Is the Kia Soul reliable?

On MOT evidence the Kia Soul is below average. It passes 71.1% of tests once age and mileage are accounted for, against a national average of 72.3%, which ranks it 159 of 262 models with enough data for a fair comparison. This measures how often the car meets the MOT standard, not how often it breaks down or what a repair costs.

What is the most common MOT failure on a Kia Soul?

The item recorded most often is "A steering ball joint with excessive wear or free play", which appears in 25.5% of failed Kia Soul tests. Because one failed test can list several items, these shares do not add up to 100%.

What do testers most often warn about on a Kia Soul?

The most common advisory is "Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements", noted on 24.2% of all Kia Soul tests. An advisory is not a failure: it flags something that will likely need attention before the next test.

What mileage does a Kia Soul usually have at its MOT?

The average odometer reading recorded at test is 69,867 miles. This is the mileage across all tested examples of every age, not an annual figure, so treat it as a description of the fleet rather than a target for one car.

Which Kia Soul years are the most reliable?

Going by MOT pass rate, Kia Soul cars first registered 2020–2022 do best at 88.7%, and those registered 2010 and earlier do worst at 54.4%. But that ordering is mostly age, not build year: almost every model passes less often as it wears, so the newest cars top this list whatever they are. A specific year looking strong here means little on its own; the failure items above, and the individual car's own MOT history, tell you far more.

Does a Kia Soul get harder to pass as it ages?

Yes. At 3 to 5 years old, 88.7% of Kia Soul tests pass. By fifteen years or more, that falls to 54.4%. Nearly every model follows this pattern, which is why comparing raw pass rates between models is misleading unless age is accounted for.

Are most Kia Soul models petrol or diesel?

Of the Kia Soul cars tested, 56% are diesel, 28% are petrol, 15% are electric. Fuel type affects which items tend to fail, particularly emissions and exhaust components.

Model reliability file

Kia Soul MOT pass rate & common failures

From 24,753 recorded MOT tests of the Kia Soul, published by DVSA.

Data updated 29 July 2026

Quick answer

The Kia Soul passes 71.1% of MOT tests once results are adjusted for the age and mileage of the cars tested, against a national average of 72.3%. That is below average, ranking it 159 of 262 models with enough data to compare fairly. Based on 24,753 tests. Its most commonly recorded failure is steering ball joint with excessive wear or free play, which appears in 25.5% of failed tests. Cars of this model average 69,867 miles on the odometer when tested.

At a glance

Pass rate, adjusted for age and mileage

71.1%national average72.3%unadjusted70.5%range covered98%rank159 of 262

The Soul is 1.2 percentage points below the national pass rate once age and mileage are accounted for, which is below average. The unadjusted figure is 70.5%; the difference is what the age and mileage of this model’s fleet was hiding.

DVSA recorded wording

Most common failure items

Share of failed Kia Soul tests in which each item was recorded. One failed test often lists several items, so these do not sum to 100%.

1.A steering ball joint with excessive wear or free play25.5%
1,562 occurrencesBall joint worn explained
2.Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements11.7%
716 occurrencesTyre worn close to the legal limit explained
3.A lamp missing, inoperative or in the case of a multiple light source more than 1/2 not functioning10.6%
649 occurrencesLamp not working explained
4.Parking brake efficiency below minimum requirement10.0%
613 occurrencesParking brake efficiency too low explained
5.A brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm9.2%
565 occurrencesBrake drum or shoe worn or contaminated explained
6.A tyre seriously damaged8.5%
521 occurrencesTyre damaged or deteriorated explained
7.Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the windscreen8.2%
504 occurrencesWiper or washer not working properly explained
8.A suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn8.0%
490 occurrencesSuspension arm bush worn explained
9.Brake pipe damaged or excessively corroded7.4%
454 occurrencesBrake pipe corroded explained
10.A suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn5.7%
348 occurrencesSuspension arm bush worn explained

Warnings without a failure

Most common advisories

Share of all Kia Soul tests carrying each advisory. The denominator differs from the failure list above because an advisory can be issued on a car that passed.

1.Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements24.2%
5,997 testsTyre worn close to the legal limit explained
2.A tyre seriously damaged16.7%
4,140 testsTyre damaged or deteriorated explained
3.Brake disc or drum excessively weakened, insecure or fractured15.3%
3,780 testsBrake disc worn, pitted or scored explained
4.Brake pipe damaged or excessively corroded11.7%
2,903 testsBrake pipe corroded explained
5.A brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm9.9%
2,443 testsBrake drum or shoe worn or contaminated explained
6.A spring or spring component fractured or seriously weakened5.1%
1,256 testsRoad spring broken or fractured explained
7.A steering ball joint with excessive wear or free play4.3%
1,072 testsBall joint worn explained
8.Fluid leaking excessively and likely to harm the environment or to pose a safety risk to other road users4.1%
1,016 tests

The rest of the record

Everything else recorded on the Kia Soul

The 16 other defects testers recorded on this model, beyond the most common listed above. Each links to what it means and what it takes to put right.

