[Ash_vtec]

Great review. Spent time in one GT line recently. Would like to add that once you're done with the many lovely gizmos, you notice sub par in cabin plastics for this price. A great product none the less

[aarvee]

Hi all,

Found a new fix to the UVO app - which stopped working for me around mid Dec. Typical symptoms - the mobile app doesnt show actual location of car; you are unable to set alert services; app shows "contact call centre" messages while communicating with the car.

Did some googling and saw few youtube videos. Credits to "RDx Studio" page in youtube among others. Sharing the steps here:
1. Start the car (this is needed to go to the required settings)
2. Start radio (this is needed to be able to adjust volume in subsequent steps)
3. Long touch "SETUP" and then go to Version Info/Update settings
4. Change volume level to level 7
5. Touch on the "Version Info/Update" area on top (grey band just below the "Menu")
6. Change volume level to level 3
7. Touch on the "Version Info/Update" area on top again
8. Change volume level to level 1
9. Touch on the "Version Info/Update" area on top again
10. Enter password as 2400, when prompted
11. This will open the dealer mode. Scroll down to Factory Reset and click "Reset" on the right.

Please note that this will erase all data from the app - such as preset radio stations, user settings etc.

Once this is done, UVO will restart and you should be able to view your live location on UVO mobile app etc. Worked for me. Happy to hear feedback from others.

[gkg2423]

Thanks to Mods for the superb review. I have already bought HTK+, the review helped me learn few new things. Though I was expecting 1.5 NA petrol section too in the official review, But rahul_goyal did that job well.

Originally Posted by ach1lles

I have been seeing the Seltos everywhere, and maybe it's just me, but it appears smaller than the Creta on the road, which is peculiar. Infact, it almost looks Brezza sized to me, specially in darker colours.

Did not mean to offend you, Sir. But I feel Seltos looks the same size when compared with Creta. And once a friend of mine, who was planning to buy Brezza, noticed the size difference in my Seltos and the Brezza parked alongside and said Brezza looks too small compared to Seltos. But I accept Creta looks more SUVish than the Seltos. But again different guys have different opinions.

Originally Posted by ortho_surgeon

1) how is the driveability? Do you need to shift to lower gears while overtaking?

2) how is acceleration?

3) how is the car to drive on inclines? In the mountains with 5 on board?

4) what is the mileage in the real world for the 1.5 petrol manual and the automatic?

Sir, here is what I have experienced so far, based on my views and driving style.
1. I am a sedate driver, who keeps left foot light at all times. I have done 1050 kms so far and not touched even 90kmph. I have driven Swift Vdi before this for 5 years and I never had an issue in the first gear. But in seltos, many times the engine stops when I start it in first gear, may be I need to learn how to drive a petrol car. For me personally, first 2 gears have issue and I need to change my driving bit. But once I am in 3rd its good.

2. Acceleration is ok. I expected it to be better though considering my old Swift.

3. I have not driven my seltos in hilly area and shall not try unless I get the used to the 1st gear. I went to friends house and they had a steep ramp, I found it tough to make it climb the ramp and engine stopped 3 times (shame on a guy like me who has been driving for past 5 years).

4. As mentioned in Pt. No.1 my drive so far is under 90kmph. 80% highway, I am getting just under 15kmpl tankful method.

Is there some other fellow BHPian who faced issues in 1st gear pick-up or its me only. Other thing that is creating problem is the door visor installed, It creates a big blind spot, I feel like removing this.

[dksv]

Originally Posted by ortho_surgeon

Guys if any of you have driven the 1.5 petrol I have certain questions:

1) how is the driveability? Do you need to shift to lower gears while overtaking?

2) how is acceleration?

3) how is the car to drive on inclines? In the mountains with 5 on board?

4) what is the mileage in the real world for the 1.5 petrol manual and the automatic?

Originally Posted by hydraulicsteer

Forum members what are your views about this non availability of the brilliant NA Petrol engine for reviews and showroom test drives!!

The 1.5 NA Petrol is a good engine. Period.

The 1.5 NA P MT that I own pulls with power right from the word go under low RPMs - no question of any lag. Gears 1 and 2 do not have short bands that induce fatigue, like in some cars. You can rev easily up to 4500 rpm above which it becomes boomy. The clutch is long but soft. B2B traffic is navigable with as less effort that any good petrol manual can offer.

Acceleration is good, I've heard the 80kmph chime in under 9 seconds on several occasions.

It feels confident at highway speeds, but it isn't eager to go above 140kmph. There isn't much juice left on the 5th & 6th gears at these speeds. Anything less than 140kmph is a cakewalk.

If you've driven only petrols in the past, you'd appreciate the power delivery of the 1.5 NA at each gear on this car given its size/weight. But if you're coming from diesels you may struggle a little in terms of lack of punch, low torque and engine stalling at low RPMs. Several relatives who have tried my car have stalled the engine.

Overtaking is a breeze. You can rev hard in any gear to extract the additional speed to overtake. No planning/downshifting required in most cases.

