The is the all-new 2021 Kia Seltos. It slots between the Soul and the Sportage and as you can see here, it has a sporty design. This is the S Turbo trim and so it does feature the more powerful turbocharged engine under the hood that’s quite fun to drive, but it doesn’t cost all that much more to get.
I’m Liz Jeneault with SUVs.com, by the way, thank you so much for watching and thanks to Kia of East Syracuse for having me back!
The exterior has a cool look. I like the red center caps on the wheels, that helps give it more of a sporty vibe. Kia designed the Seltos to have some of the Telluride’s magic in terms of its style, but obviously at a much more affordable price. LED headlights with daytime running lights are available.
Moving inside now, this is a surprisingly spacious and versatile cabin. Despite its compact footprint, the Seltos offers plenty of room to stretch out and the standard rear reclining seat helps with that. It’s also easy to fold the rear seat to store a solid amount of cargo.
An 8” touchscreen is standard, as is Apple CarPlay/Android Auto. There is an available 10.25” screen with navigation and other benefits. Plus, a larger digital instrument cluster is available, as well as a Bose premium audio system with mood lighting to go with it.
There are two engine choices with the Seltos. The standard engine makes 146 horsepower. This turbocharged engine here makes 175 horsepower and is paired to a 7-speed dual-clutch automatic. While the Seltos is no performance SUV, the turbo engine is peppier than the base engine and makes the Seltos more fun to drive. There’s also optional all-wheel drive on this S trim, though it’s standard on all other trim levels.
Recap and rating time now! I love how no matter the trim, the Seltos looks sporty. So, an 8 for the exterior. Interior is spacious and has all the tech you need, so an 8 there as well. I’ll rate performance at a 7.5. Fuel economy figures are solid and so I’ll rate that at an 8. And overall value I’ll rate at a 8.5 as the Seltos has quite an affordable starting price, but does pack a lot of style and comfort.
And that results in an SUVs.com deal score of 80 out of 100.
Thanks so much for watching this video. I hope you all are well and please do let me know what you think about this all-new Seltos!
Check out our full Kia Seltos review