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    Kia Seltos 2020 review: Sport+ long-term

    Andrew Chesterton
    Andrew Chesterton
    Contributing Journalist
    7 Sep 2020 • 17 min read

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    The Kia Seltos Sport+ is a small SUV with big aspirations. But can the Kia's newest SUV cut it in our long-term garage. We asked Andrew Chesterton to put it to the urban family (two adults, one very small corgi) test to find out.

    Report 1 - August 2020

    Sometimes it’s the strangest, smallest things that can paint a smile on your face when you’ve been living with a new car. Sure, there’s the obvious stuff - the engine, the gearbox, how many seats it’s got - but there are often also unexpected surprises that will leave you suddenly grinning, too. 

    In the Kia Seltos, that surprise arrived with a thump. And I mean that literally - it was the satisfying thump of the rear passenger door shutting that had me smiling. See, days earlier, I had climbed out of a more expensive small SUV - one with semi-premium aspirations - and shutting the rear door gave you the impression of folding wet cardboard. There was a uninspiring lightness, and cheapness, to the door construction, and it just didn’t feel anything like solid or satisfying when you swung it shut.

    Fast-forward to the Seltos, though, and you’re left with the impression of moving granite when you close the doors. It’s solid, satisfying and decidedly premium feeling. Better still, it’s one of a number of pleasant surprises that have flooded our first month of Seltos ownership. 

    The Sport+ is also available as an AWD. The Sport+ is also available as an AWD.

    There's plenty of time for us to deep-dive the specification of the Seltos, so I thought for this, my first dispatch from the driver's seat of Kia's newest SUV, I might do things little differently, and focus not on the spec sheet, but on the little niceties that you likely won't notice until your first, second or third month of ownership is in your rear-view mirror.

    But first, let's get the obvious stuff out of the way first. This is the Kia Seltos Sport+ FWD.  That means it gets a 2.0-litre petrol engine delivering 110kW and  and 180Nm, with that power fed through a CVT automatic and send, unsurprisingly, the front tyres. It will cost you $33,990 drive away. 

    The Sport+ is also available as an AWD, with swaps the engine out for a 1.6-litre turbo and the CVT for a seven-speed DCT auto, but that ups the cost to $37,490. If you're a city-dweller, like me, then I really wouldn't bother.

    Either way, the Sport+ is among the more expensive ways into a Seltos. It sits below only the GT-Line (which is a considerable $42,990 drive-away), and above the Sport Safety Pack ($31,490), the Sport ($30,490), the S with Safety Pack ($27,990) and the entry-level S ($26,990).  All those prices are drive-away, too. 

    The Sport+ is among the more expensive ways into a Seltos. The Sport+ is among the more expensive ways into a Seltos.

    Yes, the Sport+ FWD is around $7k more than the cheapest Seltos, but it's also probably the sweet spot in the range, offering plenty of bang for those bucks. Think 17-inch alloys, a massive touchscreen, climate control in the front, push-button start and keyless entry, LED interior lights, leather-accented seating and more safety stuff than you can shake a parking sensor at, earning the Seltos a five-star ANCAP safety rating. 

    Expect front and rear parking sensors, a rear-view camera with guidance lines and six airbags (front, front-side and curtain), but also some high-tech equipment, too. The Sport+ model gets lane keep assist, AEB with pedestrian and cyclist detection, rear cross-traffic avoidance, lane change assist and blind-spot detection. 

    First, as promised, the surprises. I know I said we wouldn't be deep-diving specifications on this dispatch, but forgive me this one, because it also acts as the first eye-widening feature in the Seltos.

    And that is the fact that Kia's smallest SUV actually isn't that small. It measures 1800mm in width, and 4370mm in length, which is big for a car in that segment. The Hyundai Kona, for example, is 4165mm in length.

    The biggest tech boon is by far the massive 10.25-inch touchscreen perched in the centre of the dash. The biggest tech boon is by far the massive 10.25-inch touchscreen perched in the centre of the dash.

