As cars continue to be wildly expensive, offerings under $30,000 are more important than ever. These are the cars lots of buyers can actually afford, transportation with a warranty for John Q. Public. Dominated largely by sedans and barely-bigger-than-a-hatchback crossovers, it’s relatively rare to find a genuinely spacious CUV in this price bracket, which makes the new Kia Seltos rather interesting.
The old Kia Seltos was a pure value play that generally made for a competent commuter. With space for adults in the rear seats, a reasonably sized cargo hold, loads of features, and a low starting price of $25,285, it was a lot of car for the money. Spend a little bit more for drive to all four wheels, and you’d get the second-cheapest AWD car in America.
So, when Kia announced that the second-generation Seltos was going to grow up in dimensions and feature count, I felt a bit of trepidation. Sure, an extra 1.2 cu.-ft. of cargo space behind the rear seats and nearly an extra inch of rear legroom sounds useful, but we’ve seen the story of bigger, more complex, and more expensive time and time again. It turns out, the new Seltos doesn’t start out much more expensive than the old one, and what you get for the money is impressive.
Let’s start right at the bottom of the range, the base front-wheel-drive LX trim. At $26,485 including freight, it’s $1,200 more than the old one, but you get extra stuff to go with the extra space. Right off the rip, you get a much more sophisticated infotainment system. Screen size grows from eight inches to 12.3 inches, and you still get a volume knob and a variety of shortcut keys. More importantly, it now adopts Kia’s latest user interface, which has bigger, easier-to-navigate tiles than the old setup. Speaking of connectivity, the old base Seltos came with three USB ports, but this new one features five USB-C ports. And you now get a steering wheel wrapped in synthetic leather, front and rear parking sensors, push-to-start, and—according to Kia’s spec sheet—an auto-dimming rearview mirror. That’s a lot of stuff.
So what are the compromises? Well, you lose a standard rear seat air vent, and the powertrain is essentially carried over from the old car. That means that on lower trims, you get a 147-horsepower two-liter inline-four hitched to a CVT. The big head-scratcher is the lack of steering-wheel-mounted audio and cruise controls despite the Seltos coming standard with radar cruise control. Still, for $26,485, this is looking like a lot of crossover. But what if you want all-wheel drive? Ah, that’s where things start to get a little pricier. The cheapest LX AWD model now costs $1,700 more than the old one, $28,185 including freight, to be precise. However, that still makes it $230 cheaper than the least expensive Subaru Crosstrek, with the Seltos trading horsepower for features and space.
Want a 12-way power driver’s seat, wireless smartphone charging, blind spot monitoring, 18-inch wheels, and a few black cosmetic bits? That means stepping up to the S trim, which retails for $27,885 in front-wheel-drive form and $29,585 in all-wheel-drive spec. That’s a noticeable jump in price for not a whole lot more features, and it makes the X-Line S seem like a better deal. Think of it as an AWD S with faux-leather upholstery, LED taillights, a rear center armrest, and heated front seats for $30,485 including freight.
What’s next on the trim walk? Well, it’s the EX, and this is where some of the real creature comforts start to come in. Things like dual-zone automatic climate control with a rear seat air vent, heated mirrors, automatic functionality on all four power windows, and a power liftgate. Pricing for this trim starts at $29,885 with front-wheel-drive and $31,585 with all-wheel-drive. Again, this still has the naturally aspirated engine and CVT, so if you’re looking for more oomph, you’ll need to go all the way up to the top X-Line SX trim.
At $34,585, this is the most expensive Seltos you can buy, but it comes with a 190-horsepower turbocharged 1.6-liter inline-four and a conventional eight-speed automatic. It also gets you 19-inch wheels, projector headlights, a standard panoramic moonroof, solar glass, and a heated steering wheel. Weirdly, there’s an option package available on top of that, which includes a Harman/Kardon sound system, ventilated front seats, GPS navigation, a big digital instrument cluster, a 360-degree camera system, and a few extra driver assistance systems.
Still, load up a Seltos, and you’re starting to encroach on the pricing of a Sportage, or a Hyundai Tucson, or a Honda CR-V. Keep it cheap and cheerful by going with the base trim, and it still seems like it could be solid value. Of course, not only are we waiting on pricing for the forthcoming Seltos Hybrid, there’s only one way to be sure about whether the new model’s good and that’s by putting tire to tarmac. David’s driving it next month, so we should have the full story on Kia’s smart-looking new entry-level crossover soon. If it drives nearly as mature as it looks, it should be a winner.
Top graphic image: Kia
I like it. I know it’s not an enthusiast’s car, but I kind like the Kicks too, and Invista.
“…And you now get a steering wheel wrapped in synthetic leather, front and rear parking sensors, push-to-start, and—according to Kia’s spec sheet—an auto-dimming rearview mirror…”
Manual Transmission F*rds had that feature for over 80 years!
Nope. Sorry but at this moment I don’t really trust the brand. And given the runaround they gave two people I know with Kias that are using quarts of oil between gas fill ups. The 4 cylinder engines they use are pretty atrocious.
Until I read overwhelming evidence that their garbage-tier dealership experience has changed, I have no interest in anything Kia makes.
We are getting the Seltos too (albeit in hybrid only I believe). Is it any good?
I mean this is what the Koreans do best and it remains their segment to lose. They’ve had the cheap, cheerful compact crossover market locked down for more than a decade at this point. It’s wild to think about now, but the first gen Kona kind of turned out to be a game changer when all was said and done, and I don’t just say that because I own one. The Soul was as well, although I know there’s a subset of people that vocally hate that car so we can move along.
Anyway if you can live with the inherent reliability and long term value compromises you’re making when you buy a new Kia then I’m sure this will be perfectly cromulent transportation with a little extra flair. You either love or hate Hyundai/Kia designs with little in between, but you certainly can’t call them boring, and I think that’s what’s made them such a force in this segment.
It may be a soulless appliance beneath the skin…but it sure as hell doesn’t look like one or feel like one, and for many people that’s more than enough. It won’t be as problem free as something Japanese and after 5 years it’ll be worth like $17, but for under $30,000 you could do a whole hell of a lot worse.
Will it really depreciate that much more? Just a single data point, but Edmunds says the 5-year cost to own is the 2nd lowest for a ’21 Seltos compared to a ’21 C-HR, ’21 Crosstrek and ’21 HR-V. And all the categories (depreciation, taxes & fees, financing, fuel, insurance, repairs, and maintenance) are all within spitting distance of each other. Heck, the total 5 year cost of rest are all within spitting distance of each other.
They should have never killed the Soul. I bet that’s why the Seltos is bigger now as it was smaller than the Soul, but more expensive.
I agree that it looks a lot like a 125% scale Soul. If Kia still offered the Soul, it would probably start at around $24,500 anyhow. I can’t see paying $35k for a loaded up Seltos, but for under $30k OTD, I think they will sell zillions.