Kia Syros Review: Functionality Like No Other

Kia is a brand that has achieved significant success in a relatively short time in India. Cars like the Kia Sonet and Kia Seltos have been an instant hit in our market, offering buyers a blend of features, styling, and driveability. With time, however, Kia has brought more vehicles, which have been unique in their own ways – be it the Kia Carens, the Kia Carnival, or more recently, the Kia Syros, which has gained a lot of attention ever since its launch earlier this year.

The Kia Syros is undoubtedly the most unique car in its segment, offering users not only a refreshing and rather unorthodox design, but also features that you wouldn’t expect from an affordable sub-4-meter compact SUV. And while the Syros is offering a lot of things that no other car in this segment offers, it is still getting mixed reviews from Indians, mostly because of how the car looks. In this review, I will address all of those things – how the car looks, how it performs, what features it gets, and finally, if it’s worth your money. Let’s go.

Kia Syros Review: Pricing and Variants in India

The Kia Syros was launched back in February this year at a price of ₹9.50 lakh (ex-showroom) onwards, going up to ₹17.80 lakh (ex-showroom) for the top-end variant. However, with the new GST cuts, the car now starts at a price of ₹8.67 lakh (ex-showroom). The Kia Syros is available in both petrol and diesel powertrains and comes with a 6-speed manual, a 6-speed torque converter automatic, and a 7-speed DCT automatic transmission. The Kia Syros is available in a total of 13 variants across these combinations. Here are the prices for each:

• Kia Syros HTK Turbo (6MT): ₹9.50 Lakh
• Kia Syros HTK(O) Turbo (6MT): ₹10.30 Lakh
• Kia Syros HTK Plus Turbo (6MT): ₹11.80 Lakh
• Kia Syros HTK Plus Turbo (7DCT): ₹13.10 Lakh
• Kia Syros HTX Turbo (6MT): ₹13.30 Lakh
• Kia Syros HTX Turbo (7DCT): ₹14.60 Lakh
• Kia Syros HTX Plus Turbo (7DCT): ₹16.00 Lakh
• Kia Syros HTX Plus (O) Turbo (7DCT): ₹16.80 Lakh

• Kia Syros HTK(O) Diesel (6MT): ₹11.30 Lakh
• Kia Syros HTK Plus Diesel (6MT): ₹12.80 Lakh
• Kia Syros HTX Diesel (6MT): ₹14.30 Lakh
• Kia Syros HTX Plus Diesel (6AT): ₹17.00 Lakh
• Kia Syros HTX Plus (O) Diesel (6AT): ₹17.80 Lakh

Kia Syros Review: Exterior and Styling

Now there is no doubt that this is a very unconventional design for a sub-4-meter car. While many are calling it a “bigger WagonR,” I honestly like this look. Although there is too much glass, it looks good. The design is boxy yet modern. I like the vertically-placed headlamps, the alloy wheel design, and even how the taillights look. It’s like a modern mini MPV with quite a lot of angular design details, a tall stance, and massive windows.

Now, the Kia Syros may look boxy, but it is a proportionate design. The car is wide enough with a 1,805 mm width, and it is high enough with more than 1,600mm of height, making it suitable for tall users as well. Getting inside and stepping out of the Kia Syros is extremely easy, and the amount of space inside justifies many design elements on the outside of the Syros. It comes with 16-inch wheels and a sufficient ground clearance of 190mm, which is good enough to deal with the bumps and potholes in our city roads. 

The few things I didn’t like about the Kia Syros design is that the front and rear bumpers are huge and cover most of the front and rear of the car, which means that it will be an expensive part to replace. Even the indicator placement on the rear is a little odd and is placed too far below the actual tail lamps. Another thing is the amount of glass. There is a bit too much glass, which makes the car more fragile in case of impact.

Overall, in terms of design and styling, the Kia Syros is undoubtedly an unconventional-looking car. But the moment you get inside it and look at the design more closely, you realise that it is quite a functional and well-thought-out form factor from Kia. Yes, to many, it will look like a premium WagonR, but then again, design is subjective. 

Kia Syros Review: Interior and Comfort

On the inside is where the real magic happens. The Kia Syros is a beautiful car from the inside. We are getting a lot of space and a lot of features for its segment. First, we will talk about how things look and feel. Now, we get a beautiful dual-tone cabin inside the Kia Syros. I liked the light to dark grey colour scheme with details of neon green – very cool.

Even the materials used are of very good quality. The dashboard and the center console are mostly hard-touch plastic in this variant, but even then, the quality is very good, and it looks quite premium. The fit and finish inside the cabin is also really good. I love how the buttons and dials are placed below the infotainment display, not only in terms of how they look, but also the material and quality of things is very good.

One thing I’m not a huge fan of is this new steering wheel design that many brands are going with. With both top and bottom being flat, at times, it requires you to look at the steering to see if it’s in the correct position.

Coming to the space, this is hands down the most spacious ICE car in this budget. A lot of the sense of space is felt by just how open everything feels. The amount of glass on all sides lets a lot of light in, giving a grand sense of space in something that is actually very spacious. The back seat has a lot of legroom, and it can slide back and front to open up more space. Not only that, the back seat also reclines to a very comfortable angle, allowing for enough space to sleep comfortably.

