[pandabear]

Awesome, wish you many happy miles on your new drive.

[bhavesh995]

Hi, its been long since I am planning to purchase Sonet but cant make up my mind. I know a facelift is coming soon but not sure when and what improvement can be expected. And since there are some benefits I can avail on the existing model so wanted your honest opinion about 2 things that worry me as i cannot test them in a single test drive.

1. The suspension - is it too uncomfortable to manage or its bearable ? Also what about the rattling of plastics and suspension thuds, how bad is that ?

2. Visibility for short people - Currently i own a santro 2007 and visibility is so nice. In Sonet, since the dashboard sits quite high, will it be a good choice for other family members to drive who are about 5 feet tall. I know the seat adjustment is there but will it risk difficulty reaching pedals if they sit too high ?

[ArijitGupte]

Originally Posted by bhavesh995

Hi, its been long since I am planning to purchase Sonet but cant make up my mind. I know a facelift is coming soon but not sure when and what improvement can be expected. And since there are some benefits I can avail on the existing model so wanted your honest opinion about 2 things that worry me as i cannot test them in a single test drive.

1. The suspension - is it too uncomfortable to manage or its bearable ? Also what about the rattling of plastics and suspension thuds, how bad is that ?

2. Visibility for short people - Currently i own a santro 2007 and visibility is so nice. In Sonet, since the dashboard sits quite high, will it be a good choice for other family members to drive who are about 5 feet tall. I know the seat adjustment is there but will it risk difficulty reaching pedals if they sit too high ?

Have a Sonet GTX+ DCT petrol model. As my running is not more than 500kms monthly, i opted for DCT version. So far have not had any heating issue or any other problems.
The fuel efficiency is low, then again it's a 3 pot Turbo engine so this was already known.
In bumper to bumper I get 8-10 and highways around 14-16.

1. The suspension - it is bearable. On bad patches one does get rocked, but the same firm suspension gives excellent stability on highways.
I think the 2023 models have retuned the suspension for slightly softer ride.

2. Visibility for short people
Visibility is affected by the infotainment units screen protruding. Will recommend you do a through drive. One does get used to the obstruction through.

[ashvek3141]

Originally Posted by bhavesh995

1. The suspension - is it too uncomfortable to manage or its bearable ? Also what about the rattling of plastics and suspension thuds, how bad is that ?

2. Visibility for short people - Currently i own a santro 2007 and visibility is so nice. In Sonet, since the dashboard sits quite high, will it be a good choice for other family members to drive who are about 5 feet tall. I know the seat adjustment is there but will it risk difficulty reaching pedals if they sit too high ?

There is a strong chance that both this points will be addressed by Kia in the upcoming facelift. Going by what they’ve done with the recent Seltos facelift, I’m sure we shall see good improvements in the Sonet too.

Having said that, the suspension of the Sonet currently isn’t as firm as the Seltos, hence I presume the improvement might not very significant. But surely there will be some.

With regards to the infotainment units; it will be a direct lift from the current Seltos which are way compact in size.

[ani446]

Originally Posted by bhavesh995

1. The suspension - is it too uncomfortable to manage or its bearable ? Also what about the rattling of plastics and suspension thuds, how bad is that ?

2. Visibility for short people - Currently i own a santro 2007 and visibility is so nice. In Sonet, since the dashboard sits quite high, will it be a good choice for other family members to drive who are about 5 feet tall. I know the seat adjustment is there but will it risk difficulty reaching pedals if they sit too high ?

Hi, it has been a month with my Sonet HTX Turbo 1.0 IMT. Here are my observations WRT queries:

1.Suspension: On soft uneven roads it is very good and you don't feel any of the bumps, it is pretty smooth. But when it comes to an uneven road with sharp stones and potholes, you will definitely feel the bumps in to cabin and slightly hard. And on highway it is just superb and it feels perfect. Mind you I am coming from a decade old A-Star which has very bad suspension.

2.Visibility: I am 6ft, with the seat height adjusted all the way up, I can see the bonet but short people will struggle for sure. But if they are experienced drivers, should not be an issue. Though it is in the compact SUV segment car feels big and wide from inside (may be it's just for me as I am coming from a really small car). I am just getting used to the margins and blind spots of this car.

My advise would be do a through test drive before you commit.

[ani446]

Originally Posted by hrman

I had a couple of observations: Rear windows had a rattling sound over rough surfaces, possibly to do with the sun shades which have plastic hooks/ handles. KIA seems to have done something and in my brief drive after getting it back from service, I didn't hear the rattle round.

