Kia Seltos review

Our opinion on the Kia Seltos

The Kia Seltos ticks all the right boxes for a family SUV: it’s got plenty of space, the tech on board is easy to get along with, ride comfort and refinement are both good and, during our testing, the hybrid system proved reasonably frugal. The bold and rather beefy-looking SUV should be competitively priced against established rivals and Chinese newcomers as well. However, there will need to be a not insignificant price difference between it and the bigger, best-selling Kia Sportage to ensure that customers don’t just automatically upgrade to one of those instead.

About the Kia Seltos

At the time of writing, Kia has nine SUVs of various sizes in its line-up, from the little Stonic to the gigantic EV9. Most people would assume that’s plenty, but evidently not, because later this year the all-new Kia Seltos will arrive in the UK to take on the fiercely competitive family SUV segment.

The majority of our readers will not have heard the name Seltos before, but this is actually the second-generation model. The original was launched in 2019 and while it never came to Europe, it enjoyed success in markets such as India, South Korea and America. In fact, the Seltos was Kia’s second biggest-selling car globally last year, behind only the Sportage.

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The new Seltos is not a replacement for the Sportage, which is unsurprising given that it’s one of the most popular cars in the UK and is slightly larger, making it a tad more practical and spacious. The hope is the two mid-size SUVs will be able to live side-by-side in relative harmony, not cannibalising sales of each other too much. 

If there are going to be any casualties as a result of the Seltos’s arrival, they’re most likely to be the XCeed and the Niro. Facelifted versions of both models have been unveiled, but neither has been confirmed for the UK yet and they’re both similar in size to their chunkier, fresh-faced new sibling. With them gone, customers looking for an SUV of this size would have a much simpler choice, with the Seltos for those who want a hybrid, or the EV3 targeting those who prefer to go electric. 

Regardless, key rivals for the Seltos will be top-sellers such as the Nissan Qashqai, Toyota C-HR, Volkswagen T-Roc and Hyundai Kona, plus newcomers from China like the hugely popular Jaecoo 7. So it’s set for a challenge, and to find out the scale of the task, we took a trip out east to Kia’s homeland of South Korea.

Every Seltos will feature a full-hybrid powertrain and there’s only likely to be two specifications for customers to choose from: a base model, and either a more rugged-looking X-Line, or a more athletic-looking GT-Line. 

Kia Seltos prices and latest deals

The Kia Seltos is due to go on sale in the UK in October, so pricing and specifications haven’t been finalised just yet, but we’re expecting it to start from somewhere between £30,000 and £32,000.

Hopefully, Kia manages to get the starting price down to around £30k, because that would put the Seltos very close to the equivalent full-hybrid version of the Jaecoo 7. Perhaps more importantly, it would make it a few thousand pounds cheaper than the equivalent Qashqai and Sportage hybrids. 

If the Seltos starts from closer to £32k, that will make it a more difficult sell. Especially as we reckon most people would just opt for the slightly more expensive Sportage, especially if they’re getting their car on finance or a lease deal.

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In the UK, the Seltos will be available exclusively with a full-hybrid powertrain. This pairs a 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol engine and six-speed automatic transmission with one electric motor in the standard front-wheel-drive version, or two if you opt for four-wheel drive. These are fed by a 1.49kWh battery.

Performance, 0-60mph acceleration and top speed

The base front-drive model we drove delivers just 150bhp and 144Nm of torque, which is not a lot for a family SUV and results in a 0-62mph time of 10.4 seconds. The ‘e-AWD’ version produces 175bhp and has a slightly brisker sub-10-second 0-62mph time, plus extra traction in slippery conditions.

The shortage of power is probably the Seltos’s biggest flaw. With the e-motors only delivering about 25bhp they can provide the initial shove to get you off the line smoothly, but quickly have to hand over the reins to the four-cylinder petrol engine, which you need to work rather hard to get up to motorway speeds. It’s not the most pleasant-sounding thing because it's revving to around 5,000rpm, trying to give you all it's got.

And that’s what we experienced with two adults and a couple of small bags on board. Load up the Seltos for a family weekend away, and it’s going to be even more stressed. But at least the noise is fairly muted and not as much of a racket as some other SUVs emit.

Plus the transition back and forth between the two power sources is virtually seamless. The gearbox is pretty good, delivering smooth and slick shifts, although it does have a tendency to hold on to gears for longer than we’d like after you ease up on the throttle. We found it was best to take your foot off the pedal entirely after getting up to your desired speed, because this causes the engine to shut off and get the car running in EV mode. 

Town driving, visibility and parking

There’s a nice weight to all the controls in the Seltos, including steering that’s still light enough that quick manoeuvres in tight car parks won’t feel like hard work. Visibility is good all-round, too, helped by the lofty driving position, while the big square bonnet stretches out in front of the driver.

The Seltos features the latest iteration of Kia’s smart regeneration system, which automatically adjusts based on traffic flow, sat-nav data and the road ahead. Alternatively there are paddles behind the steering wheel that the driver can use to choose between four strength levels on the fly, or turn off regenerative braking to allow the car to coast along, if they prefer.

Country road driving and handling

As you’d expect for a family-focused SUV, the Kia Seltos is focused very much on comfort rather than carving up corners like a Lotus Elise. As such, this isn’t a fun car to drive on a twisty country road, but it’s composed enough and can handle being chucked into a corner or two, should you wish.

Motorway driving and long-distance comfort

The suspension did a good job absorbing the impacts from the potholes and cracks we encountered on the road from Seoul to Gwangju in South Korea where we drove the Seltos. We found the car settled down well on a motorway as well. While a bit of road noise made its way into the cabin at higher speeds, we couldn’t detect any wind noise, which is impressive for such a boxy SUV.

