Rent Kia Seltos 2025 in Dubai

Ask for a Seltos in Dubai this year and you will get the redesigned generation, not the boxier car that filled this fleet through 2023 and 2024. The Kia Seltos 2025 keeps the same drivetrain underneath, a 1.6-litre four and a proper six-speed automatic, so it does not drive like a different car. What is different is the size, the screen inside, and how it handles a parked afternoon in the heat, and that is the part worth understanding before you book. We can bring it to your door within one to two hours, and this page works out if the redesign is worth choosing over the older Seltos still on offer.

What is under the bonnet, and how it drives

Kia did not touch the mechanical layout with this redesign, and that is mostly good news. The Seltos 2025 still runs a 1.6-litre naturally aspirated four making 121 hp and 151 Nm, driving the front wheels through a genuine six-speed torque-converter automatic rather than a CVT. A few rivals in this class have moved to a CVT that drones under load. This one still shifts through real gears, and it feels like an ordinary automatic rather than one that hunts for a ratio. Off the line it is relaxed rather than quick, and a full car pulling onto Sheikh Zayed Road needs a bit of lead time before a gap in traffic closes. Once it settles at 120 on the highway it sits there comfortably without feeling stressed.

What the redesign actually buys you shows up off the spec sheet more than on it. The body is roughly 70 mm longer than the outgoing 2023 and 2024 Seltos, and the wheelbase has grown by 20 mm, so the extra length goes into a calmer ride over Dubai's rougher tarmac and expansion joints rather than into pace. If you have driven the older Seltos here before, this one covers the same ground the same way, just a touch smoother, with a dashboard that looks a couple of generations newer than the drivetrain underneath it actually is.

Cargo, back seat room and what actually fits

The boot holds at 433 litres with the back seats up, the same figure Kia quoted on the outgoing car, so the redesign has not grown the cargo bay even though the body outside got longer. That is enough for two full-size cases and a soft bag for an airport run without anyone holding a bag on their lap, and folding the rear seats opens up enough floor for flat-pack furniture or a bike. Where the extra length actually went is the back seat. The wheelbase growth translates into real knee room for a second-row adult, noticeably more than the older Seltos gave a taller passenger on a longer drive.

Two adults and two kids for a week of mall runs and the school pickup fit without complaint. Add a fourth adult and a full boot for an airport transfer and the back row gets tight, more a squeeze than a comfortable seat. Ground clearance sits at 190 mm, enough to take Dubai's taller speed bumps and a steep mall parking ramp without scraping, and villa compound humps are not a concern either. It is still a front-wheel-drive crossover on road tyres, not a 4x4, so keep it off sand and gravel tracks.

Running costs, Salik and keeping the cabin cool

The 50-litre tank is generous for a compact SUV, and Kia's official cycle numbers undersell what you will actually see. Expect closer to 8 litres per 100 km once the air conditioning is working through a Dubai afternoon, which puts a full tank at roughly 600 km and usually one stop at the pump across a normal week of commuting and mall runs.

This rental comes with 250 km a day included, which covers city driving comfortably, and it is AED 0.5 for every kilometre past that. A day trip out to Hatta and back, or several airport runs stacked into one day, can eat into that allowance faster than city errands do, so it is worth a glance at the odometer before a longer trip. Salik tolls and any RTA fines are the renter's responsibility, and you will need to be 25 to take the keys on this one.

Cabin cooling is a real question here, not a footnote. The redesign added more glass, which usually means a hotter interior on a parked afternoon, but the front vents pull hard enough to get a baked cabin to something bearable within a few minutes of getting back in at 45 degrees. Park in shade where you can find it and the extra glass barely registers across a week of driving. The bigger touchscreen is also easier to read and adjust the climate on at a glance, which matters more than it sounds when you are merging onto a busy road with the AC on full.

Who this Seltos fits, and who should size up

Rent the Seltos 2025 if you want a compact SUV that drives like the dependable car Kia has had in Dubai rental fleets for years, just with more back-seat room, a calmer ride and a screen that does not look a decade old. It works well for two adults or a small family covering commuting, malls, and the odd airport transfer, and the extra wheelbase makes it a genuinely easier car for a longer highway drive than the outgoing model.

Size up if four adults with full luggage are a regular thing. A mid-size sedan or a seven-seater handles that better than any compact SUV. The Hyundai Creta sits in almost the same size and price bracket, so it is worth comparing on availability and rate rather than dismissing either car outright. If a lower daily rate matters more than cabin space, the Renault Duster undercuts this class, though you give up some of the Seltos's interior polish to save the money. And if the plan includes any real desert or off-road driving, this stays a front-wheel-drive crossover built for tarmac, not sand.

For most renters picking a compact SUV in Dubai this year, the redesign earns its place. The drivetrain you already trust is unchanged, and the parts that needed work, rear-seat room and the old dated screen, are the parts Kia actually fixed.