I also reported slight gear shift clunkiness (I have iMT) from 2nd to 1st and this was attributed to kms running and it would get smoother over time. Its far better than when I bought it and seems to be smoothening out.

I can confirm the rattle is from Rear window Sun Shades only, I too observed them but it is not consistent really, it come randomly based on the road surface.

The gear clunkiness I am experiencing it while engaging the 1-R had do it twice sometimes (would like to know if it is just for me).

Also please do let me know if you ever find any airbag friendly seat covers, I am also searching for them if they are practical, I would like to go for them or just put some dark colored towels on the white parts of the seats. Many in our own forum are against the after market seat covers for the Airbag equipped seats. So it is safety vs cleanliness.

[AmazeGuru]

Following up on my previous post, I have made shift to Apple CarPlay a month ago, but to my surprise the issue remains. In fact, it has become worse. With AA it was just initial connection problem, but with CarPlay, I am experiencing frequent disconnection - like once every 3-5 mins. It's super annoying and I have temporarily shifted to an AC-vent mobile holder, which is a bummer.

I have looked on the internet and there are hundreds of complaints about KIA systems across the world having same disconnection problem. One of the most common solution was to replace the USB drive.

Has anyone faced or come across this solution of USB drive fixing Android Auto and CarPlay connection issue?

Originally Posted by AmazeGuru

I've completed 5k in 5 months and got 2nd service done couple of weeks ago.

Issue: The Android Auto was working absolutely fine before the service. Post the service, it is behaving erratically. Most of the time it would not start at all. If it manages to work, it gets disconnected frequently. I tried with multiple cables (brand new) and multiple Android phones.

Today I took the car to the PPS Kia service center. They blamed it on the phone saying there is dust around the USB Type-C slot. They did some reset as well on the system. But the issue continues. They asked me to take a video when this issue happens so that they can forward it to Kia.

Question: Has any GTX+ owner faced this issue? I have seen some posts in Seltos thread complaining of the same issue. Not sure if this is a problem with the 10.25 system as a whole.

[Ethnicul]

Originally Posted by hrman

I had a couple of observations: Rear windows had a rattling sound over rough surfaces, possibly to do with the sun shades which have plastic hooks/ handles. KIA seems to have done something and in my brief drive after getting it back from service, I didn't hear the rattle round.

I had the same issue and complained during the service. Issue was with the rear seatbelt buckles. There is a slot to stow the buckles and sound vanished once it was slotted in.

[sid__kaps]

Greetings to all,

Subject: Fuel efficiency woes

A little context to set the ground.

We sold our 2014 i20 Sportz 1.2 litre petrol this year to replace it with a KIA Sonet GTX+ DCT, this purchase was to equip us with a secondary car whilst our primary car is a 2017 Toyota Fortuner. The Fortuner does the heavy running (ferrying my father to Worli and back, 5 days a week) and the Sonet is used by us for the local running.

Since July 26th, 2023 which was when we purchased the car, it has run a total of 287 kilometres and we are yet to see the efficiency go past 6.5 kmpl (6.5 on a good day and more usually under 6 even) Now, why this has posed as a problem to us is due to the claims made by:

- ARAI: 18.2 kmpl

- Showroom employees: 10/12

This seems alarming to us, given the fact that our big behemoth T-Fort is returning 7.7 kmpl and our prior car which was the i20 gave an efficiency of 8/9 regularly.

As a vehicle, the Sonet is stellar, ticks all the boxes in terms of gadgetery, gizmos (something we are sorely deprived of with our Fortunner and i20 ), comfort, and convenience but if it is failing in such a crucial space of fuel economy, we really need to ask some questions.

I would appreciate it if I could get some perspective regarding this issue from the motor veterans and owners of the Sonet. Is there an issue in the car that needs rectifying or is this just the general fuel efficiency that the Sonet is known to return? Or, is the car known to show a big jump in FE almost magically, once she completes some 1000 kms on the odometer...

Please excuse me if I sound like a novice, but I am just looking to get an answer regarding this as we are really questioning our decision.



Regards,

Siddharth Kapila

[bijims]

Originally Posted by sid__kaps

I would appreciate it if I could get some perspective regarding this issue from the motor veterans and owners of the Sonet. Is there an issue in the car that needs rectifying or is this just the general fuel efficiency that the Sonet is known to return? Or, is the car known to show a big jump in FE almost magically, once she completes some 1000 kms on the odometer...

