Kia has managed to sell over five lakh vehicles in the compact SUV segment, but was now getting on a bit with its newer, flashier competitors who were offering more kit for the money. Now, the company has struck back with the refreshed Seltos, offering a good value for money proposition.
Also read: Review: Hyundai’s Extra Exter
On the outside, the front grille is larger, the bumpers are new and the ‘jewel cube’ fog lights look so cool. New sequential turn indicators up the high tech quotient a few notches earlier. At the rear, you get a connected light bar running from end to end and now you get vertical taillights with the aforementioned sequential turn indicators. A new ‘Pewter Olive’ colour rounds up some of the exterior changes.
On the inside, the most ravishing new feature is the large dual-screen setup for the infotainment and the instrumentation. Twin 10.25-inch displays give all the relevant information and are bright and crisp even in broad daylight. On the infotainment, you do get wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, but only on the cheaper models – its wired on the top models. Oh well. Anyway, moving on, you now get dual climate zones, cooled seats and of course, a massive panoramic sunroof, which the Seltos had been clearly missing over its competitors and even its sister car, the Creta.
The Bose system continues, which is pretty decent and you now have an Electronic Parking Brake as well, the latter only on the ‘GT’ and the ‘Tech’ lines. What is good here is the addition of three new USB-C ports – 1 up front and 2 in the back, which give fast charging to all your connected devices. The rear also gets air-con vents and a full air purifier with a virus protection system. You also get a wireless phone charger and an 8-inch heads-up display on the top models. Neat, eh?
The engine we drove is a brand-new 1,482cc turbo petrol, that puts out 160 horses and 253 Nm of torque. This engine does duty in the Hyundai Verna and Alcazar as well. It has a good performance curve with the 7-DCT, but you can have it with a clutch-less manual (iMT) as well.
I quite liked the soft grunting noise of the engine – music to the ears. What is however most exciting now is the Level 2 ADAS (Automatic Driver Assistance Systems), which packs 17 new features like Front Collision Assist, Lane Keeping Assist, Smart Cruise Control and many more. All these features are meant to assist the driver, so keeping your own control on the vehicle is paramount.
Safety has not been ignored either, and six airbags are now standard along with a host of other features like Electronic Stability Program (ESP), Hill Start Assist, etc. You also get lots of connected features through the Kia app, that can be operated via a compatible smartphone or smartwatch as well, besides being Alexa enabled.
The new Seltos is priced between INR 10.89 and INR 19.99 lakh, ex-showroom India, thereby representing a good value for money. However you will need to be a little clever about choosing your car – there are multiple trim options with multiple tech lines, so it can get somewhat confusing. Rest assured, the Seltos is still the best choice in this segment.
