The manual does not show instructions on a kia soul manual transmission. the kia soul base model seems to be purchased as a kia soul automatic transmission without the upgrade. the manual indicates that the kia soul model has features and upgrades and does not even touch on manual transmission.
I purchased my 2017 kia souls base model on jun 28 this year from quirk kia in braintree, ma. after just 2 weeks this issue happened for the first time. i was at a gas station gassing up the car, once i was done, i turned the car on, put it in drive and the car would not move ' i was pressing the gas pedal and nothing was happening. i immediately put the shifter in park, turned the engine off and on again and the car started to move again. on july 26 same issue happened again and it also happened right after i gassed up the car. on september 15th while i was working as uber driver this issue happened again, but this time while i was driving. i stopped at red light, after few minutes i started driving but just after 50-60 yards i completely lost acceleration. the car would not respond to gas pedal, while engine was running and i had electricity. i had to completely stop the car, turn the engine off and on again and the car started to work again. after this incident i called kia usa (monday, september 18th) and was advised by customer support to bring the card immediately to kia dealership. i did some research on the internet and found a kia soul forum where other people have had the exact same issue. this is the site: http://www.kiasoulforums.com/10-soul-problems/13994-2013-soul-base-acceleration-problem.html attached are pictures from this forum from four different people who have experienced the exact same issue. as it appears, i am not the only one with this problem and this issue has been happening on kia vehicles for a while. while no one mentioned whether they were able to repair this issue or not, many have complained on this forum that kia dealerships refused to do anything about it. october 6th - dealership informed me that they can't replicate the issue and are releasing the car back to me. i am very concerned about the safety of this vehicle.
The front door on the drivers side doesn't latch or lock completely when the door is closed/shut from inside. many times when exiting the vehicle from the drivers seat i discover the door hadn't been latched at all because i can open the door without using the door handle, it will open with a slight push from my arm. i worry the door will open when it's moving causing an accident and injuries from falling out of the vehicle. a second safety issue with my kia soul is the hesitation and slowness of acceleration when entering the freeway and merging into traffic. with the gas pedal pressed to the floor, a safe speed can't be attained for 2-3 minutes causing other vehicles to slam on their brakes, reduce speed or change lanes to avoid hitting the back or side of my vehicle. this is the reason i no longer drive on the freeway and take the long route instead. thirdly, when backing out of a parking spot, the backup camera fails to engage about a quarter of the time and i must rely solely on sideview and rearview mirrors. incidents occurred from a dead stop up to 50 miles per hour.