[tanaysn]

Lovely article Aditya!! I am sure the Sonnet is going to give a tough competition in sub 4 meter diesel compact SUV segment.

With the Brezza out of competition, the short lived advantage that Ford and Tata had with the diesel buyers seems to be going away.

Will be interesting to see the number next month in this category.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Blown away with the feature list of the Diesel automatic. Will be a proper future-proof upgrade for someone looking at a long term purchase. Sure is loaded and how!

1.5 diesel
6 speed TC
6 airbags
Sunroof
Front and rear parking sensors
ESC, HSA, VSM, TPMS
10 inch touchscreen with Android auto/Apple Carplay.
Bose audio with subwoofer
LED headlamps
Cruise control
Cooled seats
Cabin air purifier
Wireless phone charging

Surely one for the watchlist in case I plan my upgrade after the current covid scenario is over.

[redbaron91]

Pseudo SUVs segment is getting crowded with Ecosport - Brezza - Nexon - WRV - XUV300 - Venue - Sonnet. With Magnite & Kiger on the way

Compared to Venue it looks like a well proportioned car. Especially in the rear. Venue was so stubby & narrow in the rear. It seems Kia cleverly managed the width perspective of the car using the horizontal garnish & warp around rear quarter glass.
Front design is fresh & bold looking & am sure GTLine will be looking best in all trims.
In an initial look, the only downside I felt was, the buttons below the head unit looks cluttered. And as mentioned, Kia is learning the way of cost cutting by giving plain glovebox & no insulation under hood & wheel arch.

Kia is always upping the game with their launches & I guess that's how they meant to do business in India from beginning onwards. Really good for the market & customers, when features like ventilated seats, TPMS, air purifier, large Head units making way to 10-12 lacs range.




The oldest product of the segment, still can match with newbies with some little improvements in interiors & features.

And, will they price it below Venue?

[padmrajravi]

This has success written all over it. Kia will inch closer to the third place in Indian market with this release. With that torque converter diesel and the DCT petrol combo, they have disturbed all of the CSUV incumbents. The diesel AT will come to Venue as well in all probability.

Toyota , Suzuki , Tata and Mahindra will now look like idiots with their AMTs and 4 speed TCs in the CSUV space. The future is automatics. Only Kia- Hyundai seems to be taking that fact seriously.

[arijit_chat2006]

I agree with GTO, this car oozes character, and how!!
Have a gut feeling, the Venue <-> Sonet will rule the segment, just like the Creta <-> Seltos pair is doing.
Will be disappointed, in case they fail to do so for some reason.

[Vinod_nair]

Thanks @Aditya for your attention to detail in your presentation on the Kia Sonet.

I'm sure Kia will use it as a marketing tool for it's SA's training, God bless you.

Now for the pricing, hope they are sensible.

Regards

[carriage.retorq]

Originally Posted by CEF_Beasts

This car will blow it's competitors away

As someone sitting with quotes from Ford dealers for the EcoSport s diesel manual holding my booking until i have seen the Sonet, I am definitely not blown away. I was hoping to though.
Not very impressed by the looks, IMO EcoSport looks more butch and has more presence. Except for some features like the air purifier, ventilated seats which aren't important to me, I cant put my finger on what would make the diesel manual Sonet a better package than the EcoSport s which offers everything else that Sonet does, probably at a lower price. Space looks similar, ride quality will probably be hard too (going by its big brother Seltos' ride), same safety package. I am hoping to be proven wrong after a test drive.

[07CR]

The rear underthigh support seems lacking imo. Renuka is not a tall person, and there seems to be reasonable gap between the knee and the seat.

[Porschefire]

Originally Posted by PrasannaDhana

I may be the minority here for not going gaga over the Sonet. I personally feel it has a sad looking rear (specially when seen from rear 3 quarters).

I find the venue more proportionhate amongst the two.

+1, couldn't have agreed more.

- The GT-line has a lot of in-your-face bling which is honestly, off putting IMO. The combination of chrome, blacked out bits, silver skid plate and red elements is .

- The front end does look muscular and would've worked had they toned down the bling by a couple of notches.

