 What is up you guys, welcome back to another one. If you are new to this channel, I am Goldpony of the new car track SUV reviews on YouTube. And today we are in the brand new 2023 Kia Soul courtesy of Fred Bean's Kia in Mechanicsburg PA. For more information on their inventory, please feel free to check out the link in the description box below. And so we are in this one today because there are actually some pretty big changes for the 2023 Soul. You guys probably have recognized that already by the front face of course, but there's more than just that. Anyways, also this thing starts at under $20,000. So that is pretty darn sweet as well. You get America's best warranty, being five year, 60,000 mile bumper to bumper, 10 years, 100,000 miles on the powertrain. So that's big as well. Ultimately in this video that we will be testing out and going over everything about this one from acceleration to braking, steering field, ride quality, sound system exhaust clip, all that fun stuff. So having said all of that, what do you guys say? Let's just go ahead and jump right into it. And as always, let's start with pricing. And so as you can imagine, there are several different trim levels for the 2023 Soul. First one being the LX being the one we have today starting at $19,790. And by the way, that is a modest $500 price bump from the 2022 Soul. And I put it that way because literally every single manufacturer has bumped up their prices for 2023. So that's not that bad compared to what I've seen other manufacturers do. But anyways, S trim for $22,290, GT line for $23,390 and the EX for $24,090. But the changes continue then with the power plant because there is no turbocharged engine configuration for the 2023 Soul. Powering all trim levels will be a two liter naturally aspirated inline four cylinder putting out 147 horsepower at 6,200 RPM, 132 pound feet of torque coming in at 4,500 RPM, power sent to the front wheels through an IVT which stands for intelligent variable transmission. So if you're familiar with the CVT it's essentially that zero to 60 time coming in at approximately 8.3 seconds with MPG numbers coming in at 28 in the city, 33 on the highway for all trim levels but the EX for whatever reason that EX trim level bumps that up to 29 in the city 35 then on the highway. But either way taking regular unleaded fuel so you get to save some money there. But so that before we do any kind of fun acceleration test here in our Soul, I wanted to mention to you guys the drive modes. There's a little drive mode button located just to the left of the shifter. You essentially have two drive modes. You got the normal and you got the sport adjusting things like the shift points, throttle response and the steering sensitivity. So now having got all of that out of the way what do you guys say? Let's go ahead and put the Soul here to the Tesla let's put it in sport driving mode let's find it straight away and let's see how quickly we can get our new 2023 key of Soul here up to speed. All right guys, let's all do the acceleration here. I'm just kidding. It's not that bad, honestly you're not gonna have any issues emerging onto the highway. Definitely not the quickest thing in the world but you know what? Definitely get the job done. So personally, I wouldn't have any issues. I wouldn't have any concerns emerging onto the highway in the Soul. So no issues there but anyways too cool along with that acceleration as always braking is equally important. So upfront you will find 11 inch ventilated front discs in the back 10.3 inch solid rear discs as far as that 60 is your stopping distance goes it's going to commit at 115 feet which quite honestly is insanely impressive and that was one of the first things that actually noticed driving the Soul. The braking feel is quite brilliant. It kind of leans towards the firmer side of things. It really does instantly bring you to a stop. So you got to appreciate something like that because really that's a safety feature in itself. You want to be able to come to a quick stop if you need to. So absolutely wonderful braking feel in the Soul. Then touching on suspension and handling upfront you're going to get a McPherson strut front suspension in the back coupled torsion beam rear axle, gas pressure, eye shock absorbers of course as far as ride quality goes as we're cruising on some pretty darn smooth roads here in Mechanicsburg. It's been perfectly fine for me so far today. I'm on a short test drive here. So as far as steering feel goes let me actually bump into sport driving mode here. Instant difference. You can definitely tell the difference between the driving modes when it comes to steering sensitivity. It is a much heavier weight to the steering when you put it in that sport driving mode. That isn't always the case. You can't always tell a big difference but you can here in the Soul. So very nice steering feel in that sport driving mode even without it is pretty good. So no issues for me either. As far as cabin noise goes I'm going 43 miles per hour. It's really not that bad. There's a little bit of road noise but that's kind of to be expected in a vehicle like this but really it's nothing