A disco for one may not have sounded like much fun a few weeks ago, but with social distancing now our way of life for the foreseeable future the Kia Seltos GT-line provides you with an exclusive venue with some very cool features for a disco in your driveway.
Select your favourite track, turn it up to 11 on the Bose sound system and hit the music lighting option and watch the Seltos ambient lighting flash to the beat of your music. This is my idea of interior lighting perfection and is by far my favourite feature of the Seltos; at last a car with disco light mode!
Mood lighting is another cool feature of the Seltos, so if you are done with disco mode you can choose an interior lighting to suit your mood. The moods available include Party Time, Hey! Yo, Travelling, Romance, Midnight City or Café or you can select from eight standard interior lighting colours.
Sports mode in this small SUV makes the Seltos a little more perky to drive, but this is not a performance SUV and you will be more than happy driving it in Comfort mode for the majority of the time or select Eco drive mode for frugal fuel use. The plucky 1.6L 4-cycilder turbocharged engine produces a modest 130kW and 265Nm of torque has an official combined fuel consumption of 7.6L/100km.
The AWD is not constantly engaged unless you have the AWD lock activated and for the majority of time it’s FWD and AWD only kicks in under hard acceleration. The 7-speed DCT transmission is a bit laggy between gear changes and adds to the feeling of underwhelming performance.
The Seltos has a relatively smart sat nav with SUNA traffic information and it will tell you that there is a school zone ahead when the school zone is in operation and when the school zone is not in operation it says “children crossing ahead”. On the downside it only has an old style head-up display that rises up out of the dash rather than a modern projection onto the windscreen.
You get Android Auto and Apple CarPlay and like all Kias the voice control only works when your phone is connected via these. Your other media options include Bluetooth, DAB/FM and USB, but I found that the DAB had patchy reception. The Bose stereo system is good, but the speaker covers look like they had been smashed in to me. To connect to the infotainment system at the front of the centre console there is one 12V outlet, two USB ports and wireless charging for compatible devices and a good storage ledge.
Under the arm rest is a deep square shaped storage cubby, the two cup holders are rigid and not suitable for drink bottles. Also the shape of the door cubby is not suitable for larger rigid drink bottles, both front and rear door cubbies fit medium sized drink bottles only.
There are plenty of lux inclusions on the Seltos including a heated steering wheel with a premium feel and self-explanatory buttons to change media or engage cruise control. The front seats are heated and cooled and the cooling works better than some more expensive cars. The driver’s seat has 10-way power adjustable with 2-way lumbar support and the passenger seat gets 8-way power adjustment, but neither have memory settings.
The rear seats have enough head and leg room for two adults and there are two ISOFIX/three rear tether points, but it’s only big enough for two child seats. Then you can fold down the centre seat with two rigid drink holders, which are just big enough for normal sized drink bottles. There is one USB outlet behind the centre console with storage slot for the device and the two rear vents with direction adjustment only and they cannot be closed off.
The boot has a manual open and close and would fit the weekly shop, but there would be no room for the pram at the same time. The rear seats have a 60/40 split fold mechanism for when greater boot space is required and you have full sized spare tyre.
The Seltos is a good-sized city car that fits into parking spots easily. Its standard rear view camera has front and rear sensors and you can also click on a camera that points down directly behind the car so you can see what is behind you.
Active safety aids include Blind Spot Detection wit rear Cross Traffic Alert and Lane Change Assist, Adaptive Cruise Control, Rear Cross-Traffic Collision Avoidance Assist, Lane Keeping Assist, Autonomous Emergency Brake with Forward Collision Warning System with Car, cyclist and pedestrian avoidance. The lane keeping assist works as well as expected for a car in this price range, and doesn’t have the precision of more expensive cars.
Passive safety features include driver & front passenger airbags, front side airbags, curtain airbags and side door impact beams (front & rear). All model variants in the Seltos range have a 5-star ANCAP safety rating as tested in 2019. The adult occupant protection is rated 32.6 out of 38 (85%) and the child occupant protection is rated 40.9 out of 49 (83%).
All new Kias come with a 7 Year Unlimited Kilometre Warranty and capped priced servicing for this period as well. For the Seltos, service intervals are every year or 10,000km whichever comes first and the service prices vary between $282 and $640 for the seven year period.
As tested the drive-away price for this star bright yellow Seltos with cherry black roof was $41,990. You get a lot of car for your money and although the styling may not be everyone’s cup of tea, you will surely be impressed with the comfortable ride and funky interior lighting.
Most of all you will have one of the coolest venues in your street for a disco dance for one. On the upside you get to choose the music and no-one will hear your questionable singing. Visit you preferred Kia Dealer to learn more about their newest small SUV offering.
| Pros | Cons |
| Disco ambient lighting | Patchy DAB reception |
| Driver safety aids come as standard | Old technology head-up display |
| Plenty of lux inclusions | Sluggish gear changes |
Photographs by Driven Women Magazine.