Kia Syros first drive review: The best backseat in a compact car

The sub-4-metre SUV segment is the most crowded space in the Indian car market for good reason. Everyone seems to want one, every car maker is building one, and yet innovation is limited. Carmakers seem to be following the same template — styling their crossover as “proportionally” as possible and giving it visual aggression to compensate for its diminutive dimensions, loading it with headline features while the backseat always seems to be a compromise. But the Kia Syros is trying to do things differently. It may share dimensions with the rest of the sub 4m class, ruled by the likes of the Tata Nexon, Maruti Suzuki Brezza, Mahindra 3XO, even Kia’s own Sonet and the rest of that lot, but it does things very differently. With a clear vision for the car and some ingenious solutions, Kia seems to have managed to deliver great space within the 3995mm length of the Syros. Should it be the compact SUV to buy?

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2025 Kia Syros styling

Not all of you have taken to the Syros’ styling as the comments on Instagram make very apparent. And after being bombarded with visuals of very proportional compact SUVs this one does come off as frumpy. But the thing with the Syros is that form is a slave to function and not the other way around. The wheels have been pulled out to the absolute corners, increasing the wheelbase by 50mm compared to the Sonet even while the overall length is the same. Track width is 15mm wider and it is also a whole 15mm taller than its sub 4m cousin. These tweaks have led to design elements like the upright tailgate and the stubby nose. The face is clearly inspired by the electric EV9 and while this is being launched as an ICE car first (the EV will follow in 2026), it has enough slats for cooling in the nose. The wheel design (17s on top trims) is eccentric, as are the taillights and the flush door handles are standard fitment. It all comes together to give a quirky, boxy vibe — much like the kei cars that Japan has. Not to everyone’s tastes but I quite like it. Function over form is always cool.

The Kia Syros is 3995mm long.

2025 Kia Syros backseat comfort

This is really where you see the gains of that styling. Not only is space better for rear passengers because of the extra wheelbase, but the 60:40 split rear bench is on rails so you can slide it fore and aft. The logic here is that the boot isn’t always utilised, so why carry around dead space in the rear of the car? The tall, flat roof allows for generous headroom and sliding the seat all the way back frees up significant knee room — not just best in class, but better than anything in the mid-SUV segment and enough to compete with SUVs from two segments higher. The backrest also reclines a fair bit, to give you a rear seat experience unlike anything you’re used to in a traditionally “compact” car. Kia has sprinkled in sun blinds and rear seat ventilation as well, though it is worth noting that the latter is only for the seat base and not the backrest. A motor in the backrest would have fattened the seatback and killed all the gains made to space by the smart packaging. Width is slightly more than a Sonet but three abreast will still be a squeeze. Two will be plenty comfortable.

What does this do for boot space? Well, even with the seat pushed back and reclined, multiple small cabin bags will fit quite easily. The minimum boot space is 390 litres and moving the seat forward to prioritise storage frees up 465 litres. Take out the tiny parcel tray and you can really stack a lot of kit in there! It really isn’t a compromise, this.

The Kia Syros has a 465-litre boot.

2025 Kia Syros interior and features

The Syros certainly feels expensive. The 30-inch panoramic screen sits front and centre, combining two 12.3-inch screens and a single 5-inch screen between them. Good resolution, clear displays, very nice to interact with. The small screen has HVAC controls on it, but you also have hard buttons for the main climate control functions. Very welcome, though I found myself using the hard buttons a lot more than the screen. It’s a lot more convenient and easier to access and use. However, you do need to use the screen for certain functions like the recirculation setting.

The Kia Syros gets a 30-inch panoramic screen combining two 12.3-inch screens and a single 5-inch screen between them.

The steering wheel is all-new — a two-spoke design with an offset Kia logo and drive mode/traction mode buttons right on the steering wheel for easy access. Again, nicely done. Something I didn’t notice immediately was the lack of reach adjust on the steering, but that was because I managed to find a comfortable seating position and found the default reach to be ideal for me.

Being a Kia, it is rather well equipped — wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto finally make it to their small cars! You get a wireless phone charger, a 360-degree camera, an 8-speaker Harman Kardon sound system, a panoramic sunroof, an air purifier, a powered driver’s seat and ventilated front seats. Level 2 ADAS, 6 airbags and a suite of electronic safety aids round up the safety features. Storage spaces are well thought out — the wireless charging pad is massive, you get two sizes for the cupholders, the under arm-rest storage is acceptable and the door pockets can hold a 1-litre bottle, a 500ml bottle plus some knick-knacks. It feels thoughtfully designed — again prioritising usability over aesthetics. But that is not to say it looks or feels shoddy. In fact, the plastics and finish feel really high quality — none of those scratchy hard plastics have been used. There are some recycled plastic bits as well, and it all feels very well put together.

