Seltos has always been one of Kia India’s most important vehicles even though it is Sonet which brings in the highest volumes for the brand. Kia is about to launch 2nd Generation Seltos in India which will be a pivotal move for the brand in 4.2m to 4.4m SUV space. Kia is betting big on size and space this time around and Seltos is now the longest SUV in its segment.
New Seltos has grown in every dimension, radiating a dominating road presence, while offering more space on the inside. We drove 2026 Seltos in Bengaluru and experienced Turbo Diesel and Turbo Petrol engine variants across good roads, bad roads, off-road and more. After spending around a day with this vehicle, this is what we think about the new Seltos.
2026 Kia Seltos First Drive Review – Striking Design!
Starting with the dimensions, new Seltos measures 4,460 mm in length, 1,830 mm in width, 1,635 mm in height and has a 2,690 mm long wheelbase. Compared to its predecessor, new Seltos is 95 mm longer, 30 mm wider and offers an 80 mm longer wheelbase. Even the ground clearance has been increased to 200 mm, 10 mm higher. Only the height has been reduced by 10 mm to 1,635 mm.
Where design is concerned, new Seltos is undeniably a more striking vehicle with significantly greater road presence. It is not exactly a polarizing design, but a few people might find it too wild for their liking. We loved the design, but felt like the car may look better without the vertical LED DRL at both ends. The new squarish LED headlight housing boasts sleek LED headlight elements along with vertical LED DRLs.
Kia is offering three different styling packs – Tech Line, GT Line and X Line. I think Tech Line is the best looking, while the design elements of GT Line and X Line are a tad much. Starmap LED tail lights are not exactly connected, but they look rather nice. Depending on the styling packs, Kia bundles geometric alloy wheel designs and wheel sizes top out at 18-inches. Body cladding is painted in Gloss Black for the first time on new Seltos, which we appreciated.
New Seltos get flush door handles for the first time and they pop out on their own. For the first time, new Seltos also get a hidden rear washer and wiper, lending a clean look at the rear. Other notable exterior elements include gas struts for the bonnet for a premium car vibe, fancy welcome and goodbye animations built into the LED DRL and tail light signatures and more.
Vastly Improved Interiors
On the inside, 2026 Kia Seltos brings major changes to its dashboard layout, overall fit and finish, material quality and a luxury car vibe, when compared to the model it will replace. If you own a 1st Gen Seltos or its facelift and open the doors of 2nd Gen Seltos, the larger size and roomier cabin is immediately evident. This gives new Seltos a big car feel, which gives it a decisive edge in its segment.
Main highlight on the inside is its 30-inch Trinity Display, which is a triple screen setup, similar to the one we saw in Syros. There is a 12.3-inch infotainment screen with wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay support, a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster and then a 5-inch touchscreen sandwiched between these two, dedicated for climate control related functions. There is an 8-speaker Bose audio system coupled with this infotainment screen.
All three screens offer intuitive UI and slick operation. Resolution is crisp and the surface coating of this cluster resists reflections quite well. Below this display, we can see quite a few physical shortcut buttons to control the infotainment screen including a volume dial. There are physical toggles for the dual-zone climate controls as well. So, most of the necessary functions get physical controls, which is a good thing.
Centre console has a wireless charging pad and a yacht-style gear selector along with engine start/stop button, parking camera button, switch for electronic parking brake and even a sliding tray that conceals two cup holders. The three-spoke steering wheel is new and it houses Drive Mode and Traction Mode buttons. One oddity is that infotainment and audio controls are on the right, while instrumentation and Cruise Control buttons are on the left, which is inverted when compared to the majority of the cars out there.
While the design of new Kia Seltos’ interiors is new, materials have gone a drastic evolution as well. Only the middle part of its dashboard is soft-touch, while rest is all hard plastics. However, the top and mid sections of front door trims are soft-touch too. Coupled with premium headliner and upmarket leatherette upholstery, new Seltos has a premium car vibe, which very few of its rivals have.
More Space Than Before
With new Seltos’ larger size, comes a more spacious cabin. For the first time, a mass-market 4.2m to 4.4m SUV has crossed the 4.4m length mark, which Indian SUV buyers are likely to appreciate. At the front, both driver and co-driver gets more than adequate knee room, leg room, head room and shoulder room. Both front seats are ventilated and the switch to turn on seat ventilation is easily accessible on either door pads.
