2020 Kia Seltos review: Australian first drive | CarAdvice
It's taken years, but with the Seltos, Kia finally has a small SUV on sale in Australia. Can it compete in a hard-fought market? Alborz Fallah finds out.
Kia is a South Korean brand originally established in 1944. When paired with its sister company Hyundai, the two brands rank as the fifth-largest manufacturer in the world. Kia is pitched as the more youth-oriented brand of the two, with its cars generally aimed at a younger demographic. Its most famous vehicle is the Rio city car, though nameplates such as Cerato, Optima, Sportage and Sorento are also gaining in popularity as the company continues to transcend its budget image with a range of attractively designed models. Kia is the only manufacturer in Australia to offer a seven-year factory warranty.
It's taken years, but with the Seltos, Kia finally has a small SUV on sale in Australia. Can it compete in a hard-fought market? Alborz Fallah finds out.
Big, classy and attractively priced – but Kia’s biggest SUV won’t come here.
The Kia Seltos has quickly established itself as a small-SUV sharp-ender. We see if the flagship GT-Line climbs to the top of the range heap.
Kia Australia has wanted a model like the Seltos for a long, long time. Now it's here, and it's a very good thing.
We get down to brass tacks with the Sorento GT-Line's interior bells and whistles.
If you have around $20,000 to spend on a compact city car, it's hard to look past the Kia Picanto. It's surprisingly grown-up to drive and loaded with features, which is why it's comfortably the best-selling micro car in Australia. But size matters – so we've heard – and for not all that much more money than Kia demands, you could find yourself behind the wheel of something more substantial...
It's no secret that one of Kia's selling points in Australia is the effort its local arm puts into developing specialised suspension tunes suited specifically to our road quality and buyer preferences. Hundreds of combinations of components and calibrations are tested by veteran engineer Graeme Gambold, before final sign-off is achieved and specific requirements sent off to Kia's factories for inclusion in Australian-delivered models...
The 2019 Kia Sorento is one large SUV definitely worth looking at, being a strong performer in recent CarAdvice testing and comparisons. Unlike some, you have an option of drivelines across the range. But with a large amount of choice available to Australian car buyer from different grades, engines and drivelines, an important question gets raised: petrol versus diesel; what is the best choice when it comes to Kia's big family SUV? CarAdvice's off-road editor Sam Purcell finds out...
Here we have a 40,000ft view of what Kia's big Sorento GT-Line is packaged with. For all of our Sorento news and reviews, hit the links below.
The impressive new Seltos takes on the popular stalwart Qashqai in this flagship small-SUV twin test.
So, you have around $20,000 to spend on a small car. Is the Kia Picanto king, or does the bigger Suzuki Swift offer enough to justify its steeper price tag?
Petrol versus diesel; what is the best choice when it comes to Kia's big family SUV?
Mandy Turner and Mike Costello record the podcast inside a white 2020 Lexus RX350 F Sport. Mike covers November's new car sales figures, which saw the Mazda 3 and Ford Mustang perform poorly, and the Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger 4x4 battle for top spot. We speak to Dr. Miklos Kiss, head of pre-development for automated driving at Audi AG, and Curt Dupriez compares the 2020 Kia Seltos GT-Line and Nissan Qashqai Ti...
Kia has revealed the first images of its all-new K5/Optima mid-sized sedan, which is a marked departure from the vehicle that preceded it. Measuring 4905mm long and 1860mm wide, the new Optima is 50mm longer and 25mm wider than the current model, while the longer 2850mm wheelbase is claimed to provide a "stable driving character", while the 20mm lower roofline (1445mm) ensures a "low-slung sporty profile"...
The Kia Futuron concept has been revealed at the 2019 China International Import Expo, which is currently under way in Shanghai. With its long bonnet, swept back windscreen and short overhangs, the design of the Futuron's body wouldn't look out of place on a sports car concept. Except, of course, the Futuron is a coupe crossover which rides on a tall suspension setup...
Joining Mandy Turner this week are Mike Costello and Josh Dowling. Josh gives an update on those rare snails that put a stop to Mercedes-Benz imports. We also discuss NSW motorists who can now use digital licences, and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak slamming autonomous cars...
I don't own this car, as it was a rental, but I did drive it for over 10 hours and did 800kms in the thing. This is about as long as I have travelled in any car I haven't personally owned, yet I won't make any comments on reliability. However, I can say that I think if you need something practical and have about $15-$17k in your pocket, one of these would be great...
At the start of 2011, our Honda Odyssey was approaching 200,000 kilometres, and was starting to develop some high servicing costs and reliability issues, so we decided to look for a suitable replacement. We looked at a Nissan X-Trail, Toyota Prado and Kluger, Mitsubishi Pajero, Ford Territory, Hyundai Santa Fe and a Skoda Superb...
Let’s begin with a family background. So five kids, within seven years. We had a Mercedes GL350 7-seater, but with the cost of ongoing maintenance and the kids climbing around inside it, we thought it was time for a van for my wife. My daily driver is an 8-seater Land Cruiser 200 series. But with such a small boot, it is not suited to a young family with a pram and the daily grind...
This is a follow up of my earlier review here on CarAdvice. The previous review was submitted at the one-year mark. I have now owned my Kia Sorento for four years, and I would like to share my experiences over those years. At the risk of repeating myself, we were looking for a family hauler at the end of 2014...