    And that means a big boot. In fact, its 433 litres with the rear seats in place outshines the Kona (361), Mazda CX-30 (317) and Nissan Juke (422), and most others in the small SUV segment. Only the Honda HR-V (437), Jeep Compass (438) and Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross (448) betters it. 

    Proof, as ever, that not all small SUV's are created equal, or at least equally sized, and the extra boot space (and room in the backseat, for that matter - our corgi, poppy, had plenty of leg-room. But that might have also had something to do with the fact each leg is about the length of a Tim Tam) comes in plenty handy in a car this size. 

    Onto surprised number two, then. And yes, this sounds minor, but it's also utterly unexpected in a car in this segment, and that is the tech-friendly nature of the interior. The cabin lights, for example, are touch-operated, so you merely need to caress them with a finger tip to activate them, and the air-con display is digitalised, as is the screen in the driver's binnacle.

    But the biggest tech boon is by far the massive 10.25-inch touchscreen perched in the centre of the dash. It's huge, clear and simply to use, and seriously wouldn't feel out of place in something German. You can split the screen (nav on one side, music on the other, for example) and because it's Apple CarPlay and Android Auto equipped, you simply plug your mobile in an away you go. In-built navigation is standard here, but I'm yet to use it. Because with constantly updated Google Maps at your fingertips, why would you?

    The fact is that Kia's smallest SUV actually isn't that small. The fact is that Kia's smallest SUV actually isn't that small.

    Final surprise? The CVT automatic. Yes, constantly variable transmissions were as welcome as coronavirus second wave when they burst onto the scene, with the earliest versions trading driving enjoyment for better fuel efficiency, leaving the driver with the short end of the stick.

    But in the Seltos (and a lot of other modern CVTs, to be fair) the transmission has improved immeasurably. Still not quite as simple and unobtrusive as a torque converter, but honestly, most of droning has been removed from the drive experience. 

    In fact, it's only when you really put the boot into the Seltos that you notice it's doing its CVT thing at all, otherwise it just quietly goes about its business.

    So more surprises than an M. Night Shyamalan flick. And there's more to come. The question is, will they all remain surprises of the pleasant variety? Join us for the next instalment as we put the Seltos the urban-life test.

    Acquired: July 2020

    Distance travelled this month: 430.5km

    Odometer: 5932km

    Average fuel consumption for July: 9.7L/100

    Report 2 - September 2020

    Kia's executives reckon they can't get their hands on enough examples of the Seltos to meet the soaring demand for it in Australia. Every one they get, they sell. Simple as that.

    Imagine that: in a world so flooded with SUVs of every possible shape and size, and from every possible manufacturer, that you're probably better off with an ark than a car, the Seltos has struck such a chord with the buying public that the Korean brand can't build them fast enough.

    There's only really one other car I can think of that captured the buying public's imagination so quickly, and that's Toyota's RAV4. But that is equipped with hybrid tech at a time when fuel efficiency has never been so cool, carries the heritage of its nameplate, along with the hefty weight of Toyota's enduring popularity.

    What does the Kia Seltos have? At a glance? Nothing not offered by its competition. Our car, the Sport+, has a traditional 2.0-litre engine paired with a CVT gearbox, so nothing particularly high-tech there.

    But some cars are clearly more than the simple sum of their parts. Because while there are no headline-grabbing features, after more than two months behind the wheel of this mid-tier Seltos, I haven't been able to find much in the way of flaws either.

    Still, that was in a locked-down Sydney. And the opportunity arrived this month to put the Seltos to its first real test - a several-hundred-kilometre road trip north of the CBD, a land where phone reception is non-existent and the roads are more dirt than tarmac, to see is this city-focused SUV really can cut it as an all-rounder.

