[MalnadMansha]

It's been a week since I got Imperial Blue Seltos GTX+ Petrol, and what a pleasant experience it has been so far! I keep finding reasons to drive it and every minute I am around it, I can't take my eyes off it!




To put some context into it, I was a proud owner of Honda City since 7 years. That was my first car I bought in 2017. I absolutely loved driving it every minute, both inside the city and in highways as well. Those who owned a Honda car will vouch for that reliable, smooth engine with loads of power in 2nd and 3rd gears especially.

Even though I loved driving it, the Bengaluru traffic made me wish I had bought an Automatic transmission instead of manual, since 2017 itself, when they started the dreadful white-topping of ring road. I had to drive from Marathahallli to Manyata tech park, which is around 20kms one way everyday . Those who have driven in this stretch during white-topping days would have known what a pain in the left foot it was! Since I switched company later and office was nearby, I didn't think of switching to an Automatic immediately, but kept visiting this Seltos, Creta, Taigun, Virtus and Verna threads regularly and was going through all the reviews, niggles, pros, cons, etc.

After finishing watching almost all videos available in Youtube about facelift Seltos, I just thought now would be right time to sell my car, since I may get a good resell value now and it will keep depreciating more once it crosses 8-9 years.

So I just went and took test drives of Seltos, Creta N-line, Taigun and Verna.

The first car I took test drive of, was Seltos itself, since I was already biased towards Seltos after so many positive reviews and ownership reviews here. I enjoyed the drive, understanding all the features and how it works during the TD. Even inside city, I tried a few ADAS features like lane assist, forward collision, reverse parking assist. The pick-up when turbo kicked in was tremendous. There was a little turbo lag initially, but I thought it is normal to feel it after driving a manual transmission NA engine since years.

I enjoyed the turbo kick-in of Verna, it had bigger boot space and rear seat room than City. But I wanted to try something different this time, rather than going for a Sedan again.

Taigun was very smooth and didn't observe any turbo lags in that awesome DSG engine. But the car felt like a hatchback from inside and rear seat felt very congested. Also, the lack of features and high maintenance costs made me keep it as the last option.

Creta N-line felt exactly the same way as Seltos. But the SA was a bit greedy and told that waiting period would be one month if I go with their insurance, otherwise they can't promise anything and standard waiting period of 3 months would apply! The lack of some features when compared to Seltos, like fog lamps, adjustable ambient lights, rain sensing wipers to name a few, along with that SA's behavior made me tilt further towards Seltos!

I was still not sure when to finally make this leap. Out of curiosity, I just posted an ad on FB marketplace to sell the City and to my surprise, around 25-30 people pinged me and 2 of them came to see the vehicle on same day within hours and both of them were interested, and one of them even paid the advance and booked it! Honda City has a great demand in the re-sale market!

Now finally the time had come to make a call, and we finalised on Seltos. I wanted to go for X-line, but my wife didn't like the Matte finish and she loved the gloss finish of Imperial Blue/Black. I also saw a few X-lines of Seltos and Sonet on road during that week and some of them were not well maintained and looked very dull and faded. So felt that it needed thorough maintenance to keep it in pristine condition and I would miss out on only Heads-up display. We decided on GTX+ Imperial blue finally.

The SA from Epitome Kia Whitefield was very friendly and responsive. He resolved all our queries and assured that he would get the new car delivered within 10 days. From here on, everything went so smooth and so fast. Within a span of few days, I went to do PDI at the stockyard.

I took the checklist from here and made sure everything is working fine. The car was manufactured in March and all the tyres were manufactured in January. One-touch up down was added again from March batch and voice commands to control the windows was also added.

A pic from PDI:



The time had come to bid adieu to the City, which didn't throw a single problem all the 7 years. Waves of nostalgia and sadness hit me when the buyer finally drove away!

Good bye, my friend!



And as promised by SA, they were able to get the Car ready within 10 days. A quick tip for those who want better registration numbers for their cars: You can see the current running number series in Parivahan site for all different RTO's. I was checking regularly what would be the approximate range of the number which I would get. I managed to get the number 0442. plus or minus two would have given me better numbers, but still this was better than other numbers running in other RTO's which were pretty plain like, 7283, 3529, etc!

On the day of delivery, we went there at 5:30pm and the car was glowing, waiting to be taken! I had opted for boot mat, dual layer floor mat, visors, side garnish, bumper corner protectors, door edge guard, number plate bracket and body cover.




