The new Seltos facelift arrives with many upgrades right from Exterior, Interior Design, technology and digitalisation. Highly capable models to choose from GT line- Athletic, confident, sports premium, XLine- Bold, Aggressive Exceptional Presence, Tech Line- Bold , Masculine premium. Kia has also made changes under the hood of the Seltos. It continues to come with the 1.5 petrol and diesel engines as before, but now there’s a new turbo-petrol engine option. Replacing the older 1.4 T-GDi motor is a new larger, more powerful 1.5-litre. The Seltos facelift gets stiffened front damping to improve handling and softer rear damping for better ride comfort. The new Seltos which has been launched with a face lift is a step towards autonomous driving.
Front Exterior:
The Tiger Nose Radiator Grille with glossy black and Matte grey which is eye catchy and we have a Crown Jewel type LED Headlamps and adjacent to it is the more appealing Sequential Indicator. and in the bottom you have Ice cube LED fog lamps.
Depending on various variants you have Tusk Inspired Masculine Skid Plates, Sporty Aero Dynamic Skid Plates, Barbell Inspired Athletic bumper design and Masculine bumper design.
The exterior packaging comes with few increase overall dimensions by keeping it more than its previous models, but the width, height and wheel base is retained. the Front and rear overhang is also increased with 25mm.
Side exterior:
Tech line- comes with Chrome Beltline and Door Handles with Silver Roof Rails, while the bottom side of the door is with the Body colour door Garnish with silver insert and the rim radius is R17 crystal cut alloy wheels.
In the GT Line- The roof rails are Glossy Black with a Chrome beltline and door handles, while metal grey insert is blended along with the body colour door garnished and this model had R18 crystal cut Glossy black alloy wheel.
Stylish and bold alloy wheel options are: R18 crystal cut glossy black alloy wheels, R17 comes with two options- crystal cut alloy wheels and Matte Grey alloy wheels, in R16 it is Hyper Metallic alloy wheels. All the wheels come with disc brakes as standard in all variants.
Rear Exterior:
Both the models look wide, athletic and sports premium, the rear tail lamps are like Star Map connected LED, with sequential turn indicators. In Tech line- the reversing lamps and reflectors are repositioned within the rear bumper which is relatively small, while the skid plates are Masculine.
In GT Line- the reversing lamps are repositioned with reflectors but these outstand when seen from back as they occupy a bold position in the Barbell Inspired Athletic bumper, you have a functional dual exhaust looks more sporty which find a cut space with the Sporty Aero Diffuser skid plate.
Interior Design :
They are Futuristic, wide with Bold digitalization. HUD which is 8inches is more evolved provides key driving information and ADAS warning in the line of sight of the driver to avoid any distraction.
It has 8way power driver seat, as the front seats are ventilated, Smart Key with push button start and a wireless charger with cooling function.
Dual Pane Panoramic Sunroof: This wide dual panoramic sunroof gives stunning view for both front and rear passengers and uplifts the Grandeur. With KIA connect you can give Hinglish voice commands.
Smart pure air purifier provides a clean, hygienic and fragrant odour inside the cabin. Dual Zone automatic air- conditioner maintains the user set different temperature for driver and passenger side.
Dual Screen Panoramic Display: Creating a digital cockpit with futuristic appeal and modern minimalistic design. With dual screen option. The 10.25 inches full digital cluster plus 10.25 inches HD touch screen navigation with Modern minimalistic design. The main Menu screen customization can be done with split screen.
8 premium Bose speakers provide you the premium sound adopted to both Android and Apple car play.
The Dynamic speed compensation automatically adjust the speaker sound as per the ambient noise depending upon the engine and wind noise.
Interior space management is well balanced with 433lts of boot space. The leg space and head space is kept optimum as the previous models, the Boot space is unchanged.
Tech line- it was with a Belge Roof lining and the steering is D-cut accommodating the Seltos logo, the seat pattern is Geometric on Leatherette seats.
GT line- it comes with black roof lining with a D-cut Steering with GT Line Logo, the mid of front row comes with a sliding cover and cup holder accommodated next to the Electric parking brakes with Auto hold. You have a Black Leatherette Tubular Pattern seats with white inserts and GT Line Embroidery. The rear seat center comes with a cup holders in the armrest.
