Kia Soul mileage is terrible

[DTMAce]

Stop and go driving is not going to lend to great gas mileage. Known fact.

Look at my Caravan in my profile. Since the other half has been using it only in the city with NO highway driving, the mileage has dropped to half of what I was getting when driving it mostly highway. It went up some the last two tanks, due to a trip in the middle, but it still had a lot of city mixed in.

Personally I don't think you are having a mechanical or electrical problem, I think its reflecting your current usage. But that is my perspective.

[BDC]

Unless you had some proof (ie gas mileage logs) from your previous car on the same commute, that proved your last car did not grossly fail at achieving EPA ratings, taking it to the dealer is not going to get you anywhere. They're just going to give you the runaround and then try to get you to trade in for a hybrid at a huge loss. By driving poorly enough anybody can make their car perform that bad.

Where are the gas mileage logs from your 700 mile trip? What do those say?

My bet is poor/aggressive driving combined with extremely short trips and pure city environment.

[BDC]

Or rather, where are the mileage logs from the other 2000 miles on the car. You only have 710 miles logged but say there are 2700 on the odo. I sense the missing data may have some answers. Are you skipping fillups or did you just not start logging until there were 2000 miles on the odo?

[jujuh]

Sandy, did you have any improvement with your car?

I also have a Kia Soul and I´m having the same problem.

[MatrixDom]

I think you guys have to accept the fact that you drive a Kia ...

[HaveNoCents]

Your next car needs to be a hybrid or electric if your commute is that short.

[pb]

Vehicles have a natural limit somewhere MatrixDom, but everyone can improve their mileage through maintenance, tracking, and careful driving.

[MatrixDom]

Ugh, I know that but I've heard too many stories of people driving their brand new Kia off the lot and having something go wrong with the engine or anything and not being able to drive their car again for months... I'm glad I convinced my mother to get a Mazda 3 and not a Soul with the 1.6 engine.

[MMUK]

Kia as a brand are supposed to be good for reliability & have good reviews. Never driven a Kia myself so I can't comment. The Kia Soul itself is too new to have much reliability data available.

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/kia/soul-2008/

[MatrixDom]

My mother was looking at one 2 years ago... Base 1.6 manual everything.. And she went for the Mazda when she realised how better it was in every way.

I give my thumbs up to Hyundai though. They're lineup seem better for today's society. Kia seems to be their brother or cousin who's trying too hard to be as successful as Hyundai.

Nevertheless, I hope you guys figure out the problem with your new cars. I would be outraged if I was in your position.