By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

The NTHSA almost never investigates an automaker for a single incident of component failure, but they decided this one was serious enough to look into: the steering shaft of a brand-new, low-miles Kia Soul literally fell apart in the driver’s hands, uncoupling at the steering wheel and resulting in a complete loss of steering ability. The shaft also slumped down in such a way as to partially block access to the brake pedal, compounding an already awkward driving situation. The Kia was 2 months old and had only 4300 miles on the clock, and it sounds like what happened is someone forgot to tighten something down at the factory. But damn.

What do you think: just another example of cheap newfangled junk predictably falling to pieces? Or a freak occurrence that could happen to anything?

Via Carscoop.

By Jim Brennan

UDMan

If you haven’t been paying attention to Kia, you should. Kia is one of only a few car companies who’s sales has either stayed flat, or have actually improved during these tough economic times. The product is becoming more desirable, rather than just acceptable as it has been in the past. Along with better product, Kia – along with its parent Hyundai – offer a generous warranty, and increasing residual values so that they are on par with most of the domestic car makers. They have successfully shed the “junk” image that they were saddles with when they first came into the country. Their booth at SEMA reflects each of these achievements.

Continue reading "The Kia Booth at SEMA: The Coming of Age for Kia" »

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

I love surprises. I love finding that I already assigned a story that I thought had fallen through the cracks, and I love hearing from old friends. The Kia Soul is a most pleasant surprise. To be honest, I expected some sort of cut-rate boxy transport device.

While it is shaped like a box, the details are extremely impressive for this class of car. I’m talking about switches, knobs and interior details that easily meet—and in some cases beat—those found in similar vehicles from Japan. Look out world, the Koreans really are here.

At the Geneva Motor Show, you can’t throw a rock without hitting some excruciatingly expensive exotic, so if you go, don’t throw rocks. Right now, our buddies from Road & Track are across the pond covering it, and from the looks of these photos, they’re having a blast. They sent us sick shots of all the hottest stuff on the floor—like the KTM X-Bow Dallara Edition pictured below—and they’re making editorial wish we weren’t stuck at CarDomain World Headquarters. Check out all the pics they sent after the jump, and for complete info on all these rides, check out the Best of Geneva slide show over at Road & Track. All photos by John Lamm, Road & Track.