[AGwagon]

Quick 4.5k km update:

Recently took the car on a weekend trip to Icy Shimla. Covered around 700km round trip. I am not really a sedate driver so had pushed the car, whenever I could.

50% city; 30% highway; 20% Hills with FATC on 24deg returned me around 15.6kmpl T2T method.

The car behaved as expected, and we really enjoyed the drive. However, the only niggle was on the way to Shimla, the car kept going on its own to fresh-air circulation mode, even when the said automatic setting from the climate setting under vehicle settings was disabled. This really did my head on a 7 hour journey as I was having to constantly disable the fresh air mode. It worked absolutely fine though on the way back.

Also I saw too many Seltos all along the way! The front looks really stunning!

[CARDEEP]

I'm seeing lot of Seltos these days, & my wife like it's headlights in particular. Past few days were hectic as I was busy taking turns at attending/ nursing a relative at city hospital & my wife would often visit hospital in evening (when it was dark outside). She did point to me about the new car with beautiful front end with lights coming on the opposite side or the LED tail lamps of GTX over the halogen lamps of the lesser variants (my neighbour bought top end diesel, after he sold his Innova). Yes she can differentiate between Harrier, Hector & Seltos (proud me ).

I believe I'm going to buy this or something similar in next 1-2 years as have no parking constraints now as compared to the period when I bought Figo Aspire Diesel 4 years ago.

However, one day I had not too good experience with a brash GTX driver who thought he could just force his way by barging into my right lane which forced to brake. I lost my composure & the #Badass in me immediately pressed the accelerator in my humble Aspire diesel. The Ford didn't disappoint & within 3 kms of fast driving & making way through maze of lane hogging stupid 2 & 3-wheelers he was behind me. With victory under my belt & ego pampered I rushed to hospital to brag the same to the patient who finally had a smile on his face (after some time being in & out of hospital).

[Karthik Chandra]

Did a 1208 kms roundtrip to Bangalore in brother's Seltos TGDi. Seltos handles very well and is sure footed in corners too. There is no nervousness and the chassis felt tight as a result of which one can take long sweeping curves at good speeds. Body roll is well contained too. With the Venue receiving positive feedback for handling, the Koreans are going in the right direction.

Ergonomics are spot on - all controls fall in reach comfortably. Both the front & rear seats are comfortable. Telescopic steering adjustment & seat height adjustment have good range - it's very easy to find a comfortable driving position. The ride quality is compromised because of the impractical 17" profile - let's you know the surface if you are driving on roads with undulations. The mid/lower variants with 16" profile will fare better. Goodyear tyres hinder performance - with better grippy rubber the Seltos would be even better to drive.

Originally Posted by Karthik Chandra

The engine has turbo lag albeit not bothersome.

I have a change in opinion now. The above statement was made with ~50 kms in Chennai city traffic after 9 PM and the areas that I visited had flowing traffic mostly. After driving in Bangalore traffic (for ~ 200 kms) I can confirm that the lag would catch you off guard at times in bumper to bumper traffic - downside of a smaller displacement engine with big turbo.

TDGi picks up speed very rapidly and before one realises the speedo reaches 3 digits. The engine is very eager and looks like it can reach 200 kph. Thorughly enjoyed pushing it on the highways. It's very difficult to drive for mileage and ended up with average figures

80 @ 1800 rpm
90 @ 1900 rpm
100 @ 2000 rpm
110 @ 2250 rpm
120 @ 2500 rpm

There is a mild/soft beep @ 80 kph which becomes continuous after 120 kph. But the warning isn't annoying and music keeps it down.

Tank full to tank full mileage was 13 kpl - 40 ltrs consumed for 529 kms - This includes city driving and a trip to Chamundi hills.

Anna Nagar, Chennai to Basavangudi, Bangalore


Nandi hills roundtrip


Chamundi Hills roundtrip


Whitefield round-trip from Basavangudi. The turbo petrol fared well considering it was a peak hour drive


Basavangudi, Bangalore to Anna Nagar, Chennai


The time shown in these pics are the hours the engine has been running (including idle) during that particular trip.