Ambient Lighting: you can create your own personal concert with customisable, mood reflective ambient light with 6 sound mood lamp themes, the sound mood function changes colour based on the selected mode like Party time, Hey ho, Romance, Travelling, Cafe and Midnight city.
ADAS level 2: In view to keep you and your car safe and secure in support of this one ADAS camera is installed in the front along with 4 numbers of 360 degree cameras fixed on all four sides of the exterior, it is also supported by 3 radars. Which provides active assistance to help manoeuvre in an driving situation and parking spots. This setup helps the 17 autonomous features which provide active safety and a comfortable drive.
The collusion avoiding is more accurate and Quite reliable with Blind spot and Rear cross collision. The front collision advance assist comes with the rider which applies only for Car, Pedestrian, cyclist and junction turning. Automatic brakes comes into action once these are detected and the brakes are released after three seconds within which the manual brakes have to be applied.
Blind spot collision warning and Avoidance assist, it warns the driver once you decided to exit from your lane towards right or left depending upon the direction the display on the cluster provides you the camera view of the exiting side and a warning red light on the side view mirror.
The rear cross traffic collision avoidance assist comes into effect when you are taking a reverse and moving into a active lane with blind spots on either side, once it is detected the vehicle approach from rear the system will warn and auto brakes if collision is imminent. The safe exit warning is given when someone is getting out of the car or the door is opened to prevent collusion from the vehicle approaching from rear.
The Prevent accident comes with Lane Keep Assist which ensures the car is within the white line automatically and lane departure warning is in case you are crossing the line while driving with this option, depending upon your driving the driver attention warning pops up on the cluster suggesting you for a correction or coffee break. The High Beam Assist will automatically adjust the illumination depending upon the light required in the front and from the oncoming vehicle, it will automatically turn the high beam on or off.
Driving Convenience and Safety, the Smart Cruise control with stop and go will ensure the vehicle will handle the traffic jam by itself to stop and move depending upon the front vehicle movement without the drivers input, which includes automatic halting and restarting within 3sec of halting else drivers intervention is needed. In case the car is in standstill for over 3sec the SCC goes on standby then the drivers accelerators input is required to reactivate , In case you fail to accelerate to in spite of the front vehicle moving away you receive the alert.
In Lane Departure warning and Lane keep Assist: It warns the driver of going out of the lane on either side without turn indicator input and if the driver doesn't pay attention, then there will be counter torque in the steering preventing the vehicle from departing the lane. The Lane following assist will keep the car in the center of the lane by giving automatic steering input on the cluster.
In KIA Connect: out of 62 you have 12new features, you can give Hinglish voice commands to open and close sunroof, automatic temperature control requesting for increasing or decreasing the temperature in the dual. The KIA connect buttons are available on the Electrochromic rear view mirror
Facelift ride and handling
There are some notable changes with regard to ride and handling. Firstly, the GT Line variants now ride on larger 18-inch alloys with over 200kms of drive mostly on the highway followed with few narrow road within the thick vegetation. We tried with the sports mode on highway it was very steady and on the inner roads though we had a very nice traction and comfort, but a bit roal could be felt in the rear. With disc brakes on all the wheels on larger 18inch alloys braking looks more refined. Specially supported by the change in front stiffened damper in front and softer rear damper adding up driving comfort. Limiting manual human action, few voice commands essential during driving definitely will never distract the drivers.
In terms of output, this new turbo-petrol mill, at 160hp and 253Nm, puts out 20hp and 11Nm more than the 1.4 it replaces.
The new engine stands out for its refinement and strong performance; the numbers are class-leading after all. It’s quite linear in its power delivery, and, paired to the DCT, it feels genuinely quick in Sport mode. Though it does feel relatively smooth when driving flat out, it can get jerky at slower speeds when you’re on and off the throttle a lot. Still, this power train option will be the enthusiast’s pick of the bunch.
0 to 9kms in 9sec. Fuel efficiency more than 17.5 kms, drive and handling is improved by optimisation of dampening force on front and rear. 6 air bags are standard across the variants. Dual ac control and rear sunshade is standard on all variants.
Kia Seltos facelift price
The Kia Seltos facelift starts at Rs 10.89 lakh for the base 1.5 petrol HTE variant and goes up to Rs 19.99 lakh for the range-topping X-Line variants (ex-showroom, India).