Seltos

Kia Seltos - Strengths

• Fresh styling and a new option in a segment that was starting to look stale
• Plush interiors and good fit and finish
• Loaded with features like blind-spot alert, ventilated front seats, electric seat adjustment for driver, 8-inch head-up display, 360-degree camera, 10.25-inch touchscreen, Bose sound system, etc.
• 2 petrol and 1 diesel engine to choose from - automatic transmission available with all 3

Kia Seltos - Weaknesses

• Long-term reliability in Indian driving conditions is still unknown
• Higher variants are overpriced
• 3 engine options, 8 variants and feature mix up causes confusion
• Sparse dealer and service network - at least for now
• No knee airbag for either of the front occupants, no seatbelt for rear centre passenger and no cooled glovebox

Kia Seltos Launch

Kia launched its first vehicle, the Seltos SUV in India on August 22, 2019.

Kia Seltos - Price Range

The Kia Seltos SUV prices range from Rs. 9.7 lakh and go up to Rs. 17.0 lakh (ex-showroom).

Kia Seltos - Variants

The Kia Seltos is available in both petrol and diesel versions. The SUV comes in 8 variants - HTE, HTK, HTK+, HTX, HTX+, GTK, GTX and GTX+.

Kia Seltos - Engine and Transmission

The Seltos gets equipped with a 1.5-litre normal petrol engine, a 1.4-litre turbo petrol engine, and a 1.5-litre turbo diesel engine option. All of these are BS6-compliant.

The 1.5-litre normal petrol engine makes 115PS of power at 6300rpm and 144Nm of torque at 4500rpm. It is available with a 6-speed manual and a CVT automatic transmission.

The 1.4-litre turbo petrol engine makes 140PS of power at 6000rpm and 242Nm of torque between 1500 and 3200rpm. It is available with 6-speed manual transmission and a 7-speed dual-clutch automatic.

The 1.5-litre turbo diesel engine makes 115PS of power at 4000rpm and 250Nm of torque between 1500 and 2750rpm. It’s available with a 6-speed manual transmission and a 6-speed torque converter automatic.

Kia Seltos - Fuel Efficiency

The 1.5-litre normal petrol engine delivers fuel efficiency of 16.5kmpl with the manual transmission and 16.8kmpl with the automatic

The 1.4-litre turbo petrol engine delivers 16.1kmpl with the manual transmission and 16.5kmpl with the automatic

The 1.5-litre turbo diesel engine promises 21kmpl with the manual transmission and 18kmpl with the automatic transmission.

Kia Seltos Features - Hits

The Kia Seltos is packed to the brim with features. In the long list of features, the most noteworthy features are large 10.25-inch touchscreen infotainment with Bose sound system, an 8-inch head-up display, a power-adjustable driver seat, 360-degree camera, ventilated front seats, wireless charging for phone and blind-spot alert.

Features we expect from a car costing close to Rs. 20.0 lakh are also present. Higher variants of the Kia Seltos get an electric sunroof, Android Auto and Apple Carplay for smartphone connectivity, 6 airbags, auto-dimming inside mirror, automatic wipers, cruise control, climate control, tyre pressure monitoring system and LED headlights and fog lights.

Kia Seltos Features - Misses

The Kia Seltos doesn’t have a cooled glovebox and electric boot lid opening and closing. While these good-to-have features aren’t big misses, the lack of knee airbag is what hurts the most. The Mahindra XUV300, which is a car from a lower segment has the driver knee airbag. ISOFIX child seat mounts could have also been standard across the range. Even the Maruti Suzuki Swift has them.

Kia Seltos - Competitors

Kia Seltos competes in the compact SUV segment comprising of the Hyundai Creta, Renault Captur, Renault Duster and Nissan Kicks. However, because of its expensive higher variants, it also rivals certain variants of the Tata Harrier, MG Hector, Mahindra XUV500 and Jeep Compass.

Kia Seltos HTK vs Hyundai Creta E+

Kia Seltos GTX vs MG Hector Sharp

Kia Seltos vs Tata Harrier

Kia Seltos 1.5 Petrol Tech Line Variants Explained: HTE, HTK, HTK+, HTX

Who Should Buy The Kia Seltos?

Kia Seltos certainly has the looks to stand out in the crowded Indian market. A 3-year/unlimited mileage warranty is confidence-inspiring but not nearly as good as Kia’s 10-year warranty, which is available in certain western countries. The engines and transmissions are also new for the Indian market and we have no idea how they’ll deal with our extreme climatic and driving conditions.

However, if you want something to stand out in the crowd, then the Kia Seltos is definitely a good option.

If you live in the NCR and want to retain the compact SUV for more than 10/15 years, then again the Seltos’ BS6 engines open up that possibility. Otherwise, the longest you can keep a non-BS6 diesel vehicle on road in Delhi NCR is 10 years and the life of a petrol vehicle is at most 15 years. Whether it’ll drive problem-free for longer than 15 years is a different problem altogether.

If you’re looking for a feature-loaded SUV under Rs. 20 lakh, then the Seltos fills that gap too very well. Although, you can also consider the Mahindra XUV300. It has engines with comparable power output with the Kia’s 1.5-litre normal petrol and 1.5-litre turbo diesel engine. They’re both first-generation cars so, the reliability is questionable for both of them but less so for the XUV300. The XUV300 even has some features that the Kia Seltos doesn’t, at a lower price point too.

Kia Seltos - Background

The Kia Seltos is Kia’s first car in the crowded India market. But, Kia knows a thing or two as its sister company, Hyundai, has been in India for some time. The Seltos was first shown at the 2018 Auto Expo as SP Concept. The Seltos’ was unveiled in India in June, 2019, and it didn’t veer too far off the concept’s design. Although the Seltos was specifically built keeping the Indian market in mind, it is not exclusive to India and is a global model. The India-specific Seltos is manufactured in India (in the Andhra Pradesh plant), while the global version is manufactured in South Korea. The Kia Seltos first launched in the South Korean market in July 2019, followed by its Indian launch in August.