Review: 2027 Kia Seltos hybrid

Not too big, not too small, just right. Goldilocks would love the Kia Seltos, which occupies the middle ground in Australia’s increasingly crowded SUV market.

Now in its second generation, the 2027 model has been redesigned from the ground up and arrived in local showrooms with a single hybrid powertrain across six variants: S, S with Safety Pack, Sport, Sport+, GT-Line FWD and GT-Line e-AWD.

That’s a fair bit to unpack as we join Kia on the Seltos media launch along the NSW south coast from Sydney to Berry, taking in the famous Sea Cliff Bridge — that’s really more impressive from the sidelines than behind the wheel.

I’m always disappointed when I’m on it. Sure, it’s spectacular from a distance, but you’d be better off walking across to appreciate the views.

Driving? Well, it’s just another bridge.

2027 Kia Seltos pricing (RRP and drive-away)

+ S: $37,990/$39,990

+ S with Safety Pack: $40,150/$42,420

+ Sport: $41,910/$43,990

+ Sport+: $44,970/$46,990

+ GT-Line FWD: $49,870/$52,990

+ GT-Line AWD: $52,870/$55,490

What’s it like?

Can’t help but think the name is a play on Celtos, the son of Hercules in Greek mythology.

It’s made at Kia’s AutoLand Hwasung plant, just south of Seoul, South Korea.

All up, new Seltos is bigger than before, with the second-gen built on Kia’s K3 platform that allows for, among other things, more cargo space, an adjustable luggage floor, more legroom and more headroom — on non-panoramic sunroof variants, anyway.

Only FWD variants get a spare tyre; the AWD has a tyre repair kit.

All specs get plenty of tech, including the flagship Kia EV9’s ccNC (connected car navigation cockpit) with integrated panoramic display combining a 12.3-inch infotainment screen, 5.0-inch climate-control and 12.3-inch instrument cluster, seven airbags, an in-cabin monitoring camera, wired and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, LED headlights and DRLs, a reverse camera with front and rear parking distance warning sensors, and Kia Connect services with seven-year subscription and over-the-air software updates, just like on your smartphone.

Note, the base S lacks the upgraded safety features found in the optional Safety Pack, which is a $2160 RRP ($2430 drive-away) add-on, and otherwise included in higher specs.

So you miss out on, among other things, a surround-view monitor, a blind-spot monitor, reverse parking collision-avoidance assist and parking distance warning.

Additionally, Sport, Sport+ and GT-Line variants have Kia’s latest semi-autonomous Highway Driving Assist (HDA 2) technology.

As with the discontinued Cerato, and the new K4 and EV4, Kia is targeting a dual four/five-star ANCAP safety rating, pending Euro NCAP testing and expected in Q1, 2027. So four stars for the base-model Seltos S and five stars for higher specs — or the S equipped with the Safety Pack — as Kia targets both budget buyers and fleet operators.

Entry S pricing is aimed directly at the related — and rival — Hyundai Kona Hybrid (from $39,990 drive-away), as well as the Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid (from $42,303 drive-away).

Otherwise, creature comforts increase as you go up the spec ladder, with S and Sport trims getting two-tone cloth seats, the S+ finished in cloth and “artificial leather” (which looks much nicer) and the GT-Line kitted out in “artificial leather”; the Sport+ also has a powered driver’s seat with lumbar support, as well as heated front seats, and the flagship GT-Line includes eight-speaker Harmon Kardon sound (which doesn’t sound as premium as I expect, even after adjusting settings), a heated steering wheel, ventilated front seats, a smart power tailgate and auto flush door handles.

Oh, the GT-Line also has ambient lighting to suit just about any mood — or questionable taste.

There are seven colours to choose from, with Clear White standard. Premium paint is $600 extra.

The drive

The Seltos isn’t going to set your pulse racing, but it’s a sensible car — and the first Kia model to use the new electrified AWD (e-AWD) system in GT-Line variants.

In a significant shift for our market, Kia has ditched the previous 2.0-litre naturally aspirated petrol engine with six-speed CVT and 1.6-litre turbo-petrol engine with eight-speed automatic transmission for a single electrified powertrain with six-speed DCT — which recognises the growing local demand for hybrids and the push to reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions under Australia’s increasingly stringent New Vehicle Efficiency Standard.

Front-wheel-drive versions get a 112kW/265Nm 1.6-litre naturally aspirated four-cylinder hybrid system with 1.49kWh lithium-ion pouch battery, while the e-AWD adds another electric motor on the rear axle, with system power boosted to around 126kW.

Pouch batteries use flat, flexible cells housed in lightweight laminated packaging, rather than rigid metal casings.

Most of our driving is in the GT-Line AWD, but I also do a 25km loop around Berry before dinner at paddock-to-plate Sara Dining, Morea Farm, in the mid-spec Sport for comparison.

The biggest difference between the two is steering feel, which comes down, in part, to wheel size: the Sport (and Sport+) has 18-inch alloys and the GT-Line, 19-inch alloys (the S has 16-inch alloys).

So, steering in the Sport feels lighter — maybe too light for me — but it’s easy to manoeuvre, which would make sense around town.

The Sport is also a lighter car (1632kg) versus the GT-Line (1722kg).

As always, the Seltos has undergone an extensive local road-tuning program led by Kia Australia’s chief ride and handling engineer, Graeme Gambold.

Unusually, FWD variants have just two drive modes: Eco and Sport (there’s not Comfort or Normal). AWD has three drive modes: Eco, Sport and Snow.

Really, it makes sense to leave the Seltos in Eco, switching to Sport on winding regional roads — where my colleague manages to squeal the tyres on the wriggly “Kiama Bends”, a 2.7km stretch of Princes Highway, in the GT-Line AWD.

Yes, Eco can feel a bit doughy after Sport, but it maximises fuel efficiency, which is the whole point of a hybrid.

There’s also adjustable regenerative braking via the right-hand steering wheel paddle shifter — and I like to keep it in level three to shed speed by easing off the accelerator without needing to brake as much.

The transition between electric and petrol power is generally seamless, though the engine revs noticeably sometimes when accelerating.

As for AWD, the power-flow display on the instrument cluster shows the rear electric motor sees little action, with the Seltos operating predominantly in FWD mode.

There’s a fair bit of wind noise over side mirrors, even at 70-80km/h, and the driver-monitoring system, via the in-cabin camera mounted on the bottom of the rear-view mirror, is unrelenting. Maybe it’s because I am wearing polarised sunglasses, which also means I can’t see the head-up display in the GT-Line — but Kia product planning manager Raymond Pok says this is being worked on in Korea.

Otherwise, the ADAS set-up is largely non-intrusive, with Kia confirming it’s a global calibration that takes into account Australian roads without being specific to local conditions.

Fuel consumption uses the latest ADR 81/03 WLTP standard and is reassuringly close to specs, and sometimes better, so long as you stay largely in Eco. Driving back to Sydney along the M1 in the GT-Line (Eco for the most part), I get 5.5 litres/100km compared with 5.8L/100km on specs; on another leg, I average 5.7L/100km. In the Sport, my average is 5.5L/100km on winding regional roads compared with 5.3L/100km on specs.

Warranty and servicing

The 2027 Seltos comes with Kia’s seven-year, unlimited-kilometre vehicle warranty, a seven-year/ 150,000km high-voltage electrical components warranty and up to eight years of roadside assistance.

Capped-price servicing is every 12 months/15,000km, whichever comes first, costing $296.31, $695.35, $381.79, $912.97, $333.50, $856.32 and $353.80 respectively over seven years.