With the facelift, the Kia Seltos has become one of the most equipped offerings in its segment, thus climbing up the price ladder by a big margin over its rivals

The Kia Seltos facelift has been launched in India, and is being offered in three broad variant lines: Tech (HT) Line, GT Line and X-Line. With the midlife refresh, the compact SUV has become more premium and is the most powerful model in its segment (thanks to the new turbo-petrol engine).

Let’s see how the prices of Kia’s updated compact SUV compare against its segment rivals:

Petrol-manual

• The Kia Seltos facelift’s starting price is on par with those of its prime rivals. While it’s only the Maruti Grand Vitara whose starting price undercuts that of the new Seltos, the Skoda Kushaq-Volkswagen Taigun duo has the highest entry point of over Rs 11.50 lakh.

• Five of the seven compact SUVs mentioned above – save for the German duo – get a 1.5-litre petrol engine, with both manual and automatic options.

• The facelifted Kia Seltos is the only compact SUV to provide an option of a 6-speed iMT (clutchless manual) with its new 1.5-litre turbo-petrol engine. At 160PS/253Nm, the new Seltos is the most powerful and torquiest SUV in its class.

• It’s only the Skoda Kushaq and Volkswagen Taigun that get a 6-speed manual gearbox option with both their 1-litre and 1.5-litre turbo-petrol engines.

• If it’s a CNG powertrain that you desire, your options are limited to the Maruti and Toyota SUVs in this segment. They are also the only SUVs here to come with the option of an all-wheel drivetrain (AWD) with their top-spec manual variants.

• At Rs 18.29 lakh, the new Seltos has one of the costliest range-topping petrol-manual variants on offer thanks to the premium features such as a 10.25-inch digital driver display, 8-way powered driver seat and seat ventilation.

Petrol-auto

• The facelifted Seltos’s automatic range now has the highest entry-point in its segment by up to Rs 3 lakh.

• It’s the automatic variants of the Maruti Grand Vitara, Toyota Hyryder and MG Astor that are most affordable, with their starting price falling under Rs 14 lakh.

• Among all the SUVs here, it’s only the Seltos, Creta and Astor that get a CVT option (an 8-step unit is offered with the MG SUV).

• The two pairs of the Grand Vitara-Hyryder and Kushaq-Taigun come with a 6-speed torque converter automatic, although it’s limited to the smaller 1-litre turbo-petrol unit of the German SUVs.

• Kia, Skoda and Volkswagen are the only carmakers here to provide a 7-speed DCT gearbox with their 1.5-litre turbo-petrol engines.

• Although MG’s turbo-petrol engine is the smallest here (1.3-litre unit), it only comes with a 6-speed automatic gearbox option.

• The Seltos has the costliest automatic variants here in the form of the GTX+ and X-Line priced at Rs 19.79 lakh and Rs 19.99 lakh, respectively. But for that premium, you get advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), which is otherwise only available with the MG Astor’s Savvy variants which are more affordable by up to Rs 3 lakh.

• The Hyundai Creta, for now, doesn’t get a choice of the turbo unit seen on the facelifted Seltos but it will be on offer with the launch of the Creta facelift expected next year.

Also Read: Upping The Coolness Quotient Quite Literally: Cars With Dual Zone Climate Control Under Rs 30 Lakh

Diesel-manual

• It’s only the Seltos and the Creta that continue to offer a diesel powertrain option in the compact SUV space.

• While both the Korean SUVs share the 1.5-litre diesel unit, the Seltos gets a 6-speed iMT gearbox whereas the Creta comes with a 6-speed manual transmission.

• Between the two, it’s the Creta that has a wider diesel-manual variant lineup with their prices undercutting those of the Seltos facelift, with the difference between their respective range-topping variants being of Rs 70,000.

Diesel-auto vs Strong-hybrids

• The Seltos shares its 1.5-litre diesel engine with its Hyundai sibling, the Creta. However, between the two, it’s the Kia SUV that has an additional variant on offer.

• While the Maruti Grand Vitara and Toyota Hyryder’s strong-hybrid variants are priced similar to the diesel-auto variants of the Seltos-Creta duo, the Hyryder hybrid is the most affordable among the lot by a little over Rs 2.50 lakh.

• Prices of the top-spec Seltos diesel-auto and Hyryder hybrid variants are tied at just under Rs 20 lakh.

Note: Almost all SUVs mentioned above can be had with a dual-tone paint option with some of their variants for a premium, which could effectively bring down their entry-level price points. For example, in the case you opt for the Creta’s S+ DCT dual-tone (DT) variant, its starting price drops down to Rs 15.79 lakh.

All prices ex-showroom Delhi

Also Read: Kia Seltos Facelift’s Variant-wise Features Revealed

Read More on : Kia Seltos Automatic