Kia Seltos Turbo Petrol iMT Review

8 / 10

It’s the clutch-less manual version of the Kia Seltos, a crossover with the most extensive engine and gearbox combinations in its segment. There’s a naturally aspirated petrol, turbo petrol, and a turbo diesel engine option. As for the gearbox, the Seltos can be had with a manual, CVT, torque converter automatic, dual-clutch automatic, or the iMT. Here, we are testing the iMT-equipped Seltos with a turbo petrol engine, which is something that Kia is offering with the facelifted model. We have driven the new Seltos already and you can read about it here. For this review, we are focusing on the real-world performance, fuel efficiency, and of course, the drive experience of this engine and gearbox combination.

7.5 / 10

The Seltos iMT’s cabin has the same look and feel as the rest of the Seltos range, but there are a few things to consider. Firstly, you can have the Seltos with this iMT gearbox in two variants only - HTK Plus and HTX Plus. These variants offer all the essential features and then some more, but there are some features missing compared to the higher variants, and the colours used for some of the materials are also different. The HTK Plus variant comes with six airbags, all-four disc brakes, push-button start, eight-inch touchscreen system with wireless Android Auto and Apple Car Play, digital instrument cluster, rear door sunshades, 16-inch alloy wheels, automatic AC, and cruise control.

As for the HTX Plus variant that you see here, it comes with a panoramic sunroof, front parking sensors, LED headlamps, sequential turn indicators, 17-inch alloy wheels, bigger 10.25-inch touchscreen with navigation, powered driver’s seat and seat ventilation for both driver and passenger, dual-zone climate control, eight-speaker Bose sound system, wireless charger, ambient lighting, and leatherette upholstery. Now, because this iMT version cannot be had in the top-spec variants, some feel-good features such as ADAS, 360-degree camera, bigger 18-inch alloy wheels, and drive modes, are missing.

As for space and comfort, the iMT Seltos remains unchanged from the rest of the range. The front row continues to offer a good amount of headroom and knee room. The seats