2024 KIA Seltos: Will It Be Available In Hybrid Version?
The Kia Seltos is a small SUV. It is worth mentioning against the Subaru Crosstrek, Chevrolet Trailblazer, and Hyundai Kona.
The Kia Seltos is a good choice overall, with plenty of styles and features for the buck. Seltos brings some changes besides a few security features on most versions this year.
Measuring about 172 inches, the Seltos is the smallest all-wheel drive SUV available in the Kia range. It may be small but stylish—maybe too much for some tastes.
It’s more conservative inside, where the choice of an 8.0 or 10.3-inch screen takes up a bit of dashboard real estate.
The 4-cylinder base is paired with a CVT for decent acceleration and a combined fuel economy of about 30 mpg.
While the 175-hp turbo-4 in the SX trim might be tempting, we weren’t impressed with the 7-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. It also uses more fuel, so look for the best combined 27 mpg.
The Seltos have a softer ride than the sporty style suggests. The fast steering makes it relatively fun to drive.
The Seltos offers a spacious cabin with an impressive cargo area for smaller SUVs. It’s also well-equipped, with standard automatic emergency braking, rear traffic alerts, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and roam control between its assets.
Crash-test results were mixed, with a four-star rating from NHTSA invalidating IIHS’s Top Safety Pick score in specific configurations.
2024 KIA Seltos Price
The 2024 Seltos runs a little over $24,000 to start in the LX trim, which we think is a good value because the all-wheel drive is standard at that price point.
The budget is again $3,000 or more, and the EX with synthetic leather trim, the power adjustable driver’s seat, sunroof, and seat heater feel almost decadent at just $27,500 or more.
Exterior
The smiling grille is flanked by intricate headlights, with many pieces and lines that add intrigue and complexity.
The Seltos is relatively conservative from the side, although the belt line that curves upwards to separate the body from the contrasting roof adds to the fun. At the rear, the large taillights connected by matte silver rods have less character than other designs.
Things inside are much more like a business with a low dashboard that houses small groups of BMW-Esque controls. Chrome shooting instructions for the high-end are countered with too much glossy black trim.
2024 KIA Seltos Performance
All-wheel drive comes standard on all but the basis of the Seltos S at an additional cost of $ 1 500.
A 146-hp 2.0-liter inline-4 drives most versions of the Seltos, although the SX version uses a 175-hp 1.6-liter turbo-4.
A sufficiently responsive steering and a comfortable ride were not enough to compensate for the tedious acceleration at the base of the Seltos, so we landed at 5 out of 10 on the TCC scale.
The CVT of the base engine is geared—literally—more towards savings than performance, so it does its best to keep engine revs low at the expense of a quick response.
Most of our rides use the Seltos model with turbo, arguably quite fast but paired with a 7-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.
This gearbox stumbled through a low-speed change and hesitated more than it should have to pass the highway.
The Seltos may look sporty, but the reasonably soft ride makes it slimmer than we expected. The steering response is fast but feels light, although the Sport driving mode has tightened a bit.
Comfort
The 2024 Kia Seltos feels airier inside than its neat dimensions. The large cargo area earned him extra points for six on the TCC scale.
The front seats are wide enough to accommodate a variety of bodies, although they are flat and light enough to support. Standard fabrics can be upgraded to synthetic leather, and heated seats are available.
Second-row riders will find good legroom and reclining seat backs, although the width is not enough to comfortably accommodate three adults. Consider a four-seater Seltos.
A disappointing small truck tailgate and a relatively high liftover revealed a large cargo area for such a small SUV. The 26.6-foot cargo area is expanded to large, powerful 62.8 cubes with folded rear seat backrests.
2024 KIA Seltos Safety
IIHS says it’s a Top Safety Pick with led headlights in the high-end version. The other models performed well overall, though. NHTSA, meanwhile, rated it a disappointing four-star rating overall.
Standard technologies include automatic emergency braking, active lane control, automatic headlights, and rear traffic alerts.
Features
Kia packs a lot of features into the Seltos, which this year starts at $24,135 with standard all-wheel drive, collision avoidance technology, 17-inch alloy wheels, fabric seats, air conditioning, cruise control, and an 8.0-inch touchscreen with Bluetooth Compatibility, Apple CarPlay, and Android Auto.
Thanks to a nice feature set, a large infotainment screen, and a 5-year/60,000-mile warranty, the Seltos rated it 8 out of 10 on the TCC scale.
Seltos LX, S, and EX
The LX model will pass the mid-level S, although it’s the only Seltos with front-wheel drive available ($24,185, or $1,500 more with all-wheel drive). It’s mostly an appearance package.
The EX stacks in a power-adjustable driver’s seat, synthetic leather upholstery, a sunroof, a 10.3-inch touchscreen, and 18-inch wheels for $27,500 or more, and it’s worth the splurge if you want to.
Fuel Economy
This isn’t too bad, although the all-wheel-drive version of the 2023 Kia Seltos feels more thirsty.
The basic front-wheel-drive model assesses 29 mpg of the city, 35 highways, and 31 combined. They will score four on our scale if rated separately.
In contrast, according to the EPA, the more popular all-wheel-drive version rates 27/31/29 mpg, which is suitable for the 3 of us. The turbo version is not too thirsty at 25/30/27 mpg.
2024 Kia Seltos Facelift