- The rear 3/4th view however, save for the nice looking tail lamps, looks very dated, a-la Mercedes Benz M-class of the 2000s for me.

- The wheel design looks tacky and are definitely a size smaller. May be a beefier tyre choice would enhance the looks on the 16in wheels, they currently look under tyred.

- The instrument cluster looks like a video game. Not holding the designers against this as I prefer simple analog gauges.

Going purely by design, the Ecosport still rules the segment for me. Nothing has even come close to looking so aggressive, handsome and butch as the Ecosport S (with the earlier 17in wheels). The 1st gen Brezza comes a distant second.
However, it is a whole different story when it comes to the spec, options and the engines on offer, massive kudos to Hyundai and Kia for these.

[DragonHawk]

Car no doubt will grab the attention of common public. However, for me it lacks the composure of Ecosport. Though overall exterior looks aggressive but Ecosport still looks classy.

Coming to Interiors, all black interiors is always a welcome for me except for the center console which looks to be too busy and cluttered. Overall KIA like its sibling Hyundai, knows the pulse of Indian Car buyers. Packed with many segment-first and eye-catchy features, this car certainly has the potential to be one more blockbuster from Korean stable. However, it would be interesting to see how much does this impact the monthly churnout of Venue.

[shravan2k2]

Don't know why the AC instrument panel buttons look quite out of place, not very premium as compared to the overall interior which look so upmarket.

[BoneCollector]

Thanks for a very detailed description Aditya. The eye for detail is amazing.

Now that's a stonker! Kia is not only upping the game but also giving it on the face of Maruti, Tata and Mahindra. Hyundai was always giving the goodies in its cars, especially i20 and above. In comes Kia getting into segments which are fast selling in India and for sire, they've hit it out of the park.

What more can you ask from Kia other than a sensible pricing. They've given safety features as well as convenience as well as show off features, all in one go and that too in their baby SUV.

The border of front grill indeed has funky detailing but it'll be a nightmare to clean stains of hard water and dust mixed together.

This would have been the top contender for me if I was in market for a CSUV.

[Turbo_anup]

Kia entered the Indian Market with Seltos - looking to gain traction and acceptability in a new market. With Sonet - they have now declared "war' in the most crowded segment currently in the market; & what a way to enter it.

Of all the launches that have happened recently, i cannot remember anything that came close to the Sonet in terms of marketing, hype buildup and feature set - be it Scross, WRV, Honda City, New Verna etc.

Kia sure has winner on their hands. My gut feel is that this will be priced 20 -35 K more than Venue on a variant to variant basis.


-

[07CR]

Originally Posted by carriage.retorq

As someone sitting with quotes from Ford dealers for the EcoSport s diesel manual holding my booking until i have seen the Sonet, I am definitely not blown away. I was hoping to though.
Not very impressed by the looks, IMO EcoSport looks more butch and has more presence. Except for some features like the air purifier, ventilated seats which aren't important to me, I cant put my finger on what would make the diesel manual Sonet a better package than the EcoSport s which offers everything else that Sonet does, probably at a lower price. Space looks similar, ride quality will probably be hard too (going by its big brother Seltos' ride), same safety package. I am hoping to be proven wrong after a test drive.

Ford also is better at areas where Kia has cut corners-

1) Keyless entry/exit at both front doors.
2) All backlit switches inside.
3) Better glovebox compartments with a light.
4) Auto Wipers
5) Kia's tendency to load the GT line trims, and ignore the HT line (assuming the HT line is diesel), this will make the diesel trims super expensive.
6) Smaller spare wheel on the Kia.

Smaller bits like a better design glovebox compartment with a light, Puddle lamps and better looking centre console go a long way for the Ecosport.

Except the ventilated front seats, I don't see any major feature missing on the Ecosport. Also the build quality is undoubtedly much better on the Ecosport.

[haisaikat]

The exterior of this car reminds me of Renault Captur from some angles. But the interior is wonderful indeed. I recently say the iMT on the Venue and the convenience seems really great. What would be interesting is how the petrol versions are priced. Kia need to ensure that this does not become another 1st generation Honda Jazz case study, people coming to buy Jazz ended up buying the City.