[naveen.raju]

So the much awaited review it out. Now this thread will blow the roof and be the most happening thread on TeamBHP.

Coming to the car, I did love the features offered. Paying 16L for the first gen Creta with many features missing(no auto headlights/wipers, no AA/Carplay, no DTE, fuel economy, to name a few) and paying 21.5L for the Seltos seems to be a good bargain. KIA got it right with their opening and need to make sure that they continue with other products and get the after sales right as well. Hyundai is really "hit or miss" in my opinion when it comes to after sales.

A worthy upgrade for a family looking to join the compact SUV tribe. If I had the Ecosport, I would have gone with the Seltos eyes closed but for a Creta owner, I quite didn't feel like an upgrade. Here's my observation on the Seltos that was reported here when the car was launched.

Showroom:
1) Prime location - Easily accessible and located in a good location.
2) The showroom isn't completed and the service bay was totally empty (no machinery).
3) Wish they had completed the work before this event since you could see workers and customers running around the showroom.

Staff:
1) Could see around 50-60 employees there (Almost all across the state were there since this would be the first showroom in Kerala which would unveil the car).
2) They greeted all customers well and it was a good experience.
3) As for the training, we felt they didn't know much about the car. Some basic queries were left unanswered or we had to fill the answers.

Car:
This would be strictly on comparison with my Creta as I haven't checked the Harrier/Hector etc. Two cars were there (GT - Manual petrol in red and TechLine - Manual diesel in grey).

Exteriors:
1) GT looked sweet with those alloys. While the alloys on the Techline looked plain and boring (very similar to the ones on the lower model Creta). All discs - nice.
2) As soon we saw the car, we felt it smaller than the Creta. It felt low to the ground. The SA confirmed that the height is less than the Creta but width and length is more. But in person, we didn't quite make it out.
3) GT had all the bells and whistles while the Techline had some features missing (Diesel top end) like no 360 degree cam, 2 airbags different alloy design etc. Typical Hyundai strategy where they don't load the mass market variant with features (Diesel AT won't be loaded, but Petrol AT will be).
4) Rear design is very similar to the Creta except for some detailing/LED treatment in the rear light.
5) Boot space looked very similar to the Creta but he confirmed that it's 432L. So some 30L more than the Creta. The woofer was also placed in the boot. The spare was not an alloy and was a size smaller.
6) The front end looked bulky and busy at the same time.
7) That diamond cut finish surrounding the grilled looked really tacky. The SA confirmed that even the base variant will have that. I seriously doubt that.
8) I liked the headlight cluster and the indicators They looked sweet. The SA commented that it's replicating S Class design and finish (No, I didn't comment on that ).
9) The DRL is inside the headlight cluster and I did see another white light strip extending towards the badge. Something like a light bar. He said that's switched on when the park light is on.
10) My friend didn't like the front end much and I only liked half of what I saw.
11) Wish they gave a panoramic sunroof. And manual sunroof cover is, meh!
12) Request sensor only on the driver side.
13) We did hear the engine and it was very refined (Diesel). Compared to Hyundai, it's on par or even better (showroom was buzzing with people so couldn't compare it with the one I have). But all good there.
14) Budget wiper looked out of place especially when you have that funky front end. As with all Hyundai cars, windscreen washer nozzle is hidden and not on the bonner.
15) The bonnet felt heavy and solid. I did have a tough time closing it. I had to finally bang it close. As for the doors, it was same as Hyundai. No "thud" feel like VW.

Interiors:
1) Seat looked nice (similar to the Compass) and was comfortable. The ventilated feature should make it even better. Definitely feels airy when compared to the Creta.
2) Both the cars had low battery so couldn't operate the HU.
3) Instrument cluster looked like Hyundai and even the MID on the instrument cluster with the car's image was very similar to my Creta.
4) The huge instrument panel looked really bad (not the graphics) and looked worse from outside. They should have not tried to copy MB. A proper instrument cluster with a touchscreen AVN would have looked good.
5) The chrome tipped toggle switches on the steering looked and felt tacky. No premium feel here. But loved the steering wheel. Felt good to hold.
6) Although the steering adjustment had a good range, I simply couldn't find a suitable position. The highest setting was even low for me and anything lower brushed my leg.
7) Same case with the seating position. I always like to sit high and in the highest position I was so high that my head almost brushed the ceiling. Certainly wasn't pleased with it. And that small windscreen area along with that huge touch screen panel definitely blocked my field of vision.
8) I didn't find wireless charging in the techline variant.
9) Plastics all around the car were hard like the Creta but all were fit perfectly. The only soft bit on the dash was the small leather section.
10) The leather padding on the doorpad was similar to the Creta but had very less cushioning. The ones on the Creta definitely makes my arm feel comfortable to rest on.
11) Bose speaker grille looked kickass and my friend commented that he heard his friend say it was awesome. We couldn't test it today.
12) GT line had the HUD.
13) Rear seat space is also similar to the Creta. I quite didn't like the hard set backs. Can hinder with your knee. The recline option made the seat angle comfortable.
14) In the GT spec, I saw a small display on top of the rear AC vent and it said "Clean air" or something. Upon asking whether it was a display, he said it will show the level of clean air. Didn't quite understand what he was trying to convey.

