little issues?

[mtndrew1]

I'm at about 3,700 miles on my Soul EV now.

My little issues are:

-Rattle in the A-pillar, partially solved by some strategic foam jamming.

-Very rarely the SOC bars flicker. I thought I had this pegged to departing with ~75% SOC but the phenomenon recently happened on a full charge and blew my theory out of the water. Always solved by rebooting the car.

-Infotainment oddities. Backup cam blinks out/stutters, radio switches sources on its own (recent problem, seems resolved), sometimes sluggish responses from inputs, and occasionally long system boot times. I'm hoping for a UVO firmware update at some point to improve these deficiencies.

Not defects, but could use improvement:

-EV info screens could be consolidated. It seems I really have to drill down into the menus sometimes to get the information I want. Furthermore, I would like more comprehensive options for information display in the little OLED screen in the instrument cluster. Mi/kWh and eco level are great but I would like options for %SOC remaining, battery temp, climate control kW draw, etc.. The radio screen should show song and artist information in addition to frequency. My Volt had a screen that would show miles traveled and kWh consumed since the previous full charge and I would like that same display on the Soul. As it's configured now I have to manually add up the history for a given day in one of the EV menus if I want to know how many miles I've driven since the last charge. First world problem, but still.

-Remote start from the app should be allowed whether or not the car is plugged in. The Volt even had a button on the key fob to kick on the climate control, which was handy when walking towards the car on a hot day and getting the A/C going before getting in. I miss that functionality. Very rarely do I want to precondition the car while it's in the garage, typically I want to do it when the car has been sitting outside in the sun in a parking lot at a shopping center or something and I want the car comfy by the time I get to it. My garage is, you know, shaded and it's generally a similar temperature to the house.

-A little more motor power would be nice.

-Creep functionality is a little lurchy sometimes. Mostly the car is very smooth at very low speeds but sometimes it gets flustered and I get a little stutter.

-Suspension tuning could use a little work. The Soul is very typical of Korean cars in that it's over sprung and under damped.

That's all I can think of. All in all I'm absolutely thrilled with the car.

I'm loving the heat pump; watching the range tank in my Volt from the resistance heater was always a major drag. The cooled seats are fantastic on moderately warm days. The heated wheel is a real treat when leaving work on a cold evening. The driver-only climate function is much easier than manually opening and closing the passenger vents in my Volt to conserve energy. Overall the entire climate package is excellent and doesn't reduce range much at all.

I'm so pleased that the driving range of the Soul is meeting or exceeding EPA estimates for me in all circumstances. I've even taken a few out of town trips in the Soul to Santa Barbara for wine tasting and to Palm Springs for a long holiday weekend. The quick chargers are wonderful and, combined with the long range of the Soul, make medium distance road trips totally uneventful. I have yet to have any nail-biting moments in regards to range.

The car is quiet, sufficiently powerful, easy to maneuver, and has great cargo capacity with the seats folded. It feels well-made.

I hope I'm not jinxing it, but it's been a long time since I've been this happy with a car purchase. And from a Kia of all makes! Incredible!

 

[iletric]

Excellent observations. Totally agree with all of them.

Two particular little issues that bug me is that Little Oled in the middle of the cluster. One of the 4 screens shows battery performance with absolutely NO RELEVANT INFO, other than pic of a car with battery bars I can see already in detail right next to it. This particular screen seems for entertainment only, like the stupid Leaf trees and needs upgrading to make it useful.

The other is really cumbersome way to change music folder (USB thumb drive) from one CD file to the next one. You have to hit two "buttons" to get to the file list screen, and the list always begins with the "A's" and not what CD file is currently playing. What's really needed is "Next" function that advances to the next CD file with one click. Even my Sony radio has THAT!

 

[bfranci]

I agree with the sluggishness of the UVO system in general. Sometimes it takes a few minutes for the navigation map to appear on screen, I've never seen that in any car with GPS going back 10 years. And definitely see the issue with changing radio inputs, sometimes I'll hit a button a few times before it takes.

Glad to hear you were able to do some medium term trips without issue. I'm planning to drive West LA to Palm Springs in March and will be using the fast chargers. There is a bit of a black hole between San Bernardino and Palm Springs so it seems like some pre-planning and luck with the chargers being online is required. It's too bad we don't have full access to the Nissan units as they are plentiful in LA at least.

 

[iletric]

I've been doing 93-95 range drives in 40-55 degree temps with a careful 61-62 mph slow lane round trips. The trip is 83 miles with some 55 mph (4 miles) and 10-12 miles remaining. Presumably there are 4-6 more miles below the last bar (before turtle--if Soul has it).

In warmer weather range should be 95-97 at that speed before anxiety. My average speed is 48-53 mph (as per trip meter readout).

We have logged in 5400 miles already (since Oct 19). The car is like a ship in the night. Very peaceful, steady, hard steering (set to sport). Just love it, beside the little quirks described above.