    • Can the Kia Seltos shine so brightly away from the city? (image: Andrew Chesterton) Can the Kia Seltos shine so brightly away from the city? (image: Andrew Chesterton)
    • What does the Kia Seltos have? At a glance? Nothing not offered by its competition. (image: Andrew Chesterton) What does the Kia Seltos have? At a glance? Nothing not offered by its competition. (image: Andrew Chesterton)
    • A special mention here also the Seltos’ ride and handling balance. (image: Andrew Chesterton) A special mention here also the Seltos’ ride and handling balance. (image: Andrew Chesterton)
    • Kia's executives reckon they can't get their hands on enough examples of the Seltos to meet the soaring demand for it in Australia. (image: Andrew Chesterton) Kia's executives reckon they can't get their hands on enough examples of the Seltos to meet the soaring demand for it in Australia. (image: Andrew Chesterton)

    First, this is a high-rider, sure, but it's no off-roader. Our Seltos is the Sport+ FWD, which pairs a 2.0-litre petrol engine (110kW and and 180Nm), a CVT automatic, sending power to the front tyres.

    This same car, the Sport+, is also available as an AWD, which delivers a smaller but more powerful 1.6-litre turbo engine and a seven-speed DCT auto, but ours is strictly a front-drive affair. As it turns out, that would present no issue on the dirt roads and State Forest tracks of the Mid-North Coast. I've said this before, but unless yours is a life of rock crawling and remote campsites, four-wheel drive is overrated.

    Before we get to all that though, we faced our first challenge, which was fitting all our gear in, with clothes, food, booze, a keyboard, books and our little corgi, Poppy, all needing to find a home in the boot or the backseat.

    The Seltos delivers some 433 litres of luggage space with the backseat in place (which it needed to be, owing to the aforementioned corgi), which would swell to 1393 litres if we'd been able to drop them.

    • The Seltos delivers some 433 litres of luggage space with the backseat in place (which it needed to be, owing to the aforementioned corgi). (image: Andrew Chesterton) The Seltos delivers some 433 litres of luggage space with the backseat in place (which it needed to be, owing to the aforementioned corgi). (image: Andrew Chesterton)
    • Even with the rear seats, occupied, though, the Seltos serves up a shallow but wide load space - enough to swallow a suitcase or two. (image: Andrew Chesterton) Even with the rear seats, occupied, though, the Seltos serves up a shallow but wide load space - enough to swallow a suitcase or two. (image: Andrew Chesterton)

    Even with the rear seats, occupied, though, the Seltos serves up a shallow but wide load space - enough to swallow a suitcase or two - though the fact a (commendable) spare wheel lives under the load shelf, vertical stacking height is compromised if you still want to see out the back window.

    It meant we had to revert to the backseat to carry our excess gear (if you look carefully at the photo you might even spot a corgi in there somewhere), but the Seltos eventually carried everything we needed it to.

    Heading north from Sydney, the Seltos quickly settled into its routine, happily hovering at the 110km/h speed limit without really feeling like it was trying too hard. It's also seriously comfortable, this Sport+, with its pleather-trimmed fabric seats offering a commendable blend of softness and support, and requiring none of the post-drive stretching you find in harder, sportier vehicles.

    It wasn't until we approached our first destination, Seal Rocks, that we made use of a feature we'd to date ignored entirely, the on-board navigation.

    • First, this is a high-rider, sure, but it's no off-roader. (image: Andrew Chesterton) First, this is a high-rider, sure, but it's no off-roader. (image: Andrew Chesterton)
    • I've said this before, but unless yours is a life of rock crawling and remote campsites, four-wheel drive is overrated. (image: Andrew Chesterton) I've said this before, but unless yours is a life of rock crawling and remote campsites, four-wheel drive is overrated. (image: Andrew Chesterton)
    • Our Seltos is the Sport+ FWD, which pairs a 2.0-litre petrol engine (110kW and and 180Nm), a CVT automatic, sending power to the front tyres. (image: Andrew Chesterton) Our Seltos is the Sport+ FWD, which pairs a 2.0-litre petrol engine (110kW and and 180Nm), a CVT automatic, sending power to the front tyres. (image: Andrew Chesterton)

    In a world of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, there's simply no need for a clunky navigation system any longer. Or, almost no need. Because when our phones dropped out of range and we found ourselves thoroughly lost, the GPS was a very welcome solution.

    It's harder and more annoying to use than your phone, and the routes and traffic aren't updated like they are on Google Maps, but in a jam, you'll be thankful it's there. As we were. Without it, we'd likely still be circling through bushland, slowly running out fuel.