What I felt:
1) I expected KIA to be a notch above Hyundai when it came to quality but interior quality was on par with Creta.
2) Definitely have many features missing in the Creta but if it's priced on par or more than the Creta, I simply wouldn't buy. It will definitely make sense for someone who is looking for an upgrade.
3) My friend who had seen the international variant in person said that looked and felt much better than the Indian variant. He's anyways disappointed with the car but waiting for the TD to make the final decision.

Compared to the current Creta, it does feel loaded with features and fresh. Basically, a Creta with new clothing. Pricing will definitely matter here like I had mentioned above.

PS - I haven't driven the car yet and got only few minutes to check the car. So some of these observations might not be valid today .

[drmohitg]

Amazing review of an amazing car. Kia got all things right with this car. The biggest indicator of their bullish intent has to be the fact that they were super quick to introduce GTX+ variants in AT combinations for both petrol and diesel unlike any other car maker who would have taken ages gauging market responses and wait for the competitors to make the first move, fearing that a new top end variant would take that price list even higher. I am so thankful to Kia for not following in those footsteps and rather give the market what it wants, even in the risk of facing criticism that a new car maker has priced their car a cool 2L over and above the already over-priced closest existing competitor (Creta in this case).

[SideView]

Originally Posted by Aditya

Driving the 1.4L Petrol MT

Superb review Aditya with so much details that are easy to miss.

Engaging Sport mode also brings to life a strip of 10 lights on the tachometer's border. As the revvs increase, the strip lights up

I think the number is 8 or have i missed something. ( Please edit my comment after you correct)

[sweetvar26]

Posting this from the other thread, quick impressions and few pictures.

Hey guys, I picked up the Seltos GTX+ DCT. I placed my order back in July when they started taking preorders, switched the variant from GTX to GTX+ when they announced it.



I placed my order in Vijayawada, not really sure what happened but for some reason the blue color that I've wanted wasn't being allocated in the variant that I've picked. I even wrote to Kia regarding the delay in my delivery but I never got a reply. I keep shuffling between Hyderabad and Vijayawada, so I also inquired at the Hyderabad showroom in November and even they said they don't have a timeline for the Orange/blue color. The sales representative was kind enough to call me last week saying they did receive a blue variant that I've wanted. I called the Vijayawada dealership who then blocked the car in Hyderabad and requested for a transfer. Both the dealers helped out of their way to make the process smooth and I'm glad that they did.

Fortunately this isn't the only car in the stable, so I was fine with the 4.5 months of delay.

I wanted to replace the rubber to something better and I ended up with the 235/55/17 Michelin Primacy 4 ST with 32psi. Even though I didn't drive much on either of the two tires, I could feel the improved ride quality as soon as I switched. For all Seltos owners, even at the stock size, I would recommend the switch to a better quality rubber.



All the likes and dislikes have been posted multiple times in this thread, so I will post some quick first impressions from family, friends and my crew.
Compliments for the blue color, almost everyone liked it.
The first thing my wife said as soon as she started driving was "the engine is so smooth". This was also said by my other family member and a friend.
One driver said, these seats will get dirty quick, why didn't you go for black seats?
Seating posture is good for my family and a mother of a newborn with her kid in her arms liked the posture in the rear seat as well. I don't personally use the rear seat at all but I'm glad the position is good.
Everyone's impressed by the quality of interiors, I don't think any of them expected the car to look the way it does outside and inside.
My friend Bhuvan from TeamBHP drove the car yesterday and he liked what's on offer. The transmission though not as smooth or quick as a DSG, does a decent job.
Family likes the air purifier option, they think it is much needed in today's day and age. I also did notice the air quality index increasing drastically where there are more buses than the usual.