Mileage is hampered to due traffic before entering the highway, for instance MID showed 14.9 kpl when we reached Electronic City and plummeted down to 13.6 kpl by the time we reached home in Basavangudi - a distance of ~20 kms took ~1.5 hours. I hadn't driven sedately during the entire trip and kept pushing the vehicle wherever, whenever I could. Pure highway mileage would be between 18 - 20 kpl.

Few random pics

View from Nandi Hills







I couldn't take enough pictures of the car since it was a family vacation.

Dislikes:

1. Seltos doesn't get sensor for entry from passenger side

2. Only the driver side power window switch is backlit, even the ORVM controls aren't back lit - very bad of Kia to ignore such minute yet important details.

3. Ride quality - with 17" profile, it is one aspect that has been compromised in an otherwise complete package.

4. Turbo lag

5. I don't like the logo on the bonnet and feel it'll look better on the grill

Overall a very good car that gives a premium feel I found the Ecosport's (TDCi) steering, clutch and gearbox very hard to operate after 1.2K kms in Seltos

[momsonlydriver]

Originally Posted by Karthik Chandra

3. Ride quality - with 17" profile, it is one aspect that has been compromised in an otherwise complete package.

Over here i am wishing that it would have looked sexier with 18inch wheels that the Korean spec is offered with.

[sre]

Thank you moderators for approving my membership.
This is my first post and it’s is about my buying experience of Seltos HTX IVT

I had to replace my 12 year old swift. I was looking for the best fit since some time now.
When seltos was launched, I got this feeling that this is the right one to give up my swift for.
It was kind of a head vs heart fight one trying to convince the other. I was always against the idea of buying a newly launched car with in the first one year let alone from a new OEM. How did I convince myself?
1. Same platform as creta ( albeit it is for the next gen)
2. Same engines which would figure in BS6 creta.
3. It would be 6 months from launch by the time I get my vehicle and no major issues reported yet (except for a coolant overheating issue which seemed to be an isolated incident after my internet search)
4. I felt this is the best time to get a BS6 vehicle at the same price as BS4. Manufacturers might increase the prices during BS6 introduction and it would take some time for the prices to cool down.

Next decision: which variant?
My regular commute via Sarjapur Road (Bangalore) had my left leg crying for an automatic.
Factors that affected my variant selection
1. I was not confident to go for the DCT since the system is complex and I felt that the chances of something going wrong is higher with a complex system.
2. The driving discipline required for DCT in traffic was above my comfort limit.
3. Lesser fuel economy in the TGDI engine.
4. 90% of my driving is in Bangalore traffic and I don’t get to enjoy a high performance engine often even if I had one.
5. The 1.5L NA engine was good and responsive enough for my liking.
6. The automatic options in TGDI and diesel were expensive by almost 3 lakhs ( on road).
Finally decided it is going to be HTX IVT. The one thing I miss is the all black interiors.

Did my booking with JSP KIA Hosur Road. The booking experience was great. Did multiple test drives. He even let me take the vehicle for a longer drive to check bad road handling, experience drive off on a slope etc.. They mentioned the waiting time is 3 months but I got the vehicle in 5 weeks. No influence used. I guess it has to do with Kia’s vehicle allotment mechanism being random as mentioned in the thread before. Or perhaps the wait time has reduced now. Initially they asked if I was ok with a different colour. But when I declined he called again and said the vehicle is available but he wanted confirmation that the buying can be completed in 5 days. It’s their target it seems.
They brought the vehicle to the showroom for PDI once the loan was approved (initially they had requested me to do PDI at their yard which later changed to showroom)
The delivery experience was also good. It takes time if there is another delivery happening before yours since they do all the explanations about UVO and other stuff before the customer drives off the ramp. Never understood that logic but it was a 30 minutes wait which I felt was ok in the larger scheme.
I guess the post is already too long. I will write another post on my first impressions perhaps after a week.

[pankajparikh]

Autocar India Awards 2020:
Car of the Year: Kia Seltos
Viewer's Choice Car of the Year: Kia Seltos
Mid Size SUV of the Year: Kia Seltos
Manufacturer of the Year: Kia Motors
Twitter

[nitinhegde]

Folks,

My car is due for first free servicing, giving the car today. I have observed a weird problem with DCT which is scaring me. This happened twice yesterday while driving.

