[Neurodoc]

Originally Posted by Emvi

The City is a fantastic car, no doubt. However, I am a bit apprehensive when it comes to cars with low ground clearance.

Ground clearance is definitely less than the Seltos, but for normal use, it doesn’t scrape its belly anywhere. I am literally refilling the tank every 5th day, and the range it gives on a full tank is 270 km, which converts to 7 kmpl. I have tried light-footed driving, changing drive modes, and filling with costlier petrol, but the average changes by only 1 kmpl. On the highway, it gives 18 kmpl, but in city use, being a CVT transmission, it's just what it is.

[PPS]

Originally Posted by neofromcapone

My diesel HTX AT gives me about 8-9 kmpl in-city with daily run of 60-70 kms.

Aren't these figure too low unless you encounter bumper to bumper traffic for a major part of your 70km journey? Thought double digit FE would be expected in city. In my Dzire Multijet Diesel & Amaze i-Dtec, FE drops to 8-9kmpl in bumper to bumper traffic on WEH which stretches to 10km but the overall FE I get is around 13kmpl. My daily round trip is similar to yours i.e. 70kms in Mumbai.

[neofromcapone]

My 70 kms is broken up in 6 trips through the day.
Morning 2 runs in peak traffic.
Stop and start and short distances cause this low kmpl.
I have started using the paddle shifters to move into 3rd gear at the earliest. Will know the difference in next 45 days.

[DCTfanatic]

Originally Posted by Neurodoc

Hi, I have a general query for pre-facelift Kia Seltos diesel users.

Are there any specific things I should look for in these cars?

A little late to the discussion but I daily drive a 2019 Seltos GTX+ Diesel AT and have covered around 47k km in it. While a great car it has its cons, some minor some major. And most of these cons stem from my extensive experience of having a multi car garage of Innova Crysta 2.8 D AT, Creta 1.5 iVT, Verna 1.5 iVT, Venue 1.0 DCT, Tucson D AT, Hycross Hybrid, Fortuner Legender D AT and a XUV700 AX7 D AT.

Con 1: The suspension. Kia tried to go sporty in order to differentiate it from the Creta but messed up the tuning in the process. The original launch spec of the Seltos has ultra-firm suspension. Not sports car level firm but firm nonetheless. This is something I don't see people recommending a second hand Seltos talk about enough. The suspension is a pain to live with in the city. Add crazy pot holes and roads that are like Lego bricks and it just becomes unlivable in my opinion. The flip side to this is the firm suspension gives it much better handling than the Creta and stability at higher speeds. I drive on the Ahm-Vadodra Expressway regularly and the car feels like its on rails while taking banks or making lane changegs at 100-110kmph.

Kia did update the suspension tune a bit with the Seltos variants that got the new KN badge from 2021. Plus the facelift brought a completely new tune which is fare more supple based on the short TD i took of the new facelift.

Con 2: Refinement/Engine characteristic. The 1.5 diesel of Hyundai/Kia is a really efficient but underpowered, lethargic and noisy engine. It is really gravelly until 2k rpm where the At does majority of shifts on par throttle. Post 2k rpm it gets loud and feels very strained. While low down torque is great to get off the line and for city traffic, it is neither a rev happy or a powerful engine. Hell, my Venue with a 1.0 turbo that has just 175 nm torque compared to the 250 nm of the Seltos feels far more spirited to drive and much more enjoyable. This diesel will feel unnatural coming from the City's i-VTEC.

Con 3: 6-speed Torque Converter Transmission. After experiencing the lighting fast shifts of the DCT in the Venue, the butter smooth drive of the iVT in the Creta/Verna and the way that the Aisin torque converters handle the high torque delivery in the Crysta, Fortuner and the XUV700, this 6-speed AT of Hyundai feels dated and unrefined. The lower gearing is fairly tall in 1st, 2nd and to some extent 3rd also in order to accommodate the overdrive gear ratios of 5th and 6th. The AT is slow and sometimes sloppy when it comes to shifts. Most par throttle shifts happen smoothly but when pushing the car, the gearbox is often the first point of failure. Sudden and big throttle inputs often catch it off guard. It sometimes downshifts too much when demanding sudden acceleration in the middle of cruising and many times, letting off the throttle momentarily after pushing pass the 2k rpm mark in a particular gear leads to a jerky upshift. This is mostly because of the AT wanting to lock the clutch when it think you will push it a bit in the current gear as you continued giving throttle past 2k rpm but then you suddenly let go while it was in the process of locking the clutch. Another issue with the AT is the way is coded for the minimum rpm for upshifting to be 2k rpm. This leads to you having to manage the upshifts and downshifts through varying the throttle input and brake pressure based on situation.

