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2012 Kia Soul Red Rock Special Edition Review

Updated on November 12, 2013

2012 Kia Soul Red Rock Special Edition

I've recently become the proud owner of a 2012 Kia Soul Red Rock Special Edition!

This is my, personal , early review of this fabulously FUN vehicle.

1. I love my Soul.

2. I've seen quite a few around and I love the red rock color, it's unique and gives a nice overall look to the Soul

3. The back-up camera is awesome, even in the rain, even at night, you are able to see behind you
p-e-r-f-e-c-t-l-y.

One warning about back-up cameras (on ANY vehicle), don't become so dependent upon watching them that you forget to actually check your mirrors and turn and look around. The angle is only so wide, and when backing out of a parking space at your local Walmart, with those drivers (yeah, you know who you are), around who think Walmart parking lots are the track at the Indy 500, you still can't see someone coming down the lane from the sides.

4. Push button start woohoo! I love this too. I don't have to dig my keys out of my purse (my purse = keys, loose coin, insurance card, or whatever I happen to have a need to find inside of it at that moment in time, eater. Similar to how socks disappear in the dryer and reappear 7 loads of laundry later).

Walking out of Walmart, wrangling up the 7 & 9 year old, after deflecting 57 requests of "Mom, can you buy me this ", standing in line to pay for the last 20 minutes, (I'm being particularly nice with the 20 minute estimate, we know there are 200 employees hiding randomly around the store but only 2 cashiers on a Saturday afteroon at any given Walmart in the country)...and guess what, yep, you guessed it I'm sure, my purse ate my keys... NO PROBLEM ! Walk up to my locked Kia Soul and push the handy little button on the door handle, TaDa! Unlocked, sit my butt down (on my heated seats - very nice on the tush & lower back in WI winters) and push my start button and I'm off, (not to the Indy 500, just backing out of my parking space at Walmart).

5. UVO! This little gadget is built in the dash on my Soul. Love love love it! It boasts a touchscreen and voice commands. I've bluetoothed mine & the husband's phones, you are able to set a preference for the phones, so if you're both in the vehicle, one takes precedence. (Yes, I "had " to set his as the preferred phone when we're both in the Soul, ever heard of the saying "choose your battles wisely "? I certainly apply that to many aspects in my life and phone preference was just not on my top list of things that I MUST have. LOL

UVO also offers a jukebox, you can store your fav music there. Having your husband screaming out the lyrics to I'm Sexy & I Know It repeatedly with all windows and the sunroof open isn't your cup of tea? (That's ok, mine either), you can remove his and add YOUR fav music (when he's not looking and then give the deer in the headlights look while claiming "I don't know how that song disappeared dear, maybe there's a flaw with the system " to defer his focus on his music disappearing... because then he's more worried that something on the new Soul isn't working correctly (see, I'm smart like that ).

There are also steering wheel controls to make a call with voice commands as well as control the media, jukebox, satellite radio, and HD radio.

There's a reboot kind of setting, similar to when you have to reboot your computer. I've had to do this once. I did run into an issue where only the jukebox music wasn't playing. It appeared to be playing but no sound was emerging from the speakers. Rebooting it did the trick though.

6. SPEAKERS! Oh Yeah! Dance party in my Soul baby ! (just not to I'm Sexy and I Know It as we all now know, that song no longer appears to be on my jukebox, I just don't understand how that happened).

There are two front speakers that are embedded into the driver & passenger doors. They change colors, yes, you did read that right, the colors change (very psychedelic). When the music is on (play something with some base!), you can have the speakers set to randomly cycle through various colors or set them at one of a variety of colors and it will blink to the beat of your music. Fun to watch at night, (not the driver honey, you just keep your eyes on the road!).

7. Seating & Storage Space ~ Perfectly perfect. The front seats are comfy (and heated), hubby is 6'4" and has plenty of leg and head room. From the outside, it looks like you'd be cramming tuna into a sardine can to see my family approaching our Soul, but once inside, a roomy, comfortable interior surrounds us! So we don't care if we look like Tuna going towards a sardine can to you, we are comfortable and love it , don't judge until you try one yourself!

There's ample space for storage (shopping bags), etc in the back and when the kiddies aren't around, the back seats fold down for the larger cargo! Speaking of the back seats, my husband and I tried them (no, not like that ! Clean up that mind), and they are big enough to easily accommodate adults without feeling cramped up.

8. MPG This is the only aspect of owning the Kia Soul that I'm a tiny bit disappointed with. Mind you, we drive nice (most of the time anyway).

We should get about 27/35 with the automatic transmission and low profile tires

What we do get on average is about 24 to 26 mpg on both city & highway driving

Overall, still happy with the MPG considering we traded in a 2006 Ford Explorer (if you're considering an Explorer, don't do it, nothing but problem after problem with that thing and I'll NEVER buy Ford again). The Ford got about 14mpg on a GOOD day, so the mpg we're getting on the Soul is absolutely fine with me.

9. Warranty! A nice long warranty, it makes a person a little less leery about purchasing a brand of vehicle that they've never owned before.

Basic - 60 months/60,000

Powertrain - 120 months/100,000

So wrapping it up.......

If you can't tell by this review, I LOVE MY KIA SOUL!

I've not found another car out there that I would rather own. It's cute, comfortable, and so far reliable. If anything changes on that in the future, I'll be sure to post an updated review!

Have you considered purchasing a Kia Soul

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