I started to drive normally and apparently the transmission was stuck in D2(gear 2) and not up-shifting on pressing accelerator even when RPM went upto 3500 and beyond. It was appearing as if it got stuck in this gear. This happened for the first time after driving the car for a month. I checked the drive mode and it was in normal mode only. I parked the car,switched off the engine and then restarted the engine and then things were fine. However, while returning from office in the evening, the same thing happened again. After repeating the same(engine on, off), the car then behaved fine.

Whats happening? This has got me worried. Anybody with similar experience?

[Sebring]

Kindly expand on the driving discipline required in heavy traffic, since my friend is having issues with his car on that very stretch (Sarjapur)

Originally Posted by sre

The driving discipline required for DCT in traffic was above my comfort limit

[benbsb29]

A local dealer here in Brisbane posted these concept pics on Facebook.

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by pankajparikh

Autocar India Awards 2020:
Car of the Year: Kia Seltos
Viewer's Choice Car of the Year: Kia Seltos
Mid Size SUV of the Year: Kia Seltos
Manufacturer of the Year: Kia Motors

Damn that's sad. I was really expecting the Seltos to win Best DRL of the year and Best Fog light of the year.

[sre]

Originally Posted by Sebring

Kindly expand on the driving discipline required in heavy traffic, since my friend is having issues with his car on that very stretch (Sarjapur)

The same that has been discussed in this thread before. Shift to neutral if you anticipate the stop to be more than 10 seconds. Avoid creeping in slow moving traffic by letting the vehicle in front to move a short distance before moving your vehicle. I am not sure how to do that with a lot of two wheelers waiting to occupy those spaces

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by sre

The same that has been discussed in this thread before. Shift to neutral if you anticipate the stop to be more than 10 seconds. Avoid creeping in slow moving traffic by letting the vehicle in front to move a short distance before moving your vehicle. I am not sure how to do that with a lot of two wheelers waiting to occupy those spaces

To add to that if the transmission does give a warning that it is overheated and needs to be cooled, where in Sarjapur road/ORR traffic can you even imagine to pull over and park the car to the side.

The dry clutch DCT is definitely one to really think over if the point of getting the automatic is to use in peak hour traffic like Bangalore's.

The IVT and Diesel 6AT are far safer bets in the long run.

The 7DCT will definitely wow you initially but it remains to be seen how it fares after 3-4 years of use in this traffic which will only get worse.

[akrish01]

Took delivery of my HTX IVT about a week back after a 3 month long wait. My original colour preference was white with orange roof but the dealer said it won't come anytime soon. So i took the white & plan to do a roof wrap later

The dealer tried his best to make me take insurance with them - they have a mark up of 40% (Rs 52000+ with the dealer & Rs 37000+ if I take it with Royal sundaram agent). After a couple of days of calls & threats to expose them on social media, I finally convinced them to allow me to take insurance outside. They asked me to help them out by taking extended warranty & i did so as I didn't want to prolong the wait

Yesterday i drove on ECR & had a chance to check out the sports mode. Was pleasantly surprised to find that it had a 8 speed gearbox. Not sure even if the salesman & service advisors are aware of this as the service advisor said that it was a 6 speed gearbox

A quick question about the AV system. Does it play videos? If so, which formats? I asked the service advisor & he said mp4 but i tried a couple of mp4 videos & it played only the audio track. I know that it plays videos only when the car is stationary

[akrish01]

For those of you who are facing problems with overheating in the DCT transmission - i have a question. Did you try switching over to manual (sports) mode & if so, does the overheating issue subside?

[sre]

Originally Posted by akrish01

Took delivery of my HTX IVT about a week back after a 3 month long wait.

Yesterday i drove on ECR & had a chance to check out the sports mode. Was pleasantly surprised to find that it had a 8 speed gearbox. Not sure even if the salesman & service advisors are aware of this as the service advisor said that it was a 6 speed gearbox

Did you try it on HTX IVT?
I don’t think sports mode is available in HTX IVT.
Or do you mean multiple levels available in the manual mode with IVT?