There is no doubt that these two vehicles are among the bestselling SUVs in the country. The Kia Seltos and the MG Astor take on the likes of the Volkswagen Tiagun, Skoda Kushaq, Hyundai Creta, Toyota Hyryder, Maruti Suzuki  Grand Vitara, and Honda Elevate.

As far as the comparison is concerned, the MG Astor commands a slightly lesser price than the Kia Seltos does. Both are loaded with features in terms of comfort, entertainment and safety.

In terms of powertrains, the MG Astor can only be had in petrol (naturally-aspirated and turbocharged engines), while the Kia Seltos can be had in petrol and diesel. Both vehicles are available in manual and automatic transmissions.

So, let’s see how these two vehicles stack up against each other in terms of features and specifications. Let’s read on, then.

Specifications

As mentioned at the beginning, the Kia Seltos caters to petrol and diesel buyers, while the MG Astor caters only to petrol buyers. For your reference, only two MG cars have a diesel option, the Gloster and Hector.

Coming back to the comparison, let’s pick the MG Astor first. There are two types of petrol engines offered: a 1.5-litre naturally aspirated and a 1.3-litre turbocharged unit. The 1.5-litre (1498cc) VTi-Tech, four-cylinder, naturally-aspirated petrol engine is tuned to churn out 108 bhp at 6000 rpm and 144 Nm of peak torque at 4400 rpm.  

The turbocharged engine is exclusive to a six-speed automatic, while the naturally-aspirated petrol mill has a standard six-speed manual and an optional CVT gearbox.

On the other hand, the Kia Seltos is available in 1.5-litre engines: petrol and diesel. The petrol version is powered by a Smartstream G1.5, 1497cc, four-cylinder, naturally-aspirated engine, which churns out 113 bhp at 6300 rpm and 144 Nm of peak torque at 4500 rpm. For your reference, selected Kia cars in India can be had with the same powertrain as the Seltos. The petrol version has a six-speed manual and a CVT gearbox, while the diesel version is exclusive to a six-speed iMT and a six-speed automatic (torque converter) gearbox. 

Weighing the figures of these two vehicles, the naturally-aspirated engine of the Kia Seltos has more power than the MG Astor but has the same torque. On the flip side, the MG Astor’s turbo-petrol engine delivers more power but lesser torque than the Kia Seltos’s turbo-diesel engine.

If you want a blend of torque and mileage, the Kia Seltos diesel is a better choice. Check out the Seltos price here.

In terms of suspension setups, the Kia Seltos stands on McPherson Strut with a coil spring at the front and coupled torsion beam axle with a coil spring at the rear. On the other hand, the MG Astor has a McPherson Strut suspension at the front and a torsion beam suspension at the rear.

In addition to these, the braking duties are taken care of by all four-disc brakes. For your reference, some SUVs from this segment still offer a disc-drum brake setup. But, the braking performance offered by all-disc brakes is superior to the disc-drum brakes. 

Apart from that, the Kia Seltos runs on types of tyre profiles: 205/65 R16 and 215/55 R18. In contrast, the MG Astor also has types of tyre profiles: 215/60 R16 and 215/55 R17. Please note that these tyre profiles can vary with the variants. Both vehicles can either be had with steel rims or alloy wheels.

Let’s now jump to the features.

Features

As mentioned earlier, both cars have a long list of features. Please note that the features listed here belong to the top-most variant of these two vehicles.

As for the Kia Seltos’s exclusive features, it includes leatherette upholstery, front ventilated seats (cooled only), a sunglass holder, rear side window blinds (manual), rear windshield, LED foglights, ambient lighting, single-pane sunroof, etc. Further, it boasts a semi-digital instrument cluster, a heads-up-display (HUD), and a 10.25-inch touchscreen infotainment unit, paired with a Bose-sourced audio system with eight speakers. It also has a wireless charger, electronic anti-glare IRVM, tilt and telescopic steering wheel, and front and rear parking sensors. Check out the Kia Seltos’s price here.

On the other hand, the MG Astor’s exclusive features include Level-2 ADAS that incorporates a lane departure warning, forward collision warning, automatic emergency braking, blind-spot detection, lane departure prevention, and rear cross-traffic alert. Apart from that, the MG Astor boasts adaptive cruise control, leather upholstery, a panoramic sunroof, passive cornering lights, a fully digital instrument cluster, and a 10.1-inch touchscreen infotainment unit. 

Considering the Astor’s price, it has a superior safety feature.

The common features offered in these two SUVs are LED lights with LED DRLs, single-zone HVAC, 360-degree camera, 12V sockets, connected car technology, electrically adjustable driver seats, driver armrest, electrically adjustable ORVMs, etc. Moreover, they offer rain-sensing wipers, electric tailgate release, voice command, and auxiliary and USB ports.

On the safety front, both have six airbags, ABS with EBD, ESC, brake assist, ESP, hill hold control, traction control, and hill descent control.

Prices and Variants

The Kia Seltos has four broad variants: The HTE, HTK, HTK+, HTX, and HTX+ variants are exclusive to the former, while the GTX(O) and GTX+ variants are exclusive to the latter. Kia also offers a special edition X Line variant based on the GTX trim. This vehicle has a total of thirteen variants. The Kia Seltos’s price starts at Rs 10.99 lakh and goes up to Rs 20.19 lakh. 

In contrast, the MG Astor is offered in five trims: Sprint, Shine, Select, Smart, Sharp and Savvy. Each trim gets an EX variant, which lacks some safety features. It has a total of sixteen variants. The MG Astor’s price starts at Rs 9.98 lakh and goes up to Rs 18.28 lakh. All are ex-showroom prices in Delhi.