that would bother me whatsoever. So that is 100% on point. And of course touching on visibility. I think you guys already know the answer here. Because of its shape it really is not going to get any better with rear visibility in the Kia Soul because of the boxy shape. So absolutely no issues there either but that pretty much rounds up the performance segment of this review guys. Let's now go ahead and take a look at the exterior of our brand new 2023 Kia Soul. All right so here she is you guys. The new 2023 Kia Soul finished in steel gray in case you were curious about our exterior color name. Let's go ahead and start up front because like I said at the beginning of the video there are several changes for the 2023 model year including that revised front fascia. Most notably the Kia logo and its placement. So back in 2022 the Kia logo was right on the front of the hood. Now it is incorporated into the upper portion of the grille. And it gets better than that. Look at the design right behind the Kia logo. Those little blocks that actually continues kind of onto the headlight a little bit as well. So I actually really like that design. It's really tied together pretty well. So big fan of that. And you got a new lower front grille kind of surrounded with silver accents. So that is pretty cool as well. You do have some front air curtains to the sides there helping direct air around the wheel and tire combination. Of course two new color combinations for 2023. Let me mention those real quick. You got surf blue with a black roof and clear white with a black roof. By the way both of those color options are an additional $345 if you wanted to go that route. Then take a look though with the headlights there are multi-reflector halogen headlights that come standard for all trim levels across the board. However, LED headlights you can get them they are optional on the GT line trim level only. That's how you're gonna go ahead and get that. And by the way that option also comes with LED fog lights down below then as well. And of course automatic feature coming with all of those trim levels for the headlights meaning when it starts to get dark in at night headlights are gonna turn on automatically for you there. So that's pretty convenient. But overall like I said I really like that upper portion of the front grille. I think that's my favorite part about the redesign. Let me know what you guys think of the redesign front end here in the comments section below but that pretty much rounds out the front end. So now go ahead and make our way to the side. All right and so let me go ahead and start with rear privacy glass does come standard across the board for all trims. That's pretty cool. Got the gloss black A pillar also coming standard on all trim levels. Nice accenting on the front fender. I know it's just a slight little indentation there but I think that looks pretty darn good. Body color power adjustable side mirrors do come standard that will be gloss black though for the GT line trim level only. Otherwise it's body color for all other trims. Of course heated side mirrors then coming with the EX trim level only. Taking a look down at the wheel configuration 16 inch steel wheels with covers coming with the LX. However, there is an optional package. Let me show you guys what we got here real quick. I don't know if you guys can see it or not but there is an LX technology package. I guess it's a $500 that gives you alloy wheels which is what you're currently looking at. Blind spot collision avoidance assist and rear cross traffic alert then as well. So do want to mention that we do have one of the package options that actually gives us alloy wheels but that's trim level is going to give you 16 inch alloys as well. EX trim level is going to give you 17 inch alloys and lastly the GT line giving you 18 inch alloy wheels. So that is the side profile here. Let's now go ahead and make our way to the back. All right so now since we are around to the back all the way to the top you do have a gloss black shark fin antenna but it is a completely revised rear fascia for 2023 as well. If you guys remember from 2022 those tail lights that go all the way around it was all red and they literally went all the way around that upper portion as well but now it's kind of finishing in a gloss black trim. So do want to emphasize that the tail lights themselves adjust on the left to the right as opposed to all around. So that's one of the big differences in my personal opinion. Of course you got that new ish soul badging on that little floating piece in the back there. Of course that was for 2022 as well. New tail light design like I was mentioning LED tail lights that were going to be optional on the GT line. Of course that is the option that also gives you LED headlights to go along with that. Silver trim on the lower portion of that rear bumper of course and just below it all you will find a single exhaust outlet. So having said that I do believe you guys know what we have to do next. As always here is that exhaust clip. All right so now since we are around to the back of the Kia Soul here when it comes to opening that rear lift gate it is a manual