As a preface, pretty much everyone except car-people would say that all cars are soulless, since they are inanimate objects. This post is more about the philosophical concept of a car feeling"soulful".
Things that come to mind are: styling, driving engagement, engine characteristics and sound, cultural significance, and the purpose for existence.
Styling is something that is very subjective, but I would say there are some gold standards, stuff like the Alfa Romeo GTA and Series 1 E-Type are often lauded as some of the most beautiful cars. More uniquely styled cars can also be considered (Saab 900, and Citroën SM).
For driving engagement, I mean how involved the driving experience feels. The inputs and controls are well balanced and transmit enough mechanical vibrations to feel connected. Honda’s slick manual gearboxes are an example.
Engine characteristics are usually focused on power delivery, such as how eager the engine is to rev, and some consider turbo lag to be more characterful.
In terms of cultural significance, some cars reach icon status and become emblematic of something larger than itself. The Crown Vic became the quintessential service vehicle in North America. The 2CV was a very basic car that became emblematic as the peoples’ car of France.
The purpose of existence is about the extent to which the engineers cared about the creation of the vehicle. This is difficult to explain, but the way I like to see it is how capable it is for its purpose. 90% of Range Rover buyers will never take it off road, but Land Rover still made it very capable off road because otherwise the brand would have no meaning. Compliance cars are almost always soulless, you can tell Toyota didn’t want to make the bZ4x.
One of the common complaints about EVs are that they feel soulless. Mostly because they are so smooth and isolated that it becomes an entirely predictable driving experience.
These are just some of my thoughts, feel free to disagree or add on to anything.
Sorry for the length.
Also the context of use and longevity, ie Driving Appliance… my iPhone, iPad, Asus gaming laptop, and Macbook Pro are basically appliances which I update every 2-3 years. Some people treat modern cars the same way with leases. The problem with EVs is that after 5-10 years, they may be horribly out of date and not useful at all except to be recycled or exported to a poorer country. I just don’t see any EV being a classic like an E30 or E46 M3 or a Porsche 993 Turbo.
My way over priced CRK pocket knife and CRK camping knife are life long items that will continue to be with me until I die and be passed on to my kin. They’ll either use it themselves or sell it for a good chunk of change. Because they’ll be classics and never actually lose their intrinsic utility. These items have a lot more “soul” than say a 2015 Nissan Leaf.