[ashvek3141]

Sonet HTX D AT, 1000 KMS Ownership Experience and 1st Service Update



The 1 month / 1000 kms + ownership has been pretty good and overall I am satisfied with the car. I shall jot down a few pointers with regards to my ownership so far.

Please note that I shall draw some comparisons with my secondary ride, 1st gen Creta P MT and also my earlier ride, 2nd gen Swift ZDi. I know it might sound like comparing apples to oranges here, but these are just for reference purposes.

• Engine
  - The 1.5L CRDi is a gem of a motor. Absolutely silent at idle, one would be hard pressed to tell if this is a diesel motor. Some of my friends/colleagues were taken aback when I mentioned that mine is a Diesel Sonet. But the same folks criticized the engine noise inside when on the move I too completely agree with this, the car is dead silent on idle; however, as the revs start to climb it gets pretty audible inside the cabin.
  
  - The noise is kinda acceptable up to 2.3 - 2.5k rpm, but beyond that is gets very much intrusive. Don't get me wrong, I have owned diesel cars in the past and I know that diesel, in general, is a noisy engine, but Hyundai / Kia cars are known for the stupendous NVH which somehow I found to be lagging in the Sonet.
  
  - Apart from the noise part, this motor is just fab. The pull from the ~1800 rpm is clean and at times also gives you a push-in-the-seat kinda feel. Again, it all depends on how the TC gearbox is shifting to the throttle inputs(I'll come to that later).
  
  - In general, there is no lag to speak of and the gearbox does help to mask this effect. The pull in any gear especially between 2nd to even 5th is clean and there is no hint of any resistance as such. Only in the 6th gear, there is a bit of time taken to pull if the speeds are dropped say below 60-65 kmph.

• Driving Modes
  - NORMAL : This is a default mode when the car is started no matter in which mode the car was turned off. This is a very balanced mode and I use it almost 90% of the time. I find this to satisfy almost all your driving needs and patterns. I don't have a thorough idea as to how much BHP / Torque is generated by the engine in this mode, but I read somewhere that this kinda limits the Power to ~100 bhp. I don't have any idea how that's done.
  
  - ECO: As the name suggests, this one's for the mileage-conscious folks and I'm not much keen on using this. In the entire ownership of 1 month, I have used it once to only check how it performs. The gearbox shifts pretty quickly in this mode and the speed build-up is linear. apart from this, there is nothing much to speak of here.
  
  - SPORT: Ahh! Now we're talking!! The BEST mode of all. Needless to say, as the name suggests, pure enthu-orientated mode there. The moment you switch to SPORT mode, especially while keeping the A pedal pressed, there is a slight push to the car and the rpm pumps up by a few notches. The engine growls a bit more and the A pedal gets extremely sensitive. there is absolutely zero lag to the throttle inputs in this mode. Pedal to throttle matching is perfect in here and the car just keeps pulling as your continue throttling it. Some say that even the steering weighs up a bit; but personally, I didn't quite feel that. Maybe I shall pay some more attention next time.
  
  Having said all of this, this mode is purely for the open roads. Period. You really need those open highways for this. Try this mode in the city with some traffic and it gets jerky. The car keeps shifting gears to keep the engine on the boil and that after some point gets a bit annoying. Hence, keep the sport mode for those highway runs and see yourself grinning!

• Gearbox
  - Coming to the next big thing of this car, the flawless TC unit. As I mentioned earlier, the TC unit does a good job of masking the low-end turbo lag and makes the start-ups pretty smooth in the majority of the traffic conditions.
  
  - This is our very first automatic car and hence probably it comes with a small learning curve. By this, I don't intend to discourage any prospective AT buyers, but there is some time needed to get used to the shifting manners of the TC unit, especially if one has been driving a manual for all these years.
  
