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Can Kia’s all-new Soul take the fight to more established rivals such as the Nissan Juke and MINI Countryman in the 4-door retro hatchback market segment?

You might assume that MINI has the boutique hatch segment wrapped up. They are of course the masters of retro-customisation deluxe.

However, there are few other competitors in this look-at-me market segment where looks are the core selling point, above and beyond, say performance or value for money. And while the original MINI Cooper is still king of the heap, it’s bigger, chubbier brother, the Countryman has stiffer competition.

The Nissan Juke is one of them and is a crowd favourite if you look at worldwide sales figures which has topped an impressive 500 000 compared to the Countryman’s 350 000. It’s just received a mid-life makeover including a fancy new 1.2-litre turbo which replaces that asthmatic 1.6 making it even more appealing. The styling? Well, that’s a moot point.

There is another player though, one which for me has always kind of flown under the radar. And it’s this, the Kia Soul.

Mmm, soul food, soul music. We do love retro.

At this point you might scoff and say the Soul is neither retro, nor customisable and while you might be right on the first count, you’d be wrong on the second.

You see much like the Countryman and the Juke, the Soul is all about individuality and this, the 2015 offers much of the same. It’s is available in 11 different colours. Painting your roof a different colour is so in these days and if you’re so inclined you can do the same on your new Soul, but only with select body colours. For instance you can have Clear White with an Inferno Red, Newport Blue with a clear white roof or Inferno Red with a Black roof. Nice!

Looks funky.

While Countryman and the Juke have their own funky design, the former trading heavily off the smaller Cooper’s looks, and the Juke looking more like a cutting edge running show with wheels, the Soul cuts a very unique profile on the road. I’d go so far to say that the Soul manages to polarise opinion more than the Countryman and the Juke put together.

With that angular sloping roof line and bluff rear end you certainly do love it or hate it. The new Soul, is well, all new. Kia say that not one body panel is carried over from the outgoing model and while that looks like they might be telling a few fibs, it shows that this new model is evolutionary rather than revolutionary.

What’s it like on the inside?

There’s no denying it, that if you want space in a car – then use the box as a starting point – and in the Soul, that opinion-polarizing orthogonal exterior makes for a very roomy interior. New Soul is longer, wider with an extended wheelbase meaning there’s more space than previously, combined with this lovely optional, panoramic sun-roof and you really have a very airy cabin.

Whilst the exterior is all about angles and pointy bits, the interior is all about circles. And if I may copy and paste from the Kia Souls press release, “If you think about droplets falling into a still pond, you begin to visualize the inspiration for the all-new Soul’s interior. The cabin design is organic, like the human body, and we feel it makes the interior that much more appealing to the driver and passengers.”

I’m not sure about all that, but what I do know is that the new Soul’s interior is a very nice place to be with a good mix of mostly quality materials. You get a superb leather trimmed steering wheel with contrasting yellow stitching. The seats and the main instrument binnacle get the same treatment tying in the theme nicely. Suffice to say that if all new Kia’s benefit from the same treatment, Kia has a very bright future.

The interiors features a circular theme and is quite prominent, not quite matching MINIs obsession with the oval. From the floating dashboard tweeters, to the steering wheel mounted controls, the gear lever surround, door cards and speakers are all dominated by circles and overall it does work.

This being one of the top spec models on offer you do get a lot of standard kit. Full climate control, Bluetooth connectivity, full leather trim, multifunction on-board computer, touchscreen with integrated reverse camera, engine start/stop button which works with the smart key, park distance control, LED running lights and rear cluster LEDs, Interior LED lighting and interior mood lighting around the front speakers which you can set to scroll through the colours of the rainbow or set it to pulse with beats of the radio – something I’ve never seen before.

And to drive?

This is the 1.6 turbo-diesel Smart auto and produces 94kW and 260Nm, not massively powerful but still, admirable for a 1.6. The 6-speed automatic gearbox is probably my only gripe, with the whole car actually. It’s not that bad but you just feel that a slick shifting dual-clutch unit would just do so much better. It’s reasonably adept at changing up and down and if you like you can shift manually, but it does lend itself towards the irritating CVT-like drone.

Other than that, this diesel is pretty good, it has plenty of torque and cruises well. Fuel consumption might be a point for concern. I drove the Soul for a week and the on-board average never really moved from its 9.8l per 100km average, which for a 1.6 diesel is a lot.

Is it practical?

It is actually and unlike the Countryman and the Juke, the Soul really is a practical family car. I could easily sit behind myself with plenty of knee and headroom – I’m only 6ft but you’d be amazed at how many cars these days that I can’t fit into the back of.

There’s a large boot to make use of which will easily swallow large luggage or prams and strollers, taking care of the ‘mommy car’ aspect. Again that boxy design means if you fold down the rear seats, which is no faff at all, you have acres of load space, 1753 litres to be exact. Juke and Countryman eat your hearts out.

Okay, let’s wrap this up.

At R345 995 the Soul is R10k cheaper than both a similarly specced Nissan Juke (1.6T Tekna Techno R354 900 – you can have a 1.5DCi Acenta+ for R299 000) and Countryman. The latter is harder to compare though because in its cheapest trim MINI only offers a 1.6l petrol auto (Cooper Countryman Auto R356 000). But, and it’s a big but, what the other two offer as standard equipment you’ll have to shell out in expensive options on the MINI. Spec your base Countryman to the levels of the Soul or the Juke and you’ll hit the R400k mark very quickly.

In the end the Countryman, Juke and Soul ultimately achieve the same thing: A very unique and customisable package which is sure to get you noticed, combined with practical 4-door motoring for the family. While the MINI might have the best perceived interior and certainly wins when it comes to desirability it loses everywhere else – performance, practicality and standard spec.

The new Nissan Juke is good proposition and between it and the Kia they match each other blow for blow and spec for spec. Which one is the best? Well, it comes down to personal preference and that’s entirely up to you.