Things I wish that were different from the 48 hours I've had the car -
Why not give a black interior option? I picked the top variant for the addition features but I would have really liked and enjoyed the black interiors.
How could you skip backlit keys on a 20L car? I literally had to turn the interior light on to find the unlock button last night. This is just unacceptable.
Memory seats, I wish they gave this as an option and I wouldn't mind paying extra for it either. In India cars are used by other people and memory seat would have been very convenient for me, I'm 6'4 and it is quite a process to adjust the seat multiple times a day.
The thigh support is lacking. I'm not expecting extended thigh support but I felt the length of the seat under the thighs is a tad short than the usual. Will have to see how the posture will play on my knees on a road trip.
Too much chrome for my taste, I will probably black out the front chrome over the period of time.

That pretty much sums up the two day ownership. I want to drive the car more but due to work and a busy week, I haven't been able to. Hoping to get some extended drives over the next few weeks.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Years





EDIT:

As others have requested, with the buyback of the stock tires, I paid about 35k for the Michelin Primacy 4ST 235/55/17. I think I have over paid and I've saw a post or two where they've paid as low as 29k if I'm not wrong. So do shop around if you are planning to swap the tires or upsize them.

I have to say the ride quality has improved quite a bit and it is noticeable even with the limited driving I've had on the factory tires. Highly recommend the switch.

I did get on to the highway for a brief time, I haven't gone past 100 in most cases but everytime I hit 80kmph or cross the speed, I hear that beep which is distracting and annoying considering I was doing legal speeds and I don't know why I have to bear with that. I can't stand sounds while driving, be it rattles or any other kind in the car. Along with the beep, I also get a notification asking me to reduce the speed while I didn't have to. Not happy at all with that.

With that said the road manners are very good, much better than the Creta and car feels solid to drive. I don't know how much the tire upsize has contributed to this, but from what everyone's been saying, the suspension is on the stiffer side adding to the better handling of the car. The steering feels good, decent amount of feedback, just the way I like it.

[PrideRed]

Early New Year this time around, excellent review! One observation which I can confidently say is a strategy to succeed in Indian Market- " Launch car with more number of variants". This to me almost guarantees a successful car.

Seltos- 17 variants
Hector- 11 variants
Creta- 15 variants
Crysta- 20 variants
XUV- 13 variants

Advantage with more number of variants is, you can attack multiple segments. Look at Seltos which is priced from 10-20lacs, is attracting buyers of premium hatchback, compact sedan/SUV, mid size sedan/SUV and even D1 Sedan/SUV.

[REN]

As a Seltos owner myself, I thought I knew the car inside out. I was wrong. I've learned new things about the car from this incredibly detailed review. Absolutely fantastic work from everyone involved! Rated 5 stars.

KIA took the Indian market seriously and the consumers have given them a rousing welcome. I've done nearly 4,000 Kms on my GTX DCT. I've put the car through nearly all kinds of conditions and I only have positive things to say. It's such a well-rounded and well engineered product.

Apart from UVO connectivity issues a few times, the car has performed flawlessly with zero niggles. The lack of paddle shifters and illuminated window buttons, as rightly mentioned in the review, are the only misses for me. The sales and service experience has been superb as well – far better than all the other cars we've owned.

[Nav-i-gator]

Phew! That's some review. I have huge respect to our reviewers for this car. Mighty impressive - 1800KM of road testing! and 15000+ words!!

The car too deserve this, isn't it? Smart looks, enough bling and still "gentlemanly", long line-up of variants (Being a supply chain professional, I can imagine how incredibly complex the production planning and logistics would be due to all these variant-engine-transmission combinations). Perfect size and good performance too. There is something for everyone, sedate drivers and enthusiasts alike.

[Stribog]

Smashing review indeed. And I am now busy in my ICE going through features I didn't even know my Kia had. I went through the manual mind you but the way you folks explain things is just stellar.

Enjoy your year end leaves (if any) and thank you to the mod team for running this healthy, wholesome and helpful forum.

Side note - the home minister, my wife doesn't really like the forum though. She says every time am on it, I go out and spend money.

Originally Posted by BZ25

What an exhaustive review! I'm sure many of us have been waiting for this since September. The Seltos beats it's key rivals at one point which no enthusiast can argue: depth of engineering, which shows how far the Koreans have come.

You are right, I had very high expectations of the Bose system but it's like even the normal ones on my friends Ciaz sounds the same.

It's definitely good but not what one might expect from 8 speakers and a sub...all Bose. Am wondering if adding an Amp will help and not void warranty.

