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Jacked up, toughened up, and fitted with electric AWD.
At the 2015 Chicago auto show, Kia revealed yet another Soul-based, ’ster-named notion: the Trail’ster, a plucky tiny crossover that hints at what an active-way of life Kia cute-ute could appear like. Following in the footsteps of Kia’s 2009 Soul’ster and 2012 Track’ster concepts, the Trail’ster is aimed at the “city-dweller-turned-outdoor-adventurer,” the type of purchaser who desires economy-automobile efficiency and size with some light off-road capability and functionality. (In other words, an individual who buys a Subaru XV Crosstrek.)
That means the Soul’s refrigerator-esque physique is lifted about 2.5 inches on KSport coilovers and rolls on 245/45-19 Pirelli Winter Carving tires. It is also fitted with a nifty all-wheel-drive program, which we’ll get to in a moment. The concept has aluminum skid plates, a roll-back canvas roof, and an integrated roof rack for your mountain bikes/snowboards/snowbikes or what ever active youth are hurtling down cliffs atop this week.
The style particulars are notably different from those on the hamster-boxes you see in your cul-de-sac. Painted a color named Polar Pearl Snowdrift and accented by a Terra Bronze Metallic roof and reduced cladding and anodized red trim, the colour palette was “inspired by the earthy combinations of springtime snow and mud, the terrain for which the Trail’ster has been developed,” Kia says. We’ve never ever felt really that inspired by the sight of snow and mud, but okay.
With square, K900-style projector headlights a thin, complete-width grille accent lights in the roof and side-view mirrors and prominent LED foglights in the reduced fascia, the concept’s aesthetic aims to be both premium and rugged. And y’know what? It pulls it off. Inside, earthy brown leather upholstery and polished aluminum accents are certainly more upmarket than you might expect from an outdoorsy runabout—we would have pictured less quilted leather and much more Gore-Tex.
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Under the hood, you will not discover the present Soul’s naturally aspirated 1.6- or 2.-liter 4-cylinders. Alternatively, a 1.6-liter turbo 4 sends 185 horses and 185 lb-ft to the front wheels through a 6-speed automatic.
“But wait,” you puzzle. “I thought you mentioned it was all-wheel drive.” It is: A 270-volt AC electric motor zaps 35 horses and 100 lb-ft of torque to the rear wheels as needed. Kia utilizes the “through-the-road” descriptor for the hybrid drivetrain, which means there’s no mechanical connection amongst the front and rear drivetrains save for the road itself. That rear motivator comes on the internet as needed to boost acceleration, compensate for front-wheel slip, and mask turbo lag. Nifty. With each the internal-combustion engine and the electric rear motor at full song, the cutesy Kia moves to the tune of 220 horses and 285 lb-ft.
The electric rear drivetrain also makes it possible for the Trail’ster to putter about as an EV at low speeds, flipping into regen mode beneath braking to charge up the 1.2-kWh lithium-ion polymer battery pack located under the cargo floor. Among the hybrid drivetrain, the electrically driven A/C compressor, auto commence-quit functionality, and the downsized turbo engine, Kia says the Trail’ster could boost on the existing 2.-liter Soul’s fuel economy by as a lot as 30 % in the city and 10 % on the highway. That would mean someplace about 30/34 mpg on the EPA’s scale.
Kia is referring to the Trail’ster as a notion only, but it is not hard to picture that the firm desires a competitor to battle the mushrooming crop of butch baby crossovers. So though there’s no pricing or release date, don’t be surprised if somewhere down the line, Kia throws an AWD drivetrain and a small a lot more ground clearance below the Soul. It could not have the e-AWD system noticed in this concept car—that would be too complex and costly for a low-$ 20K conveyance—but we’d still welcome a Trail’ster-inspired Soul variant to the fray.
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