[locusjag]

I've been searching for a reasonable review of the Carens' 1.4L MT version. And voila, here's a month old review -

https://youtu.be/8KVwqCF0wbA

My takeaways on the 1.4L MT Carens:
* The MT petrol is quite powerful and it actually performs better with 6 people on-board than the 1.5L diesel does, according to this review!
* The MT petrol is revv-able; it allows you to extract ample performance out of the engine
* 0 to 100 timing is reasonable for a people mover

[vivekkp]

My SA from JSP calls me out of the blue and informs me that vehicle has been allotted to my booking. I had booked Prestige Plus diesel variant on 21'st Feb. He told me that if i clear the payment by tomorrow they can invoice at current prices. Anything later will be invoiced at new price hike that they are expecting from April 1'st.

Have scheduled a PDI tomorrow and if everything is found ok i will be taking the car :-)

[NAVREVV]

I got the below mail from the dealer regarding my Diesel AT today.

“We would like to inform you that your sequence no. is 4 for the same variant in IMPERIAL BLUE colour and according to all colours in same variant your sequence no. is 14. We would like to assure you that we are delivering all the vehicles sequentially”

How should I interpret it and what logic Kia applies for VIN allocation and when can I expect the car ? My SA has no clue and giving me vague answers upon asking about the same.

[guru_to_be]

Originally Posted by NAVREVV

I got the below mail from the dealer regarding my Diesel AT today.

“We would like to inform you that your sequence no. is 4 for the same variant in IMPERIAL BLUE colour and according to all colours in same variant your sequence no. is 14. We would like to assure you that we are delivering all the vehicles sequentially”

How should I interpret it and what logic Kia applies for VIN allocation and when can I expect the car ? My SA has no clue and giving me vague answers upon asking about the same.

Similar situation for me as well. You might get your car in the next month, I'd be surprised if it goes beyond April.

[autoweirdo]

Originally Posted by NAVREVV

How should I interpret it and what logic Kia applies for VIN allocation and when can I expect the car ?.

In layman terms, we have already achieved are targets. Please do not disturb us/dealer, we will allot your car whenever we have time

On other note - My SA in Aman Kia has left dealership and new SA was assigned (dealer never bothered to inform on change). Not sure if they will honor the sequence of booking as new SA might be more interested in converting his bookings.

[Sebring]

All three colours of the base Prestige variant don't suit the car. The charm lies in the darker ones like Blue, Brown and Black. Kia knew this all along and kept it exclusive to higher variants.

[kmadhok]

Originally Posted by NAVREVV

“We would like to inform you that your sequence no. is 4 for the same variant in IMPERIAL BLUE colour and according to all colours in same variant your sequence no. is 14. We would like to assure you that we are delivering all the vehicles sequentially”

No such email but over phone I got a similar update from the SA. Following up a week later, he says next update is due April 10. Give call to your SA to have a rough idea of how many of your variant/ color combinations does he get each month to be able to roughly guess when you can expect yours. Though that would still be a guesstimate.

I am ok to wait, if the XL6/XL7 launches in between I may switch boats. I expect them to be cheaper.

[NAVREVV]

Originally Posted by autoweirdo

In layman terms, we have already achieved are targets. Please do not disturb us/dealer, we will allot your car whenever we have time

I am still clueless as to how this works at Kia. SA is clueless too. Can just hope and pray this comes asap.

[CruiserX009]

The wait is just bad. Got in touch with the SA of NCS Kollam, there is no news on arrival of the car. Out of curiosity enquired how many cars have been sold and there is no exact number. The SA shared the free stock available and there are 4 new petrol variants. Seems like the diesel top end variants which were available on first enquiry have been sold so far.

As the wait increases, i am glued to the forum reading and updating myself of the experience shared by the users.

Looking forward to reviews from owners who have got their 1.5D MT prestige plus variants delivered.

[ant_vas]

Did my first long highway trip in my Carens D AT. Total round trip was around 900KM and the route was mostly flat with good highway surface. We were only 2 persons in the car and we had AC and ventilated seats On all the time.

While traveling towards my destination, I deliberately used Eco mode to see how it impacts the mileage. I saw the mileage indicated on the MID increase consistently till 19.4 KMPL for first 130 KMs till my first stop at a Shell fuel station. The speeds were usually with in 100 KMPH.

Post the first stop, I increased the speed and was around 110-120 KMPH and the mileage dropped to around 16.5 KMPL. Used sports mode only once as one Brezza was trying to overtake repeatedly and I wanted to check how quickly the Carens will pull in sports mode.

