[pandabear]

Originally Posted by pseudo_coder

- The engine is definitely not for enthusiastic driving. Anyone expecting that has only himself to blame.
- You can feel lag at lower speeds. I am reminded of my Ecosport AT, which had similar lag due to torque converter. 3rd grear onwards I find no issues though.
- The engine is silent as hell (or heaven?). Only an EV would be more silent I believe. So much so, that it's difficult to know whether the engine is running or not. Two times I cranked the engine while it was already running!
- I managed to stall the car on a few occasions. This is rare! Don't know if this is due to low torque, or the clutch release point being too early.

I had a very similar experience during my drive test I managed to stall three times, the guy from the showroom accompanying me asked me to revv hard when releasing the clutch but I was afraid of burning the clutch. The car had less than 1000 on the odo. Yes the pickup is bit sluggish but perfectly manageable. And absolutely spot on observation regarding the silent diesel engine I have never experienced this silence in a diesel engine. Took the XUV 700 test drive the next day and observed how much diesel clatter was filtering in. Certainly was very impressed with the KIA diesel engine / noise isolation. Just torn between the two now.

And yes he said the prices are rising from the 1st of April 2022, has anyone else heard the same? He told me the worst it will be the the Prestige variant will be the most hit as it will fall out of the 10 lakh bracket into a different taxation slab. Basically from a 10% slab to a 15% slab. The price hike on road in Tamilnadu is expected to be around 70000 for the prestige variant as per the sales guy.

[NivasBaskaran]

Originally Posted by pandabear

And yes he said the prices are rising from the 1st of April 2022, has anyone else heard the same? He told me the worst it will be the the Prestige variant will be the most hit as it will fall out of the 10 lakh bracket into a different taxation slab. Basically from a 10% slab to a 15% slab. The price hike on road in Tamilnadu is expected to be around 70000 for the prestige variant as per the sales guy.

Even I have checked with the SA in Madurai showroom. They are 80% sure that the price will get increased.

During booking itself, he told that even 1 rupee hike in this variant will cost around 60 to 70k raise in price because of 5% more tax and 1% TDS.

I don't foresee any deliveries for 1.5NA in Tamil Nadu. There are not even a single 1.5NA variant got deliver as per my knowledge here.

Originally Posted by pseudo_coder

Yes, in Pune.

I took a test drive, but not of this engine. The first time I tried this engine is when I drove it from the showroom to my home

I will post a detailed review once I find time. For now, my initial impressions:

Overall, very satisfied with the purchase. Every 10 minutes, I keep telling myself - You simply can't get more car than this for 12 lakh. Well done Kia

Good to hear your initial impression. Please post your detailed reviews. I guess many people are waiting for that (at-least me)

[pseudo_coder]

Originally Posted by pandabear

And absolutely spot on observation regarding the silent diesel engine

Well, mine is 1.5 NA petrol

[Knightrider]

Congratulations! The car and the variant you selected is one of the most VFM indeed.

Originally Posted by pseudo_coder

- Niggles: The rear door behind passenger seat doesn't close with moderate force. Saw this during the PDI, but the SA didn't accept. The issue still exists. Will try to get it fixed in the first service.

The rear doors not closing with gentle push is what even I observed during the test drive. I had to apply more force than usual to close it properly on the TD car as well as on the display car in the showroom. Not sure if all the Carens have it that way.

[rajeevyes]

Originally Posted by pandabear

And yes he said the prices are rising from the 1st of April 2022, has anyone else heard the same? He told me the worst it will be the the Prestige variant will be the most hit as it will fall out of the 10 lakh bracket into a different taxation slab. Basically from a 10% slab to a 15% slab. The price hike on road in Tamilnadu is expected to be around 70000 for the prestige variant as per the sales guy.

My SA says the price hike is only for Seltos and Sonet line-up as they are making 6 airbags standard from base variant for them. Carens would not be hiked. We will only know in April I guess.

[RedMaw]

Me and my wife visited KIA showroom again. I could not convince my wife of the Carens build quality. Doors and tailgate feels very tinny, like Maruti. Compared to this, Seltos door feels very solid. The best built part is the bonnet, its damn heavy to lift. My wife is saying nobody can provide the feature 1.5NA prestige and sell the car below 10Lakhs ex-showroom without compromising on quality and I inclined to agree with her. Either KIA is selling 1.5 NA cars at a loss or they compromised somewhere. Does anyone feels Carens build is not as good as Seltos? For e.g. We visited MG showroom right after KIA and MG Astor was built like a European car with solid thud.

[furyrider]

Originally Posted by rajeevyes

Congrats on your new car. Wish you many miles of happy and safe driving.
So the control to allot vehicles is fully with dealers and not with Kia company as their helpline claims? I had booked on Feb 15th in Epitome Kia, Yelahanka, Bangalore. Still no delivery but online I can see many who booked after me getting deliveries.

Thank you!

I agree with you on this. Kia should've been more transparent about vehicle allocation. I asked the same question to my dealer at the time of delivery. They said that allocations are being handled by Kia themselves and not by the dealers (although I would take that with a pinch of salt). Apparently, the only possibility of getting an early delivery is if a customer bails out at the last minute (i.e., after the vehicle is allocated by Kia/in transit), the vehicle will be sold by the dealership to someone else. This is usual practice across the board, so, I agree with them on this, but have my own reservations due to the lack of transparency in the entire process.