Delivery experience was smooth. There was no discount provided, but they gave under-chassis coating from 3M free of cost. However, there was a very minor smudge/dent in the black plastic part below the boot. It may have been caused when they were cleaning it. It was very small and not an issue, but still I made sure they took photo of it and wanted them to address it and give an update soon.

Took the car to temple, got the pooja done and drove very slowly in the traffic to get used to the car's dimensions and constant beep alerts from the sensors.

Kept taking photos of it the next day, whenever I went out!




Within 2 days, I left the car at Detailing Street for pro-shield C series PPF coating. Got it back after 2 days.

Glowing after PPF:


I managed to drive for around 140kms so far and all of that within city in traffic. Current mileage it shows is 9.2kmpl. Just loving the easy and comfortable drives so far, switching between Eco and Normal modes. Showing the moon from inside the car to my little daughter through the panoramic sunroof made me appreciate the sunroof!

The SA guys said they can't resolve that minor dent on plastic part since replacing it would be very costly and it is actually a very minor issue. So I asked them to give me a car perfume and dashcam installation for free, and they obliged. I had bought a Viofo A229 plus dual channel dashcam and they installed it today. The clarity during daytime and even night time is great!

Some more posts regarding driving experience, initial ownership experience to follow.

[niCo_neOz]

Originally Posted by MalnadMansha

I can't take my eyes off it!

As a fellow imperial blue owner, I agree completely with you. The car is a looker with shades of purple and blue, based on the lighting. But it's also a dust magnet.

Originally Posted by MalnadMansha

I had bought a Viofo A229 plus dual channel dashcam and they installed it today.

Glad to hear that the showroom folks agreed to install the dashcam. My SA, KIA Perungudi(Chennai), denied stating adding external accessory might impact the electronics and battery and hence they would not do it. Did you buy the dashcam from Viofo website directly ?

[Sidchh]

Congratulations on your new Kia! I too have taken delivery of the same turbo petrol X Line a few weeks ago and could not be happier with my choice. Wishing you many happy kilometres ahead.

[GTX+]

Originally Posted by MalnadMansha

It's been a week since I got Imperial Blue Seltos GTX+ Petrol, and what a pleasant experience it has been so far! I keep finding reasons to drive it and every minute I am around it, I can't take my eyes off it!

Congratulations The car is indeed looking absolutely stunning in the Imperial blue colour.

Originally Posted by MalnadMansha

To put some context into it, I was a proud owner of Honda City since 7 years. That was my first car I bought in 2017. I absolutely loved driving it every minute, both inside the city and in highways as well. Those who owned a Honda car will vouch for that reliable, smooth engine with loads of power in 2nd and 3rd gears especially.

I too had Honda City VMT diesel. In my 9 years of blissful ownership, I had not one incident of the car giving up on me, no breakdowns, no issues of any kind. It used to run as smooth as butter. And to top it all, I used to get between 18-20 km/hr mileage in city driving. Only reason I had to let go of it was the most illogical 10 years diesel car ban in Delhi NCR.

Originally Posted by MalnadMansha

The first car I took test drive of, was Seltos itself, since I was already biased towards Seltos after so many positive reviews and ownership reviews here. I enjoyed the turbo kick-in of Verna, it had bigger boot space and rear seat room than City. But I wanted to try something different this time, rather than going for a Sedan again.

When I test drove the turbo Verna, I simply fell in love with the car. My reasons for not going for it were exactly the same as yours. Didn't want to go for another sedan as I was bitten by the SUV bug. Also, Seltos offered extra features compared to Verna. If I didn't own a sedan earlier, I may well have bought the Verna.

Originally Posted by MalnadMansha

The lack of some features when compared to Seltos, like fog lamps, adjustable ambient lights, rain sensing wipers to name a few, along with that SA's behavior made me tilt further towards Seltos!

Oh c'mon, you were already biased towards Seltos (kidding).

Originally Posted by MalnadMansha

The time had come to bid adieu to the City, which didn't throw a single problem all the 7 years. Waves of nostalgia and sadness hit me when the buyer finally drove away!

I too had the same emotions overcome me when I handed over the keys and papers of my Honda City. Part of me wished I could keep it for as long as I can.

Originally Posted by MalnadMansha

Within 2 days, I left the car at Detailing Street for pro-shield C series PPF coating. Got it back after 2 days.

