Kia Seltos

Kia Seltos engine specifications

 

The Kia Seltos is offered with three engine options: A naturally aspirated 1.5-litre petrol, a 1.5-litre turbo diesel, and a 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol engine. Gearbox choices include a manual, iMT, CVT, AT, and DCT. The detailed engine specifications are as below.

Kia Seltos mileage

The Kia Seltos with the 1.5-litre naturally aspirated petrol engine delivers 17 kmpl, while the diesel engine offers 20.7 kmpl and the 1.5-litre turbo petrol engine returns 17.9 kmpl.

Kia Seltos features

The Kia Seltos offers a long list of features that include ventilated seats, wireless charging, a panoramic sunroof, steering-mounted controls, Bose speakers, a 10.25-inch infotainment system, a 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster, a head-up display, and more.

Kia Seltos pricing

The Kia Seltos is available in a total of 26 variants, with prices starting From Rs 10.89 lakh for the base HTE petrol manual version and going up to Rs 20.34 lakh ex-showroom, for the top-spec X Line Turbo DCT version.

Kia Seltos Review

With K-pop and K-drama sweeping millennials’ and Gen Zs’ off their feet, why should the K-SUV take a back seat? The midsize SUV class is spearheaded by a certain South Korean car maker, but today we focus on the original disrupter of this segment, the Kia Seltos. After making its debut four years ago and delivering a knockout punch to most of its rivals, the Seltos has been recently losing its edge to the competition and with a slew of new players all set to enter the arena, Kia decided it’s time to rejig its mid-size SUV. 

Kia Seltos: Road Presence 

Based on Kia’s new design philosophy, Opposites United, the 2023 Seltos looks refreshed and more sporty. The Seltos is available in three trims X Line, GT Line and Tech Line and each gets its unique kit. No prizes in guessing the GT and the X Lines sport more butch exteriors like aggressive front and rear bumpers but the former gets body colour panels in the lower air dam while the latter sticks to an all-black finish. Both Tech and GT versions get contrasting silver-coloured skid plates while the X Line gets matt finish dark grey ones.

All three have an all-black wide front grille with integrated LED DRLs, but the Tech and GT Lines receive chrome garnishing on the lower lip of the front fascia, window sills and door handles. What is a major upgrade is that both the GT and X Lines sport 18-inch crystal cut glossy black alloy wheels. In our opinion, the Seltos looks sophisticated from the rear with connected LED tail lamps running across the tailgate along with sequential indicator lights on the top variants. The 1.5-litre turbo petrol trims get an additional oomph with dual sports exhausts.

Kia Seltos: Interiors

Step inside the cabin and you’re welcomed by the twin 10.25-inch digital panel that houses both the infotainment touchscreen and an all-new instrument cluster. Based on the trim, the Seltos offers black interiors with sage green inserts, all-black with white highlights or dual-tone black and beige colour combinations. Kia has also improved cabin quality with the use of soft-touch materials.

Kia has tweaked the design of the air conditioner vents and the centre console on the dashboard. Apart from this, the 2023 Seltos comes with a wireless phone charger, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, dual-panel panoramic sunroof with voice commands that recognises ‘Hinglish’ words, dual-zone AC, standard rear window shade, ventilated front seats, electric adjustable driver seat, an 8-inch head-up display, electric parking brake, 8-speaker Bose music system, sliding cup holder cover and ambient lightings.

Kia Seltos: Safety Features 

The 2023 Seltos is packed with plenty of safety features. The SUV comes standard with six airbags, Hill-Start Assist Control, Electronic Stability Control, Vehicle Stability Management, all four disc brakes and a lot more. Kia has taken the safety aspect to the next level by introducing ADAS Level 2 functions by offering 17 autonomous features like smart cruise control, front collision warning, lane keep assist, blind spot collision warning, rear cross-traffic alert, auto emergency braking etc.

Kia Seltos: Performance and Ride

We got our hands on the all-powerful 158bhp 1.5-litre turbo petrol engine with an impressive torque of 253Nm. With so much torque readily available, it negates the engine lag making sure that it’s a hoot to drive at slow speeds. The powertrain is refined and keeps the NVH levels down to a minimum and offers a responsive pickup but in a linear fashion. The 1.5-litre turbo is always happy to step on the pace irrespective of the low, mid or top-range power band. This ensures that the Seltos is an all-rounder as it offers more than enough punch at the tap of the accelerator and also maintains its top speed without the power actually dipping.

The seven-speed dual-clutch transmission makes the Seltos a breeze to drive. It upshifts and downshifts quickly ensuring that driving is an involving experience. To take a notch up, the Seltos offers manual drive mode with the help of paddle shifters. It comes with three driving modes — Eco, Normal and Sport. Eco does a decent job by improving fuel efficiency while tackling slow-moving traffic. Normal, on the other hand, is spunky enough to address the needs and requirements of both city and highway conditions without any fuss and offer more than enough power. Sport mode is when the engine starts to growl and obliges in holding the revs higher.

We did drive the iMT version or the 6-speed clutchless manual transmission. Even though the gear ratios are taller in comparison to the automatic, the throttle response remains peppy. As it’s a two pedal iMT, one doesn’t need to worry about the travel or the usage of the clutch making the driving experience convenient. The gear stick is slick and effortless.

Kia has always flirted in tuning its vehicles with firm suspension set up and there’s no difference in the case of the 2023 Seltos. It continues to offer a comfortable ride by flattening ditches but passengers in the vehicle remain aware of the road conditions. With such a sporty suspension set-up, the SUV offers minimum body roll though it’s not as crisp in turns as its Volkswagen and Skoda rivals, but the Kia SUV manages to maintain the middle path which will be appreciated by many. The steering wheel in general is light but it weighs up in sport mode.

Kia Seltos: Verdict

Priced from Rs 10.90 lakh to Rs 20 lakh, ex-showroom, the Seltos takes the Hyundai Creta, Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara, Toyota Urban Cruiser Hyryder, MG Astor, Skoda Kushaq and Volkswagen Taigun. The Seltos is priced at par against its competition when it comes to entry and mid-level trims, but its top variant is the most expensive in the segment due to additional safety features like ADAS.

The Seltos is one of the best-equipped SUVs in its class along with the most powerful turbo petrol engine and stands out in design. It seems like Kia has another winner in its hands.

 Kia Seltos safety

The Kia Seltos offers 6 airbags as standard, along with ABS, EBD, stability control, reverse camera, parking sensors, and ISOFIX child seat anchors. The Kia Seltos also features Level 2 ADAS with 17 autonomous features