[BZ25]

Originally Posted by ashis89

This 10 min routine was repeated every time I got the car in or out. Finally on Tuesday, when I got back from office, I made an optimistic estimate of the second pillar on the left side and softly scraped the front bumper.:

Thank goodness it was a relatively mild scratch. Hope everything is better now. I nearly dislodged the right side rearview mirror of my GTX+ Seltos while trying to park it in a very narrow gate, you can imagine how much my father would've had to shell out if I broke the mirror.

[ashis89]

Since the last update, I did few more trips and as of today, the ODO stands at 4500 kms. Planning to take my Coyote for the 2nd service on Monday with the following observations or no major complaints so far.

• R, 1st, 2nd gears notchy though they improve considerably after running the car for few kms.

• The AC rear blowers are NOT very effective and throw warmer air than the front ones. I feel they are just blowers only and due to improper insulation in the piping, air looses some cooling while traveling to the rear blowers.

• One of the threads, holding the rear parcel tray, broke while I mishandled the tray. I disconnected the other one too until I fix this.

Through December, Coyote was primarily used in Bangalore city for office-home trips, with a daily running of 10 kms only. Think about going out of Bangalore for a trip and one is reminded of the traffic that one has to cut through before one finds a free highway. The easiest route was the Kolar highway and so, off we went for a lunch drive on nice cloudy Sunday afternoon.

Parked at the Empire restaurant, Narsapura


Out on the highway, slot into 6th gear and keep chugging along. Depending on the urgency of overtakes, downshift into 4th for shooting or simply laze in the 6th well! It is worth mentioning that the 6th gear is relatively short and I found the need for a 7th gear or a taller 6th gear. Something which will keep the RPMs even lower at cruising speeds and force me to downshift for any overtakes.

On Christmas day, we drove to Hyderabad with a quick detour to Lepakshi temple. Started off at 8:30AM and reached Lepakshi at 10:30AM. After an hour of visit, we resumed our journey towards Hyderabad. Lunch break at Hyderabad Chefs was good too. Out on the Bangalore Hyderabad highway, the road is mostly devoid of any traffic. Took it beyond 160 for a couple of seconds and found it confidence inspiring. While the car is very predictable, the road isn’t and I slowed down to sane speeds.

Tanked up at Reliance petrol bunk near Gooty and the FE was 14.5 kmpl. This includes 300 kms in the city and remaining 300 on the highway. I maintained three digit speeds throughout with occasional use of cruise control too. Must say I was slightly disappointed and was expecting a figure above 15 kmpl. Reached Hyderabad by 5:30PM.

Crossed the 4000 km mark before reaching Hyderabad


On 27th, we went off to Warangal for a short trip and ended up adding another 425 kms. I covered a total of 120 kms of this trip on the ORR and ended up employing the cruise control for all this distance. Very thankful to BHPian KALINGA for asking me to upgrade to the HTK+ variant for the CC!

Near the Warangal fort





The road to Warangal is under construction in the last 50 km patch. That means the stiff suspension was not the most comfortable but still, Coyote was lot more comfortable than my RoadRunner. The route has some curves where the stiff suspension showed its colors and kept the roll in control. I could maintain higher speeds through the corners. The car begs for better tyres.

Again tanked up at Reliance petrol pump at Patancheru. The FE was 18 kmpl. This includes Gooty - Hyd and Hyd - Warangal - Hyd, 800 kms in a single tank of fuel! Speeds beyond 100 decrease the FE but keeping this car below 100 is a tough job for me! The speed reminder at 120 kmph is irritating but helps me stay within the limit.

FE log so far



Gear shift indicators on new-gen cars are misleading. The other day, my friend was telling me that keeping a gear lower than recommended on the MID gives better FE. He tested it on his Baleno and another friend’s Ecosport Dragon manual. I tried it with my Coyote and completely agree with him.


Out on the highways, I traveled during the night too and I must say, though the stock projectors do a good job, the 100/90W powered halogen reflectors on my RoadRunner are way better in the face of incoming traffic. The projectors are severely impacted when covered with muck and need frequent cleaning.

