Today’s compact crossovers are great cars. The best ones offer unexpectedly huge interiors, quiet rides, and great gas mileage — all at relatively affordable prices. But if you want something smaller or less expensive, a growing crop of subcompact crossovers is ready to compete for your business.
Two of the newest subcompact crossovers are the 2021 Kia Seltos and the 2020 Mazda CX-30. The Seltos fits between the smaller, front-wheel-drive-only Kia Soul and the larger Kia Sportage; the confusingly named CX-30 fits between the older, slightly smaller CX-3 and the larger CX-5. Both these crossovers offer a lot of bang for the buck, but in different ways. In the pages that follow, we’ll break out how the Seltos and CX-30 differ from each other, and choose an overall winner.