Known faults

Kia Soul common problems, by part and by year

The same failure record read the way a buyer asks the question: which parts wear out on a Soul, when they start, and how each registration year compares — including the steps that mark a generation change.

Soul common problems and results by year

How wear changes the picture

Soul pass rate by age and registration year

How often the Kia Soul passes at each age, with the years those cars were first registered. Tests are from 2025, so a car aged 3 to 5 was first used in 2020–2022.

3–5 yrsreg. 2020–202289%

6–8 yrsreg. 2017–201985%

9–11 yrsreg. 2014–201675%

12–14 yrsreg. 2011–201359%

15+ yrsreg. 2010 and earlier54%

Read this as an age curve rather than a verdict on particular model years. Nearly every car passes less often as it gets older, so a newer Soul outscoring an older one says more about wear than about how that year’s cars were built. Bands holding too few tests to be meaningful are omitted rather than shown as a rate.

What gets tested

The Soul fleet

Average mileage recorded at test: 69,867
Fuel mix of tested cars: Diesel56.3%
Petrol28.5%
Electric15.2%

Trim names grouped into this model (7)

Recorded exactly as DVSA holds them. Trim-level names are rolled up so one model is not split across a dozen thin pages.

SOUL 1
SOUL 2
SOUL 2 CRDI
SOUL CRDI
SOUL FIRST EDITION EV
SOUL MAXX EV
SOUL URBAN EV

Check a specific Kia Soul

A model average tells you the pattern. Its own MOT record tells you the car.

Compare within the range

Other Kia models

Kia Sportage — 71.7% adjusted
Kia Picanto — 65.5% adjusted
Kia Ceed — 68.9% adjusted
Kia Niro — 85.8% adjusted
Kia Rio — 69.0% adjusted
Kia Venga — 64.3% adjusted
All Kia models

Similar test volumes

Compare against other makes

Nissan NV200 — 60.0% adjusted, ranked 252
Alfa Romeo Giulietta — 69.8% adjusted, ranked 172
Mercedes-Benz Sprinter — 75.6% adjusted, ranked 99
Mercedes-Benz S-Class — 84.7% adjusted, ranked 21

Common questions

Is the Kia Soul reliable?: On MOT evidence the Kia Soul is below average. It passes 71.1% of tests once age and mileage are accounted for, against a national average of 72.3%, which ranks it 159 of 262 models with enough data for a fair comparison. This measures how often the car meets the MOT standard, not how often it breaks down or what a repair costs.
What is the most common MOT failure on a Kia Soul?: The item recorded most often is "A steering ball joint with excessive wear or free play", which appears in 25.5% of failed Kia Soul tests. Because one failed test can list several items, these shares do not add up to 100%.
What do testers most often warn about on a Kia Soul?: The most common advisory is "Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements", noted on 24.2% of all Kia Soul tests. An advisory is not a failure: it flags something that will likely need attention before the next test.
What mileage does a Kia Soul usually have at its MOT?: The average odometer reading recorded at test is 69,867 miles. This is the mileage across all tested examples of every age, not an annual figure, so treat it as a description of the fleet rather than a target for one car.
Which Kia Soul years are the most reliable?: Going by MOT pass rate, Kia Soul cars first registered 2020–2022 do best at 88.7%, and those registered 2010 and earlier do worst at 54.4%. But that ordering is mostly age, not build year: almost every model passes less often as it wears, so the newest cars top this list whatever they are. A specific year looking strong here means little on its own; the failure items above, and the individual car's own MOT history, tell you far more.
Does a Kia Soul get harder to pass as it ages?: Yes. At 3 to 5 years old, 88.7% of Kia Soul tests pass. By fifteen years or more, that falls to 54.4%. Nearly every model follows this pattern, which is why comparing raw pass rates between models is misleading unless age is accounted for.
Are most Kia Soul models petrol or diesel?: Of the Kia Soul cars tested, 56% are diesel, 28% are petrol, 15% are electric. Fuel type affects which items tend to fail, particularly emissions and exhaust components.

How this was worked out

Method and limits

Figures come from the DVSA anonymised MOT testing dataset, published under the Open Government Licence. Only class 4 initial tests are counted: retests are excluded so a car appears once, and abandoned tests are excluded entirely. The adjusted rate is directly standardised across twenty-five age and mileage bands and reweighted onto the national distribution, so this model is compared against cars that have lived a similar life rather than against a younger or lighter-used fleet.

An MOT measures whether a car met a legal standard on the day. It is not a breakdown record, a service history or a running-cost estimate, and a pass rate is a property of a fleet rather than a prediction about one car.