2024 Kia Seltos Reviews, Pricing & Specs

As a mid-cycle or mid-generation refresh, the 2024 Kia Seltos's changes are not massive. The new Seltos gains updated headlight and grille designs, and a light strip connects the two taillight assemblies, which are smaller than before. These are minor changes, but taken together, they give the vehicle a fresh face with minimal developmental resources (i.e. the price increase shouldn’t be too painful). Our test model came in the new “Pluton Blue” paint colour, which looks very sharp.

Inside, the Gentle Brown interior colour is also new. Our test model had the standard black interior. The most noticeable interior change is the large digital panel that spans two-thirds of the dash. It comprises a fully digital instrument panel and a larger touchscreen infotainment system (more on that later).

Trims for the Seltos in Canada are LX, EX, EX Premium, SX, and X-Line. Standard features on the LX include 17-inch alloy wheels, cloth upholstery, fog lights, heated front seats and side mirrors, manually adjustable front seats, two USB ports (one front and one rear), air conditioning, remote keyless entry, Bluetooth connectivity, and an 8-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. All-wheel drive (AWD) is optional on this trim for $2,000 extra.

Moving up to the EX adds solar glass, a sunroof, LED daytime running lights, keyless entry with push-button start, combination cloth-and-synthetic leather upholstery, and single-zone automatic climate control.

The EX Premium includes features such as a fully digital instrument cluster, electrochromatic rearview mirror, a rear cargo cover, and a wireless device charging pad.

Opt for the range-topping SX trim level and you tap into features like 18-inch alloy wheels, rain-sensing wipers, a leather-wrapped flat-bottomed steering wheel, a Bose premium stereo system, and Kia’s digital key.

The X-Line adds 18-inch alloy wheels with gloss black finish, a unique dark gunmetal grille design, black sport design roof rails, and other subtle styling tweaks. In Canada, this is the top trim for the Seltos.

The base powertrain in the 2024 Seltos is a 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine that makes power specs of 146 horsepower and 132 lb-ft of torque. Power is routed through a Kia’s IVT, or Intelligent Variable Transmission. It’s a continuously variable transmission (CVT) with simulated “gears” to provide a more engaging driving experience. The base LX trim comes standard with front-wheel drive (FWD) with optional all-wheel drive (AWD), which is also available on the EX. From EX Premium, AWD is standard.

The SX and X-Line trims come equipped with a turbocharged 1.6-litre four-cylinder that makes 195 horsepower (up 20 hp over 2023) and 195 pound-feet of torque. This engine routes power through a new eight-speed automatic transmission, replacing the prior seven-speed automatic. This setup routes power to standard AWD.

20 horsepower might not sound like a lot, but it’s noticeable. In a 600-horsepower muscle car, 20 hp is a drop in the bucket, but for the Seltos, it’s a 10 percent bump that you can feel. Under hard acceleration, this engine does whine a bit, but Kia has worked to reduce engine and road noise entering the cabin. It’s also worth noting that the engine sounds better than that of the Toyota Corolla Cross or Honda HR-V.

The turbocharged engine provides decent acceleration off the line, but there is a bit of turbo lag at lower speeds. This can be improved by putting the Seltos into Sport mode. The Drive Mode dial is easy to locate in the centre console next to the shifter. It also provides Normal, Eco, and Smart drive modes. The latter adapts to your driving style and the conditions.

In any mode, the turbocharged engine provides stout acceleration once you’re already moving. This is especially true of 60 to 100 km/h acceleration situations. Getting up to highway speeds and making passing maneuvers are both handled without issue.

We drove through various road surfaces including straight side roads and curving back roads, and we encountered plenty of potholes and stretches of broken pavement. The Seltos manages these situations well. Steering is well-weighted and the turning is responsive. There is minimal body roll through hard corners, and the Seltos does a good job of soaking up those bumps and cracks in the road. The brakes felt touchy at first, but we either got used to it, or they settled down over the course of the drive.

The Seltos comes standard with 18 centimetres of ground clearance. While it’s no off-road machine, it would be perfectly fine venturing off the beaten path, getting up to a ski lodge, or heading out to a remote campsite.

