2023 Kia Seltos Review

Name: 2023 Kia Seltos Review
Brand: Kia

Price Range: $18,499 - $27,998

The 2023 Kia Seltos is stylish, roomy, and available with plenty of the latest technology and safety features. It's rather quick, too, as long as you get the optional turbocharged engine. Comfort is lacking, however, and it's not a particularly fun SUV to drive. But overall the Seltos is worth a look along with other popular models such as the Honda HR-V, Hyundai Kona and Mazda CX-30.

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2023 Kia Seltos Review

by the Edmunds Experts

10/25/2022

What's new

New standard safety features added to S trim
Acoustic glass windshield added to all models to reduce road noise
Part of the first Seltos generation introduced for 2021

What is the Seltos?

The Kia Seltos may be suffering from middle-child syndrome, receiving less attention than siblings on either side. On one hand, it's upstaged by the funky-cool Kia Soul. On the other, an all-new Kia Sportage is about to debut, ushering in a new styling language for the South Korean carmaker.

Being stuck in the middle is not the only reason the Seltos is often overlooked, though. As much as we like the Seltos for its large cargo capacity and rugged styling, its front seats could stand some improvements in aid in long-distance comfort. It's also not all that inspiring to drive on a winding mountain road.

There are some rumors floating around the internet that a Seltos styling refresh is on the way and that a hybrid powertrain could be added to the lineup. If the rumors prove true, and the seats get reworked and suspension retuned, that might move the Seltos up out of its rather low standing in the extra-small SUV class. As it stands, it's a ways off from challenging Edmunds' top-ranked Volkswagen Taos, Chevrolet Trailblazer and Mazda CX-30. It's even outdone by its boxy Kia Soul sibling. Check back in the middle of the year to see if the Seltos is on track to receive an update.

Edmunds says

It wouldn't take much to make the Kia Seltos a more attractive proposition. If rumors prove correct and an update is on the way for the Seltos, we'd suggest waiting for the refreshed 2023 model.

Cost to Drive^{Cost to drive estimates for the 2023 Kia Seltos LX 4dr SUV AWD (2.0L 4cyl CVT) and comparison vehicles are based on 15,000 miles per year (with a mix of 55% city and 45% highway driving) and energy estimates of $2.74 per gallon for regular unleaded in Texas.}

Monthly estimates based on costs in Texas

$119/mo

$142/mo

Avg. Compact SUV

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Kia Seltos Reviews

Owner Reviews

4.1

39 reviews

5(54%)

4(20%)

3(10%)

2(7%)

1(9%)

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Most Helpful Owner Reviews

So far, very VERY good!!!

Will, 11/13/2021

2022 Kia Seltos EX 4dr SUV AWD (2.0L 4cyl CVT)

A month ago, I traded in my 2013 base Soul for the 2022 Seltos EX, and love it. I've put just over 400 miles on it, most of it cross town commuter driving. I'll start my review discussing what I've read in other reviews, then finish up with some general observations. I agree with most of the reviews concerning front seat head and leg room. I'm 6' tall and find both to be substantial, … even with the sunroof, which is standard with the EX. Some reviewers were also impressed with back seat legroom, but I beg to differ there. If you're a 6 footer and will be carting around 2 or 3 other large adults, you should probably opt for a larger vehicle. The back seat passenger(s) will not be very comfortable in the Seltos. That's a non-factor for us, as it's usually just my wife and me. If we'll be taking anyone else, we'll take her Equinox. One of the "cons" from expert reviews is that the standard engine is under powered. I find that it has plenty of pep. Unless you want a car to take to the drag strip or the Indy 500, the base engine will do just fine. When I have taken it on the highway, I've had plenty of power to merge into traffic and pass slower vehicles. One complaint, primarily on owner reviews, is that if you don't want to use ISG (Idle Stop Go), you need to turn it off every time you start the car. Well, that's not unique to the Seltos, or even Kia in the whole. Most modern cars have that feature, and most of them default to "on" every time the car is started. More about ISG later. Now for my general observations. I find the Seltos extremely comfortable. I'm a 70 year old six footer, and have no trouble getting in and out of it. I've got plenty of driver's head and leg room, and my foot goes easily between the accelerator and brake - unlike some cars I've driven. The leatherette seats in the EX are plenty comfortable for short local driving, but may leave a bit to be desired for longer trips. I like the leather padding on the steering wheel. I've put a cover on the wheel of most of the other cars that I've owned, but didn't need to do it with the Seltos. I had never before driven a car with either CVT or all wheel drive. I fully expected that they would take some getting used to, but that has not been the case. If anything, the CVT is smoother and quieter than some of the cars I've had with traditional automatic transmission. When I first got the car, I had the display on that shows how much power goes to each wheel. It showed that under normal situations, all power went to the front wheels. It rained on a couple days and on those days, there was a bit of power going to the back wheels as I was accelerating, the switched to front wheel only once I got up to speed. I've gotten excellent gas mileage. Most of my driving has been in town, and I've been getting 28-29 MPG regularly. The infotainment system, navigation, and driver displays all took a little effort to learn, but they make sense. For the size car, there is ample cargo space - even more when we fold the back seats down. And we can drop the back floor down a bit and give even more space. I like the fact that the Seltos actually came with a spare tire. A lot of cars sold today just have a tire repair kit - no spare. The car came with a complementary 1 year subscription to UVO. It was kind of glitchy at first, specifically using it to remote start the car. However, I was able to get it fixed after a couple of emails to tech support. An interesting note is that for a week or so after I got the car, each time I got home and parked the car in the garage, I got an email reminding me that my doors were unlocked. After that, the emails stopped coming. Maybe the app "learned" my habits and determined that it was the normal situation Back to ISG. I like it. The engine always starts up again as soon as I take my foot off the brake pedal, and it's smooth and quiet. The only way I know that the engine has started again is the tachometer and the engine stopped symbol is not illuminated. I frankly do not understand why anyone would NOT want to use it. One argument I've heard is that more gas is burned each time the engine is started. That is false. It may have once been the case, but not with modern fuel injection engines. Another argument is that it's hard on the starter and the engine. Again, both have been improved. For example, 30 years ago, a starter could typically last 50,000 start events before failing. Now, that's been increased 10 fold - up to 500,000. And motor oils have also been improved. Also, it's COLD starts that put more pressure on the starter and engine - not warm starts where the oil is already circulating. True, ISG does not result in a huge fuel savings, but every little bit helps. And ditto with reduced pollution.