Good that you went for PPF. It has definitely notched up the overall looks of the car along with the primary role of protection. I know some people feel PPF is a waste of money. But after having spent 20 lacs, spending another 1 lac for peace of mind seems worth it.

Once again, heartiest congratulations on your new possession. You have definitely made the right choice. Am sure there are a lot of memories and stories in store as you drive it for years to come.

Cheers

P.S. Coincidently, my honda city was of the same colour as your, Golden brown.

[MalnadMansha]

Originally Posted by niCo_neOz

Did you buy the dashcam from Viofo website directly ?

I bought it from Amazon itself, and the Viofo tech support answers all your queries and provide all needed tips and guidelines in a timely manner via Whatsapp.

[krishnan76]

Hello everyone,

This is my second post after buying a Kia Seltos GTX+ (Pewter Olive) in early January. The first piece was about my initial impressions of the car, and this one is after my first long trip with it—from Bengaluru to Kochi and back.

The total distance covered during the trip was around 1250 km over four days in early April. We wanted to try this car for a long drive, giving our usual companion—the BMW X3—some rest.

I will make this post in a semi-listicle format.

1. Drive impression on highway: Seltos, from hereon the Ranger, is a super smooth vehicle with oodles of power on tap. The 160 bhp, 253 NM turbo petrol engine is a stonker as it pulls, pulls and pulls on. We never had to worry about a quick overtake of a long truck or a slew of slow-moving vehicles. The DCT-Engine combo is near perfect.

2. AC performance: While we were quite happy with its performance in city, we wanted to see how it works on a hot day on highway. Wife was a bit sceptical because of the all-black interior of the car. But to our delight, the AC was kept us very cool throughout the journey while operating generally around the 18-19 degrees range. Imagine the outside temperature was a scorching 36 degrees on our drive day. We didn't feel any of it inside the Ranger.

3. ADAS: The driver assist systems worked well, particularly the lane-keeping assist and blind spot monitoring system. But you have to remember to turn the indicators on (right or left) before you change lanes for an overtake, or else the car will nudge you back to your original lane. The adaptive cruise control, too, worked nice, even though I didn't keep it on for very long.

4. Headlight: We didn't drive too much at night, but the general feeling was that the throw could have been a tad better. By no means is it insufficient, but at times, you need a brighter flame to spot a speed-breaker or a curve along the road that bit better.

5. Mileage: We managed to eke out between 15-17 kmpl on highways around the trip. Of course, now the overall mileage across 3600+ kms stand at around 11 kmpl. Good for us.

Now, to the Incident.

I am generally a peace-loving driver, though occasionally, I like to test the engine on open, empty roads that you often find on highways.

Here I was driving serenely on the right lane during a highway stretch in Kerala, and I came behind an ambling Alto, which didn't budge an inch despite honking a couple of times.

Out of desperation, I wanted to overtake the Alto through its left side. But suddenly, a Brezza, which was already in the left lane, put the indicator and veered to the right, so I had to apply the brakes to give him space. But the Brezza guy stayed back in his lane.

It happened at least four times across the next 3-4 minutes, as whenever I tried to cut past the Alto from the left, this Brezza person would deliberately block my way.

I firmly believe that roads are not a place to show your driving skills or 'smoke' other drivers. For me, it's a happy, co-habiting place.

But for this moment, I forgot my motto, threw Brezza off the lane with a tight left slide, and went past both, him and Alto in a matter of a second. For the next 15 minutes, I showed him that others can also drive fast on the road, never allowing him to come anywhere close to me despite his earnest attempts.

Those extra horses and torque do matter at times, and of course, the experience of driving a behemoth like X3, too, came in handy.

But that's as I finished the little race near a toll station. I might just have earned a ticket or two, but on this day, I didn't mind that one bit.

We'll have another thread and more pics after a long drive coming our way in late May. Until then, Ciao, Ciao.

[rayjaycleoful]

Originally Posted by Alphaseal6

Wow, it looks dope and more badass now !

I will surely give it a try. Are you satisfied with the finish, look and feel?

Yes it’s quite durable and looks really cool!
Now I cringe when I see HTX models on the road with that silver thingy at the rear hehe.

In other news, my car is giving 12kmpl in 100% city driving with enthu driving and lots of idling. I am very surprised but happy . In similar conditions, I have got 8.5-9.5 from a i20 DCT and Creta P AT; and 10-11 from a Honda City manual.

