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Don Booker MBE looks at the
heart of the Kia Soul
At first I thought it was a mini Range Rover and then realised it was the new Kia Soul, which is offering drivers the best of both worlds.
It is compact, yet the interior is flexible and spacious and equal to cars twice the size. Economy-wise, it is like a small family hatchback.
The Soul is at Ward Green Garage, Pontefract Road, Barnsley, for you to see and drive. What a start in life, for the franchise dealer has been named one of the top dealerships in Europe.
Dave Mangham and his Barnsley team were up against 1,700 Kia dealers across the European network. They came top, winning platinum dealer status.
Dealers were judged on customer satisfaction, sales of new and used cars, and on franchise standards. Ward Green proved they could successfully balance high sales and customer satisfaction to become one of only four dealers in the UK to gain such an award.
James Piper, Sales Executive, went to Valencia to collect the award at the Europe-wide Kia Dealer Excellence ceremony.
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Dave Mangham, managing director of WGG, who has been collecting top dealer awards for years and bringing great credit to Barnsley, remarked: “It’s fantastic to have been recognised not only for our hard work in selling cars, but through our customer satisfaction results as well.”
The new Soul could lead to further recognition not only for Kia, but the WGG enterprise, because it looks good in town, in our country. Its square lines prove eye-catching and the compact dimensions make parking and manoeuvrability easy.
The reason it looks so good and practical is down to its designer, Peter Schreyer, well-known for his vision on the much-loved Audi TT and Volkswagen Beetle. He is known for timeless design and style and his thinking comes out again in this newcomer.
Kia have come a long way since their early cars and the Soul gets a high technical look with black bezel headlamps and with the same trim on the rear combination high-mounted lamps. The latter add to the styling and offer enhanced visibility for following drivers.
Like the Range Rover, the black screen pillars create the feel of continuous wraparound glass. How often we struggle to open the boot even when it just needs the pressing of a button on the key holder, but one touch unlocks the boot and the lid opens effortlessly.
The roof line means there is lots of interior space and excellent all round visibility from a high driving position which should satisfy women drivers. There are six air bags and an electronic stability control system.
Standard features include air conditioning, remote central locking, electric windows, CD radio with MP3 compatibility and excellent warranty. Available are a sunroof, special responsive speaker lighting and iPod connection.
Power comes from lively 1.6-litre engines that accelerate well.
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