On the way back I used Normal mode throughout and for first 200 KMS didn't bother about speeds and the mileage was around 16.5 KMPL. After the lunch break, I consciously wanted to try and see whats the max mileage I can extract, so reduced the speeds to around 90 and saw the mileage was around 20 KMPL. The max mileage I saw on the MID was 22.4 KMPL when I used cruise control and had speed of around 87 KMPH

By the time I reached home, the MID indicated the mileage as 20.6 KMPL for the drive of around 185 KMs



So the bottom line is if you want good mileage keep your speeds below 100 KMPH.

[NAVREVV]

Originally Posted by ant_vas

Used sports mode only once as one Brezza was trying to overtake repeatedly and I wanted to check how quickly the Carens will pull in sports mode.

Did it feel underpowered at any time? Considering you had to use Sports mode to overtake a Brezza on a flat highway?

[ant_vas]

Originally Posted by NAVREVV

Did it feel underpowered at any time? Considering you had to use Sports mode to overtake a Brezza on a flat highway?

It did not feel underpowered at any point at all. I used the Sports mode just to see how quickly I can get away from the Brezza, just for the fun of it. He could not overtake me though.

[LivingCars]

Initial Impressions of Kia Carens Luxury Plus D MT (6 Seater)

Our Mahindra Scorpio VLX (6 Seater) had grown old and the itch to replace it was there since 2020 but we kept postponing the decision due to Covid. Now with life returning to normal it was time to replace. The car will mostly be chauffer driven hence we wanted captain seats in the middle. The 6 seater options we considered were :

1. The old faithful and reliable Innova Crysta (Also a hedge against inflation going by the way toyota is increasing prices) - We mostly get Innova Crysta as a Taxi during his business visits and hence wanted something else.

2. Safari 6 seater - Since we already have one 7 seater adventure in the Garage hence this option was closed from the beginning.

3. Then came the Kia Carens - The last row turned out to be more comfortable than the XUV 700 and since XUV 700 does not have captain seats plus the waiting periods being insane was not in our consideration list. We test drove the diesel manual and since the engine is a rather small 1.5 LTR oil burner + having owned the Ertiga with 1.3 FIAT MJD I was always confident that in Tier 2/3 city where traffic is not much of a concern the manual transmission will have better driveability. Additionally the experience with our first automatic car (Safari with 6 speed Torque Converter) also cemented this belief.

Did the first highway trip yesterday and the total travel distance was approx. 440 Kms. Since we are following the vehicle break in rules for first 1000 km hence we did not drive the vehicle aggressively (In any case we drive slow and hence the 1.5 Ltr Diesel might just be fine in our case). The car did not feel much underpowered as there were not any Ghat sections involved. The mileage with tankful method was approx. 16.17 Kmpl.

The Good

1. Captain seats offer good comfort with the recline and legroom.
2. Last row is actually useable
3. I realized that Ventilated seats do matter in Indian Summer now that i have used them.
4. Wise choice to choose tyres with thicker side wall 205/65.
5. Practical storage spaces
6. Type C port everywhere
7. The sunshades are very useful. I wish my safari had them and the ventilated seats.
8. Fit and finish is better than my TATA Safari (No rough threads on the steering wheel and seats)
9. AC vent and climate control buttons although designed differently feel sturdy
10. The good fuel economy with the increasing fuel prices

The Not so good part
1. The Blue colour theme in seats, gate and dashboard takes some getting used to
2. The BOSE music system is a clear let down. Had higher expectation with the BOSE logo. In the front 2 seats it is still manageable but the sound experience in the middle row is sub par. The JBL in my Safari is way better.
3. Tailgate and the gates don't feel strong and heavy like in Safari, Innova, XUV 700. From that perspective its definitely a segment below the comparatively bigger 7 seaters.
4. Body roll is evident. Will give a better feedback once I drive through a ghat section.
5. Seat Contouring could have been slightly better.
6. The chrome coated door handle quality in the exterior could have been better.

But since everything boils down to value for money. Hence, for approx. 19 Lacs OTR it is prima facie looking like a decent value . And yes captain seats do make a difference especially when make frequent long trips (4-5 hour drives). A couple of pictures of the car and will keep updating as more miles are munched.

[NAVREVV]

Diesel AT price increased by Rs.73,000/- I went ahead and cancelled my booking as it has now exceeded my budget. Will look for something else within 20 Lacs.

[furyrider]

Carens price hiked by 40-60k across all variants

1.5 petrol premium variant now starts at 9,59,000. The difference between turbo petrol and diesel variants is 20k. 7-seater now costs 5k more than the 6-seater.

1.5 petrol, AT Diesel and AT turbo petrol:



1.4 Turbo petrol and diesel manual