[bluevolt]

"How it all started"

Preface

Our 2010 Honda City was due for replacement as it entered it's 10th year of ownership last year. We keep our cars for long; 10 years at least so we start looking for options as soon as the current one crosses 8 years mark and chooses the best possible option. The same process was followed when I replaced WagonR with Baleno in Sept. 2017. I was constantly looking for guidance to help me choose the best possible upgrade including my thread - https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/sedan...onda-city.html (In search of a new car with a 8-12 lakh budget - What can replace a 3rd gen Honda City?)

Background

Our 3rd Gen Honda City i-VTEC with 72k on ODO was serving us really well with literally zero engine-related issues. It's original clutch still had the bite and could go on easily till 1 lakh kilometers. The only reason we started looking for a replacement was due to a few spots of rust that started below the doors and a couple of other areas. Another factor was BS-6 emissions compliance and its impacts on the resale value of our City.

The Decision to Let 'City' Go!

The opinion was divided among the family. Some members wanted to retain the car while buying a new one. Some wanted to keep using it for at least 2 more years as it still had lots of usable life left. After evaluating thoroughly we decided to let 'City' go as it will not practically feasible to keep three cars in the garage and the thought of continuing with City for two further years was also discarded considering it's the right time to replace it. I tried various options to sell my City - went to OLX cash my car, Cars 24 for evaluation; posted ads on team-bhp classifieds/Olx, etc. Few BHPians/BHPian followers also approached me but the deal could not materialize due to one or other reasons. In December I got my car evaluated from Cars24 & OLX CashMyCar. The experience at their branch was average; in our visit to them, we were told to book an appointment then only the car can be evaluated. Still, I gave them both a chance and got the evaluation done after booking an appointment with them. They have a long process of evaluation, and after that, they submit the data forbidding to get the price. To my surprise, both of them gave me a dismal pricing quote. I rejected both of them and proceeded with other options. I went to Honda Assure for resale but the guy there was only interested if I was buying another Honda Car from them. C'mon Honda! You are already loosing out the market share and your showroom/salespeople still have a bureaucratic attitude.

Anyways, I decided to hold on the City till the new car is allotted to me as it won't be feasible to stay without a car for long. Fast forward in January, I got to know that the new car is allotted to me and I headed towards the Kia showroom to evaluate my City. The evaluator instantly liked my car and he made all his efforts to finalize the deal. Though the price quoted was still not what I was expecting but it was close enough. Their used car sales team was professional enough to provide us with all necessary papers for claiming NCB reserving letter from the insurance company. We handed over our beloved City a day before taking delivery of the new car.

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NCB Reserving Experience

My City's insurance was from Bharti Axa with 50% NCB. I missed claiming NCB at the time when I exchanged my WagonR with Baleno in Sep 2017 but this time I was well aware of all the procedures to get the NCB benefit.

I called up Bharti Axa and requested them the NCB letter. The customer care person told me to email the relevant documents on their support email id and the NCB reserving letter will be issued to me in 48 hours. I sent that mail and their 48 hours have still not finished!

I knew there is some gap in communication and won't be receiving a letter through email and might not be accepted as well to the new insurance company. I went to nearby Bharti Axa branch and submitted an application along with Form 29, 30 and delivery receipt. Two days later, I went to their office again to collect the letter. I was handed over a letter on an A4 sheet without any stamp so I asked the person to give it on company letterhead with a stamp. Not a very great experience but still got the job done from them. A task like reserving NCB letter should be made available online instead of requiring the customer to run around their offices and make it feel like 1990 instead of 2020!


"Alternatives that were considered, and why I zeroed in on this particular car"

Finalizing the new car

The search for a replacement started last year but the decision was deferred due to various reasons. Early in 2019, the only thing in my mind was that only a ‘City’ could replace a ‘City’ so I was eagerly waiting for the new-gen to be unveiled. Later when the 5th Gen City was unveiled, it gave me no strong reason to stay loyal to Honda and wait for the new City. I was hoping the 5th gen to be as radical as the 3rd gen was when it was launched in 2008.

