2024 Kia Seltos

Of 30 vehicles subject to the new test in the agency’s latest front crash evaluation, 22 rated good or acceptable.

A starting price usually references a car’s base model, excluding available features, options and fees, making it a poor benchmark in some cases.

This year’s study is based on responses from 99,144 buyers and lessees of new model-year 2024 vehicles, and respondents were surveyed 90 days after acquiring their vehicles.

For 2024, a freshening brings improvements that enable the Seltos to compete in an increasingly crowded assortment of subcompact SUVs.

For our Best Car award, our watchwords are quality, innovation and value.

An increasing number of vehicles with sticker prices of $40,000 or less, some much less, offer heated mirrors.

The six SUVs that were part of our recent Affordable SUV Challenge were smaller, subcompact models, and there were some significant differences in the amount of cargo space they offered.

In our 2023 Affordable SUV Challenge, the most expensive vehicle in the test, the 2024 Kia Seltos SX Turbo, tied for first place in our value scoring with the least expensive vehicle in our test, the 2024 Chevrolet Trax Activ.

The 2024 Kia Seltos improves upon an already winning formula by giving its turbocharged engine a smooth, traditional automatic transmission, while continuing to offer an impressive mix of useful features and high-quality materials.

New SUVs are expensive, so we tested six affordable SUVs priced around $30,000 to find which one is best.