The boot space of Coyote has been sufficient for all our travel needs so far. To put things into perspective, we used to fold the rear seats to accommodate our luggage or keep quite few things in the rear seat of our WagonR. No such need felt so far with the Seltos. The flat loading lip also helps to slide in and out all our luggage while the space below the tray (which is very heavy) holds all my cleaning items.

[Stribog]

Originally Posted by ashis89

FE log so far

Hi, what app do you use for the mileage log?

Note from Support:

Please quote only relevant bits of post being responded to. Quoting full posts hampers readability.

[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by Stribog

Hi, what app do you use for the mileage log?

Looks like Fuelio App.

Originally Posted by ashis89

FE log so far

[S.Shyam]

Excellent review!

I have test driven the HTX IVT and GTX Plus MT and Ioved them both (my requirements are ease of use for daily office commute for wife I use Uber! But I take over on weekend trips) GTX was very punchy and quick compared to anything else i have driven till date.

But ever since I drove the Duster CVT a few weeks back i have been concerned about my back on slow speeds in seltos in bangalore. Duster (and Creta too) is really good in that regard...

Also with 5 people in Seltos (family came for TD..Sales Associate was not very pleased as she had to sit tight) the clearance between tyre and rim was almost nil. Have you noticed the same? I felt several Thuds during the 20 min TD.

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by Stribog

Hi, what app do you use for the mileage log?

As Anurag confirmed, that's Fuelio app on Android.

Originally Posted by S.Shyam

But ever since I drove the Duster CVT a few weeks back i have been concerned about my back on slow speeds in seltos in bangalore. Duster (and Creta too) is really good in that regard...

The ride is stiff on the Seltos for sure. Once you start driving, you will understand where you need to slow down and which obstacles can be dismissed at speed. I haven't driven the Duster but Seltos is not VERY FAR off from the Creta as per my short experience with Creta.

Also with 5 people in Seltos (family came for TD..Sales Associate was not very pleased as she had to sit tight) the clearance between tyre and rim was almost nil. Have you noticed the same? I felt several Thuds during the 20 min TD.

We have done a 400 km trip with 4 adults (+ 1 kid) and never faced any issue. The roads were a mix of highways and stretches of bad/broken roads. The suspension didn't bottom out anywhere.

[S.Shyam]

Hmm.. the SA didnt have a clue about the suspension set up when I went for seltos TD.

So trying to figure out via discussions and User Reviews here. Even websites like Cardekho etc say seltos doesn't have shock absorbers.

[ashis89]

Second Service

On Dec 30, I booked an appointment with Car KIA service centre, Financial district (Hyderabad) for Dec 30th. Reached there by 9:30AM and was immediately attended by the staff. Overall experience was very good except for 2 complaints. First, a new ECU update was applied to the car but none had any clear idea what that update was about. Second, there are just too many cars coming and only 2-3 of SAs. That means a lot of waiting even if your car is ready, since SA hasn't been able to generate the bill.

Car was washed well. The KIA service centers have these automatic water sprinklers for underbody wash


While waiting, I noticed that the HTK+, HTX, GTX, GTX+ are the most popular models. I saw only one HTE variant among 20 odd cars there.

This one had come for accident repair. This was the first time I see the inside of the bumper - multiple plastic pieces and clips.


A week later, I got a call from the dealer asking for a feedback regarding the service. Told her my experience about the ECU update and she promised someone would call back to address my concern. Yesterday, the my SA called me about my feedback. I must admit the guy lacked technical knowledge but still told me that the ECU is to take care of BS4 fuel.


ECU Update

Bad part
Coyote hasn't facing any issue till date due to the BS4 fuel (before or after the update). However, after the ECU update, I find some difference in the performance - the diesel clatter seems to have increased a bit and the power delivery in the turbo zone has mellowed down a bit. I could find the difference while accelerating in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th gears between 1500-3500 RPM.

Good part:
The low end response seems to have improved slightly. There's this huge speedbreaker near my office. Earlier, Coyote used to ask for the 1st gear when I slowed down at this speedbreaker. Now there's no hint of struggle even in the 2nd gear, idle RPM and no A pedal input.

