The Seltos is Kia's most recently updated SUV in India, and it comes with naturally aspirated petrol, turbocharged petrol, and diesel engine options. It directly competes with the Honda Elevate, which also has a naturally aspirated petrol engine. Notably, with naturally aspirated engines, both SUVs offer a CVT (continuously variable automatic transmission) option. Here's a thorough comparison of the two vehicles to determine which NA-CVT powertrain is more fuel efficient.

Kia Seltos vs Honda Elevate petrol CVT: Specifications and price

Elevate makes more power, but both SUVs produce similar torque.

Both the Kia Seltos and Honda Elevate come with a similar-capacity 4-cylinder petrol engine with almost identical torque outputs. However, the Elevate produces 6hp more than the Seltos, while the Seltos gets a 7-litre larger fuel tank.

The Seltos' base-spec petrol-CVT option costs Rs 17,000 more than the Elevate. The top-spec Elevate with such a powertrain option costs Rs 2.92 lakh less than the Seltos with this powertrain combination.

Kia Seltos vs Honda Elevate petrol CVT: Real-world fuel efficiency

Seltos outshines the Elevate in all real-world fuel efficiency aspects.

The Seltos is reasonably more fuel efficient in real-world conditions compared to the Elevate. In city driving conditions, the Kia offering is 1.71kpl more efficient than the Elevate. The difference is lower on highways, but still, the Seltos is more frugal than the Elevate by 1.12kpl. This difference in real-world fuel efficiency also helps the Seltos maintain a higher average mileage of 12.26kpl; 1.41kpl more than the Elevate.

Owing to its larger tank and higher fuel efficiency, the Seltos can travel almost 142km more than the Elevate on a full tank of petrol.

Autocar India’s fuel efficiency testing

Before our real-world fuel efficiency tests, we fill our test cars’ tanks to the brim and maintain tyre pressures based on the manufacturer’s recommendations. These cars are driven in fixed city and highway loops in and around Navi Mumbai, and we maintain certain average speeds. Throughout the tests, there is only one person in each car, running the air conditioner and other electricals, such as the audio system, indicators and wipers, when required, just like a regular user would. Periodic driver swaps further neutralise variations in driver patterns. At the end of each cycle, we calculate efficiency by filling the tanks to full again.

Prices are ex-showroom, India.