Please excuse me if I sound like a novice, but I am just looking to get an answer regarding this as we are really questioning our decision.

Regards,

Siddharth Kapila

The Kia Sonet TTurbo Petrol comes in a 1.0 L Kappa II T‑GDi I3 engine mated to a 7-speed DCT gearbox, the turbo is highly sensitive to driving style and while your car hasn't covered much, I think if your running is mostly restricted to cities and B2B traffic, in that case, the mileage you see is on expected lines, once the run-in is completed, the car should probably provide you with at least 1 to 2 kmpl extra mileage.

I would like to know if you have taken your car for an extended highway run and if not, try and see how much mileage you get. Moreover, in the cities and B2B traffic try to use the car in eco mode to maximise fuel efficiency. Don't use Sport mode often if you are interested in getting respectable fuel efficiency numbers.

I own a Kia Sonet Diesel AT and my brother owns a Kia Sonet Petrol DCT, he gets around 8 to 16 kmpl mileage depending on B2B, City, and Highway, whereas my Diesel has never seen single-digit mileage at all, even during the first 1000 km, whereas I have been able to achieve mileage as high as 26 kmpl as well. He has to try hard to achieve respectable fuel efficiency numbers whereas however I drive I get good fuel efficiency, this mostly boils down to Petrol vs. Diesel and small displacement 3-cylinder Turbo with DCT against the more mature and proven 1.5 Litre 4-cylinder CRDi with TC AT as well.

It is a fact of the matter to be understood that the 1.5 Litre Diesel with TC AT is the much superior engine and gearbox combo against the 1.0 L Turbo Petrol DCT whichever way you look at it, whether it is mileage, torque, displacement, 4-cylinder vs. 3-cylinder, 0 to 100 km figures, smooth and reliable 6-speed AT vs. not-so-reliable 7-speed DCT and performance as a whole, the 1.5 L Diesel AT trumps the 1.0 L Turbo Petrol DCT.

This fact has been acknowledged by automotive journalists and users alike, no wonder this is the same engine and gearbox combo that works on every Hyundai-Kia Diesel on sale from the Sonet/Venue, Seltos/Creta, Carens/Alcazar, all the way up until the recently discontinued Elantra, with only the Tucson and now discontinued Carnival having the more powerful 2.0 Litre and 2.2 Litre Diesels respectively.

The major reasons for petrol being in demand nowadays are the general aversion towards diesel and the picture painted by the media and government alike that diesel is the polluting kind and petrol is the way to go. Moreover, the 10-year life of Diesels in NCR, BS6, stricter emission norms, and fear of a Diesel ban altogether have been detrimental to the sale of diesels which until half a decade ago was the preferred choice.

[yedukrishnan199]

Originally Posted by bijims

The Kia Sonet TTurbo Petrol comes in a 1.0 L Kappa II T‑GDi I3 engine mated to a 7-speed DCT gearbox, the turbo is highly sensitive to driving style and while your car hasn't covered much, I think if your running is mostly restricted to cities and B2B traffic, in that case, the mileage you see is on expected lines, once the run-in is completed, the car should probably provide you with at least 1 to 2 kmpl extra mileage.

I would like to know if you have taken your car for an extended highway run and if not, try and see how much mileage you get. Moreover, in the cities and B2B traffic try to use the car in eco mode to maximise fuel efficiency. Don't use Sport mode often if you are interested in getting respectable fuel efficiency numbers.

I agree with @bijims completely here and have a similar observation to make. We too have a handful of Kia's in the family (Sonet 1.0 Turbo DCT, Sonet 1.5 Diesel AT, Seltos 2.0 Diesel AT, Seltos 2.0 Petrol DCT, Setos Pre-facelift Diesel AT, Seltos Pre-facelift 1.4 Turbo DCT and so on) the general consensus is the Diesel AT is the better performer overall in the Sonet, whereas in the Seltos it is a different story, if you want mileage, the Diesel is the way to go, else for outright fun and performance, the Turbo DCTs are the better choice any day.

The mileage from the DCTs as mentioned above is highly sensitive to driving style, throttle input, and braking. The drive modes do help and Sport mode is definitely addicting, however, fuel efficiency will go for a toss. The Eco mode is best suited for mileage but you didn't buy a Turbo Petrol DCT for mileage anyway. The difference in the different drive modes are less pronounced in the Diesel and you can get good mileage even in the Sport mode.