  - I find the gearbox to be holding the 2nd and sometimes even the 3rd gear a bit too long for my liking. I had initially thought that this is tuned intentionally to minimize the DPF clogging, but BHPian shrk_18 cleared this doubt saying that this is an inherent nature of a TC unit. I don't quite like this behavior coz the revs keep building up even up to 3k rpm at times and that only increases the engine noise which I mentioned earlier.
  
  - I hardly find myself needing to use the paddle shifters coz the gearbox is never in the wrong gear, I really mean this. There will be just about 1-2% cases where I thought that the car was in a higher gear; but apart from that, this one just nails it, every time.
  
  - The only gripe I have is that the instrument cluster doesn't show the current 'drive' gear. It just shows as 'D' unlike in the DCT wherein it shows the current gear selection. I know it doesn't impact much, but it just feels good to have that information. However, in Manual mode, it does show the current gear.
  
  - Also, the majority of the time I find it a bit hard to shift the car out of 'P'. So much so that the car even jerks a bit sometimes. I inquired about this with the service guys and they mentioned that this is a normal TC behavior. I however follow the steps mentioned in the manual before parking i.e. Brakes --> Shift to 'P' --> Hand brake --> Ignition off.
  
  

• Ride and Handling
  - Coming from the humble 1st gen Creta (currently on 225/55/R17 wheels), I find the Sonet's suspension a bit stiff to my liking; my Dad too has a similar complaint. It's not unbearable to say, but a slightly softer tune would have been great IMHO.
  
  - Take those speed breakers or bumps with a slightly higher speed than and you will feel that the car just drops with a 'thud' noise. I even got this checked with service folks / WA and telegram Sonet groups and they all mentioned that this is how the suspension is.
  
  - One can feel the road underneath, especially when driving on slightly irregular/unfinished roads. This drawback is that it brings in unnecessary squeaks inside the cabin.
  
  - Handling, in general, is acceptable and nothing remarkable to speak of. The car holds the line and inspires confidence when driven under say 100 - 110 kmph. Beyond that, not so much.
  
  - I also had this issue with the steering alignment right from day 1, which still isn't completely fixed to my satisfaction.

• Air conditioning
  - The AC in this car is a chiller! Primarily this is due to the vents being placed close to the occupants is what I feel. But overall too, I find that Ac does a good job of cooling the cabin.
  
  - A very annoying point that I would like to mention is that during idling the compressor cut-off is very much appreciable. I had noticed this in the DCT but thought that it is expected since that is a 3-cylinder 1 L unit, but a similar behavior with the 4-cylinder 1.5 L diesel unit kind of got my heart scratching. Heck, even my humble Swift with a 1.3L engine was calmer during the compressor switching.
  
  - I usually maintain the AC on AUTO between 24-25 C.
  
  

• Music System
  - The 8" Arkamys tuned music system has an acceptable sound quality and will satisfy the masses. I am not an audiophile and hence completely satisfied with the sound output. I usually stream music from gaana or amazon music maintaining the volume levels at 10 - 14.
  
  
  
  - The only annoyance is the erratic behavior of the system when playing music through BT. I have noticed that the music stops playing and at times even the phone gets disconnected in the middle of playback. This looks mostly like a software glitch and can be fixed with an update. I am using iPhone 7 / 12 Pro.
  
  - Wireless Carplay is a boon and is working flawlessly so far; However, it drains the phone's battery at a much faster rate.
  
  - This system is devoid of SAT-NAV and hence one has to rely on Google Maps.

• Fuel Efficiency
  - The average displayed on the MID is somewhere between 18 - 19 kmpl. Max I have seen is 19.2 kmpl. Now, this is the cumulative 'fuel economy' that is displayed and not pertaining to a specific trip.
  
  
  
  - For a trip of approx. 50 kms with 70% on the highway, the max mileage displayed is 28 kmpl. I find these figures a bit optimistic and too good to be true for an engine of this size coupled with a TC AT.
  
  - Below is the tank-to-tank mileage derived from the fuelio app. For sure, there is a 1.5 - 2 kmpl difference between the actual and the MID displayed mileage figures. I presume the system will sort of calibrating after running for approx. 5k - 6k kms and may indicate the near-actual mileage in the future.
  
