The Seltos isn’t just another midsize SUV. It’s the model that ushered in a pretty much unknown Kia brand into India in 2019, established the company as a major player and took on the segment champ, the Creta, often emerging victorious in the monthly sweepstakes. Six years on, it’s time for a new generation. So can the new car build on its predecessors’ achievements and make the cut in what is still a crowded and hotly contested space?
2026 Kia Seltos design and engineering – 7/10
New Seltos uses a new platform, is larger and has a bold, new look.
The second-generation Seltos moves away from its predecessor’s K2 platform to Kia’s new K3 platform, which brings in new tech and has allowed the Seltos to grow quite substantially, as is often the case with new platforms. However, powertrains carry forward from the previous car.
Length has increased by 95mm over the previous car, and at 4,460mm, the new Seltos is the longest in its class. Its wheelbase has been stretched by 80mm to 2,690mm and is now second only to the Tata Sierra in the segment.
But beyond size, what will strike you immediately is the altogether new style. It’s a very bold character and brings in new Kia design traits, and while the new Seltos isn’t as quirky as its sibling, the Syros, the new design will not find universal appeal. It does look better in real life than in photographs, with its size helping it carry off some of the stronger design elements, such as the vertical daytime running lamps (DRLs) at the edges that wrap right over to the bonnet and fender too. The headlights are set in square units that sit within the large gloss-black grille, which still carries the typical Kia tiger-nose pinch at the top and bottom, but with the loud styling elements, is somewhat lost here.
At the side, there’s chunky gloss-black cladding around the wheels and on the doors; they carry body-coloured inserts. Door handles are flush units, and alloy wheels are 18-inchers on GT Line cars with a very geometric style and neon painted front brake calipers; it looks a bit random on some body colours. The glasshouse is pinched towards the rear and flows into the tailgate, giving it a floating roof look. Roof rails sit at the top, though these are decorative and cannot bear any load.
Compared to the front, the rear is a lot less fussy, with large vertical LED tail-lights set at the outer edges and connected via a light strip at the top. Below the light strip, the tailgate curves forward at the edges and gives it a nice wraparound look. At the top, the spoiler hides the rear wiper and contains a neat integrated stop light.
2026 Kia Seltos features and safety – 8/10
Well-loaded in typical Kia fashion, though it loses the previous car’s air purifier.
The inside, too, is very different in the second-generation Seltos, but you’ll also find familiar Kia bits – not a bad thing because it’s all top-notch. The fit and finish, too, is very good; panel gaps are minimal, and though I would have liked more soft-touch materials around, you can’t call the cabin plasticky, thanks to high-quality materials and good texturing on the surfaces.
Shared with the Syros is the new, large single-pane panoramic glass pane that houses a 12.3-inch central touchscreen, a 12.3-inch instrument cluster and a 5.0-inch HVAC touchscreen nestled between the two, which is obscured by the steering wheel. Thankfully, though, like in the Syros, Kia has retained plenty of physical buttons in the Seltos, so often-used functions such as temperature and fan speed are controlled via large and easy-to-use toggle switches. There are also easy-to-see buttons for media controls, including a neat scroll wheel for volume control in the centre. The touchscreen is crisp and slick to use, and the feed from the 360-degree camera is also sharp and clear. The IP screen, too, has a good definition and gets a digital display as well as traditional dials.
The tilt and telescoping steering wheel is a new, chunky looker, with easy-to-use buttons and scroll wheels, including two for drive and traction modes set neatly at the bottom; these look cool and are easy to access on the go. Other features include a Bose sound system that doesn’t sound as sharp as some of the newer premium ones, a panoramic sunroof, wireless phone charging, ambient lighting, front cooled seats, and a powered driver’s seat with a memory function for its position as well as that of the outside rearview mirrors (ORVMs). It also has an entry and exit function, and what’s nice is that you can set the distance that it will automatically slide back. Odd misses, though, are an air purifier – something that was present on the previous car – and rear cooled seats that Kia provides on the smaller Syros.
On the safety front, there’s all the usual kit with 6 airbags and electronic stability control (ESC), as well as downhill brake control and a full ADAS suite. In our time with it, the lane-departure correction felt natural, but with the lane centring on, the inputs made the car feel like it was meandering about with the constant corrections, more so due to the fact that the lanes we encountered weren’t very uniformly wide or straight. As for safety rating, the new Seltos has not yet been crash-tested under the GNCAP or BNCAP protocols.
2026 Kia Seltos interior space and comfort – 7/10
Interior is spacious, but rear seat comfort is average.
Front-seat comfort is good, and for my narrow frame, it felt just fine; larger folks will find the seats snug. Their headrests aren’t just cool-looking with a sculpted shape, but they also have a see-through mesh-like support at the sides, with a padded section only in the centre. As far as being head restraints, they will prevent whiplash injuries, but passengers using this to take a nap may miss the side padding.
