Kia Seltos

Kia Seltos launched in India back in August 2019. The Seltos is the first product from the Korean car maker in the country and is positioned in the highly-competitive mid-size SUV segment. The Kia Seltos offers a completely fresh design, along with a host of features and equipment, making it a very attractive offering in the segment.

The Kia Seltos SUV comes with a very sharp and aggressive design, offering a sporty appeal. The front of the Seltos features a blacked-out mesh grille, flanked on either side by a pair of LED headlamps.

The headlamp unit on the Seltos also comes with integrated LED DRLs which further extend over the front grille. The turn indicators are also LED positioned just below the headlamp unit. Further down, the front bumpers of the Seltos also feature ice cube LED fog lamps at either end, while a large air intake occupies the centre.

From the side, the Kia Seltos features a clean design, with sharp shoulder lines and creases running along its length. The Seltos comes with a dual-tone crystal-cut alloy wheels, adding to the premiumness and sporty theme of the SUV. The rear profile also carries forward the same sporty theme. The Seltos comes with LED tail lights and a thin chrome strip at the centre of the boot lid, featuring the Kia badging. The bumper comes with reflectors at either end, while also featuring scuff plates as well.

Moving inside, the Kia Seltos comes with a well designed dashboard, with soft-touch materials all around. The centre console houses the 10.25-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and Kia’s proprietary UVO Connectivity app. The Seltos also features a 7-inch instrument console, along with steering-mounted controls, among a host of other features.

The Kia Seltos is powered by three engine options, all of which are BS-VI compliant. The engine choices include two petrol and one diesel. This includes a 1.5-litre petrol producing 115bhp and 144Nm of peak torque and a more powerful 1.4-litre turbo-petrol engine churning out 140bhp and 242Nm of peak torque.

The lone diesel engine option, includes a 1.5-litre unit producing 115bhp and 250Nm of torque. All three engine options are mated to a standard six-speed manual gearbox. Kia also offers a choice of three automatic transmission choices as well. The 1.5-litre petrol comes with the optional CVT unit and the diesel receives an IVT automatic transmission. The 1.4-litre turbo petrol, on the other hand, comes with the optional seven-speed DCT gearbox.

The Kia Seltos mileage/fuel efficiency figures claim to be in the range of 12 to 18km/l. The diesel variant is said to return fuel efficiency figures in the range of 14 - 18km/l. The 1.5-litre petrol claims to give a mileage of 13 - 16km/l while the 1.4-litre turbo-petrol offers 12 - 15km/l.

All these are claimed fuel efficiency figures, actual mileage might vary depending on various other external factors.

The Kia Seltos comes loaded with features and equipment. Starting from the exteriors, the SUV comes with LED lighting all around, this includes the headlamps, DRLs, fog lamps and tail lights. Other features include 17-inch crystal-cut alloy wheels, red accents all around on the GT-line variants.

Inside, the Seltos SUV features a 10.25-inch infotainment system with Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and UVO Connectivity. A 7-inch digital instrument cluster, steering-mounted controls, wireless charging, smart air purifier, rear ac vents, ventilated front seats, electronically adjustable front driver and passenger seats, automatic climate control and a host of others.

In terms of safety, the Kia Seltos features six-airbags, 360-degree camera, front and rear parking sensors, blind-view monitoring LCD cluster, ABS with EBD and a host of others as well.

The Kia Seltos is a very attractive offering in the Indian mid-size SUV segment. The car comes packed with features, safety equipment and also offers exceptional performance, among its varied range of engine options. The Kia Seltos also comes with a host of variants, suiting almost every customer needs.