 

[mtndrew1]

Glad to hear you were able to do some medium term trips without issue. I'm planning to drive West LA to Palm Springs in March and will be using the fast chargers. There is a bit of a black hole between San Bernardino and Palm Springs so it seems like some pre-planning and luck with the chargers being online is required. It's too bad we don't have full access to the Nissan units as they are plentiful in LA at least.

I took the 91/215/60/10 route to Palm Springs and used the NRG quick charger in Corona and the same at the Cabazon Outlet Mall. If you get a full 83% (max QC) at Corona and watch your speeds you should have no problem sailing past Cabazon and get to PS with a little left in the tank. The Cabazon to PS route is all downhill and required very little reserve.

Going the opposite direction the charge disappeared much faster but I left the house in PS with about 95% (trickle charge) and got to Corona with a solid 30% or so remaining. Getting 83% in Corona got me back home to Gardena at 70+ MPH with plenty left in reserve. I'd imagine if one is conservative with speeds and HVAC use, Corona QC to West LA shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Jagular]

I agree with all I've read.

What really irks me? At around 20 miles left of charge I get notified that I need to get somewhere to charge. I click OK. In a mile, I get it again, click Ok, again and again and again. I've been told, thank you. I don't need the car to nag every mile to let me know it's low. If it's critical, less than five miles, then I get it. Nag me. But 20 miles? It's overkill.

 

[mtndrew1]

I agree with all I've read.

What really irks me? At around 20 miles left of charge I get notified that I need to get somewhere to charge. I click OK. In a mile, I get it again, click Ok, again and again and again. I've been told, thank you. I don't need the car to nag every mile to let me know it's low. If it's critical, less than five miles, then I get it. Nag me. But 20 miles? It's overkill.

This setting is configurable! I forget exactly which menu it's in, but I turned it off. I agree it's totally overkill for the car to start freaking out with almost a quarter of its range remaining.

 

[iletric]

That was the 1st thing I turned off. It's one of the 4 choices in that middle screen, under tools I believe. Scroll through and you'll find it.

2nd thing was that one-touch blinker business. Couldn't decide on the number of blinks, and then I realized I did not like losing control of when to turn the signal off. Plus accidental brushes put kibosh to it right after.

I very much like the fact low batt warning is configurable, unlike in the Leaf. All I get to see is orange battery sign at 12 miles remaining. And I don't even need that.

 

[Jagular]

Thanks all. Good to know the 20 mile nag alert can be configured. I just ran into it the other day and it's the first time I'd been that low.

 

[irfca]

The car is quiet, sufficiently powerful, easy to maneuver, and has great cargo capacity with the seats folded. It feels well-made.

I've had mine for 5 days now, and that was one of the first things I noticed - the doors have a nice 'thud' sound when they close - not tinny or hollow - from my past experience it is the sign of a well made car.

The only issue I have had so far was managing to kill the 12v battery on the second morning. In Canada we don't have the phone app available (Kia Canada seems to still be in the dark ages for some things), and I had not set up the auto climate pre-warm (it was -4C). I thought I would go out and 'do it manually' ... seems the only things I managed to turn on was the fan. The car let it run happily for about 20 minutes, running the battery down to the point it would not start - it just beeped at me - long beeps, short beeps, but no clear message as to what was wrong (other then a red battery idiot light that I didn't know how to interpret at the time). I had to give up in the end and leave the Soul EV at home, and go with my carpool partner's ICE car. When I got home, the 12v battery was completely flat ... my volt meter indicated 4vdc! I disconnected the + terminal, and slow charged it for several hours until it was up to 50% - 75% charge ... then everything started and has been working fine. When I reconnected the battery, the only lost configs I noticed was temperature unit preference, and panel dim setting.

Very fortunately, I had talked with the Toronto Kia service manager, asking what problems he had seen so far ... only 1 ... a dead battery twice from the dome light being left on, so I felt at least a little confident in charging the 12v battery ... but why the car doesn't kick in the dc-dc converter to charge it itself before it dies, is beyond me ... the main battery was at 100% and plugged in at the time!

 

[iletric]

Yeah, one would expect the big battery to feed the little one. Same for the dome light. There is 2 days' worth of house juice in that thing, fer god's sake!

Is it an oversight? Or this is the only way it can be... I wonder.

 

[irfca]

Another minor annoyance I noticed last evening - there isn't a whole lot of storage around the driver - only the arm rest compartment and the open tray between the driver and the passenger. Where the fuse panel is (on the lower right side of the driver), it would have been better if Kia had put a shallow tilt-out drawer for storing some shopping cart change and maybe mail keys and charger passes (I was going to type gas cards! yikes). Then have it so the drawer can be easily snapped out (like the cargo cover), to access the fuse panel ... just trying to squeeze in a few minor items that seem to be missing.

 

[irfca]

Is it an oversight? Or this is the only way it can be... I wonder.

Hopefully it is an oversight that they can fix with software. I noticed when you lock the doors with the dongle, the dome light turns off (is forced off) ... my kids left it on the first night - but I noticed it when I checked on the trickle charger and the blue flashing lights - which, I will note, are perfectly reflected in the windshield, when viewed from behind ... on purpose or by accident, it is a nice little side-feature.

