2024 Kia Seltos review

What is the Kia Seltos like on the inside?

If the little wheels didn’t give it away on the outside, the amount of hard plastic and the lack of padding in key places will make clear this is a base model. There’s also the fact you turn a key to start this model…

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The steering wheel is a urethane unit, there’s a mechanical handbrake, and the elbow rest on the door is finished in hard plastic instead of the friendlier padding offered higher up the range. It’s functional and well equipped, but the Sport sitting above it in the range is a much nicer place to sit on long trips.

The fundamentals are solid. The driver and passenger sit in generously padded front seats with a good range of adjustment for taller drivers, and the view out of the upright windows is excellent.

Unlike higher-end models in the range, the base Seltos gets an 8.0-inch infotainment system flanked by shortcut buttons.

It’s functional, with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto (this car doesn’t have factory satellite navigation) along with AM/FM and DAB radio, and the wireless smartphone mirroring is far more reliable than it was at launch.

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Although the more expensive models have flashier graphics and bigger screens, the only thing you’re really missing out on in the S is factory satellite navigation.

The amount of storage on offer is good. There’s a shelf under the centre stack large enough for an oversized phone or wallet, along with adequately-sized cupholders between the front seats, and a fairly deep console bin. The door bins are on the shallower side.

One USB-A and one USB-C port feature up front, along with a 12V plug. There’s no wireless charging in the Seltos S.

The rear seats have been improved since the Seltos’ debut. Thanks to a range reshuffle from late 2022, the S features USB-C ports and air vents back there – a win for kids on hot summer days Down Under. Previously, those features were reserved for the GT-Line.

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This is a bigger take on the small SUV formula, with lots of legroom and headroom for passengers in the rear seats.

The wide-opening rear doors and tall windows make this one of the better small SUVs out there for families with tight parking spaces, and mean you’ll more easily be able to load children or bulky child seats than in some rivals.

You get two ISOFIX points and a trio of top tethers back there.

When we first drove the Seltos it was a bit of an outlier, but the competition has caught up. The new Hyundai Kona is bigger than before, as is the new Nissan Qashqai. In that context the Seltos is still good, but it’s not quite the standout it once was.

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Claimed boot space is 468 litres, up 35 litres on what’s on offer elsewhere in the Seltos range. That’s because the S gets a space saver spare wheel instead of a full-sized spare.

Folding the rear bench (60/40) expands that to 1428 litres.

What’s under the bonnet?

The 2.0-litre naturally aspirated four-cylinder engine in the Seltos S carries over from the pre-update model, and produces 110kW of power and 180Nm of torque.

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The engine is mated to a continuously-variable transmission (CVT), with drive sent to the front wheels only. If you want all-wheel drive you’ll need to opt for a higher-spec model with a 1.6-litre turbocharged engine.

The 2023 Kia Seltos uses a claimed 6.9L/100km on the ADR combined cycle with the 2.0-litre engine; we saw 8.1 litres per 100km on a week skewed to life in the city.

All models have a 50-litre fuel tank and can run on 91 RON regular unleaded petrol.

How does the Kia Seltos drive?

Unless all-wheel drive is an absolute must, this is the engine to have in your Kia Seltos.

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It might look underdone on paper but the 2.0-litre petrol gets off the mark quickly enough, and is smooth and quiet in normal city driving. Rather than slurring awkwardly when you want to accelerate, the CVT does a good impression of a conventional automatic transmission.

The learning curve is very shallow here if you’re hopping out of a much older car.

Put your foot down and the engine can be a bit shouty when it revs; anyone who drives around with the throttle welded to the firewall should look at the 1.6-litre turbo.

With chubby tyres and a comfortable suspension tune, the Seltos does an excellent job filtering out scarred city streets. There is some audible clunking over big bumps in the cabin, but for the most part this is a pretty refined little SUV.

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The light steering, solid visibility and high-resolution reversing camera make parking in tight spaces simple enough, and the Seltos is a great size if you want a reasonably large interior but spend a lot of time on small city streets.

Of all the small SUVs out there, the Seltos is arguably one of the best if you’re covering long distances. Road and wind noise are kept at bay, and the engine hums away below 2000rpm at the legal limit in Australia.

With four people on board it does feel like it’s working hard at highway speeds if you want to overtake, or accelerate up hills.

It’s worth noting though the Seltos S misses out on adaptive cruise control, which makes life easier on long drives by maintaining a gap to the car in front if they slow below your set speed.

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You do still get lane-keeping assist however, along with lane centering which is more ‘hands-on’ than I would like when trying to place the car between the white lines. Thankfully it can be turned off using a button on the steering wheel.

While we’re talking about annoying safety equipment, the speed limit warning in the latest Kia and Hyundai products is diabolically bad. Drift over the speed limit and it will beep at you. Drift back below, and then over it again – even by a small margin – and it beeps again.

Drive through a school zone outside of school hours and, even though the 40km/h limit isn’t active, it’ll beep at you for exceeding the school zone limit.

It activates every single time you start the car, and takes multiple button presses to turn off. I’d be looking to the aftermarket to have it coded out, because owners have confirmed it doesn’t get any less annoying the longer you spend with the car.