Baby Telluride Grows Up! | 2027 Kia Seltos X-Line SX Turbo | Detailed Review

In the world of subcompact SUVs, Kia was a little late to the party when they introduced the original Seltos to America all the way back in late 2020. Now at the time, I was a big fan of the first generation Seltos because it introduced a much bolder design, more features, and an available turbo engine to a segment that is really known for vehicles that feel more like taller hatchbacks. Well for 2027, we are seeing an all-new second generation. As you can see, Kia has decided to go even bolder by adopting a lot of the design cues that we love in the all-new Kia Telluride. So today, we're actually out here in Orange County, California because we're finally getting a chance to drive the all-new 2027 Seltos. And the big question I will answer, has Kia made enough changes to their subcompact entry-level SUV to raise the bar even higher in the space? Stay tuned to find out. So before we start talking about this bold new exterior design with the all-new second generation Seltos, let me first start by popping the hood and reminding you what's powering this vehicle. Now here in America, Kia is actually going to offer a choice of three different powertrains. The new option, you're going to have to wait until early next year or late this year. However, this has the up-level option. If you guys want the turbocharged engine, you have to go for this top-of-the-line SX X-Line model because this is the company's 1.6 liter double overhead cam, direct injection turbo four. It still makes 190 horsepower and 195 foot-pounds of torque, hooked up to an eight-speed torque converter automatic. The turbo engines are going to come standard with all-wheel drive, but if you go for any of the X-Line trims, you're also going to get standard all-wheel drive. Fuel economy is rated at 24 in the city, 30 on the highway. This has about a 13.2 gallon fuel tank. With 26 combined on regular, you're going to get around 350-ish miles of range on a full tank. Now, Kia doesn't quote a zero to 60 time. We'll test it out when we get this vehicle out on the road. We tested a Kona a couple of years ago and it did it around 7.3 seconds. So this car should be pretty similar towing capacity. Kia says this should now tow up to 2,000 pounds with a top speed of around 118 miles an hour. And the other story about this new Seltos is it's gained some weight. This car, as it sits, weighs in at around 3,700 pounds. So it's around 400 pounds heavier than the previous generation. So not entirely sure where all that weight came from, but just keep in mind most Seltos models, at least for now, are going to become equipped with their base engine making 147 horsepower. I probably would skip that powertrain, but this engine definitely is going to give you the extra torque that you typically don't find in the segment. The hybrid is coming later next or later early next year, and we don't have very good details on that powertrain yet, but it's basically the powertrain out of the Niro with a separate e-axle at the back. I've been seeing reports of around 180 horsepower, so I'm hoping it'll have right around that power, which would put it right in between, of course, the base engine and this top turbo engine option. But let's go ahead and close up the hood here and talk about the exterior styling, which if you guys really like the look of the new Telluride, you're going to love this vehicle. In fact, there are certain angles of this vehicle that I actually think it looks better than the Telluride. Now, first of all, this is the top trim, like I said, SX X-Line package. You can also get the X-Line in the base or S-Trim, and it's painted in this beautiful color called Terrain Brown. Now, this color also used to only be offered on the Telluride. On the Telluride, they also offer a matte color. There's also a Magma Red Matte that you can get on the X-Line models. They had that for us to see. It's the only vehicle in the segment where you can get a matte color, and it looks really good on the lines. You can see with the X-Line package, you have an updated version or an exclusive version of the Tiger Nose grille with gloss black accents, the blacked out Kia logo, of course. The headlights also are the upgraded projector-style full LEDs with an LED turn signal. I love the amber illuminated daytime running light here. It mimics, again, what we see from the Telluride. It accentuates the width of this vehicle. In fact, the new Seltos is around 1.1 inches wider than the previous generation. The X-Lines also give you these nice LED fog lights with more gloss black and some graphite matte gray finishes, of course, which really break up the terrain brown matte. I really like the way this car looks compared to some rivals, which look a lot more like lifted hatchbacks, such as like a Subaru Crosstrek. This has a bold SUV design to it, and I think it's really going to do well with buyers, especially, again, if you like the Telluride, but you don't necessarily need the size. Now, moving around the side profile, this is where the new Seltos has gotten bigger, but it's not the biggest vehicle in the class. It rides on a 105.9-inch wheelbase with a 174.4-inch