  

• Other points
  - I find the overall quality of the Sonet a notch below when compared to my Creta. Let me mention that this is not only for the Kia Sonet; I have extensively checked the 2nd gen Creta and I find it similar in that too. Right from the plastics on the dash to those on the door, the window switches; the seat belt thickness, everything feels a grade lower. The Koreans have surely gone in for profits since the launch of the 1st gen Creta.
  
  - 7 years and nearly 70k KMS on the odo, there is not a SINGLE rattle or a squeaks in my Creta *touchwood*. However, in the Sonet, I can already hear mild squeaks coming in from the AVN unit, the doors when playing music with slightly higher bass, centre console randomly, etc.
  
  - The overall quality of the plastics used say for the height adjust/recline lever, power windows switches, etc. feels a bit lower than my Creta. The ones in the 1st gen Creta feel so polished, even today.
  
  Loose height adjuster lever
  
  
  - The HTX variant comes with the lighter interiors and with the introduction of 4 airbags, there is no way to put seat covers which brings another problem to the table. The white seats are P-A-I-N to maintain. I don't know how am I going to manage this. Surely they look good but are equally painful to maintain.
  
  
  
  
  
  - Brakes of this car are pretty good and do a good job of bringing the car to stop in time.
  
  - I find the front seats to be a size smaller for my liking. I am 6 feet tall with an average build and I find the side bolsters a bit intrusive. A slightly wider seat would have helped I feel. I am not quite able to find a 'comfortable' driving position yet.
  
  - I don't know the logical working of the TPMS system, but I need to 'set' a pressure of 37 psi at the fuel bunk to get a display of approx. 33-34 psi on the TPMS. Sometimes it even goes to 35 psi. These are all cold tire pressure readings. I am still experimenting on this and will confirm once I get to know the exact pressure that needs to be maintained to display 33 psi on the MID. For now, I am sticking to only one air-filling station.
  
  - Not having a rear wash wipe is annoying as hell!! I think enough has been said on this. Kia, please wake up and get the basics right, please.

• 1st Service
  
  - Completed the 950 kms on the 20th of this month and the following day got the 1st service done at ADC Kia, Goa.
  
  - This was just a general check-up and not a service per se. Had 2 issues to fix as below,
  1. Steering alignment: As mentioned earlier the alignment was a bit off right from Day 1; got this checked during the 1st service. The SA got the calibration done, didn't help. Later did the alignment, took the trial, and told me it was done. I didn't have time for another trial as I was already running late for the day and had to rush to office. While driving back, though it had improved it was still kinda off. I didn't have any more patience or time to get back and do this again.
  
  Called the CRM the following day and narrated this to him. He requested to get the car again for a check. Went the following day, I was assigned another SA. He took the TD and mentioned that the 'steering calibration' was a bit off. Came back, re-done the calibration. Again, a minor improvement but not 100%. I gave up! I have said this before and I shall say it again, somehow the Koreans cannot get their steering systems right!
  
  Alignment being carried out. Excuse the pic quality as I clicked it from the lounge.
  
  
  
  2. Horn shrill: This issue is primarily seen when the horn is pressed for more than 1 sec. Though it is an intermittent issue, it still is annoying. However, the technicians there couldn't reproduce this issue and hence no solution for now. They requested to record a video next time this issue occurs.
  
  3. Poor fitting of plastic cover near the windscreen: This issue too was there right from Day 1. When I brought this to the notice of the SA, he mentioned that there is no warranty on plastic/rubber parts!! I wonder if they weigh in the cost of this small piece of plastic and the experience that the customer takes back home?
  
  
  
  - They took a good 4 hours for this general check-up and to check on the 2 niggles that I mentioned, albeit without a proper fix.
  
  - The annoying part comes at the end when they come chasing you for the ratings!! I don't know how the heck this thing works, but for sure this is not so happy experience for the customers. Give then anything below 9/10 or 4/5 and you'll be killed with questions!
  
