Goodbye Encore, hello Soul!

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My '14 Buick Encore was pushing 100K when it was hit-- both front quarter panels, hood, grill. Just found out less than two days ago that it was totaled. $11,000! Even the insurance appraiser was floored by parts cost, he anticipated about five grand before pricing. Grill alone from a third party was well over a thou. Maybe prices are going up in anticipation of tariffs--who knows?

We're leaving for a cruise out of Galveston early next week. Planned on driving, thought I'd have a rental car. One or two days to pull the trigger on a purchase and I had a doctor's appointment in the afternoon, so I did something I've never done before. Went to Hertz and gave 'em $14.2 for a 2017 Kia Soul+ with 38K. Had I extra time I'm sure I could have done better with a private transaction, but I needed a car, no time to haggle. Something I hope never happens again.

Some thoughts after driving car last evening:

Compared to the Encore, the Soul is short on electronics. Has Sirius/XM (think I get three months and can transfer my account) and bluetooth but lacks GM's OLM, instant mileage indicator, tire pressure indicators, all of which I found useful. Doing some light, mixed, driving my mpg was running at 30 mpg. I reset the indicator (not reset for ??? and it was showing 11! I guess people beat the [censored] out of rental cars but who would want to pay for gas at that rate? The Soul and Encore were on my finals chart last time and chose the Encore because it seemed much airier and open. Got used to the smaller windshield in the Soul in no time at all.

The 2.0 liter Soul has quite a bit more power than the 1.4 Encore, drives as quietly, handles better and is as comfortable. Will kind of miss the power seats, but that's no big deal. The small GM turbos have the reputation of needing expensive intake manifold work to replace PCV valves, and the other PCV in the valve cover had already needed replacement twice. It was running well but throwing constant CEL codes indicating that all winter. It also had constant AC leaks and threw the engine compartment fuse box (about $600 at dealer).

I've owned Hyundai 2 liters and Kia 1.6 liters in the past and had no trouble with much of anything, but in the Kia, I was always careful to use Top Tier gas. Car runs great, but who knows what quality gas was used in rental-- at least the St. Louis area is overwhelmingly Top Tier. I'll probably throw a bottle of Techron in the first fill just for good luck. Car has a 12/12 powertrain warranty from Hertz which would duplicate the Kia warranty.

Oil change sticker was from CarQuest. Lady doing the paperwork knew nothing about oil except that it was synthetic. A bit overfilled and was a bright orange color-- at least for any oil I've seen. What does CarQuest Amalie look like? May cut it over to MaxLife, since I had good luck with that on my Encore. No OLM so I'll probably change about every 5K.

This is the HQ of Enterprise, so Enterprise car sales stores are all over the St. Louis metro area. Hertz sales outlets are far less ubiquitous and usually sell cars for several thousand less than Enterprise model for model. Think a '17 Soul+ at Enterprise was listed for upper $16's rather than low $14's. I'm a bit scared to buy a rental, was forced by time into pulling the trigger without negotiation (I normally ENJOY negotiation), and hope things work out. At least the oil was changed with some regularity, something that doesn't always happen with lease returns.
 
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I drove a Soul from San Diego to Los Angeles. Very nice car for the money. Good luck with it.
 
Rented one going to the airport last trip … I travel with one heavy roller so the the hatch was great …

Today they gave me an Expedition XL … sending it up for sales with 33k on the clock …
Feel like I need a Captain’s license
wink.gif
 
Guess my subject line should have said, hello Soul+, since the Soul! is the next model up with a turbo. Not big on combo direct injection and turbos, and think the 1.6 on the base car would be a bit underpowered (not the peppiest on a Rio hatch I owned), so IMHO the Soul+ is the sweet spot for reliability and (some) performance.

Not a lot of wind noise on the highway, which is surprising given it's brick shape. Started out as a box car along with the Scion xB and Nissan Cube but cleaned out all the competition and Kia is now calling it an SUV. Next gen is rumored to get 4 wheel drive as an option.
 
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I had a Soul for 2 weeks when I was as in Wisconsin. Much better driving vehicle than I had imagined.

It’s good that you found a vehicle that fits all you4 needs.
 
Congrats and good choice. Hertz is my favorite rental car company and I don't think too much of Enterprise. The low mileage when you first got it could be from it idling. Sounds like you received a good deal as well.
 
A $1000 for a grille for a rebadged Opel Mokka?

Wow.

They really hose people on parts prices if the cars imported then?

Every Kia and (recent) Hyundai I have owned or driven had a service indicator which simply counted down the mileage to service.

So more of a reminder.

I am surprised the new shape Soul doesn't have one.

I liked the old Souls looks better than the new shape for some reason.

Have no doubt it will be reliable
 
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Originally Posted By: SatinSilver
Congrats and good choice. Hertz is my favorite rental car company and I don't think too much of Enterprise. The low mileage when you first got it could be from it idling. Sounds like you received a good deal as well.


+1 and I’ve used both a LOT!

Also +1 on the 11 MPG. I’m assuming the “???” means you don’t know the mileage for that MPG, right? It’s very likely that it was reset and this was the indication after moving it around the lot, or maybe just to go fill it up - did it come with a full tank?
 
Originally Posted By: bigjl

I liked the old Souls looks better than the new shape for some reason.


Same here. I feel the same way above t the Honda Fit. It’s not practical for me, and my wife dislikes both, but I’ve always liked the Fit and the Soul.
 
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