KIA SUV SHAPES UP AS AN EASY SELL
Well-priced, cleverly styled and due in spring, the Seltos does a sizing sleight-of-hand
Dead certs. We all love to know about them, be it Melbourne Cup winner, share price jumps or the next property boom suburb. Most are impossible to predict, except perhaps the success of Kia’s new Seltos. Talk about right car at the right time at the right price. Dropping into the in-vogue small SUV segment — sales were up nearly 20 per cent last year — it’s a striking looking high-rider with no obvious weakness. Big sales are almost guaranteed.
The cost? Expected to be about $26,000 drive-away, very sharp indeed. Add to that Kia’s market-leading seven-year warranty, strong standard safety kit, generous features, quality infotainment and class-leading cabin space and boot. The icing on the cake comes in the form of
two-tone colours and some beautiful style touches such as the raised diamond pattern on the grille surround.
The last time I drove such a sure thing was the launch of the Mazda CX-3, which has since rocketed to the top of the sales charts.
Kia can expect a similar result for the Seltos when it reaches Australian showrooms in about three months.`
Kia Australia boss Damien Meredith predicts 650 to 750 sales a month initially, the tally limited by a lack of supply.
A small SUV has been a glaring omission from the Kia line-up for too long.
“We’re late to the dance,” Meredith says, “but it’s an incredibly important car and we’re very confident, in a market sense, it’ll be incredibly well accepted.”
Once supply can meet demand, you don’t need a crystal ball to back the Seltos troubling segment leaders Mitsubishi ASX, Mazda CX-3, Honda HR-V and Hyundai Kona.
Based on the SUV’s suggested price and level of equipment, I’d pick the Seltos over the opposition.
It will land in S, Sport, Sport+ and GT-Line grades. Base S spec has 16-inch alloys, halogen daylight running lamps, cruise control, eightinch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, rear camera and sensors, autonomous emergency braking and lane-keep assist. That’s most of your style, infotainment and safety non-negotiables, for $26K on the road.
The Sport will be less than $30,000 driveaway, bringing 17-inch alloys with full-size spare, climate control and excellent 10.25-inch, high-definition widescreen.
The Sport+ ups the luxe with cloth/artificial leather heated seats, heated steering wheel and extended active safety.
The range-topping GT-Line is a style powerhouse with intricately crafted headlights, daytime running lights, layered indicators and ice cube-like fog lights — all LEDs — plus full artificial leather on power, ventilated seats, mood lighting, wireless phone charging and seven-inch digital instrument cluster. All for less than $40,000 drive-away.
You may think that’s an expensive small Korean but the Seltos is on the border between
small and mid-size SUVs. Passenger space is excellent, and its 498L boot trumps many medium SUVs, Kia’s own Sportage for one. If you go to the showroom to buy the latter, good luck coming out without signing for a Seltos.
Its rear seats recline for comfort and we fitted three adults — slim ones, admittedly — across the back with leg and headroom in spades. It feels a full car size larger in the back than the CX-3 and Kona rivals.
ON THE ROAD
The only Seltos available to test in and around Seoul was the Korean market spec with 1.6-litre four-cylinder turbo (130kW/265Nm). Backed by a dual-clutch auto, this engine will be used in AWD Sport+ and GT-Line models in Australia, the performance picks with a 0-100km/h time of 8.0 seconds.
The other engine to come to Australia, as standard on S, Sport and Sport+ front-drivers, will be a less spritely 110kW 2.0-litre. Mated to a continuously variable transmission, it should prove adequate rather than rewarding for the youthful urban and suburban target market.
At first sight, the Seltos strikes you as a chunky thing with long wheelbase and large doors, almost making a mockery of its small SUV classification.
It’s a wide-feeling cabin, and in our highspecification version the dominating touchscreen, prestige-feel door handles, soft padding and curvaceous dash gave an air of class. Cheap-feeling hard plastics for the centre console, dash top and door tops let it down.
Koreans obviously like their suspension to err on the side of wallowy and the local Seltos bounced and body-rolled along our test route, restricting driver enjoyment. That said, it blocked road noise impressively and cruising proved a relaxing delight — pivotal for Seoul’s clogged streets and freeways.
Kia Australia has already done local testing and will tweak the steering and suspension on vehicles headed our way. We couldn’t test these but given previous form there’s little doubt the cars will corner better, courtesy of stiffer suspension and sharper steering.
Hopefully they’ve fettled the dual-clutch transmission’s settings too, as it was an often lazy, unresponsive thing on our test. The 1.6litre turbo hauled well when revs climbed but didn’t like being called into action in a hurry.
There was no opportunity to test the 2.0litre with CVT, though it’s unlikely to create much driving joy.
Given the differences in specification between our Korean test cars and those that will land here, it’s difficult to give a definitive verdict on whether the Seltos will be as good to drive as the segment leaders here, not that buyers are likely to care too much.
Style, value and equipment should be convincing enough to seal the deal for the Seltos. Its neatest trick, the ability to feel like a medium-sized SUV at small SUV money, could be an irresistible selling point.