2025 Kia Seltos First Drive Review: Coming of Age

Back in 2019, Kia launched the first-generation Seltos in India and on the back of the momentum which started with this model, Kia became the fourth largest carmaker in India, albeit briefly. Despite sharing its underpinnings with its sibling - the Hyundai Creta, the Seltos had a vibe of its own. This included its different approach to design, feature set, and a distinctly different ride quality with handling characteristics that felt more on the sporty side, especially when compared to its sister model. The facelift of the Seltos, which followed in 2023, improved on every front while maintaining a similar balance on the comfort-sporty scale.

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But all the naughty kids must grow up, and in 2025, so has the Seltos. For its first full generation update, the Seltos has an all-new design, more features, and most importantly, it has now become a comfortable SUV rather than the sporty one that we had come to know it for. To give you a clearer idea as to whether the new Seltos is for you or not, let’s dive deeper into the changes.

2025 Kia Seltos First Drive Review: Design – Let it Sink in

You are either going to love it or hate it. For those who fall in the latter category, give it some time – polarising designs take time to grow on you and personally, I started liking it in the brief time I spent with the car. While the head lights, grille and front bumper might seem a bit over the top, Kia has complimented them by smoothening out the bonnet surface which has ever so subtle creases.

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At the back, the tail lamps feature a connected design, but they don’t connect as there’s a small gap which I quite like, as it distinguishes the Seltos from seemingly every second new car on the road that gets a connected light bar at the back.

2025 Kia Seltos First Drive Review: Interior – Cosy and Comfortable

Step inside and you are greeted by a new design language for the interior. What really stands out is the dual colour steering wheel we had on our test car, which was a GT Line variant. The Kia logo on it has been offset and while it’s a small detail, it stands out. The dashboard design is a bit busy, but it feels well put together. The Korean carmaker has struck a fine balance between using soft-touch and hard-touch materials and most of the touchpoints inside the cabin give a premium feel. The dashboard is finished in a single shade of colour, although, I would have preferred a dual- or triple-tone colour scheme. Most of the interior of our GT Line test unit was blacked out, with only the top half of the seats, the armrests, and the steering wheel featuring a dash of white.

Now, it’s a good thing that the Seltos has grown in terms of footprint as the abundant use of black had the potential to make the cabin feel claustrophobic, but it only does so mildly because of ample space around you. Furthermore, you can make things brighter by opening the sunroof curtain, which floods the cabin with natural light. The Seltos has grown by 95 mm in length, out of which 80 mm is inside the wheelbase. It shows as rear seat occupants have ample kneeroom to spare and furthermore, despite a small decrease in height, I still had enough headroom at the back. Lastly, the seats feel quite supportive and the cushioning is on point.

2025 Kia Seltos First Drive Review: Features – We Want More

The Kia Seltos has been known to spoil buyers with an abundance of features on offer. In the two iterations of the SUV we have had until now, the Seltos offered many in-demand features which were often segment-firsts. For most of it, the second-generation model walks the same path.

To start with the good, the Seltos features new 12.3-inch screens for the infotainment system and the driver instrument cluster, and if that were not enough, it has a third 5-inch screen for HVAC controls right in between the two. The graphics are crisp, clean, and well laid-out. The only thing to note is that the HVAC screen ends up hiding behind the steering wheel making it difficult to hunt for the controls while driving. Thankfully, you can use the toggle-style physical switches to control the main HVAC functions as well.

The driver seat is 10-way power adjustable including electronic lumbar adjustment, along with a memory function which can save up to two settings per user profile. The Seltos can be configured with a total of 3 user profiles, meaning that you can have a total of six memory settings for the driver seat if you are tech savvy. The driver seat also retracts to welcome you and the ORVMs can tilt when reversing to offer a better view. If that was not enough, the Seltos also packs in side parking sensors giving you 360-degree coverage. There is 64-colour ambient lighting and Level 2 ADAS, among the plethora of features that the Seltos has to offer.

All that said, I think Kia is reaching the ceiling with how many features they can pack into this size of an SUV. In fact, I believe there are three features which they have missed and should have been there on the Seltos – an electrically adjustable front passenger seat, ventilated second row seats, and an electrically operated boot-lid.

2025 Kia Seltos First Drive Review: Performance – Quick and Quiet

On the powertrain front, Kia has made no changes to the Seltos even though it is now underpinned by the K3 platform, which also underpins the Hyundai Verna. Our test car featured the 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol engine with a 7-speed DCT. We have extensively driven this powertrain combo before in other cars like the Verna, in which it feels ballistic. On the heavier Seltos, it fell short of ballistic but is still stupidly quick. Drive it gently and this engine will return a fuel efficiency of about 15 km/l. Another perk of driving it sanely is that the gear shifts become imperceptible.

I drove the 1.5-litre diesel engine with a 6-speed torque converter as well, and it retains its happy-go-lucky character. The solid low-end torque means that you can get up to speed at low RPMs itself, and the automatic transmission remains a smooth operator between shifts. Not just that, the NVH levels of the new Seltos have also been improved and when travelling at highway speeds, there is often a disconnect between the calm inside the cabin and the manic performance (in case of the turbo-petrol engine) that is being unleashed outside it. In the case of the diesel engine, you can now barely hear it inside the cabin at low RPMs, but it does make itself audible once you move past 2,000 RPM.

The biggest upgrade in the driving department is the ride quality. The Seltos was no sports car earlier, but it was fun to drive in the bends. As someone who was a fan of how the earlier generation Seltos handled, I am sad to report that it is no longer the case. Push it hard through a corner and understeer happens earlier than you expect from a Seltos. However, the sporty handling has been replaced with a comfortable ride quality – and by comfortable, I mean borderline luxurious. Small undulations can no longer be felt inside the cabin, and even sharp-edged potholes are dealt with easily. Honestly, it feels like the ride quality is of luxury cars from a couple of segments above.

2025 Kia Seltos First Drive Review: Verdict – Quick, Loaded, and Comfortable

The changes that the second-generation Kia Seltos has gone through changes the base character of the Seltos. Earlier, it was an SUV that offered a balance between handling and comfort. However, the new model has picked its side between the two and is firmly looking to appeal to family buyers who prefer a more comfortable ride quality.

As for the rest of it, the Seltos has improved on all fronts. However, the one important thing we don’t yet know is the price which will be revealed on the January 2, 2026. If they continue to strike the same price-to-value ratio with the Seltos that they always have, then, this generation of the Seltos will be a worthy to the outgoing model.