The FE has gone up definitely gone up. I haven't done any highway trip yet. But in the 500+ kms covered after the service, within the city and on the ORR, the FE is 21 kmpl on the MID (T2T is usually 1.5 kmpl less).


Miscellaneous points

1. Brakes are too sharp. Makes me uncomfortable in panic situation when at crawling speeds.

2. I need to address the poor headlights.

3. I have got 6 follow up calls from the Bangalore Kia dealer (where I had taken a TD in Oct) if and when I was booking the Seltos. Irrespective of the strong success that Kia has seen and the long waiting periods, the dealers are still keen to bring in more numbers!

4. One of the threads supporting the parcel tray was broken. The service center didn't have a spare but they went out of the way to repair the existing thread!

5. The factory fitted mudflaps are rubbish! Drive through a drop of water and the same is plastered across half the car body. *I clean my Coyote myself*


6. This car can be fuel efficient if driven sedately. After feathering the accelerator for 50 kms and still maintaining 80-100 kmph on the ORR, I could see 28 kmpl on the trip MID. The 117 km trip yielded 24.7 kmpl which included 20 kms of B2B traffic.


7. I got the underbody rust protection coating done during the second service. The SA suggested to get it done and I said yes without thinking much. However I decline the rat protection spray.


8. During the last few long trips, I noticed the bonnet was as cool as the rest of the car. I was curious as to where the heat went. Later I found the bonnet corners near the hinge were warm while and the fenders were hot. The passenger side fender is hotter than driver side. Still need to figure out - why?



Last weekend, I thought of giving Coyote a good wash. Till then, I had been using the Proklear Waterless wash and the Josapu duster. While it's a great product, I have felt the shine reduces after repeated use. Got the 3M shampoo and the liquid polish. One hour and 20L of water later, here he stands.

Coyote with the wild grin



RoadRunner can been seen in the background



All the equipment



Parked him inside to cool him down. Couple of hours later, I got down to polishing him.





Coyote has run past the 5000 mark

[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by ashis89

1. Brakes are too sharp. Makes me uncomfortable in a panic situation when at crawling speeds.

Good to hear this. We should meet once.

It's been 70,000 kms and my quest for good/better brakes on my Creta is yet to get fulfiled. Looking for ways to achieve this. Have to TD the Seltos again for a longer stretch to feel it.

Originally Posted by ashis89

2. I need to address the poor headlights.

Save and plan for HID's. Since the projector is the same as the one in Creta's, the retrofit will be easy mostly and solve the lighting issues too.

Originally Posted by ashis89

8. During the last few long trips, I noticed the bonnet was as cool as the rest of the car. I was curious as to where the heat went. Later I found the bonnet corners near the hinge were warm while and the fenders were hot. The passenger side fender is hotter than the driver side. Still, need to figure out - why?

Does the car have hood insulation? If yes, that will be the part that doesn't let the bonnet become hot after a drive. The area where the insulation doesn't exist like sides, near the fender tends to get hot. I experience this as I have the hood insulation purchased from AliExpress.

[ashis89]

6000 kms done. Last 1000 kms were pure city use and ORR runs.


Met BHPians a4anurag and interc00led. They checked out the Seltos and were impressed with the braking capability. As for me, I got my first drive of a Creta. Loved the shove once the turbo spools. I am looking forward to a longer drive to understand the 1.6D better. That said, the brakes disappoint once the speed builds up, they lack bite.

Then we compared all the parts and designs of both the cars. As expected, a lot of the parts are the exact same. Anurag mentioned the front windows of the Seltos is much smaller than his Creta! I checked the new Creta thread and found it has the same small window now

I was explaining the AC issue in Seltos, where the rear vents throw warmer air than the front ones. That's when Anurag found out the increasing the temperature (more red, less blue) was decreasing the airflow, across all the vents, significantly! BHPian interc00led explained that when want heating, the air passes through the Heater core which reduces the free flow of the air.