overall length. So, the wheelbase is 2.5 inches longer, and it's around 1.8 inches longer overall. This is still around 5 inches shorter than a Honda HR-V, which is kind of the biggest vehicle in the segment. This is actually around the same length as Kia's K4 hatchback. So, I think proportionally, they did well with all the boxy elements. You can see the wheels. Kia offers a choice between either a 16-inch wheel at the base LX trim, going all the way up to this 19-inch wheel on the X-Line models. The S X-Line has an 18-inch wheel. I don't particularly love the design of the wheels. Let me know what you guys think in the comment section below. It just has a little bit too much gloss black, and it just needs a little bit more contrast and textures for me. It's riding on a wider 235 by 45 R19. Again, go for an 18-inch wheel or a 16. You're going to have a narrower 215 wide tire. Kia did increase the ground clearance for this generation. You have up to 8.1 inches on the X-Line all-wheel drive that I'm showing you here. You also get gloss black along the wheel arch trim, independent front and rear suspension. But keep in mind, if you guys go for a front wheel drive version, it'll actually have a semi-independent torsion beam, which is typical when you're looking at this segment. Now, the X-Line also includes black painted side mirrors. You also get a 360 camera with integrated turn signals. That's a really nice upscale touch. I also like the blacked out A-pillar here and the gloss black that you find on the roof rails. The S X-Line comes standard with a panoramic sunroof. This is one of the few vehicles in the segment where you can get a pano roof. It's also optional on the EX trim and the S X-Line trim as well. I love this kind of floating D-pillar element here, which kind of, again, gives it a really unique design to it. It also has those retractable door handles. We'll talk about that later on during the driving scene, but they basically pop in and out whenever you start the vehicle or whenever you lock and unlock the car. And then coming over back to the rear of this thing, you can see a lot of design elements here from the Telluride, which really give it a nice look. I love the way the full LED taillights look, which kind of create almost a full LED light bar, but it's not quite that. You have more blacked out badging here, more gloss black with a unique rear diffuser, no visible exposed exhaust tips, which would have been nice, but you also got, of course, an X-Line badge. Looking at the rear spoiler, I really like how it has an integrated third brake light that kind of accentuates how much wider the vehicle is. It also has the rear wiper that's tucked underneath here, which is a nice touch where you don't have the rear wiper sitting here on the rear glass. The black badging also looks good. And in terms of the cargo space, this model comes standard with a power liftgate. Now you can get a power liftgate on the EX trim as well. Typically in this segment, you don't find a power liftgate, so it's nice how Kia offers that. And then Kia also claims best-in-class cargo space. So you have just under 28 cubic feet of storage space here with all the seats up. Remember, there's no third row in this vehicle. That's around one to two cubic feet more versus the previous generation. You can see Tommy and I actually have all of our stuff in here. And if I look underneath here, there is actually a pretty sizable underfloor storage area with a temporary spare. So that's a nice touch there if you want to put some more hidden items. If you fold down the seats here, which sadly you can't do it from back here. You have to kind of go to the side because you can't really reach it with this cargo cover in the way. It does expand the cargo to around 64 cubic feet of space, which Kia says, again, that's best-in-class. It's around five to 10 cubic feet more versus what you're going to find versus a lot of its rivals. So Kia obviously did a really great job with the exterior of the new Seltos. But if you guys like the interior of their newest products, you're also going to notice that they basically gave you all the luxury and technology features. In fact, some of the features you're not even going to typically find in this segment. Now, this top-of-the-line model is going to come with their, basically, their nicest seat. So this is a Saturn Black Syntex is what they call it. It's actually a synthetic leather, but I have to say it feels very much like genuine leather. The seats are also perforated because they're heated and ventilated. You have to go for this trim plus a premium package to get the ventilated seats. The driver's seat adjust in 10 different ways, which is kind of unexpected again for this segment. And you also have a two-person memory function. There is, I don't think there's any other vehicle in the class other than the Mazda CX-30 perhaps that has ventilated seats. I also really like these headrests. You can see they're kind of like a foam, like it's a netted foam material, but they also are incredibly plush and soft. I do want Kia to offer more interior colors right now. You can either get basically a gray and black two-tone or this black, the X-line