  - Since I didn't have much time and had to rush, I just gave them a 5* and closed the matter.
  
  - Overall, an average 1st service experience in my books.

ADC Kia, Goa workshop


So, that was a small update on the 1k kms & 1st Service ownership experience. As I write this, the odo stands at 1600 kms.

[neil008]

Hello Guys,
I've a question regarding Sonet, we all love Sonet and that's the reason this thread is ongoing for long now. However, almost none of the Youtubers ever talk a good thing about Sonet, and Venue still gets fair treatment while both are essentially the same vehicles. I'd like to know thoughts on this, because clearly Sonet offers great package in terms of most of the things a car owner would want.

[itsmeparvathy9]

Originally Posted by ashvek3141

Sonet HTX D AT, 1000 KMS Ownership Experience and 1st Service Update
The 1 month / 1000 kms + ownership has been pretty good and overall I'm am satisfied with the car. I shall jot down a few pointers with regards to my ownership so far.

Thank you so much for the update. It gives us a great insight on how the Kia Sonet Diesel AT is to drive and maintain, the ownership experience and the service as well.
Hope you have many great memories with it!

[DRIV3R]

Originally Posted by ashvek3141

I however follow the steps mentioned in the manual before parking i.e. Brakes --> Shift to 'P' --> Hand brake --> Ignition off.

Not sure why the manual says so, but this is an incorrect sequence for an AT car and would also stress the parking pawl pin in transmission.

Shift to P only after handbrake engaged AND release of foot brake. You will never see this issue. This is because due the reason both front and rear wheels are locked when suspension is still slightly compressed due to your weight and compress that happens when you come to a standstill. In MT cars, front wheel is free to roll hence even if you follow any sequence the suspension is relieved of the compression. But here it is not, hence it stresses the parking pawl and you find it difficult to shift back from P.

Try it and let us know.

[ajayc123]

Originally Posted by ashvek3141

Sonet HTX D AT, 1000 KMS Ownership Experience and 1st Service Update

Attachment 2340068

The 1 month / 1000 kms + ownership has been pretty good and overall I'm am satisfied with the car. I shall jot down a few pointers with regards to my ownership so far.

Very nicely written review, it gives a very good idea of what to expect from this brand/model.

If you plan make ongoing updates, you could get this moved to a separate long term ownership thread.

[searacer932]

Originally Posted by itsmeparvathy9

To the Sonet Diesel AT owners out there, I am planning on purchasing the Kia Sonet Diesel AT with it being the only true automatic diesel SUV under my budget of 15 lakhs and the feeling that it will be truly worth it, I am only in favour of automatics (no AMT), I even considered the Sonet DCT too.

My family is a small one with just 4 members and all being on the shorter side under 165cm. We contemplated and looked at each and every SUV under 20 lakhs with an automatic transmission, from the Magnite/Kiger all the way to the Thar/Scorpio-N. Having test driven many of these as well. But the Sonet turned out to be the one that appealed to us all. We are not the best at cars, but it seemed good VFM with Diesel AT. What are your thoughts on the Sonet Diesel AT? How is it to drive? How is the maintenance cost? I am all ears.

I think for your kind of running which I believe is low and if there are no runs to the highways you might end up with DPF clogging issues on the Sonet Diesel AT! I would suggest a peaceful petrol vehicle than a diesel one for your specific case.

A Seltos or a Creta IVT would be a reasonable choice.

[itsmeparvathy9]

Originally Posted by searacer932

I think for your kind of running which I believe is low and if there are no runs to the highways you might end up with DPF clogging issues on the Sonet Diesel AT! I would suggest a peaceful petrol vehicle than a diesel one for your specific case.

A Seltos or a Creta IVT would be a reasonable choice.