2025 Kia Syros engines and performance

The Syros gets two engine options. You get the 1-litre turbo-petrol engine from the Sonet and the 1.5-litre diesel engine. The Sonet gets a third engine option: a 1.2-litre nat-asp petrol which the Syros doesn’t get. One reason for that is the weight: the Syros weighs around 150kg more than the Sonet and the 1.2 would be a little too out of breath. The second reason I suspect would be positioning. The 1.2 is the more affordable engine and allows for really aggressive pricing on the Sonet, while the more powerful engines would slot the starting price of the Syros somewhere between the Sonet and nat-asp Seltos.

Syros gets two engine options, a 1-litre turbo-petrol and a 1.5-litre diesel.

The turbo-petrol is interesting. It is offered with a manual, which is not the case for the turbo-petrol on the Sonet. Plus it is E20 compliant. But that is not the engine we’re driving today, we’re driving the diesel. It makes 114bhp and 250Nm and also comes with the option of a manual or automatic. The diesel seems to really suit the nature of the Syros. This isn’t a car that’s trying to thrill you in any way, so you really don’t need a revvy, peaky engine to pull it along. The strong slug of low-down torque combined with the smooth torque convertor works really well — giving you serious forward propulsion without the feeling of it being stressed in any way. The diesel does have more than adequate performance. Once you overcome the initial lag and get it rolling, you have more than enough torque to pull you along. Drive modes help — Sport mode makes it even more punchy especially if you’re hustling it on the highway, however, the default drive mode suits it just fine. Refinement levels are good too, with work having gone in to improve NVH compared to the Sonet. You do get paddle shifters but I found that the torque converter knows its job and does it well, I rarely reached for the paddles. Being a diesel, efficiency will be good too. A longer test should reveal more about that.

The suspension tune is fairly soft on the Kia Syros.

2025 Kia Syros ride and handling

The suspension tune is fairly soft and tuned to soak up bumps and potholes while impact performance has been improved to help with harder hits to the suspension. While driving around, it has impressive bump absorption, soaking our rough patches of tarmac (or the lack of it) very competently. The Syros we were driving was running 17-inch wheels, which is large for the sub 4m segment, but it didn’t seem compromised by them in any way. High-speed ride is good too, staying planted over smooth roads however a certain degree of vertical movement is present at speed, especially if the highways are less than perfect and mostly past triple-digit speeds. But true to its intentions, the Syros is a very comfortable machine and if you’re buying this to just chill out in, it will not disappoint.

The flip side of a soft suspension is soft dynamics as well. Chuck it into a corner and you’ll find there’s generous body roll. It doesn’t feel too lazy on turn-in, but it isn’t going to give you mega confidence to push harder and harder with every passing corner. The limit isn’t too hard to find and tyre chirruping sets in pretty quickly. Sport mode does weigh up the steering wheel slightly, giving you a sense that the inputs are a little more direct but the limits of the car don’t really change. If you really want to drive a car hard around the bends, you’re going to be far better off with the Sonet. This has a more family focus.

The Kia Syros has some roll when being pushed hard in the corners.

2025 Kia Syros verdict

The Syros has gotten me thinking about this compact car space very deeply. I realised that the first movers in the sedan/crossover segments were born of radical thought: the Tata Indigo CS, and the Ford Ecosport. They brought something completely new to the table while taking full advantage of India’s tax breaks for small cars. They were, in essence, India’s kei cars. But unlike kei cars, there was very little innovation after that. Competitors just followed the same formula, slapping on their styling, interior design and feature packs to stay different. The only real innovator at some point was the Renault Triber, with its modular interior seating but it was never truly desirable. The Syros has finally innovated in that space again and brought along a fresh perspective. Space and comfort. Kia has maximised what is possible in that footprint to some degree and has combined that with Kia’s know-how in making really desirable cars for India. We don’t know prices just yet but it is clear that this will sit a shade above the traditional sub 4m segment, slotting in between Sonet and Seltos. I suspect something between ₹11 and ₹18 lakh (ex-showroom), especially since this doesn’t have the cheaper 1.2 petrol to bring it in at a lower entry price. The Syros should find a nice corner of the sub 4m market for itself in buyers that need a small car with space, which many, many, many of them do!