Kia Seltos GT-Line review

UPDATE, November 25, 2022: Updated 2023 Kia Seltos now in Australia

Kia's updated 2023 Kia Seltos range is now in Australia, and we've driven it. Get the full story, and video, at the link below.

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Story continues: 2021 Seltos GT-Line review

If the Kia Seltos isn’t all things to all people, it’s not for want of trying.

The compact SUV market is booming and doesn’t look like stopping but the Korean giant’s late entry has been extremely well-received. It’s roomy, looks fantastic, drives well no matter which one you buy and comes with plenty of stuff.

It certainly has plenty of stuff here at the top end, which is now well over forty grand. If there are frustrations about the specification of other Seltoses, the GT-Line sorts them out, with a comprehensive safety and specification list that would make the owners of more expensive cars jealous.

Standing at the summit of six distinct versions, the GT-Line seems to have everything, but does it have enough to justify the extra expense?

NOTE: the vehicle pictured was photographed before the Seltos range was updated to Kia's new branding, but is otherwise identical to the model currently available.

Pricing and Features

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The base price of the GT-Line kicks off at $42,200, just over fifteen grand more than the entry-level S that nobody should buy without spending another thousand on the Safety Pack. At the time of writing, a GT-Line had a drive-away price of $44,290.

For that, you get 18-inch alloys with a little red thing in the centre cap, premium front seats (heated, cooled, power-adjustable), fake leather interior, LED headlights (the only Seltos to have LED lighting), adaptive cruise control, keyless entry and start, head-up display, front and rear parking sensors, reversing camera, eight-speaker Bose-branded sound system, wireless phone charging, climate control, power windows and mirrors and a full-size spare wheel.

The GT-Line has the bigger 10.25-inch touchscreen and it’s a belter, with all manner of lovely graphics, interesting audio features, sat-nav, DAB+ digital radio and USB-powered Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Even though the base model S has wireless CarPlay, given it would play up about one in ten trips – more annoying than it sounds – the wired version is fine, if a mite confusing given this is the top of the range. I’ll take it, though, because Kia’s wireless CarPlay is ordinary at best.

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On the safety front, this is one with the lot. You get six airbags, ABS, stability and traction controls, blind-spot collision avoidance, lane change assist, lane departure warning, lane-keep assist, rear cross-traffic alert, forward auto emergency braking (AEB), reverse AEB, driver attention alert (with leading vehicle departure alert) and junction assist.

The forward AEB has pedestrian and cyclist detection with day and night functionality and works up to 180km/h.

The rear seats accommodate two ISOFIX points and three top-tether points. The Seltos scored a five-star ANCAP safety rating in 2019.

Note: This article was changed on 25/8/2022 to correct an error. The original version listed dual-zone climate control when the GT-Line has single-zone climate control.

Comfort and Space

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As I’ve already mentioned, the Seltos is pretty big for its class, bested only in overall dimensions by the voluminous Nissan Qashqai. It has one of the bigger boots in the segment, although, with its full-size spare, the GT-Line’s cargo capacity is slightly reduced compared to the base model S. It’s still a whopper; 433 litres with the seats in place and 1393L with them folded out of the way. The S has a space-saver spare that means you can put the floor in a lower position to yield more volume whereas the full-size alloy means you can’t do that.

Rear seat space is huge for the class and in the GT-Line (and Sport+) you get a rear armrest with cup holders and exclusive to the GT-Line you get rear air vents. Like the front doors, you get bottle holders for a total of four throughout the car, matching the cupholder count.

Unlike the exterior, the interior design isn’t as bold, but it’s clean and functional and presents well with some nice matte aluminium touches.

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The front seats in the GT-Line are splendid. Comfortable, nicely bolstered and both heated and cooled, you’ll have to work hard to fail to get comfortable. The leather wheel is nice to hold and there are the usual sporty touches like stitching and GT-Line logos about the cabin.