Nothing else to report as such. However I missed sharing the following observations in this thread earlier:

Paint Quality: It is not the best out there. You can see orange peel effect at lot of places across the body. I checked few other Seltos' in other shades as well but the paint quality is just about OK. The other day, there was a new XUV300 beside me and I saw similar orange peel across the body. That said, the paint quality of Tata cars is miles ahead and looks rich!

Kumho tyres: Again just mediocre tyres. No punctures or cuts till date. But they are noisy (in the otherwise quiet car) and tend to loose traction very easily under acceleration.

Fuel Economy:
I covered 747 kms before refueling, the DTE was showing another 170 kms.
Usage was 50% highway(ORR) and 50% city, full time AC.

FE: 18.2 kmpl (T2T, auto-cutoff)
FE: 18.7 kmpl (per MID)

MID is overstating by 0.5 kmpl. That said, for my daily office runs, I see MID numbers between 15.5 kmpl (very heavy traffic and heavy foot) and 21 kmpl (light traffic and light foot). That gives a usable range of 700 kms in city and 850 kms on the highway. Also the current tankful of HP normal diesel feels better than the previous tankful of Reliance diesel.

Next two weeks, RoadRunner is super busy while Coyote will remain ignored. Couldn't get it washed but managed to him a cover. So now the super dusty Coyote has a cover to protect him from further dust!

[Hayek]

Great thread, and wonderful review of a very nice car.

Please do keep us posted on how the car performs over time. I suspect that Kia dealers are being disingenuous when they blame the DPF clogging on Bharat IV fuel - as discussed in some other threads, the DPFs need prolonged high speed runs to burn the spot they trap. Of course, with your frequent highway runs between Bangalore and Hyderabad, plus the amazing ORR in Hyd, you may be adequately covered. But let’s wait and watch for that.

Best wishes for many thousands of miles of happy motoring.

[ashis89]

Coyote was extremely dusty. Wanted to get him washed out but luck didn't favor me - all my known car washes were closed for some reason or the other.

With the lockdown in place, what better thing to do than give your car a wash! Due to lack space in my apartment, I didn't make it elaborate. As there was too much dust, I got 1 bucket of water, with some 3M shampoo in it. Used to wash off the dust as much as possible. Next, I used the proklear waterless wash to clean all the shampoo water residue and remaining dust. Since I had time, used some of the 3M polish too.

Results were not bad for a basic wash:




Got under the bonnet and again, a lot of dust! I had cleaned it 2 weeks ago and it is back to being dusty. No I didn't clean it again as I plan to take it for the next service in 2-3 weeks' time(I sincerely hope we recover from the COVID 19 pandemic). That said, I checked the vitals and they looked fine.



Those unprogressive grippy brakes finally brought the first casualty. At crawling traffic (<10 kmph), a helmetless Activa rider, on national emergency, decided to cross my path and I braked. Another helmetless Pulsar rider behind me forgot about traffic distancing and bumped in. Luckily not much damage apart from some surface scratch on the silver lower part of the rear bumper.

Coyote was standing idle for most of February and hence the running has been less. Odo stands at 7448 kms. Last three tankfuls returned 18.2, 15.3 kmpl and 17.5 kmpl, most of it is city usage and 100% AC.





Two weeks ago, found some time and made a quick trip to the Medak Cathedral with two friends.








My friend insisted to click the partners in drive


With the traffic reduced in the past three weeks, my office commute time had also decreased. That means the FE was also good even though I drive with a heavy foot. Taken 10 days ago after reaching office:


Edit: I met another BHPian who has got himself a new Rapid recently and is very happy with it. While discussing cars, he mentioned he had considered the Seltos in his initial shortlist. After the TD of the Seltos, he found the lack of headroom and poor visibility of the road as the deal breakers. He hated looking at the bonnet from the driver seat and wanted to see the road as much as possible. That got me thinking as he was right. Unlike other cars, the Seltos' bonnet doesn't slant forward and remains flat. Hence while looking out into the road right in front the car, you get to see the a lot of the bonnet.

[ashis89]

Lockdown Update

I drove couple of hundred kms. in the past six weeks of lockdown. Some of it were unnecessary but a major chunk of it was due to an emergency. But as they say, all is well that ends well!

Fun grocery run?


Or emergency work?