trims only come with the black interior. So I'm hoping Kia will expand the availability of some of the interior colors at a later date. Now stepping inside, this vehicle has a nice, easy, taller SUV step-in height with 8.1 inches of ground clearance. As I shut the door, the door has a really solid sounding thunk. Remember this is built on their newest K3 architecture, which I believe it shares with the Hyundai Kona as well. Now looking at the key fob, you can see this is their newest detonator style key. I really love the way it looks. It has a high quality feel with typical buttons here for lock, unlock, power lift gate, and then panic. There's remote start here, but not the smart park feature where you can move the vehicle forward and back. And again, this is not a hybrid or a mild hybrid, so it's going to basically have a traditional starter noise. But this interior is pretty similar to what we've seen from other Kia products. The dash layout over there, you can see as their new, you know, 30-inch display. So you have a 12.3-inch center display, which Tommy's phone is currently connected. He was kind enough to unlock his phone so he could see the car play there. But it has a 12.3-inch screen there with a 5-inch screen here for the climate. And then you have a 12.3-inch digital cluster here for the instrument panel. Now I should point out that this look here is only included if you guys go for the premium package because the other ones will have kind of like a 4.2-inch screen here with an analog style look for the instrument cluster. But this definitely gives it the cleanest, most modern design. I also like the new steering wheel, of course, with the flat bottom and flat top design. I still love how the Kia logo is off to the side. I would prefer it to be in the middle. But of course, you have a manual tilt telescoping wheel where you can get a comfortable driving position. The steering wheel is also heated, two-level heated, which is nice. Material quality has a soft-touch injection molded plastic with this nice little texture. Same thing here. It's somewhat padded here where you'd rest your elbows. And then the window controls are one-touch up-down for the front. The rears are not one-touch nor down, which would have been a nice feature. There's no power-folding mirrors. And you can see some of the trim here does feel a little bit on the cheaper end. But remember, this is still a more inexpensive car. This model also comes with their upgraded Harman Kardon stereo, part of that premium package. So you got to kind of go for the top trim to get all those features. In terms of the dash materials, it is a hard-touch plastic material here, but it is more padded over here and here, which is nice. You kind of lose the storage shelf that you had, I think, in the previous generation, but I appreciate how there's a nice mixture of hard buttons and controls here. They're mixed in with the touch controls. You have three USB-C charging ports. You have a wireless phone charging pad here, which is actually a nice raised wireless phone charging pad as well, although it doesn't appear to be ventilated, which is something that some of the newer wireless chargers are now offering. Going back to the car play here, you can see it looks really good. It, I think, takes up a good amount of the screen real estate. And if you go back to the native system here, there's your built-in GPS. That's part of the premium package. And then this has their newest software, of course, CNCC is what they call it. You can go into basically an app store and you can download different themes. I think this is the National Geographic theme, which looks really cool. If I put the vehicle into reverse, there's your full 360 camera with trajectory top-down view. It has cross-traffic braking. You can also do a 360 perimeter scan, which the graphics and quality, this is kind of stuff that you'd expect from like a luxury European brand. So it's kind of impressive that Kia is offering that. But again, you have to go for this top trim to get those features. There is no head-up display. Again, that's something that I wasn't expecting to find, but in terms of, you know, some of the other features like the ventilated seats, the memory seats, the 360 camera, the blind view cameras as well. When I signal left or right, it shows you what's in the camera or what's in the display there. And then above me here with this big panoramic glass roof that also still opens up and tilts to vent air. Again, a feature that you typically have to go up to a sub or a compact SUV. So this is all, you know, upscale stuff that is driving the price up of this vehicle, which we'll talk about later. The one thing that is missing is no auto dimming rear view mirror. I believe it's a dealer accessory, no digital camera rear view mirror. And I also think this vehicle does not get their interchangeable ambient lighting, which is funny because it does have some ambient lighting, but it's not like the 64 different colors like you find in the Kia K4 hatchback. So there's a couple of things that Kia left out. Your drive mode selector, I forgot to mention is here. There's basically a normal and sport, and then there's also a terrain