Great Car

Brandon, 10/25/2021

2022 Kia Seltos EX 4dr SUV AWD (2.0L 4cyl CVT)

Pros: The infotainment system works well and has a lot of features. The touchscreen is one of the biggest I've seen for a car. The Apple CarPlay feature works great. The safety features are also great and not intrusive while driving. The interior is synthetic leather and gives this small SUV an upscale feeling. I love the exterior appearance of the vehicle. The audio sounds good, even …

Fantastic gas mileage for SUV

DrJJloveman , 04/04/2022

2022 Kia Seltos S 4dr SUV AWD (2.0L 4cyl CVT)

I love this vehicle. It's the perfect size and mine with the 2.0 4 cylinder engine with AWD gets roughly 28 mpg. It's unbelievable. I have the S AWD trim. It has heated seats and mirrors with a nice 10 inch infotainment screen. The infotainment is a little finicky and I wish there were a few more options to tweak it but it's pretty cool. Has remote start and surprisingly a lot of space …

Dashboard goes blank

Chan, 09/19/2022

2022 Kia Seltos SX 4dr SUV AWD (1.6L 4cyl Turbo 7AM)

I purchased my 2022 Kia Seltos in November of 2021. I didn’t have any issues until recently. I was casually driving in mid-day traffic and all of a sudden my dashboard goes completely blank as if I had turned the car off. A few seconds later the dashboard illuminated all the caution signs. The check engine, check oil, transmission light, windshield fluid light just to name a few. the …

We have a limited number of reviews for the 2023 Kia Seltos, so we've included reviews for other years of the Seltos since its last redesign.

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2023 Seltos Highlights

Trim:

Base MSRP Excludes Destination Fee	$23,340
Engine Type	Gas
Combined MPG	29 MPG
Cost to Drive	$119/month
Seating	5 seats
Cargo Capacity All Seats In Place	26.6 cu.ft.
Drivetrain	all wheel drive
Warranty	5 years / 60,000 miles

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Safety

Our experts like the Seltos models:

Blind-Spot Collision Warning: Warns you of vehicles in the Seltos' blind spot and illuminates a light in the mirror as an alert.
Rear Cross-Traffic Collision Warning: Alerts you of vehicles or objects crossing the Seltos' path when reversing.
Driver Attention Warning: Monitors your driving patterns and displays an alert if it senses you aren't paying attention to the road.

NHTSA Overall Rating

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration offers independent analysis.

Frontal Barrier Crash Rating
Overall4 / 5
Driver5 / 5
Passenger4 / 5
Side Crash Rating
Overall5 / 5
Side Barrier Rating
Overall5 / 5
Driver5 / 5
Passenger5 / 5
Combined Side Barrier & Pole Ratings
Front Seat5 / 5
Back Seat5 / 5
Rollover
Rollover4 / 5
Dynamic Test ResultNo Tip
Risk Of Rollover15.1%

IIHS Rating

The Insurance Institute of Highway Safety uses extensive crash tests to determine car safety.

Small Overlap Front Driver-Side Test
Good
Small Overlap Front Passenger-Side Test
Good
Moderate Overlap Front Test – Original
Good
Moderate Overlap Front Test – Updated
Not Tested
Side Impact Test – Original
Good
Side Impact Test – Updated
Not Tested
Roof Strength Test
Good
Rear Crash Protection / Head Restraint
Good

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2023 Kia Seltos Review

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