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The Hamsters Score One...

dumber than a box of hair said:
The 2012 Kia Soul will apparently have HD in it.

Considering who this model is marketed to, I'm not expecting a stellar reception (no pun intended). Those people moved beyond radio years ago.
Click to expand...

The Soul is marketed to human beings. The bigger appeal may be among first-time new car buyers, but they are not the only market.

I find hampsters cute. I find the Soul cute and practical and fun. I'm eligible for medicare. My Soul has black alloy rims, pinstriping, leather seats, translucent bugguard and spoiler, true premium sound (complete with LED mood rims in the door panels), etc.

What's your point?
 
I think he's trying to say that the target market for the Soul (20-25ish) is the generation that has abandoned radio, and isn't likely to go searching for .2 and .3 HD stations....and are even less likely to put up with them dropping out when they do find them.

I don't think anyone's trashing the car ;). Shoot, I'm 56 and almost bought one myself!
 
I have a 2010 Soul! The radio is great....the DXer in me is glad that it's not a 2012....

HD or no HD, I just pray and hope it lasts me at least 10 more years.

cd
 
HD Radio is still an option on the Kia models that offer it, not standard equipment. Looks like Sirius won that fight as it is standard in every model.

Sorry, Eduardo, but the Soul looks like a Lego project gone bad. However, I think the Forte, Optima and Sportage are very nice looking. And I have to hand it to Kia. They have invested heavily in the US with an assembly plant in Georgia (where the average salary is 50K a year) and a design studio in Irvine, CA.
 
I think the Soul is a pretty nice looking vehicle, but I don't like SUV/CUVs so I'd never consider it. Although the target audience for the vehicle is 20-somethings who have mostly abandoned radio, they are also tech-savvy and may see value in hearing formats on the -2 and -3 subchannels that work regardless or whether their cell phone has a signal.

God knows I can't seem to go more than a few miles without mine dropping out, and in Pensacola fuggedaboutit. There's barely any 3G outside the city limits, where 99% of the people and business actually are. Closer to home, HD and streaming radio seem to work about the same, around 85% of the time. That's not great but neither is a deal killer.

(Of course, HD works poorly there for the most part because the transmitters are all 25-45 miles out, except for WUWF, the NPR station. They run higher power I believe and are totally solid through the population center.)
 
mmnassour said:
I think he's trying to say that the target market for the Soul (20-25ish) is the generation that has abandoned radio, and isn't likely to go searching for .2 and .3 HD stations....and are even less likely to put up with them dropping out when they do find them.

I don't think anyone's trashing the car ;). Shoot, I'm 56 and almost bought one myself!
Click to expand...

I know what he is saying, but he is ignoring the fact that less than a third of the buyers are in that age group (per Edmunds).

I could have countered by showing that 18-34's use radio, and have not abandoned it. The time they spend with radio has declined, but appears to be flat in the last few years, as people balance radio, online, gaming, internet, etc. But that sort of argument usually is countered by the old "but all my friends..." line.

Off topic, it is interesting to look at the data for the "box cars" like the Accord, Element and Cube as well as the Soul and it seems that 55+ is a prime buying group. The research shows that the cars are comfortable, easy to use for trips to the market, have good insurance costs and the seeming ugliness is actually a strong point... they are not conformist cars.

Returning to radio, it would seem that putting HDs in cars that seem to have satellite and USB / i Pod connections standard is a show of belief that radio is not dead.
 
Zach said:
I think the Soul is a pretty nice looking vehicle, but I don't like SUV/CUVs so I'd never consider it. Although the target audience for the vehicle is 20-somethings who have mostly abandoned radio, they are also tech-savvy and may see value in hearing formats on the -2 and -3 subchannels that work regardless or whether their cell phone has a signal.
Click to expand...

Ah, the urban legend of younger demo listening.

Los Angeles, July book

6+ "TSL" average for market 11:15 hours
18-34 "TSL" average for market 11:00 hours
18-24 "TSL" average for market 10:45 hours.

Gee, those 18-24's have sure given up on radio.

6+ 95.5% of persons use radio weekly; 18-24's have a miserable 95.1%. (And a BBM study some years ago showed that a 5% residual non-listening level was normal, and mostly composed of people with health issues, travel, a death in the family, etc., etc.).

Anyway, the Soul is actually a boxy car, and is not any form of SUV (and I also have one of them... a big 5000 lb AWD diesel that is pure SUV) except for, perhaps, having a liftgate in the back instead of a trunk lid. In fact, it's a sedan with a tall trunk if you wish.
 
One of the greatest pleasures I had recently was blasting by a Prius with my Grand Caravan (not the fastest thing on 4 wheels) going up the mountain south of Camp Verde! Ah yes..... ;D

btw I looked to see if it hand an ELBUZZO license plate..Closer fans will understand!
 
Kelly Watts said:
One of the greatest pleasures I had recently was blasting by a Prius with my Grand Caravan (not the fastest thing on 4 wheels) going up the mountain south of Camp Verde! Ah yes..... ;D

btw I looked to see if it hand an ELBUZZO license plate..Closer fans will understand!
Click to expand...

For some time now I've had a sneaking suspicion that Prius owners drive slowly for spite :D as I've seen a few of them going 80 mph+ in the passing lane on the Ma turnpike, either that or they were floored and had a good tailwind.
 
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