In its short time on sale, the Kia Seltos has established itself as one of the better small SUVs out there. We highly recommend if you're in the market for a small to medium SUV this is a must drive, because it's hard to fault.
The 1.6-litre turbocharged petrol engine makes 130kW of power and 265Nm of torque. Those outputs are 20kW/85Nm higher than the naturally-aspirated base models, and sit right at the top of the segment.
You’ll reliably clock 0-100km/h times around the 8.0-second mark, which is almost hot-hatch like.
Kia cites combined-cycle fuel consumption of 7.6 litres per 100km on the combined cycle. The engine can run on regular unleaded and is listed as E10 compatible. The tank is 50L.
Quite unlike a number of its ‘style-focused’ competitors, it actually offers plenty of interior space, and its cabin technologies are at the very head of the pack. Kia’s list price for the GT-Line range-topper is $41,100 before on-road costs, with a factory-subsidised drive-away price of $42,990.
This is a not insignificant $5500 walk up from the Seltos Sport+ grade, which sits one rung beneath.
Boot space with five seats in use is 433 litres, which as the picture shows is enough for a large hard-shell case and backpack to sit comfortably side-by-side. The capacity is actually larger than any of the competitors mentioned, despite the full-sized alloy spare living under the floor.
The back seats fold pretty flat to up cargo space to 1393L. The only competitor that bests it for practicality is Honda’s HR-V – and even then it’s close.
All Kias come with a seven-year warranty with no distance cap. Some other brands have followed in offering such a lengthy term, but the Korean brand was first.
The company also provides a roadside assist plan for the warranty term so long as you return to any Kia dealer for servicing.
Kia publishes up-to-date service pricing on its website. At the time of writing the first seven visits cost: $282, $473, $346, $607, $317, $600 and $640.
Intervals are either annual or 10,000km (whichever comes first) – 5000km less than we’d prefer. Naturally-aspirated 2.0-litre Seltos models have 15,0000km intervals.
