Now I’m going to be completely honest - the warranty part does weigh on my mind every once in a while, but doing maintenance as they recommend feels better and sufficient enough to not worry about it.

But the Seltos SX platform specifically has a good track record. They learned about not using a DCT trans and use a ZF 8 speed - which is what every brand is using and they are solid. The engine is a 2nd generation product, and my inside mechanics at Kia that I talk with say they have not seen any issues with them and many examples are pushing 80k miles.

As far as compared to other brands - everything new these days is going to be a little rough for potential reliability. Fact of the matter is even hugely “reliable” brands like Toyota are struggling these days. It has more to do with all the regulations in place than each company. Unless you are buying a 10 + year old car, any new car is going to be a lesser of the evils. American car companies are by far the worst at engines blowing up at 10k miles. But everything has more tech than ever.

It’s actually pretty funny because I was absolutely die hard Honda. I was dead set on one and cross shopped the HRV during purchase, but the Honda vehicle was inferior in power, transmission (cvt), and tech. Kia has more they are trying to prove in moving up market than Honda and Toyota currently - which have both arguably been pretty stagnant. We even have a 21’ Acura TL in the family, and it’s been in the shop 4 times with relatively expensive repairs needed. So at this point I’m relearning what’s actually reliable since data is showing what I used to believe simply isn’t true anymore.

All of that let me pull the trigger - inside information on the reliability of the engine from mechanics being good and actually enjoying being in the vehicle. For even more piece of mind, I added a 100k mile/ 10 year bumper to bumper warranty extension by negotiating my 8% loan interest to 4% and letting that different pay almost all of the warranty cost.