2024 Kia Soul

The 2024 Kia Soul is the last of the quirky compact hatchbacks that emerged about a decade ago. Competitors like the Scion xB and Nissan Cube are long gone, so now the Soul mostly competes with subcompact SUVs like the Hyundai Kona and Chevy Trailblazer. The Soul lost some of its quirky charm last year as part of a styling refresh, but it's still a small, usable hatchback with a spacious interior offering stellar value. New for 2024 is the EX Designer package, which includes 18-inch wheels and an upgraded interior that includes fake leather along with a unique color called umber, which if you don't know your pigments is a sort of yellowish-brown.

If the Kia Soul excels at one thing, it is offering a great run of standard features at a low price. The Soul comes with a large 10.2-inch screen in everything but the basic LX trim, and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone integration is standard. The Soul has great driver assist systems too. They are consistent and don't sound any false alarms. We're especially impressed with the lane keeping assistance and adaptive cruise control. Even the base Kia Soul LX has nice textures and interior materials that make the car feel more expensive than it is.

The Soul's primary competitors are small SUVs like the Kia's own Seltos and the Mazda CX-30. The Seltos is a larger and more spacious SUV with a very similar array of great standard features, and it even offers standard all-wheel drive. Check out the Mazda if you want something sporty; its available turbocharged engine packs plenty of punch. Check out our Expert Rating of the Kia Soul below to learn more about how the Soul stacks up.