Kia has clearly decided wacky names help its SUVs stand out from the crowd. Take this small SUV,
it's called the Seltos. Yep, attention gained. Now, let's find out if it's deserved.
[pause]
The Seltos sits above the Stonic and below the Sportage in the Kia line up. Told you,
wacky names. In this case, we're testing the Sport, which is the second tier up in the four
model range walk. It's priced around $30,000 before on-road costs and lines up against a
bivvy of opposition in the booming small SUV segment, including the MG ZS, Mitsubishi ASX
and its own stable-mate, the Hyundai Kona. In fact, the Seltos and the Kona share the same
underpinning platform, although you wouldn't know it at a glance, the Kia is not only longer, it's
also boxier. Kia Seltos design features include the Kia tiger nose grille and the driving lights
stacked on the headlights, while the Sport gets these 17-inch alloy wheels. The Seltos Sport uses
the same two litre four-cylinder petrol engine as the Hyundai Kona Active we recently tested.
The performance numbers aren't big, but nor is the fuel consumption.
Again, like the Kona Active, the Seltos Sport comes with a continuously variable transmission
and front wheel drive, both of which aid that impressive fuel consumption number.
When you get in the Seltos Sport, it does nothing to suggest it's anything other than an affordable,
small car. There's not a lot here in the way of jewellery and embellishments.
The surfaces are mostly hard to the touch and the seat trim is cloth rather than more prestigious
leather, but you get what you need in terms of adjustments and instruments. There's a place to
store your bits and bobs and stuff. The cabin of the Seltos Sport is nothing too special.
There's inbuilt sat-nav here as well as Apple Car Play and Android Auto.
There is no wireless smartphone charging or let alone connection, but there are two USB outlets.
Kia has a bit of an HY bet when it comes to safety systems for the Seltos Sport.
There's a $1000 safety pack that includes a more sophisticated version of AEB,
adaptive cruise control and bigger rear disks. Sitting atop the dashboard, this 10.25-inch touch
screen is the big technical talking point in the Seltos Sport's cabin. The door bins are small, the
litter bin is okay rather than great, there are a couple of cup holders and a decent glove box.
In the back seat is where the Seltos Sport really excels. There can't be many, if any, small SUVs
that have more rear seat space. But don't expect much in the way of features back here. No aircon
vents, no seat back pockets, no fold-down armrest, no USB outlets, just a couple of small
door pockets. Really, Kia could have made rear seat residents feel that a little bit more loved.
In terms of size, the boot is the other big winner here. For the segment, it really is generous,
and under the floor, a full-sized tyre on an alloy wheel. That's excellent.
But no pockets, no string nets, not much at all. Once again, Kia saved itself a few bucks here
and come off as stingy. So far, the Seltos Sport stacks up as a bit of a mixed bag,
so let's hit the road and see what the story is there.
Settle in and it's nice that everything pretty easily and comfortably falls to hand. The engine
is very much a known entity and does a good job of transporting us around without ever getting
too noisy or strained. The CVT combines with it well, avoiding the constant jumping between gears,
small non-turbo engines sometimes trigger in orthodox Auto. The Seltos Sport
drives agreeably enough without being anything special. The electric assist steering has a bit
of a rubbery feel to it, but it works with the well-controlled body to produce stable handling.
The Seltos Sport comes with a bespoke local suspension chain that produces a firm but
well-controlled ride. As an entry level model in the Seltos range, the Sport comes
with a torsion beam rear suspension rather than a multi-link set up. For the most part, no problem.
There is though occasionally, a bit of liveliness over mid-corner bumps.
The Seltos Sport couldn't match its stellar fuel consumption claim during our test drive,
but it still averaged under eight litres per 100 kilometres, which is very good. A lot of
people are gonna use the Seltos Sport as an urban runabout. In that role, light steering,
big windows and its small size are very helpful. Less useful is the lack of front parking sensors.
But the Seltos Sport comes with a very strong ownership plan, including a seven-year warranty
and cap price servicing. Despite its wacky name, the Seltos Sport turns out to be nothing more or
less than a competent small SUV. However, it is disappointing that Kia hasn't capitalized
on all that excellent rear seat space and made passengers back there feel more welcome. Do that,
and the Seltos Sport becomes more than competent and more attention-getting too.