Hotly anticipated Seltos crossover is slotting in the lineup between the Kia Soul, which you sort of could consider a crossover and something like the Kia Sportage, which is definitely bigger than this. The Sportage is designed as a direct RAV4 and CRV competitor, whereas this is very similar in overall size to the Hyundai Kona. Does appear to be a little bit longer than that closely related Hyundai model. However, upfront, I think this is definitely the more attractive entry in the Hyundai Kia lineup.
We have this more aggressive front, end grill again another variation on Kia’s Tiger nose design, which is what they call this particular shape and as we see in some of Kia’s other vehicles, but unlike Hyundai’s vehicles, we have the headlamps right here where I think they belong. Nice and high on the vehicle. Now these are the LED headlamps which are available in the Seltos, and then we have the fog lamps down below. Overall.
This is definitely a solid rugged front and look definitely very different than what we see in the Kia Soul and, I think, also a little bit more attractive than we see in the current generation Sportage now in terms of overall length. This is one of those vehicles that may start straddling segments, because this is theoretically a subcompact crossover, but it is a little bit longer than some of the other options out there and in person this definitely looks a little bit longer than I had expected it to Be that’s going to give us more rear room which definitely appears to be generous. We’ll take a look at that just in a bit and a little bit more cargo room in the back and some of those other subcompact options. You can really see that as we move to the rear – and we open this hatch – that we find a cargo area back here that doesn’t appear to be too far off of some of the compact crossovers out there.
This cargo area isn’t quite as square as what we see in the CRV or rav4, but I suspect that the overall cargo capacity is not really going to be too far off and for spare tire lovers out there. We do find a donut spare tire under there and a two-stage load floor that makes this cargo area even deeper. Now back, we have a slightly different and more aggressive design than we see in the rest of the Kia lineup. This model does look like.
It has combination LED tail lamps, and then we have this interesting satin bar right there across from one side to the other. An interesting touch of the cell, toast I didn’t quite expect – is that Kia’s going for a slightly more aggressive, more offer of capable entry and some of the other compact crossovers or subcompact crossovers out there. We get 7.2 inches of ground clearance in here, which is definitely above the average in the subcompact category, and this all-wheel drive system has the ability to fully lock the center coupling also a little bit unexpected and not very common in this particular group. So this is definitely gon na be more offer capable than some of those very close to the ground entries or, of course, some of the entries like the Nissan kicks or the Toyota CHR that aren’t available with all-wheel drive at all.
Under the hood, we find two different engines at launch: there’s a 2-liter, naturally aspirated four-cylinder engine that produces 146 horsepower. It’s made it to a continuously variable automatic transmission. So if you’re not a fan of cvts, you may want to upgrade into this engine right here. It’s a 1.6 liter turbo.
This gets Kia’s latest 7-speed dual-clutch transmission that we’ve seen in a few other vehicles in their lineup. This gives you 175 horsepower and 195 pound-feet of torque. So it’s not the most powerful version of this 1.6, unlike the Kia Soul, but very much like the Sportage. All wheel.
Drive will be available in the Seltos and that’s gon na be one of the big differentiators between this and something like a Nissan kicks or, of course, the Kia Soul. In an interesting twist, if you check the all-wheel drive option box, we get a fully independent rear suspension, which should definitely improve the overall handling abilities of this versus the front-wheel drive model. Overall fret see comfort appears to be pretty good. This is the very top and trim SX model.
Unfortunately, they haven’t shown us what the actual base models look like just yet, but we do have a multi-way adjustable driver’s seat with a two-way adjustable lumbar support. A really nice touch in this particular segment. A lot of folks get away without lumbar support at all, and we have a tilt telescopic steering column. Now again, this is the very top end trim.
So you aren’t gon na see all of these features in the base model overall rear seat room appears to be pretty generous sitting right there. Behind myself, I have several inches of legroom left, I think, in terms of overall interior dimensions. This is a little bit more like the Jeep Compass and a little bit less like the Jeep renegade. The Jeep Compass is also sort of a tweener vehicle that slots between a lot of sub compacts at the bottom and the average compact crossover in America.
I definitely have a decent amount of headroom. Thanks to this very square roofline, I have about an inch and a half of overall Headroom left it a little bit of a surprise. These rear seats have a two-stage recline mechanism to them, and the most upright stage is not terribly upright, so I think both are very usable now. This is not quite as wide as some of the compact crossovers out there.
So if you do, plan on putting three folks across the rear know that you will find a little bit more room and something like the Sportage, the rav4 or the CRV. Bearing in mind that this is a direct competitor, something like the Honda HRV as well as the Jeep Compass over all interior parts, quality appears to be very high. This is the very top end trips you’re gon na find things in here again that we don’t find on the base model, but we do have a leather wrapped steering wheel. This does have a button for the kia highway driving assistant, which is their more aggressive.
Lane Assist feature that was an interesting touch. I didn’t expect you will still find some hard plastics on top of the dash like this Vinik’el over the instrument cluster, but other than that. The rest of the parts in this interior appear to be very high quality, especially this large touchscreen infotainment system right here in the dashboard. This was a little bit unexpected.
Now, you’ll only find this in the very top and trim, but all versions of the Seltos will get at least an eight inch touchscreen. That’s definitely large for this category, regardless of which screen you get all versions will have apple, carplay and android auto standard. As move down the dashboard, we find some soft touch materials. This section of the dashboard appears to be a soft touch.
Plastic. The upper sections are definitely hard, just as you’d expect in an inexpensive vehicle, we have a single zone, automatic climate control, a drive mode knob right over here next to the shifter. Ventilated seats are available, a very rare touch in this particular segment, as is this lock button right here, because this will get a variant of the same all-wheel-drive system that we see in a number of other hyundai and kia vehicles. This includes a full lock functionality for the center coupling and software to help distribute the power left and right in the vehicle.
We still find a single USB input right there in the center, but we do have achieve. Is charging mat moving over to the front door panels? Again, we do find hard plastics at the top, just as you’d expect in an expensive vehicle, but a decent amount of soft touch plastics right where your elbows will meet the door. An interesting touch is that we have a Bose audio system in here.
That was a little bit unexpected. This is the first Bose audio system that kia has ever put into a vehicle. At this point of time, we don’t have an exact on sale date for the Seltos, but expect this to be on dealer lots sometime in early 2020, hopefully I’ll be driving this pretty soon. A really good sign is that we do know general based pricing.
We’re told to expect us to start under $ 22,000, so perhaps twenty one thousand nine hundred dollars – we don’t know exactly, but you can bet. This is definitely gon na, be right in line with the bulk of the competition from the HRV to the CSR and even the related Hyundai Kona, as we come around the vehicle. One of the things that I really like about this design is its overall practicality, something I’ve also noted in the all-new Kia Telluride, and that is this really flat roof line right here. I really appreciate that.
They’re doing this in the Kia Soul, this cell, toast and, of course, the Telluride that really improves overall cargo practicality and rear seat room. This cargo area is definitely a lot more square than we see in the Honda Kona. That’s certainly going to make it a bit more practical. It also helps this vehicle look a little bit bigger and a little bit more imposing than it otherwise would again in photos.
I assume this would be a lot smaller in person, but, looking at this out here at the LA Auto Show, it definitely appears to be a little bit larger than some of those other options, but still going to be incredible. Just as soon as I can get my hands on.