So, to conclude, your fuel efficiency will be greatly affected by your driving style and conditions, either you improve on that, or if you are obsessed with mileage, I am sorry to say you made a wrong choice going for the Petrol DCT over the Diesel AT.

[bhavesh995]

Originally Posted by ani446

Hi, it has been a month with my Sonet HTX Turbo 1.0 IMT. Here are my observations WRT queries:

1.Suspension: On soft uneven roads it is very good and you don't feel any of the bumps, it is pretty smooth. But when it comes to an uneven road with sharp stones and potholes, you will definitely feel the bumps in to cabin and slightly hard. And on highway it is just superb and it feels perfect. Mind you I am coming from a decade old A-Star which has very bad suspension.

Thanks but have you noticed any improvements by reducing tyre pressure to 32 psi as mentioned by few other expert members.

[Rhombus90]

Hello folks; I'm stuck in a conundrum. I need your help with it. I'm planning to buy a CSUV, and I'm a big fan of Kia Sonet DCT. My monthly usage is low; around 300 KMs. Occasionally, I plan to go for long drives. Maybe, once in 3-4 months.

I've booked the GTX Plus DCT variant as of now. At the same time, I've also booked Tata Nexon Creative Plus S DCA. Now, both cars are coming to around 17L on-road Bangalore. The only reason I booked the Tata Nexon facelift was because of the dry clutch in Sonet. With Bangalore traffic becoming worse with each passing day, I don't have confidence in dry clutch DCT. Apart from this small niggle, I love what Sonet offers at 17L - Ventilated seats, premium cabin experience, bose speakers, front parking sensors, Kia Connect, and so on.

Since my usage is low, I cannot go with the Diesel Torque Converter gearbox in Sonet. Also, I cannot wait for the Sonet facelift because I need a car by the Dec-Jan timeframe, and I don't think Kia will launch the facelift and give me the delivery by this timeframe.

What do you think will be the better option? Can I trust the Kia Sonet DCT and go ahead with it? Or go for Tata Nexon DCA with a wet clutch. Again, Tata Nexon will not be top-end because my budget is limited to 17L.

P.S. I searched for Kia Sonet DCT issues in this thread, and surprisingly, I did not find any.

[bijims]

Originally Posted by Rhombus90

What do you think will be the better option? Can I trust the Kia Sonet DCT and go ahead with it? Or go for Tata Nexon DCA with a wet clutch. Again, Tata Nexon will not be top-end because my budget is limited to 17L.

From a truly feature-wise perspective, the Kia Sonet GTX+ DCT may be better than the Tata Nexon Creative+ (S) DCA, but interior space and safety are better in the Nexon. Moreover, the Nexon is recently facelifted and this model remain in the market for quite a few years, whereas the Sonet is going to get a facelift next year. So, if you are purchasing the Sonet now, you will be left with a pre-facelift/Older generation model immediately after your purchase, this carries weight as the offers on the current Sonet are quite low, and once the facelift become official, the chances of huge offers are very high, just like how it was with the Seltos facelift.

So, if you are indeed sticking to the Sonet, my advice would be to wait till December/January to get your car, by this time in all possibility, the Facelift news will come out from Kia's side, and Kia will be getting ready to liquidate their existing inventory of the Kia Sonet, you will surely get great offers (one as the facelift is arriving and two, because most likely Kia would stop production of the current year Sonet this year itself, so you will be getting a 2023 model in 2024)

Considering the same, I would advise you to wait and in the meantime try to get test drives of these cars as well as others in the segment, to ensure that you are truly comfortable with your purchase.

Hope it helps, and feel free to DM me anytime.

P.S. I own a Sonet and a Seltos myself and know quite a bit about getting offers!

[jasjotbains]

I completed my 30000 service on my GTX DAT two weeks back, and my "Normal" mode drives like the "Eco" mode now, with the engine becoming very reluctant to pick up speeds. No such issues in the Sport mode. I have to step on the pedal and only then the Sonet will pick speeds that too at a sedate pace, unlike the leaps it used to do earlier. My daily running is 100 kms so DPF is not likely an issue. Oil filter and air filter were changed in front of me. Can anyone advise as to what my next course of action should be?

Secondly, is it worth going in with synthetic oil in the Sonet diesel? Will the service center refill it if we provide them the oil?