The 2024 Kia Seltos provides up to 1,778 litres of cargo space with the rear seats folded. With the rear seats in use, the Seltos still provides 753 litres of cargo space. A hands-free power liftgate is standard from the EX Premium trim.

The Seltos has an upright seating position and plenty of headroom. This allows for solid driver visibility, as well as good rear legroom. A tall occupant can find a comfortable front seating position and still leave enough rear legroom for another taller occupant behind them. That’s an impressive feat from a subcompact SUV.

The front seating area provides decently sized in-door cupholders, though the largest water bottles might be a tight squeeze. It also has in-door cubbies for both front and rear doors. The front centre console has a tray that’s not very large, but the open design means you can pile in your keys, wallet, and phone. A removable cargo cover is standard from EX Premium and is stiff enough that you can place items on top of it.

Across its trim lineup, Kia keeps the infotainment display's large digital bezel consistent, though the size of the screen varies based on the trim selected. The base infotainment system is an 8-inch touchscreen and the instrument panel has a 4.2-inch digital screen that’s flanked by a pair of gauges. Upper trims upgrade to a 10.25-inch fully digital instrument panel and a 10.25-inch touchscreen. Both tiers of infotainment system feature a logical layout and they include Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

Automakers today are careening towards more screens and fewer tactile controls. Basing this Seltos largely around the existing model means it retains things like volume and tuning dials, as well as hard buttons for the climate controls.

The larger screen is well-sized. It covers everything you need and yet it’s not overwhelming. Whether you are in Kia’s UVO infotainment system or in Apple CarPlay, the screen is very responsive. You can plug your phone in via a USB-A or faster USB-C cable port.

There are helpful buttons for the infotainment system, like you would find in many new cars, but in they're below the climate control, so you have to know where to look. Most Seltos trims come with a six-speaker stereo. The SX and X-Line trims swap that out for an upgraded eight-speaker Bose premium stereo system. The Seltos is available with Digital Key 2 Touch. This smartphone app allows the owner to unlock and lock the Seltos, as well as share access via the app.

Standard driver assistance features on the 2024 Seltos include forward collision avoidance assist with pedestrian and cyclist detection, lane keep assist and lane-departure warning, lane-follow assist, automatic high beams, driver attention warning, blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert, as well as Safe Exit Warning. The latter can detect and warn occupants of approaching vehicles when trying to exit the Seltos while parked on a busy street.

To gain more driver assistance features, you’ll have to skip past the EX and go with EX Premium. It adds smart adaptive cruise control that can stop and go with traffic, and it uses the navigation system to predict curves. The SX includes traffic sign recognition and highway driving assist. It also adds a junction-turning function to the forward collision warning. Another helpful feature is the drive-away warning. Distracted driving is an unavoidable reality of modern cars. This feature alters the driver if they are stopped in traffic, the vehicle in front of them pulls away, and the driver has not responded.

The most efficient version of the Seltos is the base 2.0-litre engine with FWD. It returns Natural Resources Canada fuel economy estimates of 8.3 litres per 100 kilometres city, 6.8 highway, and 7.6 combined. With AWD, this engine returns 8.8 L/100 km city, 7.5 hwy, and 8.2 combined. The 1.6-litre turbo-four that comes exclusively paired with AWD returns 9.4 city, 8.7 hwy, 9.1 combined. These are nearly identical figures to that of the 2023 Seltos.

Canadian base new vehicle MSRP for the 2024 Kia Seltos is $25,195 for the LX FWD trim, not including the $2,499 destination charge and other fees. Adding AWD costs $2,000 more. The Kia Seltos EX FWD starts at $28,295 and the EX AWD starts at $1,900 more. The EX Premium trim starts at $33,495, the SX at $35,795, and X-Line at $38,395 before fees.

According to Kia, the Seltos first came about as a response to dealers asking for an AWD crossover in the same price range and size range as the Kia Soul. Where the Soul was and is a quirky, offbeat entrant, the Seltos is the mainstream small SUV that seemingly overachieves in this segment. The changes to the 2024 Seltos are minimal because, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” For under $30,000, you can get a spacious, functional crossover with AWD and modern tech and safety features. For just shy of $40K, you can get every feature offered. Other small crossovers might excel in individual areas, but it’s very hard to beat the well-rounded nature of the 2024 Kia Seltos.

Note: Images show a US model.