2014 Kia Soul prices start from 12,600

The 2014 Kia Soul is available now, with prices starting from £12,600 and rising to £21,500.

The SUV-style hatchback is available in a choice of five trims, and with either a 1.6-litre petrol engine or a 1.6-litre diesel.

The five trims are called Start, Connect, Connect Plus, Mixx and Maxx.

Entry-level Start comes with a DAB digital radio, colour-coded bumpers, mirrors and door handles, keyless entry, air-conditioning, electric door mirrors, four electric windows, steering wheel stereo controls and a USB and aux input.

Connect starts at £14,800 and adds 17-inch alloy wheels, Bluetooth, a reversing camera, leather steering wheel and gearknob, front foglights and heated door mirrors. Step up to Connect Plus, which starts at £15,900, and you get an integrated satellite-navigation, a premium sound system and front speaker mood lights.

The Mixx trim begins at £18,150 and adds 18-inch alloy wheels, contrasting colour roof and door mirrors, gloss black bumpers, chrome door handles, LED rear lights, tinted windows, a cooled glovebox, heated front seats and under-floor storage in the boot. It also comes with an urban styling pack, which adds front, side and rear skirts and wheelarch cladding that widens the car by 31mm.

Maxx trim comes with all that Mixx offers, plus leather upholstery, a panoramic sunroof, front and rear parking sensors and keyless entry and start. It starts at £19,950.

The engines are the same ones offered in the outgoing Soul, although Kia says they have been tweaked to improve low-end performance and refinement. However, their emissions are slightly worse than in the previous car. This is down in part to a decision to not offer engine stop-start on UK cars. Kia says the benefits would be too small to compensate for the increased price premium commanded by the system.

The 126bhp diesel is the more efficient of the two, with CO2 emissions of 132g/km and an average fuel economy of 56.5mpg when offered with the six-speed manual gearbox. A six-speed automatic gearbox is also offered, which brings economy down to 47.1mpg and raises emissions to 158g/km. 

The 130bhp 1.6-litre petrol is offered in manual form only. This also emits 158g/km, and averages 41.5mpg. The extra body styling and larger wheels on the Mixx and Maxx trim compromise economy, bringing efficiency down to 38.7mpg and increasing CO2 emissions to 170g/km. Diesel Mixx and Maxx models are unaffected.

Both engines offer similar performance; the petrol model takes 10.6 seconds to go from 0-62mph and tops out at 115mph, while the diesel takes 10.8 seconds and does 112mph.

An electric version of the Soul is set to go on sale in the UK in late 2015, priced from around £25,000.