500Km's up on my Seltos Gtx+ DCT
Hi Guys!
Wanted to share how I got my hands on the GTX+, and my experience so far with the Vehicle.
Selling my old car:
So I had my 13+ year old Honda City- which had clocked almost 3.5lac kms thanks to my Dad who used to daily Delhi-Noida in this for many years

. The engine still ran smoothly and I think it had another 1-1.5lac kms in it, but the rest of the car was showing it's age, the non-existant suspensions, dated tan interiors and the gc on bad bad pune roads

ng. Being registered in Delhi, It only had another year and a half left of it's life, and the consistent pull overs by the cops since I had been driving this in Pune, made me decide to get a new car. Since this was the first car in our family, It was very hard to say goodbye

. I started looking for buyers but being an out of state car with that many kms and a very little life, they were hard to come by. Local dealers were not intersted, Kia themselves were giving me scrap value for this car But eventually after multiple inspections & auctions, cars24 were able to get me a price on this which I was moderately okay with ~80k. Sold this to them in Mid December.
You will be missed!
Buying Journey
I started looking for cars in June of last year- Checked out cars like the Hyundai Exter/ Honda Amaze to get started, But both of these felt a step down from the Honda City. So I increased my Budget a bit and started looking at cars like the Nexon & 3XO.
I liked the front look of thet Nexon - Visited a tata showroom and was getting a good deal on the 2023 Manufactured diesel amt top model, But after taking a test drive, it was soon discarded as the shifts were just too jerky for my liking. Test drove the Petrol DCA as well but that too didn't feel very smooth. Also taking into account all the bad stories I have heard about the tata service centers- Nexon was no longer under consideration.
The Venue was quickly removed from consideration when I had a look at the interiors- pretty outdated for 2024. Sonet interior was good, but I was hesitant paying so much for a car with a measly 999cc engine- I know it's a turbo, but such a small engine for a decently sized car didn't make any sense.
3XO had just come out and on paper it looked intriguing. I first took a test drive for the Petrol Manual with tcmpfi engine. It was punchy, but I was only looking at automatics as my next car. The Tgdi Automatic was not available for a test drive, so after waiting a week I visited Unnati Mahindra - Chandan Nagar again in the hopes of getting a test drive. The SA didn't have the car on hand , But after waiting for a while, the manager there called up someone and the car was coming in for TD within 30 mins. I really liked this attitude toward the customer. Anyways, after getting in the vehicle and driving it around for sa bit, I felt this car was for me, Power on tap- Safe build , Adas lvl 2( was checking out the AX5L variant) and a smooth ride. So I paid the booking amount for a blue AX5L Petrol Automatic and was given an initial waiting period of 10 weeks - This was in July.
Fast Forward to Oct-Nov and still no update on my vehicle- seems like this variant was in demand and the production couldn't keep up.
So While waiting, My Mom put this idea in my head that this is my first car with my own money and If I plan to keep the car long, I could go for a better car