Having owned and driven only petrol cars, I find this engine with MT perfect for my needs and I'm throughly enjoying it. However, I must say that I found the IVT mated to this engine lackluster. It takes out the fun from driving completely. I strongly recommend taking a test drive somehow for those who're eyeing this engine, regardless of MT or AT.

The FE is around 12kmpl, with equal spread between highways and Bangalore traffic.

I haven't driven in the hills but on steep inclinations otherwise it has never broken sweat.

The only shortcoming I've observed so far is that with full load (5 adults + luggage) I had to downshift more often than usual.

Now, why it is not offered for TDs may not have anything to do with its performance but could mostly be a margins game. The IVT is available for TD at several dealerships. The top-most variant that the 1.5 NA can be had with lacks a lot of their "premium" features. This may translate to lower margins for KIA and it looks like they don't want to be there.

[Brishti]

At long last review of the year has come and to me when talking about the 1.5 NA its not exactly a great engine. I found the 1.4 and now the 1.5 Diesel great to the extend that I changed my booking to a 1.5 Diesel HTX+ from GTX+.

My booking for Compass BS6 is still standing but if I get delivery of Seltos first I will buy it for sure.

Trivia: Compass engine sounds like a tractor compared to Seltos. Very impressed with the refinement of the Seltos diesel but power to weight ratio is more for the Compass "1290KG:114Bhp vs 1584KG:171Bhp".

[ron178]

Thanks for the in-depth review! I always wait for a Team-BHP review and a crash test rating before recommending a car to anyone.

When the Seltos was launched, I was screening many online reviews and none of them seemed to mention any real disadvantages. Thanks to Team-BHP for that.

On a side note, will the Seltos' 5-star Australian NCAP rating apply to India, at least for the top-end variants with 6 airbags? I don't seem to find anything about this rating on Team-BHP.
(Link to report)

[kiku007]

The Seltos has taken the market by storm. Great job KIA! The Koreans have done it again.

However, the below part is disappointing.

Originally Posted by Aditya

Other Points

• Brand new car from a brand new manufacturer from a brand new factory. Niggles are being reported in the early cars (although we expect Hyundai-like reliability in the longer-term). Our MT test cars had air-con issues, BZ25's purifier conked off, AGwagon had UVO connectivity issues, ashis89 reported about choked DPFs, an owner had a leaking coolant reservoir and many owners have reported rattles as well as the front windscreen fogging up. Then of course are the overheating DCT warnings that some owners have seen.

• Rattling parcel tray? Our test car had it too. Kia has already released a "patch" for the same (pun intended). Thanks to BHPian momsonlydriver for sharing it here.

Niggle: Criticize someone about small details or give too much attention to details. To worry someone slightly, usually for a long time.

A rattling parcel tray can possibly be classified under niggles. Personally, I would get it fixed ASAP.

But how can things like air-con issues and leaking coolant reservoir be treated as niggles? I can understand the mindset of the general public who rush to buy the newest toy in town without waiting to confirm the product's reliability. And there's the other extreme of the odd customer who resorts to stunts using donkeys and what not when a brand new car breaks down.

Shouldn't TBHP treat these things more seriously? The affected cars would be classified as lemons in developed markets and KIA knows that.

It's this forgiving habit that has resulted in the Innova having its 'niggles' thread and Tata delivering the Harrier which apparently is half-baked.

Reliability and build quality should not be ignored in the hype surrounding features and gizmos.

[ashis89]

There's a ECU update available for Seltos D. I am at the service center for the second service and they're updating the same in my car right now. The staff don't have much clue about what's included in this update.

[anzrulz555]

ANCAP SAFETY RATING: Kia Seltos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0Y7...-HxTIvBGGTHPFg

[hishetty]

Another superb review from India's most trusted auto forum! Team BHP has been my definitive car buying and ownership guide ever since the Hyundai I20 I purchased in 2010.

Currently I am in the market for a Compact Premium SUV. My 1.6L Vento Highline Diesel has clocked close to 70K kms in its close to 6.5 years of ownership and it still runs like brand new. Even today, the fit and finish feels as good as the day i got it from the showroom. In spite of all the reliability and after sales concerns surrounding the VW brand, i have never ever had any bad experience. I was careful to service my car on time and ensured the usual wear and tear was promptly attended to. AS GTO mentioned in the Car's official review, it is the ultimate drivers car in that segment.

With the above background, I knew my choice for an upgrade was not going to be easy. My budget is around 20L and i typically like to maintain a balance between Looks, Driveability, reasonably futurefroof Technology (so BS6 is a must), Comfort, Brand, Hassle Free Ownership and VFM. While i would have loved to continue in the VAG family, currently they do not offer any product that match my requirement at this price point. Moreover, their future offerings i.e VW T-Roc and Skoda Karoq, being CBU's, are likely to end up way too out of reach for my price point. Then there is the usual ? around longterm ownership challenges with CBU's esp. around AS* and availability of parts.

That got me interested in the Seltos GTX+ DCT AT. After two short TD's with the car, mid December 2019, I went ahead and booked the aforementioned variant in all Black. Expected delivery is around Feb end or early March 2020, sufficient time to witness what gets announced during the Feb expo and evaluate other options. I saw members in this thread post a lot of pro's and con's for the top spec of the product and i decided to list them down to get a good perspective and see if the competition is offering a better product at a similar price point and what is the likely premium i will end up paying for my Christmas list of good to have features. So here goes...