Even in the front, the space is awesome. The leg room is enough for any kind of driver, and we get enough adjustments for the driver to make themselves comfortabl,e regardless of their size (height adjustment, telescopic steering wheel).

One important thing to mention from the driver’s point of view is that the visibility on the Kia Syros is brilliant. The A-pillars are not too thick and the field of view is amazing. And even if this expansive visibility is not enough, you get blind spot detectors with the top-end variant as well.

So yes, inside the Kia Syros looks a class apart – be it in terms of how the interiors look and feel, or in terms of the amount of space, or in terms of the visibility for drivers. And let’s not forget the boot space. We are getting a massive boot space of 465 litres and if you put the back seats down, there is enough space to move a house.

So yes, if you are someone who is looking for a family car and your main priority is space and comfort, the Kia Syros is undoubtedly the best option in the ₹15 lakh budget.

Kia Syros Review: Safety and Tech

In terms of safety and tech also, we are getting it all. Now, we did not get the top-end variant of the Kia Syros for our review. Instead, we got the HTX Turbo petrol manual variant, which isn’t the most tech-loaded in the lineup. Despite that, the tech here is sufficient and it had everything that a user like me would need in a car.

We are getting a nice and crisp 10.25-inch infotainment display with an equally big fully digital instrument cluster. Both of these screens are super bright and very good quality. The digital instrument cluster for the driver offers information like the speed, RPM, trip details, fuel efficiency, tyre pressure monitor, and more.

The infotainment display is also good and supports wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. The UI on this is also very easy to figure out, and the touch response is very good, just like other Kia cars. The customisation options, however, are very limited in this variant.

Furthermore, in terms of tech, we get ventilated front seats with an interesting button placement (on the door panel for both driver and passenger), a massive panoramic sunroof, lots of charging ports – 2 Type-C ports in the front, and two in the back, along with a 12V socket in the front and one 12V socket in the back. 

One integral thing missing in this variant is the automatic climate control, something we see on much cheaper cars, but that is not a deal breaker. Further, I also didn’t like that there is no way to permanently turn off the parking sensors. While there is a button in the center console to turn it off and there is an option in the car settings, the parking assist keeps turning on automatically after every few minutes. This can get annoying in bumper-to-bumper traffic as people come very close to your car, and the parking assist keeps beeping incessantly.

Coming to safety features, we are getting 6 airbags with the Kia Syros HTX Turbo petrol variant. Apart from that, we are getting all the major safety features like ABS, EBD, ESC, engine immobilizer, and more. There is also a tyre pressure monitor system which shows you the exact tyre pressure in all four wheels, and we get a rearview camera with parking sensors in both front and back. The rearview camera quality is superb and we get dynamic guidelines as well.

In terms of safety, this is not the most loaded variant, but it has all the necessary features. The Kia Syros is also rated 5 stars in the Bharat NCAP safety ratings for both adults and children, so overall, it is a very safe car.

Kia Syros Review: Performance and Handling

With the HTX Turbo petrol variant, we get a 1.0 litre 3 cylinder turbocharged GDi engine with the Kia Syros. Now, while this is a small engine, it has got some punch. As you’d expect, this is not the most fun car to drive; beyond the turbo lag or after 1,500 RPM, it can pull its weight. Now, I drove this in the city throughout my review, and here, it never felt dull whenever I wanted to push it a little.

A large part is to do with the manual transmission, because with an automatic, this will feel slightly more sluggish. However, the Kia Syros never left me asking for more. But on the highways, there is a chance this will leave you asking for more. But for the city, it felt like a pretty decent car to drive. The most impressive thing about the driveability is the turning radius. The Kia Syros has a very small turning radius for its size at just 4.5 meters. It was quite surprising for the first time to see this car turning in such a small space. Very good.

Another thing I have slowly become a fan of is the manual transmissions on Kia cars. Last time I drove the Kia Sonet manual in diesel and that has till date, been the most weightless clutch that I have ever used. The Syros may not have that light of a clutch, but the gearbox is very slick and accurate. With these kinds of manual transmissions, you will never miss a gear.

So in terms of driving, this is a very good city car. It is smooth, it can be quick if you want to overtake a slow driver, and it maneuvers much easier than you’d think. Cherry on top, the manual transmission is an absolute breeze to handle.

Review Verdict: Should You Buy the Kia Syros?

So that was it. Kia Syros is one car that has had my fancy ever since its launch, purely based on how unusual it looks and the amount of tech it has to offer – both in terms of the amount of it and in terms of how functional it is. A class leader in space and comfort, but not so much in style and drivability. Don’t get me wrong, I quite like how this looks, but the general consensus is still on it being a “premium WagonR.”

But my opinion is far from that. The Kia Syros offers something you will not get in this budget or size. This is a sub-4-meter compact SUV, but it feels more like an MPV parents would love to take and drop their kids off in. From the inside, it is much more premium than you’d expect it to be, and on top of all that, it isn’t a boring car to drive as well. So yes, my opinion is that the Kia Syros is one of the most unique cars in the market, and it has the most unorthodox appeal to it.

Smartprix ⭐ Rating: 8.2/10

• Design and Build: 7/10
• Features and Tech: 8/10
• Performance: 6/10
• Comfort and Space: 9/10
• Fuel Efficiency: 7/10

First reviewed in September 2025.