lift gate for all trim levels across the board. So simply just lift up towards the very bottom of that rear lift gate and it's going to open up for you. Once opened up cargo capacity comes in at 24.2 cubic feet or should I say up to 24.2 cubic feet. If that was not enough space there of course is a 6040 split meaning the rear seats do fold down bumping that up to 62.1 cubic feet to be exact. Also in that cargo area we'll of course find some cargo lighting. The EX trim level however is going to add a good bit including a cargo cover, a 12 volt power outlet and a dual level cargo board. There are some tie down anchors that come standard back there. There is a spare tire then if you were to lift up underneath of that cargo floor and there's probably a little bit of kind of in-floor storage surrounding that spare tire if you needed it but anyways then making our way up to the rear leg room then just going to come in at 38.8 inches. So for reference I'm an even six feet tall. This is how much space I had in the back there. There is a rear center armrest with cup holders if you were to go with the GT line trim level or the EX however not for our LX unfortunately that we have here today. No rear ventilation either no charging ports and again we have the base model kind of so not a whole lot going on back there. Then make our way to the front seats manually adjustable cloth seating coming with the S premium cloth however coming with the EX syntax cloth combination coming for the GT line 10 way power driver seat though coming with the S trim level enough with two way power lumbar by the way as well heated front seats then coming with the EX but it's going to be optional then on the GT line but honestly for our manually adjustable cloth seats these really aren't that bad. I personally wouldn't have any issues driving around in this LX trim level when it comes to seat comfort so I didn't have any issues I'll put it that way. Then take a look at the steering wheel though it is tilt and telescoping. It is leather wrapped for the GT line or the EX trim otherwise you're going to get the urethane wrap steering wheel that they're currently looking at right now and it is actually going to be a flat bottom for that GT line trim level as well so that is pretty darn cool. I remember seeing that on last year's sole that I reviewed here at Fred Bean's Kia so definitely a fan of that setup but now let's go ahead and make our way to the startup. Let me start by showing you guys the key here you got your Kia logo on the one side and essentially all of your buttons are located on the side of the key. So it is all keyless entry with the push button start if you were to go with the S trim level enough but for LX that we have today all I'm going to do here is simply put my fun on the brake and simply turn the key. And so once started up this is one of the coolest things I don't remember this last year full digital gauge cluster I absolutely love it and you know what the drive made actually adjust the gauge color as well so in normal driving mode you kind of have this violet or purple cue and it's almost a 3D effect as well. I'm a huge fan of that and then where you put it in sport you kind of have this kind of red hues of course that makes sense in sport so I absolutely love that I know it's not a huge change but it does change the colors and I'm a huge fan of that and like I said if you look to the left and the right of those gauges it is kind of a 3D effect to it so you can kind of see it fading off into the distance. So again, well done Kia putting a full digital gauge cluster in an LX base trim level just like the Volkswagen Taos does so that is pretty cool I absolutely love that. Outside temperature, how many miles you have left until you hit empty when you need your next oil change you got all the basics of course up there as well so 100% love the gauges especially at this price point so well done Kia again. They make your way to overall interior quality overhead sunglass holders going to come for all trim levels across the board. If you wanted a power sunroof go with the GT line or EX trim level manually adjustable climate control for the LX that we have today you guys can see that. However, dual zone climate control coming with the S trim level and up also with that S trim level and up you will get a wireless phone charger and overall as far as interior quality goes I do like this texturized silver effect just in front of the door handles here. I think that's pretty darn cool and it is plastic but it is texturized and they put some thought to it so I'm a huge fan for that reason. Just in front of the shifter there's some rubberized storage there's also a 12-volt power outlet two 12-volt power outlets and a USB charging port behind the shifter you got your dual cupholders and within the center armrest actually a decent amount of storage in there as well so overall again it's finished kind of on the basic side of things but they did make an effort with the leather wrap shift boot and again the digital gauges and the texturized silver finishes on the doors now let's go ahead and make our way to the tech display so there's going to be