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I have driven close to 22K kms in the 10 months that I have owned the Carens Luxury Plus Diesel Auto, till date I haven’t felt any struggle to reach speeds of 120 kmph.

The car very happily reaches that speed and comfortably sits there.

This is with 4 adults(all of us are reasonably heavy) and a few suitcases.

Also I haven’t noticed any difference in engine noise over the past 10 months; from inside the cabin.

Owner of a Diesel Automatic here since Dec 2022. I have driven the car with 4 adults (fairly large) and luggage and you can definitely say its just adequately powered. From 80 to 110 km it will pull fine, with average loads, but I haven't really taken the car past 115 kmph. I do worry about the safety aspect of taking an MPV which is only 3-star crash rated at that speeds.

Being fairly new to the market, you probably won't find reports of a noisy engine in Carens yet, but this engine has been doing its duty for ages in Creta/Seltos and is known for its reliability, smooth and quiet operation. Other experienced owners can chip in here.

Your use case (~18,000 kms/year) is above average to warrant a Diesel car, especially since you drive in the city mostly, where Petrol will suffer in fuel efficiency (especially the new 1.5 motor compared to the old 1.4 DCT). With my Diesel automatic, I get around 11-13 kmpl in the city and 16-19 kmpl on the highways. Fuel efficiency wise, 1.5 Petrol in the city will be under 10 kmpl and highway around 14-17 kmpl. A sample calculation of 18k kms with 80:20 city:highway use will put your annual fuel costs at Rs. 1.4 lakhs in Diesel vs. Rs. 2.0 lakhs in Petrol. So over 5 years its around Rs. 3 lakhs, which will more than cover your initial investment of Rs. 50k price differential.

Diesel have DPF issues to worry about and Petrol has DCT question mark looming. So net-net I think it balances out as far as reliability/maintenance is concerned.

Overall, drive both again with 4-5 passengers and make your decision. Personally, at your levels of usage, I would pick the Diesel for cheaper running cost. :thumbs up

This is exactly the kind of feedback I was looking for. I'll be switching and going for the diesel AT now. The fact that the diesel doesn't have the sunroof (at least the newer models don't) could even be an advantage in my opinion since it may add sturctrual rigidity to the vehicle.

I'm glad you echoed my thoughts here. I know for a fact that the Turbo Petrol would reach 120kmph fairly quickly but the safety rating probably wouldn't give me the confidence to regularly coast around that speed.

This helped immensely. Even though I've seen several reports of 1.5 Turbo DCT owners getting an average FE of 11-12 in the city, I'd take that with a grain of salt.

But then again, I guess with DPF issues would be significantly fewer in the newer models (hopefully) since they do come with AdBlue and not a plain jane DPF. I used to tend to creep a lot in heavy traffic my Camry and Sequoia and it'd be fairly annoying to deal with the DCT constantly demanding a fair bit of attention for you to be able to shift into neutral when required in b2b traffic. Defeats the purpose of an automatic I guess. Reliability and saving money over power and performance. A tradeoff I guess I can live with as I get older. Thanks a ton. :thumbs up

I own a Carens diesel luxury plus. Since yesterday evening, there was a low air pressure warning on the front left tyre and then I refilled the air at nearest air filling station. However, the issue still persists and also I notice that there is no audio coming when I play radio, music. Also, the parking sensor audio does not seem to be working. It displays the barrier on the screen though. Did anyone face similar issue?

I am in Ooty currently and can take it service center only after reaching back Bangalore.

I think I put my statement out wrong. I meant if we can go to Kia and change the whole system as an option? Is it possible or would it require alot of software changes?

It might work. However, I am not sure if it is a simple plug and play job though. Having said that, based on my experience, I don't think the Kia ASC will source the entire instrument cluster for you. They were not willing to place a part order for a simple gear knob for me. I was told that only parts which were installed from the factory (for my vehicle/variant) can be ordered and that they cannot place orders for other parts via their system.

When asked how they maintain their inventory of spares, they had no answer. I tried this at two different ASCs and both told more or less the same story. Please check with your local ASC if they are willing to do this job for you.

The issue got resolved automatically after carwash

I called the Kia service and they visited home and unpliugged the audio fuse (20 W) and replugged it again and audio is working now.
Very happy with KIA service who visited home

My uncle upgrades from a WagonR AMT to a Carens DCT

Hello to all,
In April of this year, my uncle took delivery of a Kia Carens Luxury Plus 1.5 DCT 7 Str in Imperal Blue color. I have been in the car a couple of times and I have to say, its the perfect car for big Indian families.

Sharing a few pictures from delivery day. I was pleased to be there. Delivery was done at Kia Moters Pondicherry.







