Test drove one in Portland, OR at Broadway Kia

[GizmoEV]

I drove a white demo Soul EV in Portland, Oregon this Thursday at Broadway Kia. Didn't get to drive it on the freeway due to rush-hour traffic slower than on side roads. We couldn't order one yet and were told it would be a couple of months.

 

[mitchev]

So I guess it's true then, that Kia is taking the Soul EV to new markets!

The Soul EV is currently sold in just 17 dealerships in California, Orth Hedrick, vice president of product planning at Kia Motors America, told AutoblogGreen. "For the next stage, we were originally planning on hitting the east coast, but we are changing that around a little bit. You'll see more availability," he said.

 

[GizmoEV]

Yes. The online survey they asked us to fill out asked, "In what metropolitan area/state are you located in?" and then listed Portland, OR; Seattle, WA; Texas; Hawaii; Atlanta, GA; Other (please specify) as locations. The demo had CA plates and only 1600 miles on the odometer.

 

[edtanas]

I got mine when I was visiting in Vancouver BC two weeks ago..

I live in Calgary Alberta...I asked the dealers here back in October to let me know when they get any here..this being the Oil capital of Canada, I was not too hopeful...

I Lucked out by contacting Kia West in Coquitlam BC, they had a demo of the Base model with 428 KM, not the EV+...

I was willing to buy it as I know how hard it is to get .... it cost me just under 50,000 ...with all the 3M scotch guard Undercoating, interior protection spray etc , the extra warranties taxes etc I was lucky to have saved 7% as Alberta has no sales tax.

I got the Caribbean Blue model with the white top I love it I even got a NO Gas sticker on the back window ....I can charge ti to about 153 Km on a full charge and still have half left a t then end of the day

I am going to get a 240 volt installed soon ..just using the trickle 110 volt now for over night..

it is so nice to not have to pull up to a gas pump anymore ....

It appears Canada got them before many States..odd eh??

 

[GizmoEV]

I forgot to add that Chris Utter is the salesman at Broadway Kia who contacted us when we requested info online. He is great to work with and doesn't presume to know everything. He truly wants to learn about it and help out the customer. There was another salesman, Jake I think, who was also very knowledgeable. He too, wasn't above learning new things about EVs, (I've been driving an EV since 2006 and have a degree in Physics so the technical stuff is both my hobby and job.), and welcomed it.

@edtranas: Great that you got an EV! Did you drive it home from Vancouver? Are there a series of CHAdeMo chargers on the route?

 

[edtanas]

I forgot to add that Chris Utter is the salesman at Broadway Kia who contacted us when we requested info online. He is great to work with and doesn't presume to know everything. He truly wants to learn about it and help out the customer. There was another salesman, Jake I think, who was also very knowledgeable. He too, wasn't above learning new things about EVs, (I've been driving an EV since 2006 and have a degree in Physics so the technical stuff is both my hobby and job.), and welcomed it.

@edtranas: Great that you got an EV! Did you drive it home from Vancouver? Are there a series of CHAdeMo chargers on the route?

@GizmoEV

No I did not drive it home from Vancouver as I did not feel comfortable pushing the extent of each charge based on the fact even though there are enough charging stations along the way, it would have taken two days to travel home due to the 4 hours to charge at each 240 volt station. Seeing I did not get the EV + , I got the base , I do not have the 480 fast charge port.

I had it shipped over on a flatbed from Vancouver, that cost was included in my purchase price.

 

[LFFarm]

@edtanas, if you don't me asking, what did they offer for extended warranty and how much was it worth? Just comparing with what the dealer is going to charge me

 

[edtanas]

@edtanas, if you don't me asking, what did they offer for extended warranty and how much was it worth? Just comparing with what the dealer is going to charge me

Purchase Price $39,500
Documentation Services $549.00
Wear Protection $2,025.00
Finance Brokerage Fee $695.00
Protection Package. Undercoating etc 3M guard VIP level 2,690.00
Tire Levy $25.00
5% GST $2436.75
Lien Registration $79.01
Extended Warranty $3.151.00

Total Balance $51,250.76

I put $5,000 down on it so finance was for $46,250.76 ...

Financing term is 5 years at 1.99 %

Does that help you out?

 

[LFFarm]

Sure does. How long is the extended warranty

 

[edtanas]

Sure does. How long is the extended warranty

it is good until 250,000 kms or Feb 15, 2022, whichever one I hit first

 

[LFFarm]

Sure does. How long is the extended warranty

it is good until 250,000 kms or Feb 15, 2022, whichever one I hit first

250 km?! Wow, if that includes batteries thats a great deal. Now I know what to push for if/when my car actually shows up.

 

[edtanas]

Sure does. How long is the extended warranty

it is good until 250,000 kms or Feb 15, 2022, whichever one I hit first

250 km?! Wow, if that includes batteries thats a great deal. Now I know what to push for if/when my car actually shows up.

Yep..and and there will probably be better technology with batteries before then enabling greater ranger so a real plus for me having that warranty uo to 250,000 km

 

[GizmoEV]

I was contacted today by Broadway Kia that they just received four Soul EVs. As soon as I could get off work my wife and I drove down and picked up a white Soul EV+! This is the 2016 model, too. They told us that we were the first in the Portland, OR area to purchase a new Soul EV.

We saw two of the others, a white EV+ with the Sun & Fun package and a black and red one. We didn't look at the black & red one so don't know which trim level it was. The Sun & Fun package added another $1100.

On my trip home of mostly freeway at 60mph my energy consumption was 3.3mi/kWh. The head wind and hill climb to my house didn't help the efficiency much.

 

[Lithim]

Edtanas,

One of your messages mentioned a lack of a quick charge port on your newly purchased Soul.. It was my impression that both models of the Kia Soul came standard with the DC/DC quick charge (440V) port.