Thanks for the concern, but we live beside the state highway and all our runs with the car will be on National or state highways only, only the very rare instances of Bumper-to-Bumper traffic

[ashvek3141]

Originally Posted by itsmeparvathy9

Thank you so much for the update. It gives us a great insight on how the Kia Sonet Diesel AT is to drive and maintain, the ownership experience and the service as well.
Hope you have many great memories with it!

Thank you itsmeparvathy9. Glad that my post could be of help.

Originally Posted by DRIV3R

Not sure why the manual says so, but this is an incorrect sequence for an AT car and would also stress the parking pawl pin in transmission.

Shift to P only after handbrake engaged AND release of foot brake. You will never see this issue. This is because due the reason both front and rear wheels are locked when suspension is still slightly compressed due to your weight and compress that happens when you come to a standstill. In MT cars, front wheel is free to roll hence even if you follow any sequence the suspension is relieved of the compression. But here it is not, hence it stresses the parking pawl and you find it difficult to shift back from P.

Try it and let us know.

Not sure if I got this right, but shifting the gear to 'P' requires both the gear shifter button as well as the brakes to be pressed. Hence, the foot brakes are the last thing that can be released after shifting to 'P'. Having said that, I had also read this on the net (not sure where exactly) that owner's manual has mentioned an incorrect sequence of parking the vehicle. The correct sequence should be as under.
1. Press the brakes.
2. Engage the handbrake
3. Shift to P
4. Turn off the Ignition
5. Release the brakes.

I shall try the above sequence next time and share my feedback.

On a side note, I found quite a few irregularities in the owner's manual. For ex. it mentions that there is absolutely NO idling required for the turbo petrol engine and you can start moving from the word go! I mean how is this even logical? Any engine type needs to be idled atleast for 30 secs minimum during a cold start, let alone a complex turbo engine. I don't know which genius was given the task of proof-reading this.

Originally Posted by ajayc123

Very nicely written review, it gives a very good idea of what to expect from this brand/model.

If you plan make ongoing updates, you could get this moved to a separate long term ownership thread.

Thank you for your kind words ajayc123.

Well, I never thought I'd write so much actually. Also, my posts are spread across different threads which started a year back with the decision of buying a car.

I think it'll be a good idea to have a standalone thread of this ownership experience; though I agree that mine is nowhere near to some of the supremely in-depth owner's reviews that we have on the forum. But yeah, if I'm able to contribute something to the forum and if our members can benefit from this, surely I'd love to.

Request to Mods: Below are the key posts from my side regarding this ownership. It would be great if you'll could help me merge this into a separate thread in the ownership section, if you'll feel that's OK. If it isn't significant, I shall continue with my small updates on this official review page itself.

1. Purchase Dilemma
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/suvs-...ml#post5012489 (Which AT Compact SUV for me?)

2. PDI and Delivery Experience
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offic...ml#post5352735 (Kia Sonet : Official Review)

3. 1000 KMS Ownership Experience and 1st Service Update
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offic...ml#post5369603 (Kia Sonet : Official Review)

[harry10]

Originally Posted by itsmeparvathy9

Thanks for the concern, but we live beside the state highway and all our runs with the car will be on National or state highways only, only the very rare instances of Bumper-to-Bumper traffic

In that case go ahead with the purchase.
I believe DPF issue is overblown. I have driven Sonet D-At for 18k kms now. Have never experienced DPF issue even once. All I do is every 4-5 days once when I have a empty stretch of 10-15 kms i drive it at the 2500 rpm in sport mode. I do a lot of bumper to bumper driving too. But this way it has been managed well.

Engine and gearbox combo is a delight. If you are an aggressive driver or sedate one. It will please you both ways. Suspension of course is stiff as everyone knows but in my trial and error, maintaining 33 psi in all tyres is the sweet spot. 34 psi on highway drives. AC is a chiller.

I am satisfied till now with almost all positives and just couple of negatives. Like FE is less, I know how to get good mileage from a car and still I manage just 13kmpl in NCR drives. Engine is refined and powerful but it's fuel thirsty, especially switching on AC makes a difference of atleast 3kmpl. Handling could have been a touch better.