a couple different configurations for this as well so eight inch color touch screen display is going to come standard on the LX that's what you're currently looking at but if you were to go at the S trim level and up you're actually going to get a pretty good size 10 and a quarter inch color touch screen display I love that either way you got Bluetooth and audio streaming either way you get Android Auto Apple CarPlay so you got navigation up there anyways as long as you have data on your phone factory navigation system though coming with the S trim level and up check out your climate control settings up there there is a voice memo system so if you wanted to record your voice play it back at a later date that is available for you as well there is a quiet mode that's pretty cool because if you have kids sleeping in the back it's going to limit the volume to 25 in the front and completely eliminate the speakers in the back so then they are less likely to actually wake up from their slumber there is going to be something called sound mood lamp light so that's going to be optional for the GT line trim level I remember checking that out in last year's review I absolutely love that where it kind of changes to the music that was pretty cool it looks like Kia did away with the sounds of nature at least on the eight inch screen here so I can't play that for you guys unfortunately but of course you can check out your radio information up there and so when it comes to the sound system six speakers is going to come standard on every single trim level across the board and that's what we have today so we're going to test that out in a second but there is a 10 speaker Harman Kardon sound system that is optional on the GT line so that's again not the one we have today so let's go ahead and turn on the radio see what we got playing today and let's test out the six speaker sound system that we have with us here today Bruh! Honestly the clarity was decent with that if I'm being honest there wasn't any bass in that song whatsoever so I can't really speak to that but yeah the clarity was pretty darn good it's okay for a six speaker sound system it's what you would expect it to be but anyways last thing I want to mention to you guys on the infotainment screen is when you do put the salt in reverse you will find a rear view camera coming standard across the board letting you know who or what is behind you which is always is going to lead us into safety so IIHS top safety pick when equipped with the LED headlights so therefore the one we are driving today is not an IIHS top safety pick but front side side curtain airbags do come standard in the back you're going to have latch AKA lower anchors to tethers and children for the rear car seats rear child door locks tire pressure monitoring system but also coming standard forward collision avoidance assist with pedestrian detection lane keep assist, driver attention warning as well then if you were to go with the S trim level and up you're going to add to that a blind spot monitoring system with rear cross traffic alert and lane change assist although like I said we got the package option that gives us that anyways but then adaptive cruise control with stop and go is going to be optional then on the GT line trim level end up and so overall when it comes to my final thoughts I do love the unique styling the sole has always had a certain look that it's instantly recognizable no matter where you go so that's pretty cool great starting price point at under $20,000 MSRP so I'm a big fan of that as well S trim level and up though personally is really where it's at if I were to get a sole and the reason being you get the wireless phone charger you get the larger infotainment screen you get factory navigation system you get blind spot monitoring you get alloy wheels you get a good bit more by simply just bumping up one trim level from the LX to the S trim level so I will say that not that I mind the one that we're in today I really don't, this is pretty nice especially with those digital gauges digital gauges by the way that's something I am a huge fan of as well on the Kia so I don't want to leave that out you get America's best warranty as far as room for improvement goes all wheel drive option would be pretty cool I'm just saying I don't know maybe they can create a hybrid sole maybe maybe have the battery sense of power to the rear wheels to make it all wheel drive I don't know I'm just saying that's what the Corolla is doing but anyways that's honestly all I got because otherwise I would have said digital gauges but this thing already has it so extremely impressive there but anyways let me know what you guys think of the sole in the comment section below and that is about it for this and when you guys thank you so much for watching for free to follow me on social media if you wanted to see what's coming next on the channel before it gets to YouTube be sure to hit the subscribe and the bell notification button if you're in a new car reviews that is what we do here on this channel after all do appreciate you guys watching more than you know and I will see you guys all in the next video stay gold