Although Kia’s Seltos sport utility vehicle launched in 2019 for the global market, it didn’t find its way to American shores until the 2021 model year. Size-wise, the Seltos squeezes in between the smaller Kia Soul and the larger Kia Sportage SUVs. Seltos is actually based on Kia’s successful Kona underpinnings, but with a taller ride height that provides generous additional cabin space.
Key Takeaways
- The Seltos has more room inside than you might expect. In fact, its 62.8 cubic feet of maximum cargo capacity places it among the best in class.
- Automotive journalists praise the Seltos’ firm-but-smooth ride quality that makes it fun to drive among a sea of bland competitors.
- There’s impressive infotainment and drivers-assist features, particularly on more recent model years.
First generation (2021 to 2023)
The new-for-2021 Seltos is propelled by a choice of four-cylinder engines. A standard 2.0 liter makes 146 horsepower, while an optional 1.6-liter with turbocharger cranks out 175 horsepower. Drivers opting for the standard 2.0-liter will find it coupled to a continuously variable (CVT) automatic transmission, while the optional 1.6-liter powerplant is mated to a proper 7-speed automatic.
Car and Driver remarks that the Seltos has a firm-but-smooth suspension that offers impressive handling and is more fun to drive than rivals like the Jeep Compass and Mitsubishi Outlander. The Seltos is available in both standard front-wheel drive or optional all-wheel drive. Granted, Seltos drivers aren’t likely to do any serious off-roading, but the all-wheel drive should prove handy to consumers living in snowy climates or tackling the occasional unpaved fire road.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) gave the 2021 and up Seltos a respectable four star safety rating. Likewise, there’s an impressive selection of driver assist technology available on the Stelos, including:
- Automated emergency braking with pedestrian detection
- Blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert
- Lane-departure warning with lane-keeping assist
Note that all of the driver safety features listed above were optional for the 2021 model year, so not every used 2021 Seltos will have these items on-board. For the 2022 model year and later, this technology was made standard equipment.
Besides the aforementioned drivers’ assistance suite, differences between the 2021, 2022, and 2023 models are mostly very trivial, such as tiny cosmetic changes and slight juggling of the different trim levels.
Mid-cycle refresh (2024 and up)
Being that the Seltos is relatively new to the market, even the oldest variants from 2021 still look sleek and contemporary today, However, buyers who want the very latest styling may opt to seek out a 2024 or newer example, which received a modest mid-cycle refresh.
Exterior changes include a new grill and updated external lighting front and rear, plus a few new wheel designs. The interior remains mostly the same save for a new dashboard configuration with available dual infotainment screens and a rotary gear selector replacing the previous conventional console-mounted shift lever.
Under the hood, the base 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine with 146 horsepower remains for 2024, but the optional 1.6-liter turbocharged engine gets a 20 horsepower bump up to 195 horsepower total.
The best warranty in the business
When new, Kia vehicles come with one of the best warranties in the automotive industry — matched only by its sister brand Hyundai. New Kia cars and SUVs come with a 5-year or 60,000 miles (whichever comes first) bumper-to-bumper comprehensive warranty and a 10-year or 100,000 mile warranty on major powertrain components like the engine and transmission.
Once the original owner sells or trades in their Kia, the powertrain warranty shortens to 5 years or 60,000 miles to match the duration of the bumper-to-bumper warranty. Still, since the Seltos is a relatively new model, examples less than five years old and which have been driven less than 60,000 miles will exist in the marketplace. That means that a portion of their original warranty remains to protect against the unlikely event of repairs, which is a great asset in a used car.