[Aditya]

Originally Posted by SideView

I think the number is 8 or have i missed something. ( Please edit my comment after you correct)

If you are looking at the image, you'll see that I've revved the engine to 5,000 rpm, which translates to 8 lights. Revv it to the max 6,500 rpm and you'll see 10 lights in total.

[Iyencar]

Kudos on another thorough review . One thing that is missing from the review is a link to Kia's service cost calculator: Link
I think it shatters a few myths/preconceptions about the service costs, especially of the DCTs. They are quite reasonable. Glad to see Kia give this. It sure helped Ford when they shared similar details.

Coming to the car itself, the first time I was in it I sat on the rear bench while my friend drove. I was impressed with the fit and finish. The car came to a non-fussy halt from a high speed. However, the suspension was rock hard. At the time I dismissed the car as having bling but no finesse because of it. Last week though Karan561 was kind enough to let me drive his GTX+ DCT and man was I impressed. My short takeaways were:

• The tyre pressure of 32 makes a huge difference. Karan is onto something here. I can only imagine what some Pilot Sports or equivalent tyres can do. I suspect showrooms are losing on sales by keeping the pressure high during test drives
• Loved the sport mode, the difference is instantaneous! Also, shifting to Eco did not result in much of a perceptible difference from Normal mode- a very good thing
• If I were in the market today the petrol DCT would be my pick. It has every feature I would need and the dimensions are perfect for a small family. Did I say how delicious the GT line looks in either black or white!

Lastly, while I haven't driven the diesel AT combo, I feel it is prudent to wait for BS6 fuel to be available since BS4 would end up clogging the DPFs sooner than later and you would need to waste time and effort convincing the dealers to replace it under warranty.

[wheelguy]

As usual, an excellent review, rated 5 stars.

Originally Posted by Aditya

• Look at Kia and the manner in which this newbie launched the Seltos. Shows you what Tata should have done with the Harrier. The Harrier was laden with issues & didn't have important variants (Diesel AT, Petrol). Tata should learn from Kia on how to handle new launches.

Got to agree with that, this is how Tata should have planned the Harrier launch, come with all guns blazing.

[bluevolt]

A great much-awaited review.

Kia as a manufacturer entered India when the country was facing the worst ever automobile slow down. I must say the management must be apprehensive too about their introduction with the scenarios the auto market was dealing with. Things could have been otherwise as well.

But Kia Seltos proved to be a blockbuster, with aggressive pricing, futuristic looks and features, this car itself provided a booster to Indian auto industry in fact.

I was not able to find any car that could replace my 3rd Gen City but then at the right time and at the right price, Kia Seltos had the power to surprise. 3rd gen City owners would know how difficult it is to replace their car with anything else in the market. I hope Kia Seltos will meet the same expectations in terms of reliability as my 3rd Gen City did. Have booked a 1.5L NA Kia Seltos and expecting delivery anytime in late Jan or early Feb 2020. Surprisingly, the waiting period got extended from 1 month to 2 months at the time when I booked the car. (Possibly due to annual plant shutdown?)

@Mods, Any specific reason with 1.5 Liter petrol engine variant being missed out for the review? I am quite sure the 1.5 L NA petrol engine will have many takers especially those going for HTE/HTK/HTK+ variants and would have loved to read T-BHP's official comments on the engine. Other point is that 1.5 L Petrol NA variant is not available for the test drives as well!

[TheLizardKing]

Originally Posted by Aditya

Other Points

The ICE screen switches to "night" mode, independent of the headlights. We had kept the headlamps off and drove through a very small tunnel during the day...the ICE screen smartly switched to night mode then, and back to day mode once we got out of the tunnel.

Thank you for such a detailed review!

Regarding the quoted point, the ICE unit must have its own inbuilt light sensor. The higher end VW MFD clusters have the same feature.

[caffeineAM]

Excellent review! I hated the ads for this car, may have to change my mind on the product now...

[Orange GTX]

Just like the Seltos, absolutely brilliant attention to details by the reviewers
Your hardwork, knowledge are clearly evident and more importantly you absolutely enjoyed reviewing this car.
It may be lame/dumbo question but I really don't understand the use of HUD.
I mean, you otherwise also get the same info in MID or ICE screen.
So is it just a gimmicky and fancy equipment or really worth an accessory?
Experts can help to clear my doubt / misunderstanding.
Wish a very happy, healthy and safe new year to fellow BHPians and their families.