[Games Goblin]

Paid a visit to Kia showroom with the entire family yesterday (Sunday) for a detailed look at the Seltos, as we were visiting a shop near the Kia showroom and I really wanted to see what the fuss was about.

Got to check out the car in detail (top end petrol manual) and was very impressed.

The equipment list and technology offered is mind-boggling for this segment (360 camera with option to select PoV, Big touchscreen with split multi task interface, Cooled seats, Air purifier with AQI readouts, HUD, sunroof, wireless charging etc etc) - it would make some German luxury cars look like bare bones vehicles!! (still remember travelling in a 2015 Porsche Cayenne costing 1.5 cr without BT streaming, nav, reverse camera etc!!)

Bose sound system was so-so - I felt my 2006 Laura has a much better sound system (even though it has no special branding)

Legroom appears to be good, but I'm on the taller side and felt thigh support could be better on the rear bench - will need to travel long distance to gauge this better.

Plastics on the door pads and top of the dashboard were not soft to the touch - but the texture looked premium.

Overall, I think this car has everything a typical car buyer could want - I think the Seltos has got what it takes to set the sales charts on fire.

Will wait for a TD to see how it drives.


Regards

[The Rationalist]

Got some information regarding base variant pricing, ₹9.99 lakh is the price KIA is aiming at. If that's true they have got a blockbuster.

[akhil_rpmlover]

Originally Posted by Ithaca

If one is not too concerned about cost of maintenance and cost of ownership and one intends to keep this vehicle for at least 7 to 10 years, would it make sense to go for the top end HTX+ AT instead of the upcoming GTX+ AT

+1 to this. I'm sure that many in Tier 2/3 cities would be confused whether to go for diesel or petrol AT, as both will have same features. Frankly, I'm worried about the fuel economy of the 1.4 DCT. Although its not a good comparison, if you closely watch the reviews, you can notice that the range of the diesel car at near full tank is close to 900kms whereas that of the turbo petrol is close to 500kms. But, another issue to be considered is whether the Govt. might put any restriction on the diesel vehicles.

Originally Posted by springisking

I was told by the SA who has taken my booking that GTX+ DCT would only be available in Oct that's a bummer since I have already sold my previous car and now without a car for already more than a month now!!

Deliveries of the GTX+ 1.4 AT and HTX+(or GTX+) Diesel 1.5AT will commence from first week of October, atleast that's what my dealer says. Further, he confirmed that the top end Diesel AT will be GTX+ and will have the same alloys as that of the 1.4 Turbo. Don't know if this is to be believed since I doubt if Kia will provide that alloy to the diesel variant. But, have to appreciate Kia for responding to the customer demand.

Here is a picture of the same received through WhatsApp. The beginning of this pdf was shared couple of days back in the thread. The only line which questions the authenticity of this is the sentence regarding the price. But, the reference communication that they're talking about did occur on August 5th.

[ramansh]

Originally Posted by CarguyNish

Kia Seltos (Mid Variant HTK/HTK+) in Various Colors.

Please share with us the name of the dealership and the city where these pictures were taken.

Also i just noticed that these pictures prove the so called official variant list to be false as we can see a rear spoiler in the lower trim (hte/k/k+) in the pictures, but in the so called official variant list it is mentioned that the rear spoiler is available only in htx+.

[hydraulicsteer]

Walk around of the HTK+. Looks most VFM amongst the 2 airbag variants.

https://youtu.be/LBecHvG9k-Q

[Reinhard]

I watched the Car&Bike and ODMag (Overdrive) video reviews on YouTube. Quite balanced & honest reviews by both which was a pleasant surprise in case of ODMag. Sidharth Patankar (C&B) is always very neutral & balanced.

Surprisingly though, the ODMag review by Rohit Paradkar was better overall & more interesting and detailed. I think the diesel version review by another anchor in C&B was a downer with same lines being repeated thrice all the time.

While we already know pretty much everything about the car & its 1 million (or more?) variants and customization options; what struck me the most was the mention in ODMag Review. Rohit P. (ODMag) mentioned that the fuel (in-)efficiency he was seeing with the Diesel+ TC AT during his drives was hovering around 7 to 8 kmpl and not exactly in much traffic either.

He clearly said do not buy this variant unless you get to know real world efficiency numbers once we are able to test them again properly. Now thats as clear an auto-mag can ever say!

Now thats a . petrol TC cars give much higher mileage than that even in B2B traffic now a days!

He also went on to say that the gearbox is a bit slow to respond always.

I hope it gets tuned better before launch as otherwise the customers are again without a proper diesel AT in lower price range!

I'm also hoping this is not going to be the same torque converter that Tata is sourcing from Hyundai for the Harrier AT? If it indeed is - then that pretty much directly explains why the Harrier AT is getting delayed perhaps. A Harrier giving horrible FE will result in virtually an assembly line closure directly at TML.

[The Rationalist]

The latest information regarding Seltos Petrol Automatic versions as conveyed by sales guy
GTX DCT price is ₹15.8 lakhs ex showroom
GTX+ DCT price is ₹16.8 lakhs ex showroom

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by Reinhard

While we already know pretty much everything about the car & its 1 million (or more?) variants and customization options; what struck me the most was the mention in ODMag Review. Rohit P. (ODMag) mentioned that the fuel (in-)efficiency he was seeing with the Diesel+ TC AT during his drives was hovering around 7 to 8 kmpl and not exactly in much traffic either.

