The 2022 Kia Seltos is a subcompact SUV from Kia that doesn’t seem to be living up to Kia’s excellent reputation. While it has a decent Consumer Reports’ road-test score, its overall score is pretty dismal, at a 43/100. What’s wrong with the 2022 Kia Seltos, and how does it compare to some of Kia’s other SUVs?

Is the 2022 Kia Seltos a reliable SUV?

The 2022 Kia Seltos has a poor predicted reliability rating of 1/5 from Consumer Reports. Consumer Reports writes, “We expect the 2022 Seltos will be much less reliable than the average new car.” It determined the Seltos’ rating by looking at data from the 2021 Kia Seltos, which also has a poor reliability rating of 1/5. Major problem areas in the 2021 Kia Seltos include both minor and major transmission issues, which score a 1/5. In addition, the body integrity, power equipment, and in-car electronics on the 2021 Kia Seltos have a 1/5 reliability rating.

To make matters worse, the 2022 Kia Seltos has a score of 8 when compared to other new models, putting it squarely in last place. This rating comes from averaging the reliability rating for the most recent three years, and includes a prediction when a vehicle is new, as the Seltos is.

How does the Kia Seltos compare to the 2022 Kia Sportage?

The 2022 Kia Sportage is Consumer Reports recommended and is ranked #8 out of 23 compact SUVs. Its predicted reliability rating may not be fantastic – it’s just a 3/5 – but it is better than the Seltos’ 1/5. Consumer Reports finds these scores by sending out subscriber surveys. It received responses from over 300,000 vehicles, with people answering questions about 17 common trouble areas in vehicles.

Consumer Reports used data from the 2019, 2020, and 2021 Kia Sportages to determine the predicted reliability rating of the 2022 Kia Sportage. Major problem areas in those years include the body integrity on the 2021 model, which is a 1/5 and the body hardware and power equipment on the 2020 model, which are both a 2/5. In addition, the 2019 Sportage model has an average rating of 3/5 for its fuel system.

The Seltos can’t compete with the 2022 Kia Telluride

It’s no wonder that the 2022 Kia Seltos can’t compete with the 2022 Kia Telluride. After all, the Telluride has been dominating SUV sales since its inception just a few years ago. Ranked first out of 14 midsize three-row SUVs, the Kia Telluride has an overall score of 97 and a predicted reliability rating of 5/5.

Consumer Reports used data from the only two other Telluride models that exist, the 2020 and 2021 models. Both of those have perfect reliability ratings. The 2020 model year has an average rating for minor transmission problems while the 2021 model year has a 4/5 for in-car electronics. Every other category receives a perfect 5/5.

Kia’s reputation has been pretty great in recent years, and you might be considering purchasing a Kia SUV. Yet if you do, you might want to skip the Seltos and look to the Sportage or Telluride instead.