Requirements from the new car

-> We keep our cars for long ~ 10 years period, so it has to be top-notch in terms of quality and reliability. (Our City gave zero issues in terms of engine/electronics/breakdowns)
-> Keeping cars for longer also warrant us to own a car whose design doesn’t fade away with time, it should age well. (A well maintained 3rd gen City is still a looker)
-> Servicing it must not be a pain to the pocket. (Basic maintenance cost for 3rd gen City was always reasonable)
-> Brand value/snob value is also one of the important factors, wanted to for a brand that is as good as their cars. Though it is subjective, some may find Mahindra more premium than a Tata.
-> Features like ABS/Airbags, complete touch-based audio, steering mounted controls, rear parking sensors/camera, height-adjustable seats (useful in SUVs rather than in sedans), good boot space, plenty of legroom, headroom and decent under-thigh support, rear AC vents, projector headlamps, fog lamps, indicators integrated on ORVM, keyless entry, all four power windows at the minimum.


Overall I considered following cars before finalizing on the one that is in my garage today –

Hyundai Venue



A good car, I really liked it since it was launched. The only issue with Venue was that it would not be a replacement for a 3rd gen City. It might be a good upgrade to Baleno but I felt buying Venue just for the sake of buying a new car will not do the justice of the overall buying experience of a new car. Also, space-wise, I don’t think my Baleno would be any less in terms of space being offered in the car.

Maruti Ciaz



Ciaz was a serious contender. Though again it would be inferior to a City (No offense to anyone) but I personally liked the car. It is larger than City, has a reliable service network and Maruti offered decent discounts in the month of December. We went to a Nexa showroom (Nexa Saya, Crown Plaza, Rohini) but the only color choice available under discount was a Nexa blue color. I wanted a different color, but it would not have the discounts. Rest, I called up their used car evaluator at Saya Nexa was an unprofessional guy, I handed over my car keys to him for evaluation and took the car to test drive it as well. I allowed but the guy was rushing my car through potholes, jumping over speed breakers and accelerating it like we are in some drag race. Seeing this behavior, I asked the guy to stop and hand over my car back to me and asked him to learn some driving manners. The guy was adamant and unprofessional that he didn’t even bother to apologize and refused to give any evaluation unless I let him test the car in his way! I gave him an earful and asked him to leave the car. I would have bought Ciaz only if their evaluator was sane enough. Thanks to him, I didn’t buy Ciaz and strike off Saya Nexa, Rohini, Crown Plaza for any future purchases.

[bluevolt]

4th Gen City



Why not replace a City with the 4th Gen City? With the same engine, low on reliability and quality, and near its end of the lifecycle stage, the 4th gen City would not have been a satisfying car to own any further. The discounts on offer in December were not mouth-watering either.

MG Hector



Ever since MG filed a case against the customer who tied his Hector to a Donkey, MG lost respect in my eyes. Though I agree the customer might have done an exaggerated action expressing his dissatisfaction but a company that only survives because of a customer. If a company can’t take steps to resolve a customer’s issues and make him frustrated to this level that he tied a donkey to his car is totally unacceptable. On the other note, it is interesting to see how MG replaces customer’s burnt car and take necessary steps to remove all news related to their car catching fire shows how responsive they can be (only if it was in a right direction). I considered Hector only to not to buy it.

Tata Harrier



Overpriced, bare features in base trims, no petrol engine, poor quality and service history of Tata kept me away from Harrier. The only good thing about this car is the looks, but for our use and parking constraints, I found harrier to be too large to be driven in a city like Delhi/NCR.

Hyundai Creta



Hyundai Creta is one of my favorite cars. Creta ticks most of my requirement checkboxes and It would have been a sensible upgrade to my City but the concern was the current model being at the end of life phase. New-gen Creta doesn’t look as promising in terms of looks than the outgoing model. Also, when I compared the variants, the minimum features that I was eyeing were not available in initial variants of Creta and the top end was beyond budget.


Maruti Vitara Brezza



Lack of petrol engine, already four-year-old in the market along with not so futuristic looks made me write off Brezza from my shopping list.


Why, When & How – Kia Seltos!

Until Sep/Oct 2019, I was least bothered about Kia Seltos. 2019 being a gloomy year for the automobile market, I was not sure how a new brand will establish itself in the market and if they will be able to succeed at all. Right through the cricket world cup earlier in June/July, the Kia advertisement featuring Tiger Shroff hardly caught my attention (the background score in the ad was catchy though!)
The news about the waiting period and the car being feature-rich and selling in large numbers etc started floating around the month of Oct and I started inquiring about the car through various dealerships. I called a few in Delhi but there was not much response in terms of test drive being offered or any proper way of communication from the reception staff.