The ODO is at 3100 km. Of that 3.1k , only 800 km is highway driving. Most of this cars driving is in Chennai city! Due to my uncles sedate driving and 99 percent use of Eco mode, the car returns 7-10 kmpl in city and an impressive 14-15 on the highway. My uncle usually doesn't cross 100 and is VERY gentle on the accelerator


Why my uncle needed a new car:
The 2018 WagonR AMT Silver was doing its job well and my uncle is pleased with the product. 50k km in 5 years and no issues whatsoever. It was actually the first automatic car in my dads side family.(Now, all but one car in the fleet is manual). But since his parents moved in with him, the WagonR doesn't fit 6 people comfortably, so he needed a bigger car.

Requirements:
- 6/7 seater
- Petrol
- Automatic
- Preferably MPV




Options considered:
Maruti Ciaz - The Ciaz was the first choice but quickly dropped due to the need for a 6 seater car.

Maruti XL6 - Considered due to affordability, the 6 speed AT transmission and good space. Also worked well with the WagonR.

Kia Carens- Considered due to premium feel and features, good looks and powerful engine options and a good automatic.

The battle between the Carens and XL6
This dilemma took a month to settle. The XL6 was cheaper but the Carens, although expensive had a way better interior, more comfort and power compared to the XL6. My cousins also wanted a new product from another company and liked the features of the Carens. All the video reviews pointed in favour of the Carens as well. So, my uncle chose the Carens.

Which variant to choose?
The Petrol DCT was available in 2 variants. Prestige Plus and Luxury Plus. Again this debate was on for quite some time but in the end Luxury Plus won due to more features and premium interior.

PROS:
- Powerful petrol engine. 160 HP is excellent and 253 NM of torque is enough to carry my uncle and his family anywhere. Mileage depends on the driver. My uncle once achieved 18 kmpl on a highway run.

- Interiors. The white interiors don't get hot in summer and look nice. The ventilated seats again are a boon in summer and the ICE and climate controls feel excellent to operate.

- 3rd row space. I am 5'5 and I feel the third row space is excellent. Usually I hate the third row but in this MPV, its fine. People around the same height as me can comfortably sit here.

CONS:
- Digital Tac and Speedometer. My uncles hated this feature at first but has got used to it. Everyone prefers normal dials. This month, the Carens has got a new drivers display with much better dials. Why Kia now!:Frustrati

-Thin tires. When viewed from the back, it looks like the Carens has small tires. Could have been a bit wider but the diamond cut alloys look very good.

-Wired Apple Carplay and Android Auto. The Prestige Plus gets wired. Can someone explain this properly?

Well that concludes my first post of my uncles Carens. Probably one of my favorite cars in the family fleet.(Will make a thread about the fleet shortly). I would rate the car a 9/10.

Hope you find this post useful. thank you and have a great day!:)

Small error, It was supposed to be "Prestige Plus" has wireless. Sorry for the error.

Good evening my fellow BHPians,

We have booked a Kia Carens Diesel iMT Prestige Plus version today.

Car: Kia Carens
Variant: Prestige Plus
Fuel: Diesel iMT
Colour: Imperial Blue
Expected Delivery: Thank my Stars.... it is available for immediate delivery after completing the formalities. So most probably within a Week.

Dropped by the Capital Kia showroom in Adyar, Chennai today and was pleasantly surprised to find the Imperial Blue in stock. Booked it immediately.

Has anyone noticed a clicking sound when turning the steering with the indicator on? The steering makes no sound when the indicators are off, but when the indicator is turned on, even a slight turn of the steering produces a clicking sound.

I raised this with my local Kia service centre and they say this is normal and is present in all Seltos/Carens variants. Their justification is that the sound is made by the notches present on the steering shaft which come into contact with the indicator switch when the indicator is turned on. They even brought their Carens test drive vehicle to my house for comparison. Even the TD vehicle made the same clicking sound when the steering was rotated with the indicators turned on. The steering is absolutely fine otherwise.

We owned 3 Hyundais before this and none had this issue. I am curious to know if others noticed this too.

PS: I am not referring to the periodic ticking sound made when the turn indicators are engaged.

Any walkaround video showing the x line or the new versions with 10.25 inch platform instrument cluster?

I hope I got your question right.

I have observed this on some cars. To me it seems that by design some cars will have the indicator auto-turn off mechanism set up in such way that once it is engaged in either direction, the indicator stalk internally is looking to come back to the normal state. For this, these cars have a click lock of some sort engaged that just keeps looking for the point that the steering’s return to center mechanism is engaged or it starts to return to center after completing the turn. Basically the direction of movement has changed to returning back to center.

It is just designed in such a way that it makes a sound as you are making a turn towards the direction of the indicator and once steering return mechanism is engaged, as soon as you have completed your turn and start returning to center manually, you will stop hearing the sound. Bit annoying but do not worry, the car is fine; it is (most, most likely) just a design flaw from the user’s perspective. :p

Yes. Thanks for the explanation. While it is not an issue per se, the sound has gotten a bit loud for my liking recently. If that is the way it is, I guess I have to live with it. This and the annoying click sound while pressing the horn.