Unlike the exterior, the interior design isn’t as bold, but it’s clean and functional and presents well with some nice matte aluminium touches. The fake leather is perfectly fine and doesn’t get too hot or come off as posh vinyl. I also like the larger digital screen between the analogue dials, although I’m less enamoured with the head-up display. It’s projected onto a blade of glass that unfolds from the dashtop and, er, it’s not much higher than the speedo, really. Still, it’s there and it’s reasonably useful at night.

On the Road

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There’s an appreciable difference between the differently configured Seltoses (Selti?). The base model’s balloon tyres and torsion beam suspension work well around town and the well-tuned automatic continuously variable transmission (CVT) gets the most out of the 2.0-litre naturally-aspirated engine’s meagre outputs.

Once you switch to turbo power, you also get all-wheel drive and a multi-link rear end as well as the biggest wheels in the range, the 19s, wearing slightly stickier and stiffer Kumhos.

The 1.6-litre turbo petrol four-cylinder engine is familiar from Kia and Hyundais, in the Seltos delivering 130kW and 265Nm. Neither of those figures is earth-shattering but are in keeping with the car’s obvious intent. There’ll be no scaring the kids or grandparents in this car.

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Counter-intuitively, the seven-speed dual-clutch auto is the lesser transmission in the range. Dull and ponderous, it needs a firm hand in charge of it and the lack of paddles hampers your ability to take charge when you’re in a hurry. More than once it wasn’t keen to answer my right foot’s call, with an embarrassing almost kangaroo-hopping demeanour off the lights.

Once you’re on the move though, the chassis feels pleasantly firm yet remains quite supple despite the necessarily stiffer sidewalls of the tyres. As ever, there’s a great danger that a set of 19s can look great – and they’re the only wheels that fill the big, squared-off wheelarches – but at the cost of the ride quality. While it’s not as unflappably smooth as 16-inch-wheeled S, you do get a more eager front end. The tyres bring more grip and again, you might be trading noise for agility, but it’s well worth it.

Most of the time the Seltos sends all its power out through the front wheels. Like the transmission, the torque shifting can take a bit more time than you might hope.

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The GT-Line is as excellent a cruiser as the S, but with more technology and comforts at your disposal along with the extra thump of the turbo engine, all of which makes it that bit easier. The bigger brakes also have a little more bite if you’re exploiting the extra power and torque.

I haven’t said much about the all-wheel-drive system because there’s little to remark upon. Most of the time the Seltos sends all its power out through the front wheels because a) it doesn’t need to use the rears most of the time and b) it saves fuel. Like the transmission, the torque shifting can take a bit more time than you might hope – a floored throttle off the lights gets you an amusing chirp – but it’s a great comfort when things are slippy. It’s not an off-roader, of course, and on these wheels, you’d be pushing your luck tackling anything too challenging.

When measured against Kia's claimed 7.6L/100km fuel consumption, the 8.4L/100km I got stacks up quite well given the wildly varying weather during my week with it and the fact it’s within cooee of the ADR figure is impressive.

Ownership

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As with all Kias, you get a seven-year warranty with unlimited kilometres and roadside assist. The roadside package is for an initial 12 months and is extended by 12 months with every service at a Kia service centre.

Capped-price servicing also applies, covering the first seven services up to seven years or 70,000km, translating to a 12 month/10,000km service interval. The turbo has a shorter service interval than the 2.0-litre, which is annoying and costs more per service. Over the seven services, you’ll pay $3214 or an average of $459. That’s a fair amount, I think you’ll agree.

Verdict

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The Seltos GT-Line is the most expensive of the range and along with the turbo-powered Sport+, the most powerful. It is not, however, the best value. The annoying thing about the GT-Line is that it’s the only one in the range with the full set of safety features and LED headlights. Those things are valuable additions to a lot of people and their unavailability down the range is frustrating. The fact that it takes $44,000-plus to get it all is a shame but at least when you’ve paid the money you are getting a lot of car.

2021 Kia Seltos GT-Line specifications