SA Road Tests

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This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. I drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under real-world South African conditions. Many of the vehicles driven are world cars as well, so what you read here possibly applies to the models you get where you live.

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Plunging in: 2020 Kia Seltos 1.5 CRDi EX+

Loads of potential

Pics by Kia@Motorpress
Posted: September 9, 2020

The numbers
Price: R449 332 incl. metallic paint
Engine: 1493 cc, DOHC 16-valve, four-cylinder turbodiesel
Power: 86 kW at 4000 rpm
Torque: 250 Nm between 1500 and 2750 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 11.5 seconds
Maximum speed: 176 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: About 6.5 l/100 km
Tank: 50 litres
Luggage: 433 litres
Ground clearance: 190 mm
Turning circle: 10.6 metres
Towing capacity, braked/unbraked: 900/550 kg
Standard tyre size: 215/60R17
Spare: Full size
Warranty and roadside assistance: 5 years, unlimited km
Service plan: 5 years, 90 000 km


Knee-jerk reaction is a frightening and powerful thing. Have you noticed that, since Dieselgate, very few purely passenger cars get offered with diesel engines? That’s excluding SUVs; multipurpose vehicles with greater load carrying ability.

Audi, BMW, Fiat, Ford, Jaguar, Maserati, VW (Polo) and Volvo offer, literally, only a few each. Mercedes-Benz has more but they pretty much invented the diesel car genre, didn’t they?

Even SUV manufacturers have cut back on oil-burning alternatives, so it’s heartening to see Kia plunging in with three diesel versions of its new Seltos. Could that be because South Africans like diesels for their economy and easy lugging power, or because we’re mostly a pragmatic tribe not much given to knee-jerk over-reaction?

The Seltos diesel range offers one engine, a 1500 cc four-cylinder; two trim levels, EX and EX+ and two six-speed gearboxes; manual or automatic. EX+ is automatic-only.

The SP2i version of Seltos, made in India and exported to South Africa, various South Asian countries, the Middle East and Latin America, is fitted with Kia’s U-series, four-cylinder diesel that displaces 1493 cc and develops 86 kW/250 Nm in the form we have here. Its common rail direct injection (CRDi) is by Bosch and it’s boosted by means of a variable geometry turbocharger (VGT) with intake swirl control.

Other regions use a “New U” 1600 cc diesel developing 100 kW and 320 Nm but we suspect that it’s being held back while Kia SA susses out whether our market wants it.

EX trim provides 16” alloy wheels, six airbags, ISOFix anchors, disc brakes front and rear with ABS and EBD, reversing camera, rear parking sensors, manual air conditioning, auto-on headlights, electric mirrors and windows, normal cruise control, fabric upholstery, front fog lamps, roof rails, reach- and rake-adjustable steering wheel with satellite controls, an eight-inch touchscreen with all the usual connectivity, and an auto-dipping rearview mirror.

EX+, at R18 000 extra, ups the game with 17” wheels, ESC, HAC, auto-folding wing mirrors, leather upholstery and an adjustable front armrest with spacious storage box underneath.
The dash is dominated by a glossy black control pod combining touchscreen management centre and bold analogue instruments, with vents and secondary workings close to hand. HVAC dials and buttons were simple and the electronic menus easy enough to navigate.

We found the seats comfortable, outward vision good, gravel road performance excellent and the rear lounge area sufficiently spacious for three grownups. Regrettably, the middle passenger is allocated only a lap belt.

The cargo area is well shaped and equipped with a light, a bag hook and four lashing eyelets to secure awkward loads. The spare is fully sized and catches for the 60:40-split rear seatback are easy to reach. Each portion folds almost flat and leaves only a tiny intermediate step, so longer loads can be accommodated easily.

Engine and gearbox performance, on the other hand, were more workmanlike than wow. There’s little to really complain about but, at this price level, we expected a touch more power and a gearbox that isn’t beginning to show its age. We rated it at 10/10 when it was first introduced but allocate only 8/10 now. Technology has moved on.

Diesel Seltos is a solid and well equipped city SUV with loads of potential. But although we liked this one, we missed loving it. We’d prefer the bigger mill and an uprated gearbox.

Test unit from Kia SA press fleet.

We drove the 1.4 turbopetrol GT Line in July 2020

What We Do

This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.

Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads or goat tracks as well. As a result, my test cars do occasionally get dirty. It's all part of the reviewing process.

I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material.

If ever I place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with a very similar vehicle already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.

Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. There are no advertisers and no “editorial policy” rules. I add bylines to acknowledge sponsored launch functions and the manufacturers or dealerships that provide the test vehicles.  And, as quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so you can see I do actually exist.

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