mode. So there's snow, mud and sand. So we'll try out the normal and sport mode later on during the driving scene. But in general, this interior feels spacious. It feels comfortable. It has good visibility and the material quality is pretty much what you'd expect for the segment. But let's go ahead and hop into the backseat because this is where Kia also is very proud of the fact that you have best in class space back here. Now, first of all, if you're looking in the subcompact SUV segment, you're going to know that legroom is definitely a little bit tight. However, in the Kia Seltos, you get up to 39 inches of legroom. Now, this seat is not in my driving position. It moved back when I opened the door, but 39 inches is best in class. It's around an inch more versus the previous generation. I mentioned earlier, these seats do fold down and you fold them down via this little lever here on the side of the seat. It creates an almost flat floor. And then if you want, you can also recline this up to 22 degrees, I think. So that's a really nice feature that you don't typically see in this segment. As I climb back here and show you guys the space, again, I'm 5'7", so I'm not really the tallest, but there's good foot space underneath the seats. The seats themselves also have good thigh support. You also have rear seat air vents here, which again, you don't typically find. There's a big open area here for some storage. It would have been nice to see that utilized better, but you do have two USB-C charging ports. This is all hard touch plastic back here. But again, because this vehicle is like a box, it has plenty of headroom space and you also have an armrest that folds down, gives you two cup holders. So if you plan to use this as a family vehicle and you don't necessarily need to spend more for like the Sportage or the Sorento or the Telluride, you'll be pleasantly surprised to see that this vehicle has one of the biggest back seats you're going to find in this subcompact SUV space. Is Rob editing this? Oh yeah. Okay, Rob, I'm watching you, bud. See that, Rob? That is cinema-worthy videography. Just see that, Rob? You have nothing to complain about, right, Rob? I've got like a built-in gimbal in my arms. Look at this. I run. All right, so here we are in the brand new second-generation Kia Seltos. And as always, I am joined here by my good friend, Tommy. You guys may know him from TFL. Thanks for joining us, Tommy. Dude, thanks for having me. Yeah, anytime. So Tommy, we've had some extensive experience in the flagship SUV from Kia, the Telluride, but this is not the Telluride, but it's a baby Telluride, right? And there's definitely some things that make this vehicle feel similar to its big brother. For sure. I mean, we're driving the top SX Prestige model, and it's finally got like a more off-roady look. And this model is equipped with the 1.6 liter turbo. Tommy, this is the only trim that offers the 1.6 turbo. How do you feel about that? You know, I think that they should spread the love a little bit more. I agree. Because this is a very satisfying engine to drive on the road. It's pretty torquey, especially made it to the 8-speed. I think it's pretty responsive. Yeah. It's just a little bewildering that across all the other trims, you can't get this option. I agree. And let's go ahead and try out the 0 to 60, Tommy. It has 190 horsepower, 8-speed auto, all-wheel drive is standard. Let's brake torque it. You're in sport mode? I am in sport. All right, there we go. It's a little bit of lag. Shifts at about 6,000 RPM there. Oh boy. 9.5 seconds there. Well, it's not a race car. No, it's not a race car, but it is significantly slower, Tommy, than what I was expecting. And we are pretty much at a level surface there. I don't know if we're at elevation here. I don't have my watch on me to tell me if we're at elevation, but that's a little disappointing. So just to put into perspective, Tommy, the last Kona that I tested with this powertrain back home did it in around 7.3 seconds. Interesting. Yeah. So you'll have to get this thing back home and put it on the same road. Yeah. Because that's pretty sluggish. Now, granted, everything in this class is pretty sluggish. So that's kind of what you expect. But at the same time, the engine is pretty smooth. It's hooked up to a transmission that's also relatively smooth. And I have to say, this engine has been in production with Hyundai and Kia for a while, and it's not as thrashy as I remember. I don't know if you've had a chance to experience it a few times, but it's not the best sounding engine. The thing about this, though, is this car is not really about the powertrain. And if I'm buying a Seltos, I'm buying it for affordability and efficiency. Yes. Are you going to do 0-60 again? Yes. I'm going to do one more just to see what it'll do here. Just plant it. It's to the floor again. The problem is there's like a big delay right off the line. Yeah. So once you get that little turbo on boil, it moves pretty well. But that like 0-15 is pretty slow. 10.15 in the wrong direction. That's more uphill. That's a little more uphill. 