So, you’re looking for an affordable SUV with good mileage, a nice color variety, and several driver-assist features to ensure your safety? Your search has led you to the 2021 Kia Seltos vs the 2021 Nissan Rogue, comparing the differences to see which one is the best bang for your buck. Well, we can help you decide. There are many similarities between these two vehicles, but there’s no way that two vehicles can be 100% alike. We’re here to go over the main aspects of each vehicle, including the appearance, the safety, the performance, and the technology, to determine which model wins this battle.
Appearance
The Kia Seltos
Let’s start with the Kia Seltos. There are 5 trims, with variances in features. This model comes in 12 different colors, including Cherry Black, Steel Gray, Mars Orange, Dark Ocean Blue, Snow White Pearl, Gravity Gray, Neptune Blue, Starbright Yellow, alongside two-tone options. These include Dark Ocean Blue/Cherry Black, Cherry White/Cherry Black, Dark Ocean Blue/Clear White, and Starbright Yellow/Cherry Black.
Wheel size varies according to trim, with the lowest trim offering 17-inch alloy wheels and the highest trim having 18-inch alloy wheels. The trim is the SX Turbo trim with a black and chrome front grille with lightbar, front and rear metal-styled skid plates, heated mirrors, a rear spoiler, and roof rails, along with LED headlights, running lights, fog lights, and rear lights. Overall, the Kia Seltos has several customization options.
The Nissan Rogue
This model comes in 4 different trims and 9 exterior colors, including white, silver, gray, black, red, blue, orange, brown, and green. It offers much less variety than the Seltos. Further, The 2021 Nissan Rogue has a boxier, rounded look as opposed to the Seltos’s slimmer appearance. The Rogue comes with 19-inch aluminum wheels, and it also offers LED headlights, heated outside mirrors, and roof rails. Generally, it comes with fewer customization options than the Seltos.
Safety
The Kia Seltos
Now let’s look at more important concerns. The Seltos includes several safety features, depending on the trim. The lowest trim actually offers many safety assets, including a rollover sensor, an anti-lock brake system, traction control, hill start assist, downhill brake control, a tire-pressure monitoring system, and lower anchors and tethers for children. Higher trims kick it up a notch with driver assist features such as forward collision avoidance and assist, driver attention warning, lane departure warning, lane keeping assist, and lane following assist. Safe exit blind-spot collision avoidance, rear cross-traffic collision avoidance, highway driving assist, and smart cruise control are also options. If you want to know you’re safe on the road, the Kia Seltos might be right for you!
Seriously though, let’s take a look at what some of these features can do. Highway driving assist works similarly to smart cruise control in that it monitors surrounding cars for speed. By doing this, it can help prevent speeding and also assist you in avoiding rear-end collisions. Further, safe exit assist will automatically lock passenger doors if it senses an oncoming vehicle, preventing any car/pedestrian accidents. Finally, The collision avoidance features can scan the area to send alerts and automatically steer the vehicle when a collision is imminent. The 2021 Kia Seltos is equipped and ready to assist you in the most innovative ways possible.
The 2021 Nissan Rogue
Now for the Rogue. This model comes with a few helpful safety features, including blind spot intervention, lane keeping assist and departure warning, rear parking sensors, rear child safety locks, rear cross traffic alert, options for a front and rear sonar system, and cameras for every side of the vehicle. It also has side impact beams and side, knee, and rear airbags with a capacity sensor. While this is nice in a sense, the Rogue comes with far fewer safety assets than the Seltos.
Performance and Technology
The 2021 Kia Seltos
Performance is one of the most important aspects to look for in a vehicle, and it’s safe to say that the Seltos doesn’t disappoint here. With up to 195 lb-ft of torque and torque vectoring corner control, under-steering is less of an issue. This 1.6-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder engine paired with Dynamax all-wheel drive creates an SUV that can adjust to weather and road condition changes without the driver needing to do anything. These automated systems are great for drivers who want to be safe, yet they aren’t fluent in car-talk. With its idle stop and go engine, the Seltos can get up to 31 miles per gallon combined, holding up to 13 gallons of fuel at a time. If you’re looking to get from point A to point B, the Seltos has everything you need to stay on the road.
The Seltos’ tech features include wireless phone charging, remote start, push-button start, and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility that makes your music sound great through the Bose Premium Audio system. A 10.25-inch touchscreen with navigation and Siri Eyes Free, a voice recognition technology that prevents phone distractions, is also included to make your drive easier than ever. It also has USB charging ports and audio inputs, along with LED interior lighting and an auto-dimming rearview mirror. There are several more convenience aspects than these, but that covers the main highlights. Overall, the Seltos is an excellent option if you like to keep up with modern technology and accessibility.
The 2021 Nissan Rogue
The Rogue produces less torque, with 181 available lb-ft produced by the 2.5-liter direct injection 4-cylinder engine. It gets a combined mileage of 30 MPG, along with drive modes for alternate weather or driving conditions. This model comes with front-wheel drive standard, but drivers do have the option of an intelligent all-wheel drive system.
As far as tech goes, the Rogue does include NissanConnect, which is an 8-inch touchscreen display with accessible tech features. Android Auto compatibility, tri-zone automatic temperature control, remote start, remote-free entry, and push-button start are also standard. If you are an Apple user, you’ll have to add Apple Carplay as a feature. It’s modern and up-to-date, but it doesn’t go above and beyond when it comes to convenience.
Cost
Finally, we need to consider pricing. All those features you get with the Seltos are actually available for much cheaper than the Rogue. That’s right, not only does the Rogue have fewer options and highlights, it also costs a decent amount more. You can purchase a base-level 2021 Kia Seltos for only $21,990 and a top-trim for $27,890, still falling under the $30,000 mark.
Conversely, a base-level 2021 Nissan Rogue starts off at $25,650, with its highest trim costing $35,430. Basically, you could get a top-tier Kia Seltos for only $2,000 more than a base-level Rogue. The facts are in the features and the pricing. You get way more bang for your buck with the Kia Seltos.
The Winner?
It’s safe to say that the 2021 Kia Seltos is the winner here. Not only does it include several unique and fun color options, but it also comes with more safety and better tech and convenience features. While the Rogue offers Android Auto connectivity standard with Apple Carplay available as an add-on, the Seltos provides both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto recognition. The only aspect that the Rogue slightly competes on is the gas mileage. However, we think that the far more affordable pricing of the Seltos pushes it
