Compare the2022 Nissan LeafVS 2020 Kia Soul EV

For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Nissan Leaf have pretensioners to tighten the seatbelts and eliminate dangerous slack in the event of a collision and force limiters to limit the pressure the belts will exert on the passengers. The Kia Soul EV doesn’t offer pretensioners for the rear seat belts.

In the past twenty years hundreds of infants and young children have died after being left in vehicles, usually by accident. When turning the vehicle off, drivers of the Leaf are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The Soul EV doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.

The Nissan Leaf has standard driver and front passenger side knee airbags mounted low on the dashboard. These airbags helps prevent the driver and front passenger from sliding under their seatbelts or the main frontal airbags; this keeps them better positioned during a collision for maximum protection. Knee airbags also help keep the legs from striking the dashboard, preventing knee and leg injuries in the case of a serious frontal collision. The Soul EV doesn’t offer a front passenger side knee airbag.

The Leaf has standard Active Head Restraints, which use a specially designed headrest to protect the driver and front passenger from whiplash. During a rear-end collision, the Active Head Restraints system moves the headrests forward to prevent neck and spine injuries. The Soul EV doesn’t offer a whiplash protection system.

Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The Leaf has standard Rear Automatic Braking that uses rear sensors to monitor and automatically apply the brakes to prevent a rear collision. The Soul EV doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.

The Leaf (except S) offers an optional Around View® Monitor to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The Soul EV only offers a rear monitor and rear parking sensors that beep or flash a light. That doesn’t help with obstacles to the front or sides.

Both the Leaf and the Soul EV have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front wheel drive, height adjustable front shoulder belts, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, lane departure warning systems, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning, available daytime running lights and driver alert monitors.

The Leaf’s 5 year corrosion warranty has no mileage limitations, but the corrosion warranty on the Soul EV runs out after 100,000 miles.

There are over 40 percent more Nissan dealers than there are Kia dealers, which makes it easier should you ever need service under the Leaf’s warranty.

From surveys of all its subscribers, Consumer Reports’ January 2021 Auto Issue reports that Nissan vehicles are more reliable than Kia vehicles. Consumer Reports ranks Nissan 2 places higher in reliability than Kia.

The Leaf PLUS’ standard electric motor produces 13 more horsepower (214 vs. 201) than the Soul EV’s electric motor.

The Leaf’s standard front and rear disc brakes are vented to help dissipate heat for shorter stops with less fading. The rear discs on the Soul EV are solid, not vented.

The Leaf SV/SL’s tires provide better handling because they have a lower 50 series profile (height to width ratio) that provides a stiffer sidewall than the Soul EV’s 55 series tires.

The Leaf has a standard easy tire fill system. When inflating the tires, the vehicle’s integrated tire pressure sensors keep track of the pressure as the tires fill and tell the driver when the tires are inflated to the proper pressure. The Soul EV doesn’t offer vehicle monitored tire inflation.

The Leaf has vehicle speed sensitive variable-assist power steering, for low-effort parking, better control at highway speeds and during hard cornering, and a better feel of the road. The Soul EV doesn’t offer variable-assist power steering.

For a smoother ride and more stable handling, the Leaf’s wheelbase is 3.9 inches longer than on the Soul EV (106.3 inches vs. 102.4 inches).

The Leaf has 1.3 inches more front headroom and 1 inch more front legroom than the Soul EV.

The Leaf has a larger cargo volume with its rear seat up than the Soul EV (23.6 vs. 23 cubic feet).

The Leaf SV/SL has a standard remote vehicle starting system, so the vehicle can be started from inside the driver's house. This allows the driver to comfortably warm up the engine before going out to the vehicle. The climate system will also automatically heat or cool the interior. The Soul EV doesn’t offer a remote starting system.

The Leaf’s speed-sensitive wipers speed up when the vehicle does, so that the driver doesn’t have to continually adjust the speed of the wipers. The Soul EV’s manually variable intermittent wipers have to be constantly adjusted.

While driving with high beams on, sensitive light sensors standard on the Leaf detect other vehicles which could be blinded and automatically switch to low beams. The Soul EV doesn’t offer automatic dimming high beams.

Consumer Reports® recommends the Nissan Leaf, based on reliability, safety and performance.