So I started looking at cars from a segment above - Creata/ Seltos
I first took td of a seltos turbo petrol and the car felt refined, the interiors looked amazing and the suspensions weren't as bad as people were talking about. There were some safety concerns from the previous gen but I could feel the weight improvement in the hood & the doors. The car ticked all boxes, But I didn't book it as the dealer was not giving me satisfactory discounts on the GTX Model- He quoted ~ 20lacs for the GTX variant with a BH numberplate.
I then looked at the Creta , specially the sx tech IVT variant with ADAS. I went to a couple of showrooms, but could only find test drive for a turbo petrol automatic variant in N-Line and let me tell you- Had a smile on my face when I put my foot on the accelerator in sports mode, it was quick, it was fun to drive. That is only until I saw the price. Even with a BH number the car was coming out to ~23lacs OTR Pune!! Even the Sx-tech variant was quoted at 18-18.2 - Again, with BH Number, But after taking td of the turbo petrol , I wasn't sure I wanted an NA engine anymore.
I went home ( Delhi) for Diwali, but just wanted to check what prices were Kia offering me here, and to my surprise- dealerships here were offering discounts worth 1.5-1.7lacs OTR!. I thought of getting a BH number from Delhi, but I think the 10/15 year validity rule still applied even for a BH registered car in Delhi. The lowest price I was able to get was 20.1lac OTR for the GTX+ variant. I sent this quote to all the pune dealers I was in contact with - No one could even come close, Then I thought why not check Mumbai and I was finally seeing some progress on the prices, still not as close to Delhi but I just waited. Negotiated with the SA at Shaw Kia- BKC. After multiple rounds and visiting them once when I came back , I finally agreed on the price - 20.4 for the GTX+ variant in pearl white with 20k worth of accessories. Paid 21k as the booking amount, car was allocated to me within 3 days on 03/12/24. Then the horror story started- I wanted a third party PDI & dealership was not allowing- Just told them to cancel my booking , they said okay , but I got a call few hours later from my SA saying he faught with the higher ups and okayed third party pdi for my car. PDI was done by Zekardo on 06/12 and the Car recieved a 10/10 -It was Nov Manufactured and had just 8km on the odo , So I did the down payment then. The loan process took some time as there were a few issues as to which bank to go to, but loan was sanctioned & disbursed on 14/12. Here's the fun part, no one responded to my queries on the whatsapp group that was created. That caused further delays which led to delay in registration in Pune. After the car was registered on 24/12, I still had to wait 6 days for delivery as there was little to no communication from the dealership- unless they wanted money for which they were proactive. I travelled to Mumbai from Pune on 30th to take delivery. Car was covered and it seemed like the showroom guys were in a hurry- No cake cutting or anything, just a simple unveiling and off you go. TBH, I expected better from my first car buying experience. Anyways, the bad experience doesn't end here- I was only given 10k worth of accessories saying the rest are in backorder and will be delivered to me in Pune in 4-5 days. After multiple messages on whatsapp & calls where I recieved no response, I raised a complaint on twitter only after which I was contacted by the showroom. I am still yet to get 7.5k worth of accessories-I have asked for a refund now.
Anyways, after getting the car went to Siddhivinayak temple for Puja, Had Vada-Pav

then drove back to Pune.
The mileage on MID for the Mumbai-Pune trip was 17kmpl with 3 people but the car being driven at <80kmph with AC on.
It has been 500kms since delivery and I am happy to share that the car is exceeded expectations.
The Good: I am driving light footed till the engine has broken in, but had to do a couple of quick overtakes- even in eco mode, the performance is mind blowing. Can't wait to put this into sport mode as soon as I touch 1000kms
The car feels butter smooth on potholes - Stock Jk's but with tyre pressure turned down to 32psi
- Infotainment & Interiors:
This feels just a segment above , with the panoramic sunroof and the connected display which looks crisp with all the features one needs, still getting to know a few
I tried this on highways and it does what it's designed to , the LKA & ACC work well on marked roads, even at night. I have switched off the FCA as I am scared the car will just apply brakes at full force in peak pune traffic where bikers can cut in front any time.
Haha, I didn't think this would be in the good tab but I consistently get 10kmpl in peak traffic and up to 13-14 when the roads are empty. I was expecting much worse to be honest. Only one highway trip where it showed 17kmpl.
The problems:
I will be frank, I am not an audiophile but these speakers don't live up to the bose name, I had to do damping - Blaupunkt 2.2mm sheets and adjust a few things on the EQ to get it to my liking. But it still isn't loud enough for me. Have to keep the volume above 18-20 for a decent listening experience.
This is just useless, doesn't work when it's needed on signals, shuts off the engine when I have stopped for 3 secs in traffic, and a few times it does turn off the engine on signals, the car starts again within seconds but the light is still red- Not sure on how this works, any input from other owners will be helpful.
The throw is okay, but the intensity could be improved. It is just okay, but could've been a lot better.
Will take this car in for first service on 30/01. Will update on the experience.
I also wanted to mention the Team BHP community for guiding and helping me in this whole process. A Big Thank You!!
Finally some photos: