Although my focus is on the Maruti Grand Vitara and Toyota Urban Cruiser, sharing in this group as I am doing a brief comparison with the Seltos.
Wishing you all a very Happy Diwali!
After having test driven (review link:
https://www.team-bhp.com/news/toyota...rs-perspective) the Toyota Urban Cruiser (UC) Hyryder Strong Hybrid with an overall exhilarating experience save the higher NVH, compromised middle seat of second row and boot space, I was waiting for a drive of either Maruti’s (MSIL) Grand Vitara (GV) Smart Hybrid (or Toyota’s NeoDrive).
This Sunday (Oct. 23, ’22), I got a chance to drive the SmartHybrid version of the GV – courtesy Varun Nexa, Hebbal, Bangalore. Honestly, with so many reviews and feedback about the blunt performance of K15C series engine, which is tuned solely for mileage, my expectation was very low from the planned test drive. But I just wanted to rule it out and also get a feel of the GV as my focus since the unveiling of this hybrid in July 2022 has been the on the Toyota version (love the badge).
Just to give you the background, I started hunting for a replacement for my near 9-year-old Etios petrol 1.5 NA (~50K on the odo and can carry on for another 2 years if nothing suits me – no complaints other than NVH) in July 2022 and have test driven Ertiga, XL6, Carens, Seltos, XUV700 and Brezza (all 2022 facelifted/new versions in petrol/hybrid) extensively and multiple times. I don’t want to get into the details of each, but suffice it to say that the MSIL packed with the K15C series engine definitely lacked grunt even though it is an extremely refined, reliable and efficient engine and a buyer of any of these will not complain.
The characteristically different Kia sisters are fun to drive vehicles – their sales numbers speak for themselves. I wish Kia (and MSIL as well) were smart enough to make the structure of their cars robust enough to earn better NCAP ratings than what they actually earned for the Indian versions. No pun intended, but I find myself at my wit's end to fathom why I would crave features that are of secondary importance to a car, while giving short shrift to the important aspect – “safety.”
The XUV700 is an absolute beast when it comes to performance and road presence – the length of the Team-BHP thread is a testimony to its craze and popularity. That being said, while the mStallion 2.0L turbo petrol engine could be a beast, the engineering/mechanics of the vehicle left it wanting during my test drives. Since I am specifically interested in an MT (over AT), given my new car will be the last one before being replaced by an appliance-like EV or some AT ICE-hybrid (with no availability of MT) and want to keep my mechanical connect with a car while driving even if that means straining my left leg a bit (in Bangalore’s crazy traffic), I really want a car with absolutely no complaints whatsoever about clutch, engine, gearbox, brake, etc. and mileage too – happy to compromise on a sunroof and iPhone/ MacBook/iPad kind of features in a car. I found the MT petrol version of XUV700 (in 3 test drives, cumulatively driving over 50 km) quite compromised with a notchy gear lever that vibrates, extremely long travel, vibrating clutch and not-so-inspiring brakes. The tractability of the gearing is also not good. Part of the problem could be attributable to the nature of the turbocharged engine, but I did not feel anything like that when I test drove the Carens 1.4 turbo petrol MT – it was butter smooth. Now futuristic features, such as ADAS, lane assist, ACC and so on are fine, but you need to get your basics right.
Nonetheless, moving on to the subject car GV SmartHybrid, with limited hope, I drove the car a good 21 km on a mix of bumpy service and city roads, as well as highway (NH44). Much to my surprise, the ride was not only comfortable absorbing all potholes, speed breakers with aplomb, but also fun. Nowhere did it feel underpowered, and I easily cruised up to 110-115 km/h while climbing and driving on the elevated expressway to Bangalore International Airport. This was achieved without pushing the vehicle hard – I did not push further as I got a sense that I could easily cross 140 km/h, but that was not the objective. This experience was contrary to what I read so far and actually experienced with XL6, Brezza and Ertiga. Just to make sure that I got it right and it was not magic or a talisman, on my return, it tried again, and it did not disappoint on the performance front. All through this TD, the engine was quiet with no NVH and the ride was extremely sorted.
Now, I was not sure if this was just a perception or if the performance was actually good. I immediately took another TD of the XL6 MT on the same road and in the same conditions. This ride was disappointing – on the same stretch, the XL6 struggled to reach/cross 80 km/h and NVH levels were higher. These are cars from two different segments, but I am comparing just the performance given both have the same K15C series engine. Why my experience with the performance of the GV SmartHybrid (and impliedly Toyota Neodrive as well) is contrary to the consensus here and my other TDs of vehicles with the same engine is quite inscrutable to me, but I am not complaining and quite happy with the TD - seriously considering – perhaps Toyota Neodrive – but will take a TD of that version before concluding.
Yesterday (Oct. 25, ’22), got a chance to take a TD of the new Kia Seltos 1.5 petrol NA MT and Carens 1.5 diesel MT just to get a sense of how the Carens 1.5 petrol MT would feel (not strictly comparable other than the engine of the Seltos and Carens) given that no TD vehicle of this version is made available by Kia for the Carens (really bad on Kia’s part). A brief about the Seltos TD – quite an impressive machine and there was nothing really to not like. Comfortable ride, refined engine with smooth gearbox and clutch, features loaded to brim in higher variants, new version has 6 airbags as standard with other safety features, strong road presence and so on…
Since the GV SmartHybrid/Toyota Neodrive (yet to drive this one) and Kia Seltos are the closest comparables that I drove on the same stretch and under the same conditions, here is a brief comparison of ride and performance from a driver’s perspective. Looks, features and other aspects are not covered much.
1) Overall ride quality: Both are good, but GV scores better due to more sorted suspension, lower NVH level and the ability to handle bumpy roads and potholes was superior in GV.
2) Performance: Both are very good and will not give you any reason for complain in either city or on highways, but the Seltos has an edge – not because I tested it to higher limits – pushed it to higher speeds for a while and it was pretty planted and there was no nervousness – used this opportunity to test the braking – 120 to standstill – worked as expected. It is just that I feel that the GV will do better in B2B Bangalore city traffic with Smart Hybrid technology, while the Seltos will do better on highways. Both combined, I would give a little higher score to Seltos on performance.
3) Steering feedback, driving position, view and comfort: Again, neither gives any reason to complain. The GV’s steering was slightly more responsive though.
4) Mechanicals: Both the SUVs have very tractable gearing - in 5th gear, both the cars were able to crawl at a speed of 20 km/h without any problem and pulled to higher speeds easily. The gear shifts are butter smooth and clutches were soft – you will not miss the AT. I, however, found the Seltos better. Braking was acceptable in both. Also, with the Seltos having 6 gears, cruising at 120 will likely be more relaxed – I noticed both the SUVs were revving at ~2,500 rpm at >100 km/h speed. However, not having a sixth gear in the GV is no biggie - MSIL is smart enough to keep the ratio and range optimized. Even the Crysta MT has just 5 gears.
5) Mileage – As I always do, I set the trip meter to 0 before both the TDs. The GV SmartHybrid returned a mileage of 18.5 km/l while the Seltos returned 15.9 km/l. The GV trip covered 21 km, while the Seltos trip was 13 km. A point worth highlighting here – when I stopped at a traffic signal twice during the TDs, the GV MID displayed that engine idling is unavailable. If the 18.5 km/l is without the 12V battery supported engine idling, then it is indeed an impressive mileage. If I wanted, I could have easily eked out an additional 2 km/l mileage from both the SUVs, but was testing multiple things and mileage was just one criterion.
6) Sore Points: One sore point in the GV is the middle seat in the second row due to the floor hump and rear A/C console obstructing the leg room – not sure how to manage this. Besides this, I personally don’t think anything else will be a deal breaker for most of the buyers who are considering this car as a serious option. In the Seltos, I did not get time to understand the second row and other aspects of seating and features, but prima facie, did not find anything that I would call a deal breaker. Headroom in both the cars was adequate with the Seltos’ design making better optimization of space even in the sunroof enabled version. Legroom (excluding the rear seat middle passenger) in the GV/Toyota is more when compared to the Seltos.
In the GV SmartHybrid, I think the MT provides better punch compared to the AT as the transmission in the latter is programmed more for mileage than for performance, thereby upshifting earlier than required and blunting performance. In the MT, I noticed the MID was always asking me to upshift earlier than I usually do based on my experience and driving style. Guessing, in the AT, you don’t get that freedom if you are in D mode. Moving to manual mode or using paddle shifters frequently to supersede the inbuilt programming defeats the purpose of having an AT.
To conclude – both the SUVs offer great value with styling, comfort and safety. Lower variants in GV/Toyota (Sigma, Delta, E, S) offer better VFM quotient, while mid and higher variants of the Seltos continue to have the edge. With the Seltos adding more safety features as standard across variants, its safety rating can only improve from the previous 3 stars, while the GV/Hyryder is expected to get at least 4 stars.
Between the Strong Hybrid/Intelligent Hybrid and Neodrive/SmartHybrid - I would prefer the latter as my annual run will not be more than 10,000 km and will trade better NVH, headroom, boot space and simpler and more refined engine for slightly better mileage - say 23 km/l vs 16 km/l. In my case, the split between city and highway driving will be 80/20.
Thanks to Varun of Varun NEXA, Hebbal and Ravi of Epitome KIA, Yelahanka – Bangalore, for helping me with all my probing questions and organizing long test drives.
Disclaimer: My reference to an opinion on “performance” of subject car (s) is based on and relative to my experience of driving certain vehicles extensively – Etios 1.5 petrol NA, MSIL Dzire 1.2 petrol NA, Honda City 1.5 petrol NA, MSIL Alto 800, etc., as well as the test drives of the aforementioned vehicles done in the recent past. Of course, I was not interested in 0 to 100 km/h in x.xx seconds and similar statistics as it would be puerile on my part to look for these in an NA petrol engine.
19th October 2022, 09:26
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Thanks