Also the IVT is no slouch once you get used to the gearbox, more so the S mode.
Since we also have a DCT N line i20, I sometimes used to think about the DCT Seltos but I think I am very happy with the IVT - it is much better suited to stop and go traffic along with my kind of usage (400km/ month)

[arcanec]

Question for those in the know - is the windshield mounted license plate sticker not mandatory for all vehicles?

I recently noticed a crack in the windshield of my Seltos GTX+. Knowing how these can rapidly spread over just a single weekend's worth of highway driving, I thought I'd bite the bullet and get the windshield replaced. The service advisor at Kia's Bellandur workshop mentioned that they wouldn't be able to transfer the license plate sticker to the new windshield and that it wasn't required anyway. This is in contrast to what I've seen on a friend's Brezza where it explicitly says the sticker is a third license plate and should not be removed from the windshield.

Now assuming it's mandatory, how do I go about getting a replacement? TIA!

[eragon92]

Originally Posted by arcanec

Now assuming it's mandatory, how do I go about getting a replacement? TIA!

You can use bookmyhsrp.com for ordering a replacement sticker. You will need to provide all the details and will get 2 options: delivery at home or at dealer. Basis your convenience you can order.

Link for Reference: https://bookmyhsrp.com/sticker/VahanBookingDetail.aspx

Regards
Eragon92

[GTX+]

Originally Posted by arcanec

I recently noticed a crack in the windshield of my Seltos GTX+

Since your other question has been partially answered. Just want to check with you on the crack. Looks like its the new facelift GTX+. How did the crack develop?

Would be grateful if you can provide some info on that.

Thank yoy

[arcanec]

Originally Posted by GTX+

Since your other question has been partially answered. Just want to check with you on the crack. Looks like its the new facelift GTX+. How did the crack develop?

Would be grateful if you can provide some info on that.

Thank yoy

It's the facelift, yes.

As to how the crack developed, I'm not entirely sure but I have some hypotheses. Long and short of it is a projectile hit my windshield early last week. By Thursday, it went from an incision that was barely a millimeter or two in size and that I missed on a visual inspection, to a crack that had spread in three directions.

As much as I'd like to believe it's a manufacturing defect, the crack is entirely on the external-facing side of the windscreen and radiating away from that tiny incision. Just bad luck, I guess

[07CR]

Originally Posted by arcanec

It's the facelift, yes.

As to how the crack developed, I'm not entirely sure but I have some hypotheses. Long and short of it is a projectile hit my windshield early last week. By Thursday, it went from an incision that was barely a millimeter or two in size and that I missed on a visual inspection, to a crack that had spread in three directions.

As much as I'd like to believe it's a manufacturing defect, the crack is entirely on the external-facing side of the windscreen and radiating away from that tiny incision. Just bad luck, I guess

In this case, the owner needs to bear the brunt of cost?

[arcanec]

Originally Posted by 07CR

In this case, the owner needs to bear the brunt of cost?

Yes, why would the manufacturer pay for it?

Just to be clear - it isn't a manufacturing defect that the windscreen got chipped. The rate at which the chip turned into a visible and expanding crack is a little surprising, but it is what it is. The crack as-is was not particularly concerning as the inside layer of the windscreen remained unaffected. I used it these past few days for my daily commute and honestly could go for a while without necessarily having to replace the windscreen. However, I have a long highway drive planned this weekend so I didn't want to take a chance.

[niCo_neOz]

Originally Posted by eragon92

You can use bookmyhsrp.com for ordering a replacement sticker. You will need to provide all the details and will get 2 options: delivery at home or at dealer. Basis your convenience you can order.

Link for Reference: https://bookmyhsrp.com/sticker/VahanBookingDetail.aspx

Is the colour sticker not mandatory for TN as this website doesn't show TamilNadu registration.

[Mr Anderson]

Originally Posted by arcanec

Yes, why would the manufacturer pay for it?

Just to be clear - it isn't a manufacturing defect that the windscreen got chipped. The rate at which the chip turned into a visible and expanding crack is a little surprising, but it is what it is. The crack as-is was not particularly concerning as the inside layer of the windscreen remained unaffected. I used it these past few days for my daily commute and honestly could go for a while without necessarily having to replace the windscreen. However, I have a long highway drive planned this weekend so I didn't want to take a chance.

Wouldn't it be covered under insurance?