    Speaking of which, last month, when we'd mostly spent our time in the city, the average fuel consumption was hovering at above 9.0 litres per hundred kilometres, but out on the open road - including some slower, in-town driving - that number dropped to 6.4L/100km. With a full tank on board, the Selto's computer says you'll get around 650kms from its 50-litre tank.

    When our phones dropped out of range and we found ourselves thoroughly lost, the GPS was a very welcome solution. (image: Andrew Chesterton) When our phones dropped out of range and we found ourselves thoroughly lost, the GPS was a very welcome solution. (image: Andrew Chesterton)

    A special mention here also the Seltos' ride and handling balance. It's not a sports car, of course, but on right twisting road you won't find yourself swaying left and right with each corner, with the Kia feeling both connected and confidence-inspiring on fast-flowing roads.

    So did our road trip dampen our enthusiasm for Kia's newest SUV offering? Not even a little bit.

    Acquired: July 2020

    Distance travelled this month: 2045km

    Odometer: 7997km

    Average fuel consumption for August: 6.9L/100

    Report 3 - October

    And so it comes to this, biding a fond farewell to the Kia Seltos Sport+ that has wormed its way into our lives, and into our hearts, these past few months.

    Usually with something like this I'd make you read all the way to the end to get a solid idea of what I really think of the vehicle, but in the case of the Seltos I'm going to cut to the chase.

    So what do you really need to know about the not-so-small SUV from Kia? Probably the thing that matters most, and that is that, having now really lived with this car for the past four months, I’ve found nothing at all that would stop me getting one.

    And so it comes to this, biding a fond farewell to the Kia Seltos Sport+. And so it comes to this, biding a fond farewell to the Kia Seltos Sport+.

    It might be Kia’s first small SUV, but it definitely doesn’t feel like a first attempt, and months into our relationship, that new-car sparkle hasn't really faded. 

    What's more, in my opinion, there's really no need to upgrade to the more powerful engine (1.6-litre turbo) and fancier gearbox (seven-speed DCT), which will set you back some $37,490 in matching Sport+ guise.

    Ours, then, is a comparative bargain, at $33,990 drive away, and it's 2.0-lite engine, better-than-expected CVT automatic and front-wheel-drive set-up is more than capable match for the city, which means you get to keep the extra cash in your pocket. 

    Months into our relationship, that new-car sparkle hasn't really faded.  Months into our relationship, that new-car sparkle hasn't really faded. 

    Honestly, it’s a pretty happy drive experience across the board. I like the steering, the ride can feel a little jumpy at times, but you do feel more connected to what’s going on beneath the tyres than you might expect to in an SUV. Yes, you can get those front tyres chirping when you step on it away from lights, but that’s pretty normal too.

    For a start, visibility out of its wagon-like body is excellent, with large windows and generous wing mirrors giving you a great awareness of your surroundings. The driving position, while not sporty, is quite upright granting a commanding SUV view, and not all cars in this category do.

    Downsides? It's considerably more thirsty on city duties than it is in the bush, with our fuel use climbing up from around 6.4 litres per hundred kilometres, to well over eight litres this month, but that's also about bang-on the claimed urban consumption guide of 8.8L/100km. 

    I've also discovered one very strange quirk that I'm yet to get to the bottom of. At some point over the past six weeks or so, the front tyres have become incredibly worn, especially around the outside edges, to the point that the canvas below is showing. It's super strange, and it's possible that it's something that I've caused through my dedication to light off-roading which has possibly knocked the wheel alignment out of whack, but the wear is far beyond what's expected for a car with this many kays on it. We've reached out to Kia, and will report back with any findings.

    Visibility out of its wagon-like body is excellent. Visibility out of its wagon-like body is excellent.

    Acquired: July 2020

    Distance travelled this month: 672km

    Odometer: 8669km

    Average fuel consumption for September: 8.9L/100 

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    Verdict

    Short answer? The Seltos has been a welcome addition to our little family, and it's been impressive in a whole lot of ways over the past few months. It's not too big, and not too small, but most importantly, plenty of families will find it just right. 

    $22,990 - $39,999

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