it in, which seems unlikely.
But the car does leave the drive powered up when switched off, so there is a little bit of power drain.

oh oops.

 

[Elm]

- can't turn off startup/shut off tune.
- can't turn off the GPS "ding" when you aren't using the GPS and you arrive home.
- no power driver seat
- stereo sound is really bad - no Infinity stereo upgrade
- with a light color interior, lots of dash glare on inside of windshield on sunny days
- can't set climate reservation unless car is plugged in

+ its a great car with the best range of any EV except the Tesla
+ intuitive to drive - just like a regular car, rather than spaceship like controls

If I am wrong on any of my negatives, please let me know.

 

[irfca]

- can't turn off the GPS "ding" when you aren't using the GPS and you arrive home.

This can be turned off ... it is configurable for any address book entry. I forget the exact switch, but if you open the address book entry, there is an "On/Off" simulated slider you can choose to turn on/off the arrival ding.

 

[ElectricEagle14]

- can't turn off the GPS "ding" when you aren't using the GPS and you arrive home.

This can be turned off ... it is configurable for any address book entry. I forget the exact switch, but if you open the address book entry, there is an "On/Off" simulated slider you can choose to turn on/off the arrival ding.

I just did this. For the ones like Home & Office which aren't in the address book (I believe), you go to where you can edit those and can turn it off. It was fun at 1st to hear the ding when I arrived places, but it started to get a little annoying!

 

[fanbanlo]

2 more smart things I've noticed.

- Navigation instructions are only piped through the front speakers, and music stays put at the rear. Smart!
- If you shift to R before the system completes booting up, you'll still see the backup camera but no guideline. Once fully booted up, the guideline appears.

 

[mtndrew1]

- If you shift to R before the system completes booting up, you'll still see the backup camera but no guideline. Once fully booted up, the guideline appears.

At least in my car this has nothing to do with vehicle bootup process and is simply the result of the sluggish infotainment system. Sometimes 30 seconds after startup has completed the backup lines refuse to show up or, worse, the lines show up without the camera image.

Infotainment boot times and general lethargy are my main peeves with the Soul. If that's the worst I have to deal with though I'm a happy camper.

 

[fanbanlo]

- If you shift to R before the system completes booting up, you'll still see the backup camera but no guideline. Once fully booted up, the guideline appears.

At least in my car this has nothing to do with vehicle bootup process and is simply the result of the sluggish infotainment system. Sometimes 30 seconds after startup has completed the backup lines refuse to show up or, worse, the lines show up without the camera image.

Infotainment boot times and general lethargy are my main peeves with the Soul. If that's the worst I have to deal with though I'm a happy camper.

Obviously you have not tried others. This one from Kia's is already one of the fastest. My friend's Audi won't even show the backup camera until it's fully booted up, so I am glad Kia at least tried to bring it up right away w/o the guidelines.

 

[user 154]

Our 2007 Lexus backup camera comes on instantly with no boot time. OTOH, there are no backup guidelines. I really miss the moving backup trajectory lines of my old Leaf. Maybe the only thing I miss from that car.

 

[mtndrew1]

Obviously you have not tried others. This one from Kia's is already one of the fastest. My friend's Audi won't even show the backup camera until it's fully booted up, so I am glad Kia at least tried to bring it up right away w/o the guidelines.

I've tried many others and owned other cars with backup cameras and none have taken as long as the Soul's. It is what it is, and it's not a big deal, but it's the worst performer I've experienced in this regard.

My Toyota and GM products' cameras came on instantly. I've driven Teslas, Mazdas, Toyotas, GMs, Hondas, Nissans, and Fords with backup cameras and they were all much more responsive.

I'm hoping an infotainment software update becomes available at some point to make the Soul's system quicker. On occasion it can take nearly a minute before I can enter into the GPS, select an audio source, or get a result out of the backup camera.

 

[irfca]

Anyone else have issue with the front seat head rests - I find they tilt in too much (or I don't tilt my seat back as far as they expected), and as a result I cannot sit comfortably resting my head in the head rest ... I have to sit slightly forward ... with any other vehicles I've owned, the head rests continued the "line" of the back of the seat.

 

[user 285]

Yes, they felt all wrong to start with - we had to move them backwards as far as possible, which required reading the manual! Not very intuitive...

 

[mtndrew1]

Anyone else have issue with the front seat head rests - I find they tilt in too much (or I don't tilt my seat back as far as they expected), and as a result I cannot sit comfortably resting my head in the head rest ... I have to sit slightly forward ... with any other vehicles I've owned, the head rests continued the "line" of the back of the seat.

If you grab the headrest and yank it forward (towards the back of your head) it'll go through three detents and then after it reaches its farthest-forward position it'll pop back to the beginning position, farthest away from the back of your head.

I only discovered this after reading your comment, realizing that I also didn't like how far forward the headrest was, and then learning how to adjust it. So...thanks!

 

[iletric]

The headrest feels like a overstuffed pillow, there is no indent for the head to really find a good resting spot. I don't use it.

 

[user 154]

They're really just for neck protection in the event of getting rear-ended.

 

[irfca]

Anyone else have issue with the front seat head rests - I find they tilt in too much (or I don't tilt my seat back as far as they expected), and as a result I cannot sit comfortably resting my head in the head rest ... I have to sit slightly forward ... with any other vehicles I've owned, the head rests continued the "line" of the back of the seat.

If you grab the headrest and yank it forward (towards the back of your head) it'll go through three detents and then after it reaches its farthest-forward position it'll pop back to the beginning position, farthest away from the back of your head.

I only discovered this after reading your comment, realizing that I also didn't like how far forward the headrest was, and then learning how to adjust it. So...thanks!

Ditto for me ... after the comments, I read the manual and realized it could be adjusted ... I never would have thought it would be adjustable!

 

[fanbanlo]

- ultra low roll resistance tires have quite crappy traction
- light sensor somewhere would turn GPS from day mode to night mode if, e.g. going through a tunnel or underground parking.
- the fastest way to accelerate from a stop: get the car rolling first, then floor the accelerator quickly and feel the torque. No insane mode, but still quite nice.

I wish it has power liftgate.