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We were very impressed by how often we’d glance at the driver’s display to see the car was driving around in EV mode with the engine in hibernation, which would explain how we managed to average exactly 50mpg on a route that involved a lot of time cruising on the motorway. However, we should point out that Kia hasn’t yet told us how efficient this hybrid system is meant to be. 

Insurance groups

Insurance ratings for the Kia Seltos haven’t been confirmed yet, but we expect it will cost about the same to insure as many of its key rivals. For instance, the Nissan Qashqai sits in insurance groups 12 to 30 (out of 50), depending on the exact model and powertrain, while the Kia Sportage falls into groups 19 to 26. 

Tax

While there isn’t going to be a plug-in hybrid or electric version of the Seltos to attract company car drivers in great numbers, the full-hybrid set-up emits less than 100g/km of CO2, so will receive a lower Benefit-in-Kind (BiK) bill than pure-petrol alternatives. 

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With its boxy shape, tall floating roofline and bluff front end, the Seltos shares more than a few styling cues with Kia’s other SUVs, particularly the EV5 and EV9. Yet it still feels fresh and has an identity of its own, because the chunky bumpers with their fake skid plates and angular wheelarches give it a more rugged look. In fact, if you added a seven-slot grille, we think this handsome Kia could pass as the next-generation Jeep Renegade we’ve been waiting for.  

Kia’s distinctive ‘Star Map’ lighting signature has been carried over, of course, but one unique detail is the discreet incorporation of the main headlight units into the grille. Meanwhile, wheel sizes range from 16 to 19 inches. 

Interior and dashboard design

The slightly tough looks are complemented by an interior that focuses more on functionality and durability, rather than plushness. So there are big physical buttons galore on the dashboard, steering wheel and centre console, plus a row of large toggle switches for the climate controls. Every Seltos will also feature the same triple-screen layout that was introduced in the brand’s flagship EV9, and can now be found in a number of its more affordable models.

Materials and build quality

There’s really no avoiding the fact that almost every interior surface is made from hard plastic. Thankfully, however, it’s not that cheap-feeling black scratchy material you might be thinking of. Kia has made an effort to use different finishes for the various surfaces, and there are some nice details, such as the metal-effect accents and ambient lighting in the doors. So the cabin certainly doesn’t look dull, plus it feels solid and that it will be able to withstand whatever family life throws at it.

Infotainment, sat-nav and stereo

The Seltos will come with a 12.3-inch instrument panel, a 12.3-inch central touchscreen and a separate five-inch display for more climate controls sandwiched in between. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto will feature as standard, too, of course.

The main screens are sharp and all of their graphics and icons are nice and big, while overall the infotainment system is slick and easy to use. That said, the small middle screen is a bit pointless, partly because it’s easily blocked by the steering wheel. 

There are also a lot of menus in the display, so it can take some time to learn where the settings for all the car’s functions are, such as the Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), which is why we’re grateful for those large shortcut buttons on the dashboard. 

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As well as plenty of space for a family and all their stuff, the Seltos also features rails and mounts for Kia’s new range of ‘AddGear’ accessories such as bag hooks and storage dividers. It was introduced by the Kia PV5 Passenger and is very similar to Dacia’s ‘YouClip’ system.

Dimensions and size

The new second-generation Kia Seltos is almost exactly the same size as the latest Nissan Qashqai, with the two rivals within just a few millimetres of each other in every area. Compared to other SUVs in the Kia’s line-up, the Seltos is slightly longer, wider and taller than the Niro, but smaller than the Sportage. 

Seats & passenger space

There’s plenty of space in the back seats for six-foot adults to get comfortable, with the high roofline providing enough headroom to suit taller individuals. There is, however, a sizable hump in the floor that eats up foot space and might make it a bit of a squeeze getting three adults into the back. If you’ve got young kids, there are two sets of Isofix mounting points for child seats. 

Boot space 

The Kia Seltos has a 536-litre boot which is bigger than any version of the Nissan Qashqai, Kia Niro or Hyundai Kona. However, the pure-petrol Jaecoo 7 can lug even more stuff around and, naturally, so can the larger Kia Sportage. The Seltos does have a decent amount of underfloor storage to offer as well, keeping some of the odds and ends that family life accumulates out of sight. 

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The Kia Seltos hasn’t received a crash-safety score from the experts at Euro NCAP just yet, but considering no car from the brand has received fewer than four out of five stars in the past five years, we expect it’ll come through the organisation’s battery of tests with flying colours. 

The Seltos’ extensive suite of new and improved driver-assistance systems will certainly help with that. Kia says every model will be equipped with an upgraded forward collision-avoidance system that now operates across a wide range of speeds, and there’s a new intelligent speed limit assist plus ‘Highway Driving Assist 2’ with hands-on/off detection.

That’s all well and good, but we wish Kia made it easier for the driver to turn off these systems if they don’t like them. The speed-limit warning can be deactivated using the mute button on the steering wheel, but for others you have to delve into the many menus on the touchscreen which, needless to say, isn’t easy while on the go. 

Kia came 18th (out of 31) in the latest best car manufacturer rankings, which is based on owners’ feedback from the Driver Power satisfaction survey. It finished slightly ahead of Hyundai (20th) and Ford (23rd), but a long way behind other rivals such as Nissan (15th) and Peugeot (7th). Only one of its models made it onto our list of the best cars to own too, which was the Mk4 Kia Sportage in 45th place (out of 50). 

Kia Seltos alternatives

The Kia Seltos is entering the fiercely competitive family SUV segment, facing pressure from both established favourites and newcomers. That means it will do battle with some of the biggest sellers in the UK market, such as the Nissan Qashqai and Jaecoo 7, plus the also very popular Toyota C-HR, Volkswagen T-Roc and Hyundai Kona, to name just a few.