First Drive: 2020 Kia Seltos 1.6 T-GDi

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

First Drive: 2020 Kia Seltos 1.6 T-GDi

Samgyupsal. Black Pink. Finger hearts. Korean pop culture has invaded the Philippines in a very big way. So, it’s a surprise that their cars haven’t done the same. Though they’ve made in-roads in some segments—small budget cars and people movers to name two, they’re not household names yet. In life, changes happen in small, baby steps; once in a while though, a giant leap happens. For Kia, the Seltos is one of those times.

A glance alone is enough to see that Kia’s scored a homerun yet again with the Seltos. While the longevity of the design is up for debate, it’s interesting, fun, and hip—perfect for today’s Instagram generation. Taken individually, each design element feels exaggerated, overly ornamental, and maybe even a bit like a caricature. However, when taken together, it works well. It gives off the same playful vibe (and head-turning stares) as the Suzuki Jimny, minus the retro. It rides on the same platform as the Hyundai Kona, but looks wider, bigger, and simply, better thought of.

Sadly, that futuristic, slightly weird, crease-free polyester vision of the future doesn’t quite extend to the Seltos’s interior. There are still some playful elements like the center-tunnel mounted grab handle and music-connected ambient lighting, but it still feels too close to Corporate Kia down to some disappointingly hard plastic on the dashboard and door panels.

While the Seltos loses some points in interior design, the straightforwardness means it’s very easy to understand. Ergonomically, it’s well-polished with the chunky three-spoke steering wheel, nicely-bolstered seats, and controls positioned where you’d expect to find them. The seating is closer to that of a hatchback than an SUV, but there’s still excellent visibility all around.

Now, normally sub-compact crossovers prioritize front seat comfort over everything else, but the Seltos takes a different approach. Dimensionally, it offers more head-, shoulder, and leg room in both first and second rows compared to the Honda HR-V—a crossover that’s generally considered large for its size.

But more than that, they’ve managed to sculpt the rear seats as not to overly punish the person sitting in the middle. Plus, the rear seats offer adjustable recline (from 26 to 32 degrees), A/C vents, and even a USB charging port.

Oh, and given Kia’s emphasis on tech-savvy buyers, the Seltos’s infotainment system is sublime. The screen size alone is huge (10.25 inches at its biggest and 8 inches at its smallest), but it scores high in functionality as well. This is the first in the segment that allows two devices to pair via Bluetooth simultaneously. This means, the driver can use his mobile phone’s hands-free feature (including Apple CarPlay or Android Auto), while the passenger can listen to his music playlist on a different mobile device.

At the back, the Seltos offers 498 liters of trunk space, again the biggest in its class. The trunk floor is movable too, either creating a secondary storage compartment in its upper position, or a deeper floor in its lower position.

Globally, the Seltos is also offered with a normally-aspirated 2.0-liter engine, but for its global outing, only one spec was made available: the turbocharged (T-GDI) 1.6-liter engine making 177 horsepower at 6,000 rpm and 265 Nm of torque at 1,500 to 4,500 rpm. In this guise, Kia says the Seltos should do 0-100 km/h in 8 seconds—faster than a Subaru Forester or Mazda CX-5. Floor the accelerator, and it does return a strong and satisfying shove. Better still, the power is actually controllable. Light taps of the go-fast pedal won’t send it rocketing forward uncontrollably. It’s measured, but still maintaining a light, lithe runabout feel. Honestly, the only thing lacking is a memorable soundtrack. As it stands, the music from the car’s pipes is just too hushed.

The only transmission paired with the turbocharged engine is a 7-speed dual clutch automatic. While this may elicit some thoughts of jerkiness and shuddering, Kia’s managed to eliminate all that in the Seltos. Despite deliberate attempts to confuse the transmission, it maintains its composure very well.

Already more than capable of keeping up with the big boys, the Seltos does the handling bit just as well, too. It still doesn’t fully make an emotional connection with the driver, but it’s actually nimble and a bit of fun to toss around. With a 5.3-meter turning radius, it turns on a dime, but weighs up nicely at speed. There’s some general firmness to the ride, but nothing that borders on the stiff. The cabin’s isolated very well too, except perhaps when going over large potholes.

The final Philippine market specs have yet to be revealed, but it must be realized that Kia’s ingredients for success have been there for quite some time, as evidenced by the Stinger and the Forte GT. They simply needed a bigger audience for more people to realize that. By targeting the sub-compact crossover segment, they’ve found the perfect platform. The Seltos isn’t just a perfect example of how far the design and engineering’s gone in the past few years, but for as long as Kia does it right and prices it well (it is said to hover around the P 1 to P 1.2 million mark), Filipinos won’t just be thinking of Jisoo, Jennie, Rose, and Lisa when they think of Korea; they’ll be thinking of Seltos, Sportage, Soluto, and Sorento as well.