2% incline there. But yeah. Ouch. That's not great. So what I would do, here's my solution. Yeah. I would probably wait for the hybrid. Yes. Yes. You know, because the problem is if this engine is not going to be that quick, especially off the line, then you'd at least want it to be really efficient. Yes. And it's not that efficient. No, it's rated at 2430 mpg. Although on our drive here on the highway, it was showing around 29.5, which is fine. Although I've gotten about 5 mpg better than in a non-hybrid Crosstrek. So it kind of shows like the Crosstrek with its CVT is very efficient. Although we'll have to wait until you guys get one as well for a week and we can kind of do a more extensive 0-60 testing and fuel economy testing. But the hybrid, Tommy, that's going to be an interesting one because it's basically the hybrid powertrain from the Niro plus a e-axle at the back, which is something that Toyota usually does. Exactly right. And I'm excited to see what that means in terms of all-weather traction capability, right? Because sometimes, especially in the more affordable cars, Toyota does this thing where they really undersize the rear motor. And then it's more of like an all-wheel assist instead of all-wheel drive. You know what I mean? It doesn't feel like an all-wheel drive car. It doesn't really behave like one. It's kind of like this weird middle ground between front-wheel drive and all-wheel drive. Oh, 100%. So we don't have power figures just yet for that powertrain, but it makes 139 horsepower in the Niro. I'm hoping it'll be closer to like 180, but we'll see. And then fuel economy, it has to get at least 40, like MPG, if they're going to do that. So we've been in this car now for about an hour, kind of cruising along some highway and then some back roads. And the one standout, I will say, is the ride quality is excellent. It's really, really soft. Yes. It's a little bit almost too soft, floaty at times, but I think it works for somebody who looks in this car, in this class. But the other thing, Tommy, during the presentation, I think you may have missed this. They were talking about how this car is so substantial-feeling, it makes other vehicles in the class feel like toys. They actually had a commercial where they were showing the Seltos driving through rush hour traffic and everybody were in these wooden toy cars. I did see the commercial. That's right, you did see that. And it was kind of hilarious. It was a very tongue-in-cheek kind of commercial. And I understand what they mean now because this feels wide. It feels like a bigger car, like you're getting a class above the subcompact. It feels like I'm driving around more in a Sportage-sized vehicle, although the Sportage has also gotten a lot bigger. So if you're looking for that and you're looking for best-in-class interior space, this is definitely the one you want to look at. I think the differentiator is, in my opinion, the greenhouse of this vehicle is very tall. The windows are really tall, so you get a lot of visibility, but it also feels like you're kind of driving around in a bubble, which kind of makes the car feel a lot bigger than it is. Kia's probably not going to like this, but I do really feel like it's kind of like driving around like a small delivery van, like a Ford Transit Connect because it's got a really high roof. I could see that, yeah. And a windshield that's kind of vertical and a little far away from you. So you get this almost like Volkswagen buzz impression where it feels like you're driving around in this huge box. For sure. So I think that if you want like a sporty feeling, this is not it. But if you want a really practical, airy experience, that's what this delivers. Yeah, and it also has the tech, like we've got that blind view camera, we've got 360 camera, we've got ventilated seats, memory seats. I mean, this is all technology that you typically can't find in this class. So it's great that Kia is offering. Now, you do have to buy this top trim, which is kind of a little expensive, but I mean, the seats, I think they're pretty comfortable. Tommy, what do you think? Definitely comfortable. Yeah, they're good. They're good seats. I like the Syntex synthetic leather. The cooled seat also works well. The headrest is also incredibly plush. Yeah, really soft. It's like a netted fabric material, which I really love. And it's got good visibility. I can see out of the front, the side, the rear easily. Although for this kind of money, it's missing a digital camera or an auto dimming rear view mirror. I think that should have been included. That's kind of crazy. Yeah, it's a little cheap to see that there at this price. You can get it, I think, as a dealer accessory, but it really should be standard. I also like, let's see, one wireless charging tray? Just one. Okay. But there are three USB-Cs right above it. So plenty of availability for charging there. I love that it has rear seat air vents as well to keep rear passengers cool. I think that's a really big deal. Yeah. And the screens look nice, like the dual 12.3-inch displays. I think the five-inch screen, Kia, needs to kind of go away from that because it gets blocked by the steering wheel. It's just not needed, in my opinion. It's not needed, but it finally has wireless CarPlay and Android Auto, which the old one, if you got the bigger screen, it was a wired connection. So that's how old the technology was in it. And in general, this is a really easy car to drive. If you like the Telluride and you want a smaller vehicle, this is it, basically. 