Since I had been diligent in parking my Coyote under covers, it was clean. The last time he was cleaned was on Mar 22. Since then, I hadn't even dusted it with a cloth


I am nearing the third service deadline. Even though KIA has extended the timeline, I inching closer to the limit in terms of KMs. I hope the service centers are open soon. The interior definitely needs a deep cleaning and vacuuming.

[ashis89]

Couple of weeks ago, one fine evening I received an SMS that my pass for KA has been approved but the travel date was the very next day. Struggled all night and packed everything up to make the move.


Woke up early to finish the remaining packing and captured this pre-dawn picture


I managed to load my Coyote with all this and then some more. Luckily there was still some breathing space left. That's a 40 inch TV for reference


In spite of hurrying I could start only by 7:30AM. Since the Hyderabad ORR was closed, I had to take the service road till NH44 and it took me almost an hour before I could hit the highway.

Roads till Jadcherla were surprisingly busy. And there was a long queue at the toll-booth. Even in this COVID situation, I saw a lot of commuters were transacting by cash which was creating such queues. And no, they didn't maintain any separate line for Fastag users even if there were instructions in place.


A small breakfast break. I had carried my own food and lot of water


A masked man is not to be suspected anymore!



After Jadcherla, the traffic thinned as usual and I crossed Kurnool by 10:40AM and Anantapur by 12:15PM. Virtually empty roads meant I cruised at three digits speeds all through the trip. When the DTE was around 200, I tanked up at a Reliance bunk. The FE was 15.6 kmpl which is very good, given the speeds and full time AC.


Took another break and regretted it. It was a really hot day and it was painful to step out of the car in that sun. The AC temperature was at 100% cool setting but the blower was kept at 1 or 2 throughout the trip. Anything more and it was too cold for me.




Another customary stop in front of the KIA factory! There were a lot of vehicles in the staff parking lot which means their operations were on (on whatever scale). I could see a lot of new KIAs ready and parked inside the plant too. The waiting period is sure going down and we could see some discounts too.







After my quarantine is over, I will take my Coyote for the third service. The odo is slightly shy of 8500 kms.

[knrn]

Hi ashish.
Kudos to you and coyote. The roadrunner show was my favourite too.
A very amazingly yet simply written thread. For me and many others it has become the go to thread for reference on the diesel manual seltos.
I too am in the mood to replace my previous vehicle- a humble Hyundai santro. It has been serving me extremely well over the last 13 years. Has roamed the entire north india with me.
The itch to replace it with something big and powerful has been on my mind for two years now.
I had nearly zeroed in on the Innova crysta but what with the lockdown and financial crisis that has spurned out of it has put me on a back foot. The down payment I had accumulated is what is helping me now. There go my plans. Obviously had to come down a segment.
We are a family of four including my son. Seltos appealed to me very much and during my research I stumbled upon your article. Your thoughts and wishes reflect mine, having driven small petrols all my life I too yearn for the torque of a diesel. And yes. Back in 2007 a friends accent diesel crdi was what smote me with the power a diesel can bring.
I have read your entire thread 3 times over the last two days reflecting on all the thoughts you have penned down.
I believe you have captured the thought process of many like me wonderfully in your words.
Harrier and xuv no doubt are the biggies that tempt everyone but the concerns over the long term are something one can't ignore. My santro - a basic Hyundai has run beautifully over the last 12 years. It is in the thirteenth that it has starting taking in part replacements. If a basic santro can do that one can only imagine the quality that these high end products from the Hyundai Kia stable will bring to the Indian consumer.

I wanted to thank you for penning down a wonderful thread. Going through it made me realise that the HTK PLUS variant makes the most sense as it has all the bells and whistles. I am not a fan of aftermarket mods and stereos having burnt my fingers with my present ride. Factory fitted OE is the best. One should buy a higher variant rather than fitting aftermarket if one plans to keep the vehicle for a long time hassle free. Keep the thread alive posting various updates.

I feel that the rear ac problem is exactly due to the reason pointed out by Kalinga.
Do you plan to upgrade the lights. Would love to see what you think of.

With best wishes. Happy mile munching.