No pricing data available at this time. Our Opinion - 2025 Kia Seltos Review Other subcompact SUVs, like the Hyundai Kona and Honda HR-V, can’t compare to the 2025 Kia Seltos. It has a strong base, a nice look, and a fair price. The interior of the Seltos is nicer and roomier than other cars in its class, even the best-ranked Chevrolet Trax. It also has a little more space for cargo. Both front-wheel drive and all-wheel drive are options, as well as two four-cylinder engines. The quick, optional 195-hp turbocharged engine makes driving the car even more fun, while the standard 146-hp engine is good enough but could be more powerful. Like its strange twin, the Kia Soul, the Seltos is a great deal for the money. Pick a Selto trim with a bigger tablet and a Bose sound system to get the most out of them. What's New? Kia improved the Seltos in 2024 by redesigning the outside and inside and giving it more speed. The company also changed a few things in 2025. The EX and SX trims now have a feature that tells you how far away you are from the car when you are backing up. The EX AWD version also comes with a smart motorized liftgate and trunk cover, which is standard. The base S model now has 17-inch two-tone metal wheels that look better. Pros and Cons Pros It’s simple and well-designed inside. Ride with ease. Most types have a lot of features. Cons The brand-new turbo engine isn’t much better. Plastics inside that stand out. Numerous strong competitors. Engine, Transmission, and Performance For the Seltos, Kia offers a 2.0-liter engine with 146 horsepower or a 1.6-liter turbocharged engine with 195 horsepower. The standard engine is paired with a continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT), while the turbo engine is paired with an eight-speed automatic gearbox. Not the S or EX models, but all of them come with all-wheel drive. The Seltos is a lot more fun to drive than competing models like the Jeep Compass and Mitsubishi Outlander Sport. It moves roughly but mostly smoothly, and for an SUV, it handles very well. Safety Kia gives the Seltos a basic set of driver-assistance technologies. You can add on more advanced features like adaptive cruise control, though. These safety factors are important: Typical automatic emergency braking that detects pedestrians. Normal lane exit warning with help staying in your lane. It comes with adaptive cruise control and a drive mode that lets you do some things on your own. Internal and External Cargo Capacity For a car this size, the Seltos has a lot of room inside for people and things. Thanks to the shiny materials used all over, the Telluride SUV looks right at home in the showroom next to the cabin. Like the technology in Kia’s smaller Soul SUV, the more expensive SX version comes with standard interior lighting that can be set to pulse in time with music. Eight carry-on bags and twenty when the back seats were folded down were used to test the cargo room. Fuel Economy and Actual MPG For such a small SUV, the Seltos works as well as we would expect it to. On the highway, the EPA says that front-wheel-drive cars with the base 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine can get up to 34 mpg. A turbocharged 1.6-liter Seltos with all-wheel drive got 32 mpg on our highway fuel-economy test route at 75 mph. Infotainment and Connectivity The infotainment system in the Seltos got a big change in 2024. Two-thirds of the dashboard was made up of a new continuous glass panel that worked as both a tablet for entertainment and a digital gauge display. This setup, which looks like other new Kia cars, is not required. A smaller display and an analog gauge cluster are common features. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard on all models, and optional amenities include an onboard Wi-Fi hotspot and SiriusXM satellite radio. Range, Charging, and Battery Life When we tested it, the turbocharged 1.6-liter Seltos had a lot of power. On our test track, it reached sixty miles per hour in 6.9 seconds. Price and How to Choose The most affordable option is the Seltos EX model. The SX model (and the EX) have almost all the same features, but the EX is much cheaper and has more features. Faux-leather seats, a 10-way power-adjustable driver’s seat, a power liftgate (when all-wheel drive is offered), heated front seats, and wireless smartphone charging are some of the things that this car has to offer. You can use a high-tech mechanical liftgate on an EX-model if you choose all-wheel drive. The turbocharged four-cylinder engine in the top two trim levels makes them well worth the extra money if you like athletic speed as much as we do.