At the rear, the lengthened wheelbase liberates more legroom, which even six-footers will find ample, while headroom would be just about okay for them. Cabin width is also good, and three average-sized adults can sit with their shoulders touching but not overlapping. You can adjust the seatback angle, and the seatbase padding is comfortable, but taller folks will find the seatbase short. Lower back lumbar support also feels a bit excessive. There’s no boss mode function, though that allows rear seat passengers to slide the front seat forward. Helping keep things cool are rear AC vents and sun blinds that are shaped nicely along the window, leaving no large gaps.
Storage space around the car is good, though the glove box is small. The boot space stands at a generous 447 litres, and while the loading height is high, the flat floor makes it easier to load items. Below the boot floor sits a full-sized spare.
2026 Kia Seltos performance and refinement – 8/10
Petrol’s performance and refinement are good; diesel is quiet enough but needs more punch.
Powering the Seltos are the three engine options from the previous car: the 115hp 1.5-litre naturally aspirated (NA) petrol, the 160hp 1.5-litre turbo direct-injection (TGDi) petrol, and the 115hp 1.5-litre diesel. Gearbox options remain the same, too: the NA petrol comes with a 6-speed manual or a CVT auto; the TGDi gets a 6-speed clutchless manual or a 7-speed dual-clutch auto; the diesel is paired with a 6-speed manual or a 6-speed torque-converter gearbox. We sampled the automatics of the TGDi petrol and the diesel unit.
Let’s start with the diesel first. We’ve always liked this unit, and its character remains the same here. While there is the typical diesel drone, it’s very well muted, and NVH levels on the whole are what you would call good. Power delivery is linear, and with the max torque of 250Nm coming in at 1,500rpm, the Seltos pulls cleanly, making it a comfy cruiser. However, in the new car, the engine does feel lacking in punch and urgency even in Sport mode. The gearbox, while smooth, is also a slow shifter, even via the paddles.
The TGDi petrol feels just as before; you can hear the unit at work, but the sound character is not coarse, and the refinement is good. Power delivery, too, is strong, with a push coming in at 2,000rpm, and it builds up in a strong linear fashion all the way to the red line, which is at around 6,200rpm in manual mode, and what’s nice is that it lets you rev till the red line. Typical of a dual-clutch gearbox, it’s quick to shift but also fumbles a bit at low-speed changes in pace.
2026 Kia Seltos fuel efficiency – 8/10
Real world efficiency will be at par with others in the segment.
Kia is yet to release mileage figures but even with the apparent increase in weight you can expect figures similar to before. So, the TGDi auto should see high single digit figures in the city with it rising to about 13 to 14 kpl on the highways. The diesel on the other hand should return about 16 to 17kpl on the highway and low double-digit figures in the city too.
2026 Kia Seltos ride comfort and handling – 8/10
Ride is now comfier than before, and this doesn’t come at the expense of body roll.
The suspension consists of MacPherson struts at the front and a torsion beam axle with coil springs at the rear, so it’s the same as before, but the ride character has changed. The previous Seltos had a firm overall feel, and the ride felt a bit stiff. However, with the new-generation car, Kia has tuned the suspension with a bias towards comfort. Bumps and ruts are easily soaked up, and you don’t feel a harsh edge to it. What is nice is that this hasn’t come at the expense of body control, which remains tidy even at slightly spirited speeds. High-speed stability is also very good, and the car tracks straight and level even on less-than-perfect surfaces.
The steering weights up through the drive modes, though not really significantly; overall steering effort moves from medium to firm. The feel isn’t very natural, though, and in Sport mode, the firmness feels artificial, like coming in from a resistance band. Brakes are progressive, and stopping power from the all-round discs feels just fine for everyday driving, including some quick stops.
2026 Kia Seltos value and verdict – 8/10
It isn’t a reinvention but feels new and does enough to be different from its predecessor.
Given its new underpinnings, you could have expected more from the new Seltos. The drive feels familiar, and while that’s not a bad thing entirely, the diesel here does seem like it’s lacking in punch. Equipment-wise, too, you could expect more, especially given that it lacks some features that its predecessor and smaller sibling offer. So, you couldn’t call it a reinvention of the Seltos. Still, it has changed significantly enough.
There’s a completely new look that’s bold and certainly eye-catching, and the car’s size has grown, offering more space inside. A few missing features notwithstanding, the new Seltos has all that you’d expect from it, and with the new platform, there’s the ability for over-the-air updates to keep certain functions modern. Importantly, there’s also an improvement in the ride quality, which leans towards comfort, and, of course, the wide powertrain choice remains. So, there’s enough here to garner significant interest.
Pricing is yet to be announced, and Kia would be wise not to get ambitious but rather keep ex-showroom prices within the previous car’s ballpark. Starting prices of just under Rs 11 lakh for the base naturally aspirated petrol and Rs 13 lakh for the base diesel, with the TGDi high-end variants topping out at Rs 20 lakh, would keep things competitive and the Seltos flag flying high.
Soham Thakur
Lenny D'sa
