GT infused Kia Seltos punches hard

This writer, in the pursuit of local motorsport coverage, often stays in hotels. I hate it. Not that the places in question lack in terms of hospitality. It is about me inevitably getting a room on the 11th floor or thereabout.

That, plus the signs they put in their elevators conspire to ruin my existence. Every single hotel elevator has a sign that reads: “Seven people only”. Now, when I am a guest of a racing category or team’s representatives, I generally go to supper with them on the Friday evening. Then we return to the hotel late at night.

Do you know how difficult it is at 11 pm to convince six other people to ride in an elevator with you? The women think you want to molest them and the men that you want to rob them. So I walk up 11 flights of stairs, which at my age could prove fatal. Somebody told me those signs do not actually mean what they say. So, why put them up? Also, at the doors of parliament, there are signs saying “Honourable Members Only”. That is so wrong. The only man to ever walk into parliament with honourable intentions was Guy Fawkes.

So, signs and nameplates are not to be trusted. Take the Kia Seltos 1.4 T-GDI GT-Line for example. Everybody knows that when a vehicle’s nameplate sports the letter D, it is diesel powered. Not in this case – the 1.4 T-GDI GT-Line we got to test is powered by a four-cylinder, turbocharged, 1 353cc petrol engine. Apparently, GDI stands for Gasoline Direct Injection.

For all of its duplicity, the little five-door crossover impressed. The sneakily introduced petrol engine produces 103 kW of power at 6 000 rpm and 242 Nm of torque between 1 500 rpm and 3 200 rpm. This goes to the front wheels via a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission.

The Kia brochure says our test carriage boasts eye-catching exterior styling and a muscular stance, all inspired by the brave and assertive spirit of Seltos, son of Hercules. All way above this writer’s comprehension level, but we thought it looked solid, chunky and about as pretty as one can make a compact SUV, in a mean kind of way. We particularly liked the 17-inch crystal-cut alloy wheels dressed in 225/60 R17 rubber and the LED daytime running lights plus full LED headlamps and turn signals.

Inside, the test vehicle boasted luxury leather seating for five people, 60:40 split rear seats and a huge 433 litres of luggage space with the rear seatbacks folded down. There is also an eight-inch touchscreen infotainment system, USB ports front and rear, cruise control, Bluetooth, electric windows all round, keyless start, auto-dimming interior mirror, plus electrically operated and retractable side mirrors.

Active safety measures include disc brakes front and drums rear with ABS, EBD, brake assist, Hill Start Assist, Stability Control and Park Distance Control. In terms of passive safety, the Seltos offers an advanced body shell designed to distribute impact energy, driver and passenger front airbags, two side airbags front and two side curtain airbags that run the length of the interior.

What is it like to drive? Excellent actually. Given the choice of Normal, Eco and Sport gearbox settings, we chose Eco and we absolutely did not need the Terrain function to drive in Sand, Mud or Snow. We chose instead to propel the Seltos through city traffic where, we would bet heavily, most of its buyers will use the vehicle. That it does superbly.

A race car it is not – Kia claims a 0 to 100 km/h time of 9.7 seconds and a top whack of 189 km/h. But that 242 Nm of torque is on song between 1 500 rpm and 3 200 rpm so the Seltos experiences a strong forward thrust at one-third throttle and maintains it effortlessly.

The seven-speed transmission plays a giant role in the above. It operates incredibly smoothly – in fact, it was virtually impossible to discern gear changes, up or down. Revving the engine over 4 000 rpm does not serve much of a purpose and we would expect very few Seltos owners to indulge in street racing. So, we concentrated on economy and the Seltos rewarded us with an overall fuel usage figure of 6.9l/100km.

At R449 995, the Seltos 1.4 T-GDI GT-Line comes with a five-year/unlimited distance warranty and five-year/90 000 km service plan and rates as a superbly user-friendly vehicle that should sell well among well-heeled people who want something stylish, yet practical.

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