100%, yeah. I think that, look, there's our competitor. Not as good looking as this. The HR-V. I think that the only thing that really lets this car down currently is, especially if you're cross-shopping with Corolla Cross and you're looking for fuel savings, this car is not it. Not until the hybrid comes out. It doesn't offer it until the hybrid comes out. So I would really strongly recommend waiting for the hybrid because the rest of the car is it, like they nailed it. It's just that powertrain, I think, doesn't really offer the level of performance you'd expect from a turbo or the level of efficiency you'd expect from a subcompact. I agree. So last year here in America, Kia managed to sell just under 60,000 Seltos units in the US in all of 2025. Remember, that was the previous generation, which was still a relatively good vehicle. In fact, if you look at this car's sister car, the Hyundai Kona, Hyundai managed to sell around 64,000 units. So the Seltos is definitely starting to pick up steam. Obviously the top sellers in the subcompact space is the Subaru Crosstrek with nearly 200,000 units and the Honda HR-V with around 150,000 units. So after spending the day driving the new Seltos, I definitely think Kia has the potential here to double their sales because as you guys saw, this vehicle has a much more substantial footprint versus a lot of its rivals. You get best in class interior space. You have a nice SUV like commanding view of the road, where it actually feels like a much more substantial one or next class up vehicle, which is a nice touch. The backseat also is incredibly roomy. The technology in this car is impressive, although you need to go for the top trim if you want all of the fancy features that I mentioned earlier. And the cargo space is also best in class. I was pretty disappointed. In fact, Tommy and I were pretty disappointed with the performance. Obviously we'll have to wait until we get one to test and do a proper zero to 60 time where we potentially aren't at elevation. Although Tommy and I checked, we're at around 1200 feet here, so it really shouldn't be considered elevation, but there was just a noticeable turbo lag that you get from this engine when you first step on it, which leads me to believe the base two liter is going to be even more slower. So Kia says that we have one here to drive. If we have some time, we're going to try to also get behind the wheel of that model at some point later on. But really it's the hybrid model that has me the most intrigued because the hybrid is basically going to give you that 1.6 liter engine minus the turbo with that powerful e-axle at the back. If they can do that with around 180 horsepower and deliver around 40 plus MPG, that could be the spot because this powertrain, again, you guys saw 2430 MPG is on the lower end of the scale, but if you can get past the powertrain, which is kind of more middle of the road, the rest of this vehicle is definitely near tops of the class. And Kia has also managed to deliver all that at a price tag that is less versus some of its rivals. Because if you want the base Seltos LX with two wheel drive, it starts at just under $25,000, 24,990. Most of you will likely step it to the S trim for around 27,000 or 26,500. The EX trim is a little more elevated around $28,500. And if you guys want the X line package, it's around $1,500. All wheel drive is around $1,500 extra, but this model here stickers for around 32,790. However, that's plus the $2,500 premium package, which my test car has, and a couple of accessories brings the as tested price here to $37,250. So $37,250 is definitely a lot more versus the last Seltos that I tested around two years ago, that topped out at around 33 grand. However, I would argue that this has a lot of the features that I was complaining that the old one was kind of missing from the, you know, 360 camera, the memory seats, the panoramic sunroof. So at that point, again, you could get into or not get the premium package and get this car for around 34 grand, which kind of puts it right in line with a Crosstrek that's fully loaded. However, at this point, you know, you're going to be paying around $2,000 more versus a fully loaded Crosstrek, but I'd argue you're going to get a car that feels much larger, more substantial, more technology may not necessarily be faster, but again, if you prefer something that's a little bit more stylish with more space, you should definitely put the new Kia Seltos at the top of your list. With all that said, hope you guys have enjoyed my full detailed overview on the brand new 2027 Kia Seltos. If you're also looking to see the latest cars I'm testing, be sure to follow me on Instagram at Redline underscore reviews, like us on Facebook. And as always guys, please keep subscribing to the Redline Reviews YouTube channel for all the latest reviews. Thank you so much for watching. I'll catch you all in the next video. Transcribed by https://otter.ai