He clearly said do not buy this variant unless you get to know real world efficiency numbers once we are able to test them again properly. Now thats as clear an auto-mag can ever say!

Please don't go buy FE reports from media drives. No matter what they are never accurate. Cars are idled for long and revved up and down with frequent downshifts to check acceleration. They are not driven with a light foot like regular people!

Secondly the cars are brand new. We were the ones doing the run in.

Thirdly the Seltos is BS6 diesel with LNT (Lean Nox trap) + DPF. It doesn't use Urea for recharging the DPF.

We don't know the impact of this for the initial kms.

If you notice that all our official reviews never have fuel efficiency figures for this very reason.

Originally Posted by Reinhard

I'm also hoping this is not going to be the same torque converter that Tata is sourcing from Hyundai for the Harrier AT? If it indeed is - then that pretty much directly explains why the Harrier AT is getting delayed perhaps. A Harrier giving horrible FE will result in virtually an assembly line closure directly at TML.

Let's not over think this so much. The 6 speed gearbox used in the Creta, Verna and Elantra. Hyundai is not making an automatic gearbox for the first time in it's life.

Thinking that the HArrier AT is delayed due to the Hyundai box not delivering good FE is a little over the top speculation.

The Tucson gets the 6 speed as well. Also, the Harrier uses a totally different engine than Hyundai which will have it's own challenges.

[springisking]

Originally Posted by Reinhard

I watched the Car&Bike and ODMag (Overdrive) video reviews on YouTube. Quite balanced & honest reviews by both which was a pleasant surprise in case of ODMag. Sidharth Patankar (C&B) is always very neutral & balanced.

As I said the TD diesel manual car showed mileage of 9.9 kmpl on the cluster. However as usual SA rubbished it saying this is TD vehicle and folks who have been driving are abusing the vehicle else real life mileage is 11-12 which still imo is horrible considering the puny engine it is. This is manual I'm talking about now god help automatic.

[Mithran]

Most of you will be pleasantly surprised with the price points of Seltos.

Expect it to start sub 10 L for the entry variants.

From what i understand from OEM sources, orders have gone through roof and back logs of creta and MG Hector is moving towards Seltos.

[MukundanMK]

Originally Posted by The Rationalist

The latest information regarding Seltos Petrol Automatic versions as conveyed by sales guy
GTX DCT price is ₹15.8 lakhs ex showroom
GTX+ DCT price is ₹16.8 lakhs ex showroom

If this is the price, then this is exactly the same ex showroom price of Petrol Hybrid Sharp and Petrol DCT Sharp of MG Hector. On road price would be about 19 and 20 respectively. This in my opinion, would not be an aggressive launch price for a new brand entering Indian market.

Again in my opinion, the starting price for HTE Petrol Manual should be around 9.99 and the top variant GTX+ Petrol or Diesel DCT should be 15.99. A feature studded BS6 compliant Compact SUV in a price range of 9.99 to 15.99 definitely sounds very tempting and would give Kia the positve momentum to start their Indian journey. Like MG Hector, these just could be launch price and have a revision in 2020!

[Reinhard]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

Please don't go buy FE reports from media drives. No matter what they are never accurate. Cars are idled for long and revved up and down with frequent downshifts to check acceleration. They are not driven with a light foot like regular people!

Secondly the cars are brand new. We were the ones doing the run in.

Thirdly the Seltos is BS6 diesel with LNT (Lean Nox trap) + DPF. It doesn't use Urea for recharging the DPF.

We don't know the impact of this for the initial kms.

Absolutely agreed. Thats why I was a bit intrigued when the generally "playing safe" ODMag review actually went ahead and said they are concerned about the FE. Generally they keep quiet too. I hope someone like Rohit P. knew about this revving, idling, pedal to the metal tests etc. And generally a person wouldn't have made the comment he made knowing this. No?

Thats why I found it interesting and worth mentioning here, thats all.

Originally Posted by Vid6639

If you notice that all our official reviews never have fuel efficiency figures for this very reason.

Indeed. On that note guys, when are we getting the official reviews for the Venue, Hector and the Seltos? My mouse button is getting damaged now by clicking refresh for the Official Reviews page so many times .

Please release at least one soon!

[JishD]

As per my dealer's call today , GTX+ will cost 18 ex showroom and GTX will cost 17 ex showroom. So that now gets square into Compass territory !

This is Allied Motors Kia Sohna road Gurgaon

[Saurav_Nair]

Two of the hottest "SUVs" in India right now standing next to each other.






A small clip from YouTube showing the same -

https://youtu.be/MgAtIQzsmCE

[Reinhard]

Originally Posted by JishD

As per my dealer's call today , GTX+ will cost 18 ex showroom and GTX will cost 17 ex showroom. So that now gets square into Compass territory !

This is Allied Motors Kia Sohna road Gurgaon

Actually for the gizmos it is offering (more than Compass), its still not in the Compass territory per se. On the flip side, the diesel engine is far better in the Compass.

Whats more significant is - even with this pricing (if it is true) - its alarm bells for Harrier I'm afraid. Harrier offers a fraction of the gizmos in comparison if at all. Is bulkier, probably noisier & while butch, it looks polarizing & not suited-up sophisticated like the Seltos does. And Seltos has a wonderful Petrol engine too.

If this indeed is the pricing for the GTX/GTX+, the lower trims that still offer quite a lot too, will be quite cheaper. TML shares are going to tank further on BSE!