 

[iletric]

The reflection is typical for EVs. The only weird thing about Kia as opposed to Spark and Leaf is, it frickin' lights up my entire driveway, the house, etc. They really need to tone it down...

One other thing they REALLY need to fix is, when you arrive somewhere, turn the car off, and want to lock the car with the door switch, the car won't let you until the fob is outside. I like to play with it now, how far my body and the fob has to step out of the car without killing the lock action. :lol:

I mostly end up just closing the door and then hit that square black thingy on the door handle to lock it. That is definitely an oversight. Car should give me the benefit of doubt and let me engage the lock, and after I exit and shut the door all is well, door is locked. And if I don't exit or leave the fob in by mistake it should unlock the door upon closing, so as not to lock the fob inside. Simple.

 

[TomT]

The Leaf does exactly the same thing. When the car is off, it's inverter kicks in every 5 days to top the 12 volt battery... Apparently when the car is off, they have no way to monitor the charge of the 12 volt battery...

but why the car doesn't kick in the dc-dc converter to charge it itself before it dies, is beyond me ... the main battery was at 100% and plugged in at the time!

 

[darkstarchuck]

Is it an oversight? Or this is the only way it can be... I wonder.

Was the car "started"? Foot on brake, push button? This may be the issue. Several of the electrics are the same as ICE is this manner. If you only turn on the accessory mode, not driving mode, the car will only function with the 12V chassis battery, and will not charge from the "Engine" or (high voltage) traction battery.

 

[irfca]

Was the car "started"? Foot on brake, push button?

No, I had not started it with foot on brake, and it will 'seem' to start w/o foot on brake if you push the start button twice. I have seen it go through the system check/startup sequence when it is not plugged in and started in this manner (push start twice). From what I recall, it does not seem to start with the 2-button push if plugged in.

I did do more reading of the manual, and the car is suppose to have a trickle charge to 12vdc battery mode, indicated by one of the blue flashing charge lights. In my case the car was plugged in, and that trickle charge did not seem to start, but I don't really know when it will go into that mode. I also have noted that the car, at least some times, seems to turn off all accessories when you push the lock-button twice (dome light turns off, head lights turn off ... seemingly fan won't?).

The challenge to me is, there does not seem to be a "I'm leaving 10 or 15 minutes, it is cold (hot) outside, I want to start the car and pre-heat (pre-cool) it with household/charger power". The only way I have found to do that is to go out to the car, program the pre-heat/pre-cool system for 30 minutes from now (rounded out to the next 10-minute interval), and wait ... if it is not plugged in when the 30-minute pre-start time arrives, it will not pre-heat/pre-cool. If you try to force it by starting it when plugged in, it won't start, or will fail to engage the heating/cooling and charger power, and only run the 12v fan system, draining your battery.

The other thing I have not figured out (and maybe I need to read the manual again), is how to abort the pre-heat cycle if you want to leave early ... I've tried to turn the car off with the start button, and the pre-heat timer button, but neither work ... and when I unplug it it beeps long and loud and keeps on doing something, with the 12vdc red-battery warning light coming on (which was my warning that I drained the battery previously). Currently, my departure time ranges 10-20 minutes, so I program for the later time with as little as a 10 minute pre-heat to as much as 30 minutes.

 

[iletric]

I have had a problem with preheating myself. I don't remember anymore what happened but once I unplugged I got some sort of dire battery discharge msg and range dropped by a bunch of miles, forcing me to return home. It was the weirdest thing I've encountered with this car.

Upon restart car showed full battery again, and I was able to drive normal.

There is a bug there. For sure. I haven't preheated since.

 

[irfca]

Upon restart car showed full battery again, and I was able to drive normal.

As a matter of practice, I always turn the car completely off, then back on again, after pre-heating - more an artifact of trying to stop the pre-heating. The steps I currently follow are:

• - turn the charger power button off (car beeps long and loud)

• - turn the car on

• - turn the car off

• - start the car and drive away

Doing this seems to avoided any issues, and stops the pre-heat from going on.
I have tried to turn the car off, and cycle it through accessories mode, to on, to off, with the pre-heat running, but that doesn't seem to stop the pre-heat. It also won't (or had better not!) matter for much longer - spring finally seems to be arriving, so I won't need to use the pre-heat again until the fall

 

[mtndrew1]

My car also handles preconditioning...inelegantly.

I've only had it happen once, but I preconditioned from upstairs when it was hot and went down to the garage to leave. Unplugged the car while the conditioning was still active and I ended up in some weird almost-on state with some error message or something. Took a complete reboot of the car to get it back to normal.

My Volt handled preconditioning better on many levels. It would let me initiate whether or not the car was plugged in, it would let me start preconditioning from the keyfob while walking towards the car (excellent on a hot day when the car's been heat-soaked), and it handled being unplugged while preconditioning gracefully. One of the only things I miss from that car.