[pandabear]

Originally Posted by pseudo_coder

Well, mine is 1.5 NA petrol

Please post a detailed review of the 1.5 NA. This is the most in demand varient with least reviews. thanks in advance

[dextor]

Anyone who had booked Carens "Automatic" on 15th Feb after price reveal in Bangalore and got the delivery or about to get?

In first week of march my dealer told that I should get the car within March but now they say not before mid April. Their reason being Automatics are not being supplied by Kia.

Regarding price increase, dealer told that it can happen only after 3 months from the day of launch (price reveal).

[praveenkkr]

Originally Posted by msk_kapoor

Any car will sustain similar damage if it hit a pole at 30 kms. Also the airbags won't inflate for this kind of collision as per carens manual

Looks like we need to understand this manual carefully and make sure that the angle is proper during the crash so that the airbags are deployed successfully

Originally Posted by NAVREVV

Another accident video for Carens. Driver is safe and giving good feedback on build quality.

This is the same person who had reviewed the performance of the car on hills and was mentioning that the pickup is not satisfactory (as observed by many, he wasn't down shifting to lower gears).

Originally Posted by rajeevyes

Congrats on your new car. Wish you many miles of happy and safe driving.
So the control to allot vehicles is fully with dealers and not with Kia company as their helpline claims? I had booked on Feb 15th in Epitome Kia, Yelahanka, Bangalore. Still no delivery but online I can see many who booked after me getting deliveries.

This is same case with me at Mysore Road PPS Kia. I'm very sure that the dealers are making merry and Kia has given full freedom to dealers (unlike Mahindra).
I randomly get notifications from the dealer that my booking details are updated. When I download the booking docket and check, I can see that the booking dates and delivery dates would be modified (postponed). On checking with my sales rep, he gives superficial answers like, "Just a routine backend update, Its done for each and every booking. No need to worry".

Originally Posted by Knightrider

The rear doors not closing with gentle push is what even I observed during the test drive. I had to apply more force than usual to close it properly on the TD car as well as on the display car in the showroom. Not sure if all the Carens have it that way.

I asked this question during my first visit to Carens on the unvieling day itself. As usual, the sales rep said "it is because the doors are so heavy"

[84.monsoon]

Originally Posted by pseudo_coder

- You can feel lag at lower speeds. I am reminded of my Ecosport AT, which had similar lag due to torque converter. 3rd gear onwards I find no issues though.
- I managed to stall the car on a few occasions. This is rare! Don't know if this is due to low torque, or the clutch release point being too early.

I suspect this is not due to lag as that is more prevalent in Turbo engines as the turbo spools up. Being an NA engine, it should have linear build up of Power and Torque. Most likely, the torque is simply not enough for such a heavy vehicle and and you may need to be in a much lower gear than what you are used to in other cars to avoid stalling. The power and torque curve of this engine is attached.

Agree with you that this car & variant is perhaps the best value purchase to be available in the Indian market in a very long time. XUV700 base MX petrol variant is the only other launch in recent times that offers a similar value equation, IMO, at the launch price of 11.99 Lakhs - but it misses many essential creature comforts and safety features that the Carens Prestige has such as 6 airbags, ESC, Front Parking Sensors, Wireless Android Auto & Apple Car Play and a lot more.

[ccsekhar2022]

Booked at the same time, the same trim. No hope of delivery even on words. Expectation set by SA is as "you will get surely before the committed timeline in the docket". Thats some delivery assurance to say :-)

[rajeevyes]

Originally Posted by praveenkkr

This is same case with me at Mysore Road PPS Kia. I'm very sure that the dealers are making merry and Kia has given full freedom to dealers (unlike Mahindra).
I randomly get notifications from the dealer that my booking details are updated. When I download the booking docket and check, I can see that the booking dates and delivery dates would be modified (postponed). On checking with my sales rep, he gives superficial answers like, "Just a routine backend update, Its done for each and every booking. No need to worry".

My SA at Epitome Kia, Yelahanka always says that my booking is 1st in list and SOQ is already raised and my vehicle is in list (booked Prestige 1.5 P). But everyday tells same story that he will update in couple of days but does'nt call back. They also took my current vehicle promising delivery in 3 weeks. Now 6th week running.
Are you sure they are updating booking date for you? delivery date updates is fine but booking date updates is not acceptable. Hope someone from KIA India is reading this.

[NAVREVV]

Any Diesel AT’s got delivered anywhere in India till now? Anyone heard anything? I booked D AT 7S on 26th Feb and no updates yet from the dealer as to when Kia is likely to allot the vehicle. This wait is excruciating!!

[msk_kapoor]

Originally Posted by praveenkkr

Looks like we need to understand this manual carefully and make sure that the angle is proper during the crash so that the airbags are deployed successfully

I think this mentions the limitations and my information from manual is just to iterate that there is no failure here, but it worked as per design. I have seen these discussions in the past on frontal pole impacts and quickly checked the manual. Even I believe the front airbags won't deflate in roll over scenarios.