Though credit is due where credit is due. The best thing about the AT is its ability to learn your driving pattern and adapt to it. My father drove the car for almost 20k km initially and the AT learned his driving style favoring engine braking. 500km of my daily driving later, the AT had adapted to my style of quick acceleration through 1st, 2nd, 3rd and then heavy coasting in neutral with minimal throttle input in 4th and 5th. While constant cruising at speeds between 40-60, the AT would go into neutral the moment i took my foot off the throttle and then re-engage in the highest possible gear the moment I apply a gentle tap to the throttle. This was different from its behavior of holding the gear and then downshifting to the next gear when my father drove it. Kudos to whoever coded this part of the TCU at Hyundai.

Con 4: Efficiency. Since the 1.5 diesel is pretty torque-y but underpowered, it is pretty efficient even for a BS6 engine. What kills this efficiency is the AT, more specifically the messy gearing of 1st, 2nd and 3rd. I see a dip into single digit figures in heavy rush hour traffic where i cant go past 3rd gear. At the same time, it gives me a 21kmpl fuel economy with cruise control set at 105 kph on a 90 km expressyway trip on a regular basis. The manual will be much more efficient as it will not have the high revving and AT slipping that the car does in 1st and 2nd gear in traffic situations.

Creta with the same powertrain is a much better option as it eliminates the suspension issue based on my experience with my iVT Creta. Also, the D AT is tuned a bit better in the new facelift Seltos and the Creta as well. Smoother and quicker. But the price being offered to you for these two Seltos seems a bit too steep considering that the top spec GTX D AT was 18 L on road when i got it new in 2019. You are being offered a 2020 model with 20k km. A fair price for that should be around 14.5-16L based on the condition and if there is an extended warranty active. But then again the current top spec D AT sitting at 22 on-road is probably why the old GTX D ATs have held their resale value so much.

A Punch EV is probably the ideal new car for high mileage low running cost scenarios under 13 lakh budget if you do not want to deal with the headache of a manual.

[DCTfanatic]

Originally Posted by neofromcapone

My 70 kms is broken up in 6 trips through the day.

Same goes for my 2019 GTX D AT. rush hour traffic or short distance city rides where I can't go past 3rd gear often lead to 9-10.5 kmpl economy.

Paddle shifters are sorely missed on my car after I got a Venue DCT with paddles. That is a joy to drive and using paddles religiously on that nets me an average same or more than the Seltos even though the Venue has a 1.0 turbo! My guess is the lower weight of the Venue helps. the DCT seems to be more efficient that the 6-Speed AT too at times.

[DCTfanatic]

Originally Posted by Neurodoc

I am literally refilling the tank every 5th day, and the range it gives on a full tank is 270 km, which converts to 7 kmpl.

That's one thing you wont have to worry about with the Seltos though. Full tank range is anywhere between 550 km for pure city traffic driving to 850-900 km for majority of highway/expressway driving done sedately. And that's with a usable tank size of 50-55L.

[nishantbhatia84]

Last week I noticed that all text on my Seltos' HUD appears blurred.
Has this happened with anyone else in the forum?
I plan on getting this check at the service center soon, but really weird this issue came up out of the blue!

[rohan0751]

Can anyone help me procure the spares from an aftermarket dealer in Pune?
I need to replace the steering switch assembly as I am unable to operate the wipers.
Also, any recommended workshop to get the work done?

TIA!

[DCTfanatic]

Originally Posted by nishantbhatia84

Last week I noticed that all text on my Seltos' HUD appears blurred.
Has this happened with anyone else in the forum?
I plan on getting this check at the service center soon, but really weird this issue came up out of the blue!

Hasn't happened to me but you can try fiddling with or even resetting the HUD location, color, text settings to default in the infotainment system. There is a reset to default option there if I am not wrong.

That could potentially solve your problem and save you a trip to the service center.