Overall it's the best bet for diesel automatic considering every other one in segment comes with the AMT.

[itsmeparvathy9]

Originally Posted by harry10

Overall it's the best bet for diesel automatic considering every other one in segment comes with the AMT.

This is exactly what brought me to the Diesel AT Sonet, I had considered petrols too but either the sub compact SUVs were compromising on the engine and gearbox over their larger counterparts or the fit and finish of the vehicles were not up to the mark, or they were AMTs, so Sonet seemed the best.

The Magnite/Kiger twins felt excellent VFM but I skipped on them considering the experience the Sonet brings.

The Grand Vitara/Hyryder could be considered as an alternative, if prices aren't way up north!

[DRIV3R]

Originally Posted by ashvek3141

The correct sequence should be as under.
1. Press the brakes.
2. Engage the handbrake
3. Shift to P
4. Turn off the Ignition
5. Release the brakes.

I shall try the above sequence next time and share my feedback.

Yes, I missed that obvious piece. Going by same logic, I also missed to specify pressing of shifter knob for shifting to P, I didn't mention it as it is a given for any AT car. Obviously you need to first release foot brake and again press it while moving it to P. Your above sequence will not give any different results than what you are seeing already.

Below is right sequence.

1. Press the brakes.
2. Engage the handbrake
3. Release foot brake
4. Press foot brake
5. Shift to P
6. Release the foot brake.

[ashvek3141]

Originally Posted by itsmeparvathy9

The Grand Vitara/Hyryder could be considered as an alternative, if prices aren't way up north!

Looking at what Maruti has priced the new Brezza, I am 100% sure that the Grand Vitara will cross the 20 L mark on-road in majority of the states. For sure it will be a few thousands +/- the Korean twins.

Originally Posted by DRIV3R

Below is right sequence.

1. Press the brakes.
2. Engage the handbrake
3. Release foot brake
4. Press foot brake
5. Shift to P
6. Release the foot brake.

I tried this exact sequence a few mins back when I had gone for a short spin. It’s the same thing; no much improvement. I forgot to mention earlier that there is also a slight resistance to shifting ‘into’ P from say D or R. And similarly when I moved out from ‘P’ there’s this resistance.
This is kinda getting me worried now if at all there is any issue with the gearbox.

On a side note, my friend who has a pre-facelift Venue DCT also complaints of this issue.

P. S.: Excuse my noob questions/ concerns as this is my first AT car. I have never really driven an AT car extensively as such.

[harry10]

Originally Posted by ashvek3141

I tried this exact sequence a few mins back when I had gone for a short spin. It’s the same thing; no much improvement. I forgot to mention earlier that there is also a slight resistance to shifting ‘into’ P from say D or R. And similarly when I moved out from ‘P’ there’s this resistance.
This is kinda getting me worried now if at all there is any issue with the gearbox.

On a side note, my friend who has a pre-facelift Venue DCT also complaints of this issue.

P. S.: Excuse my noob questions/ concerns as this is my first AT car. I have never really driven an AT car extensively as such.

Try this next time.
If you want to shift from P to R or D, press the Knob, take a second, then shift it. Same way do it while shifting from D or R to P. There is obviously a slight resistance but by this method I have deduced it's negligible most of the times.

Also in my observation, resistance is more when it's a cold start in the morning than the rest of the day.

[condor]

Had a long "test" drive of the Sonet petrol MT today, in city. A 63km drive in traffic that varied between light to jammed, different types of roads. Coming from the Safari, it was easy to flick around. Quite comfortable, good audio, and overall good car, IMO. Only thing was - my left knee was protesting a bit, but this could be because the car had only done 25xx km so far. The MID showed a FE of about 14.2 by the end of the drive, though it was up to 15.5 initially. Took the potholes and rough patches easily. The load of electronics based features make it friendly.

[vamship]

What type of TPMS does Sonet have, is it iTPMs which is indirect or full-blown TPMS.

It would be great if someone can give more details on this