Driver’s seat is not only 10-way powered (including lumbar adjustment), it gets a memory function as well, with two settings. These memory functions can even store ORVM settings. Speaking of, ORVMs now automatically lower when Reverse gear is engaged, making it safer. Notable mention has to go for the new knitted type headrest for front occupants that is quite soft and plush, offering a new level of comfort.
The rear seat bench has three headrests and a centre armrest with cupholders. Rear seat does not slide and nor is it ventilated like it was in Syros. However, there is a recline function for rear bench, which does not induce a lot of comfort. Rear AC vents are mounted on the floor along with a cubby below them. 27W Type-C ports are integrated into the front seatbacks. Rear windows get sun shades too, which is a good thing.
The panoramic sunroof brings in a lot of light into the cabin, while LED interior lighting and sophisticated mood lighting further amplifies the overall ambience of new Seltos’ cabin. The boot is also larger now, with a total capacity of 447L. Tailgate is manual, which opens to reveal a large aperture and a flat boot. The 60:40 split seats can fold to further liberate a cavernous cargo area.
Powertrains and Performance
New 2026 Kia Seltos remains unchanged where powertrains are concerned. It carries forward the same trio of 1.5L 4-cylinder engines as before and even the engine parameters are left unchanged. So, the 1.5L NA Petrol engine with 113 bhp peak power and 144 Nm peak torque, mated to either a 6-speed Manual or an iVT. Then we have a 1.5L Turbo Petrol unit with 158 bhp peak power and 253 Nm peak torque, mated to either a 6-speed iMT or 7-speed DCT.
Then we have the trusty ol’ 1.5L Turbo Diesel with 113 bhp peak power and 250 Nm peak torque, mated to either a 6-speed Manual or a 6-speed torque converter automatic. Now that Seltos has grown larger and stronger with a better reinforced K3 global platform, it has gotten heavier too. There’s no official weight increment figure, but it is heavier than its predecessor and you can notice this gain in weight.
Especially when driving the Diesel engine, one can notice that the performance feels dull now, taking longer to reach 100 km/h than it was before. This effect is not very evident with Turbo Petrol unit as that engine can mask the added weight better. Is it a deal breaker in any way? Not at all. Seltos is not a sportscar and Diesel buyers expect a sensible power delivery anyways. For a more engaging driving experience, Seltos gets paddle shifters as well.
Drive, Ride Quality and Safety
Suspension components are all new with 2nd Gen Kia Seltos and they do a good job at ironing out the road imperfections. There is no suspension noise too, which gives confidence for long-term reliability. The bump absorption is quite commendable too. New Seltos does not feel indestructible like a few rivals may feel like, but is pretty much up there where plush and cushy ride quality is concerned.
New Kia Seltos is not impervious to body roll and you will still feel quite a bit of it. However, it is well controlled and is acceptable for this segment. There is very less vertical movement on higher speeds too, which is a good thing. Even the nose dive under hard braking is not too pronounced and the SUV does not lose composure anywhere. The maturity of this new K3 platform is noticeable when compared to its predecessor.
Where safety is concerned, new Kia Seltos leaves no stones unturned as it gets 24 safety features as standard including 6 airbags, all-wheel disc brakes, reversing camera and more. Higher variants come equipped with Level-2 ADAS suite with 18 autonomous driving assistance features and 3 parking assistance features including 360-degree cameras, blindspot monitoring and parking collision avoidance among others.
Should You Buy One?
No car is perfect and the new 2026 Kia Seltos is definitely not one. There were a few misses we felt around this SUV from an otherwise complete product. Some of these misses were cooled glovebox, digital key for convenience and cornering fog lights for added safety, among others. The 100W rear USB Type-C chargers are only for the global model and India-spec model gets 27W only.
When Kia gave a ventilation function on Syros’ rear seat base, we thought 2nd Gen Seltos would get a step above, ventilation on Seltos’ rear seat base and backrest. But rear seat ventilation is missing completely in new Seltos. We banged our knees on the hardshell front seatback, which could have been a regular cushioned seat. Even in terms of design, I would have loved it if new Seltos was a little toned-down.
The only thing that really bothered us when driving the new Kia Seltos in Bengaluru as part of the media drive, was the unavailability of prices. Because this is the third vehicle we tested this month not knowing their respective prices, making it difficult to position our thoughts and views. That said, new Kia Seltos is now our easiest recommendation in the vastly over-crowded 4.2m to 4.4m SUV space (C Segment SUVs) and every prospective SUV buyer should check it out.