First up, the pro's:
1 Good looking with good fit & finish
2 All Wheel Disc Brakes
3 6 Airbags
4 Multi Drive Modes & Traction Control
5 Adaptive Cruise Control
6 Bose Sound System with 8 Speakers, Subwoofer & Amp
7 Front Parking Sensors
8 360 Camera
9 Sunroof
10 10W wireless smartphone charger.
11 UVO
12 Ventilated front seats (would have preferred Memory function and Lumbar adjustment instead)
13 UV-cut solar glass on the front windshield and windows
14 Pull-up sunshades for rear passengers
15 HUD (would have preferred Electric Tail Gate instead)
16 2nd Row Seat with Reclining Function
17 60:40 Split on rear seats
18 Auto Headlamps
19 Auto Wipers
20 Smart Air Purifier (would have preferred paddle shifters instead)
21 Sunglass holder
22 Twin wind-tone horn
23 TPMS
24 Eco Coating technology to eliminate air-conditioner odor

Next up, the Con's
1 Rear will seat 2 Adults and 1 Child at best
2 Product is typical Korean, good fit & finish but Build Quality of German's, both structural and mechanical, is far superior
3 Ride quality, while pliant, is not Duster class
3 No Panoramic Sunroof
4 No Lumbar Adjustment
5 No driver side memory seat
6 No Electric Tailgate
7 No Electrically adjustable seat for passenger side
8 No AWD (I know most will discount me after this point, but hey! Duster offers it)
9 No Paddle Shifters
10 Armrest not adjustable/extendable
11 No option of All Black Interior for GTX Plus Trim
12 Rubbish OEM Goodyear tyres
13 No illuminated power window switches
14 No manual dials on ICE
15 No Puddle Lamp
16 No illumination / cooling for the glovebox
17 No Illumination for passenger side Sun visor
18 No request sensor on passenger door
19 Cannot disable speed warning buzzer
20 No Pairing of Smartphone when car is on the move
21 For the price, cabin has too much hard plastic.
22 Smaller Boot
23 Smaller Fuel Tank (50L)
24 360 Camera quality is average at best
25 DCT has history of poor reliability

So while the product offers best in class safety features and a fair list of creature comforts, it does miss out on a fairly long list of features including some basic ones which competition offers at this price point (albeit in bits and pieces). MG Hector is the only other car that comes close, but Seltos is a better package overall. The most closest upgrade that checks most of the bells and whistles seems to be the 2020 Hyundai Tucson (release date unknown), but at 30L for the 2WD variant, i do not feel the 8L+ premium is justified.

[ADB]

Originally Posted by aarvee

Hi all,

Found a new fix to the UVO app...

While this works, there are certain issues still faced. For example, after the last update, Apple CarPlay maps interchanged north with south on the compass. Hence, maps wouldn’t work as it was confused that you are driving backwards and kept rerouting. There is a new update available - I just got that done from the service center. Fixes all issues. According to the SA, they are working on OTA updates and that should be up and running from January or latest February.

[iceman07]

I knew the review will be up soon , GTO is as always man of his words.
What a review to end the year with , i was curious to see how you would cover all the variants and engine combinations.
Superbly done guys , a good shout out to all of you!
probably an IVT review can be added later , that is the only thing i see missing , a vital one too, as i hope this will be the VFM variant for many.
Thank you all involved in bringing this comprehensive review

[Hells Bells]

One question - it was noted in the review that there is a display of "reduce speed" at 80 and 120. Does it mean there are no continuous pings and instead it is only this MID notification?

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by Hells Bells

One question - it was noted in the review that there is a display of "reduce speed" at 80 and 120. Does it mean there are no continuous pings and instead it is only this MID notification?

You get the display message temporarily on the MID along with the ping sounds. The ping comes once at 80 and is continuously playing 120 onwards. But the message is displayed for few seconds only at both these speeds.

[2000rpm]

Originally Posted by Aditya

Our MT test cars had air-con issues, BZ25's purifier conked off, AGwagon had UVO connectivity issues, ashis89 reported about choked DPFs, an owner had a leaking coolant reservoir and many owners have reported rattles as well as the front windscreen fogging up. Then of course are the overheating DCT warnings that some owners have seen.

Originally Posted by kiku007

It's this forgiving habit that has resulted in the Innova having its 'niggles' thread and Tata delivering the Harrier which apparently is half-baked.

Reliability and build quality should not be ignored in the hype surrounding features and gizmos.

Just like we expect a well ironed out product from Tata and Mahindra's, we should expect the same from a well established global manufacturer. The issues reported for the Seltos are not minor at all, especially things like DCT overheating!

That said, the car looks very nice. I really liked the Bonnet Led, especially in night driving. I saw more Seltos in Goas this weekend than I saw any of its competitor (except maybe the Creta). The car is a very good allrounder!

Lets see how does the car, and the brand hold up to the hype and expectations!