Toyota Corolla vs Kia Soul

The Toyota Corolla needs no introduction. With 12 generations spanning over five decades of production, the Corolla is the bestselling nameplate in automotive history. And it continues to be a popular choice for new car buyers looking for a reliable and sensible compact car, competing against other established names like the Honda Civic, the Hyundai Elantra, the Kia Forte, the Nissan Sentra, the Subaru Impreza, and the Volkswagen Jetta for sales.

The only significant change for 2022 is the addition of two new colours: Ruby Flare Pearl and Wind Chill Pearl. What hasn’t changed is the number of other choices buyers get. Toyota offers sedan and hatchback body styles, manual and automatic transmissions, and multiple powertrain options—including a hybrid. The Corolla Cross SUV also launched for 2022 but, while it shares a basic platform with the Corolla sedan and hatch, it’s effectively a different vehicle.

Finally, you get the expected array of trim levels. The Corolla sedan is available in L, LE, XLE, SE, and XSE grades, plus Apex Edition and Nightshade Edition versions of SE and XSE, with more limited options for the Corolla hatchback and hybrid (both of which will be covered separately). For this review, we tested the Apex Edition sedan, which is based on the SE grade (US model shown). The Apex is the sportiest Corolla variant, at least until the GR Corolla hot hatchback arrives for the 2023 model year.

The Kia Soul demonstrates that good ideas mean nothing without good execution. Launched for the 2010 model year, the Soul instantly drew attention with its distinctive boxy styling. But unlike the similarly styled Honda Element and Scion xB, the Soul has managed to stick around.

That’s because the Soul has style and substance in equal measure. It’s both a practical car and a good value, just one that happens to be more interesting to look at than most other vehicles sharing those traits. Now in its third generation, the Soul is an excellent compromise between car and crossover, boasting the tidy proportions of the former and the upright driving position of the latter. So, it makes sense to cross-shop it against both small hatchbacks and the gaggle of tiny crossovers that have hit the market since the Soul first appeared, such as the Hyundai Kona, Subaru Crosstrek, and Chevrolet Trax and Trailblazer.

The current-generation Kia Soul was introduced for the 2020 model year and gets a number of notable updates for 2023, including some styling tweaks. In Canada, the trim line-up now includes LX, EX, EX+, EX Premium, and GT-Line Limited. We drove the U.S. equivalent of a Kia Soul GT-Line Limited for this review.