by Anthony Fongaro - Photos by Kia- 10/02/2023
In the world of the subcompact SUV, competition is fierce! Automakers such as Mazda with their CX-30 and Volkswagen Taos, two top-tier SUVs. If you want to stand out, you need to have a slick design, plenty of technology and want to be decently quick enough to zip around both highways and the city. Kia already has the successful comes in. It looks like a more jacked-up hatchback. Can it compete with the Soul and its competition?
Why does a subcompact SUV have a fake defuser in the rear? That’s my main complaint about the rear of the Seltos. Otherwise, I am a fan of the rear with the L-shaped taillights and lightbar with their new logo. Seltos is spelled out along with black cladding throughout the exterior. Kia incorporated a smooth body and looks excellent in Snow White Pearl paint. SX Seltos models come with 18-inch wheels which look pretty big for a subcompact and have an intricate design. Some may not like it, but I found them unoffensive.
At the front, there are strong Kia Sportage vibes. I’m glad that Kia decided to buck the trend on large grilles and gave the Seltos something more simple. Stacked headlights have silver trim on the top headlight which blends into the grille. Kia’s logo is loud and proud on the trunk which has two strong creases. This is a good-looking subcompact SUV and one that is easy to park in tight situations. What’s nice is you can get two-tone paint, something I would opt for. As for the interior, that sticks out more against the competition.
I have to start with another negative, but hear me out! The Seltos doesn’t have the highest grade of materials, but this is an inexpensive SUV. I’ll get to the pricing later on. As soon as you get it, you’ll see two 10.25-inch digital displays. The first one is in front of the driver. You can control this display with the steering wheel. There isn’t a lot of customization, but the dials show a digital feed of your blindspots when you activate your turn signal. SX Seltos get what Kia calls a “sports steering wheel”. It has a flat bottom. That’s about it. This Seltos had the Gentle Brown Interior Color Package which gave a nice pop of color.
There’s technology abounds in the Seltos. The other 10.25-inch display houses your infotainment system which has Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Kia’s native system isn’t bad, but I found myself just using CarPlay. I’m so glad that Kia separated the climate control from the infotainment system. If you go for the SX Sunroof Package, you get comfortable seats that are heated and ventilated, a sunroof, and a power liftgate. Seltos uses an actual shifter for the transmission and a dial for the drive modes. It might not be the highest quality of plastics, but the Seltos redeems itself with the rest of the cabin.
Probably not a surprise, the rear passenger room is a little cramped. The seats are decent enough, especially if you’re a ride-share driver. That SX Sunroof Package has a powered liftgate which is a nice add-on. Since the controls are so easy to use, I could operate the climate control and infotainment system with ease. As an SX, this Seltos came with a Bose sound system with plenty of bass and treble. At the end of the day, I didn’t dread getting into the Seltos but looked forward to it. Mainly, that’s because of the engine.
Under the hood is a turbocharged 1.6-liter inline-four which produces a very healthy 195 horsepower/143 kW and 195 lb-ft/264 Nm. New is an eight-speed automatic which replaces a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic. With all-wheel-drive, the Seltos gets from 0-60 MPH in 6.9 seconds. Not only is that plenty quick, but it trounces vehicles such as the Toyota Corolla Cross. Drive modes include Smart, Normal, and Sport. Smart is more of an economical-type drive mode and I drove the Seltos between Smart and Normal. Of course, I tried out Sport on the highway and it didn’t disappoint. Plenty of pulling power. An observed 28-30 MPG was higher than I expected.
Being a subcompact SUV, the Seltos drives like a front-wheel-drive car when it doesn’t need to put power to the rear. There is some body lean along with wind and tire noise. While driving, the Seltos can cruise around with its various safety systems. These include adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist, blind sport monitoring with the video feed in the dials, collision monitoring, and more. You get all of these as standard on the SX which is great value considering…
You can get a standard Seltos LX for around $26,000. This loaded SX with the $1,200 SX Sunroof Package and $400 paint increased its standard $30,000 price to around $33,000. Kia is going away from being bargain-basement, but that price is really good. Some of the competition, such as the Mazda CX-30, needs at least $36,000 to get that same level of equipment. There’s so much that you get for this price in terms of technology, power, and design.
Can I recommend the Seltos? I’d recommend it in this trim level with all but the paint. I like the two-tone black and blue. Otherwise, this is an extremely good subcompact. Once again, $33,000 for pretty much everything the competition has is impressive. What’s more impressive is that the engine and transmission have way more power than the competition. At the end of the day, I would say put the 2024 Kia Seltos SX Turbo AWD on your shortlist of subcompact SUVs.
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