I held the decision for the new car for a couple of months and started extensively from December onwards. Meanwhile, there was news floating around the proposed price hike for Seltos as well. At that time Kia increased the waiting period of certain variants from 1 to 2 months. Interestingly, the waiting period for the HTE variant was still the same because the effect of price rise on this particular variant was not much and Kia wanted to encash maximum benefit by delivering cars post-Jan 1 with an updated price list. More than the demand, it was the strategy to make the maximum of the scenario and they did it quite well; no matter how ethical or unethical it was is a different story altogether. Had the waiting period still be the same, I could have got my car in December itself with earlier pricing.

We went to Lohia Kia on 15 December and the test drove the 7DCT variant. There were no TD cars available across any dealer here in NCR. We met with the same salesperson who was in Nexa Maruti from where we bought our Baleno. In terms of discussion and previous good experience with him, we decided to stick with Lohia Kia. I had to book the vehicle based on ownership reviews on youtube and a couple of reviews about the 1.5 motor here on Team-BHP. I liked the car instantly during the test drive; overall driving dynamics felt really sorted. It was not very big but still had a substantial road presence. Maneuvering it in traffic was easy especially with the automatic variant. After TD, we decided Seltos has the power to surprise and can replace our City!

[bluevolt]

Deciding on the Color & Variant!

The toughest job while buying Seltos was to go through the variant list and pick one which suits the needs in the best possible manner. Selecting one from twenty-four available variants is not an easy task. Having said that, we wanted to select the variant which serves our needs and not wants. Diesel was opted out considering 10-year lifetime validity in Delhi and future issues that can occur for diesel cars. With this, 8 variants were out of the consideration. Next, we decided on manual versus automatic; the heart was with the manual but mind wanted to go with automatic this time for a change. In the end, the heart won and we eliminated auto variants.
Then we considered our requirements for a new car (that I posted in the above section). All of those were met by High-Tech line variants so the GT-line variants were out of the consideration. Now out of the HTE, HTK/HTK+ and HTX we had to choose one. One reason to go with HTX variant was the availability of black colour. Mom wanted to go with orange colour while I was keen on going with blue. Dad wanted the black but since it was not available with other variants except HTX, we had to drop that colour. The salesperson was not ready to take booking for blue/orange colour citing unavailability and unexplained long waiting periods. The salesperson was insisting on light colours for whatever reasons but after a lot of thought we decided that the ‘Intense Red’ will be the perfect colour to replace ‘Habanero Red’.

After finalising colours, we started the hunt for the right variant. HTX was dropped features offered in HTX were in ‘wants’ category rather than what we actually ‘need’ and in terms of purchasing cars, we want maximum value for money from a variant. HTE was ruled out as it missed on important features like the rear camera, touch-based ICE etc. Now we had to decide between HTK & HTK+. I wanted to go for HTK+ as it had everything I ever need from the car including alloys, auto-folding side ORVMs etc. While further re-evaluating, two things strike my mind that made me drop HTK+ variant. First, it had a cruise control feature that I never would be using. Second, it didn’t have auto AC despite the difference of 1.2 lakhs in ex-showroom (new prices). DRLs, alloys and auto-folding ORVMs were surely ‘nice to have’ but not worth 1.2 lakhs. Alloys are also more theft-prone these days and lack of similar-sized wheel in the boot is also a damper. So the final winner was the HTK variant. Though after the price rise, the HTK variant also somehow lost its real value for money proportion (addition of TCS and increase in reg charges for cars above 10lakhs ex-showroom spoiled the value for money factor). But out of what all was available under given conditions, HTK still met all our needs and requirements and gave the best value for money feeling.











Booking Experience

We booked our car from Lohia Kia, Delhi in mid of December and quoted two months of the waiting period. The dealer asked for 21k as booking amount payable by cash/cheque/card etc and it would be refundable in case we don’t wish to keep the booking. Any change in the variant at a later date would require a fresh booking in the system but booking amount will remain adjusted if the variant is changed in between.



Follow Up Experience

I followed up after 20 days with my sales advisor for booking status but he was clueless and the only reply he had was that waiting period is not in their hands and he doesn’t have much control over it. I expressed my dissent with this behaviour stating while it is understood the sales advisors don’t have much control but they have experience through which they can at least make customers aware of the scenarios. All in all, the follow-up experience from Lohia Kia after the booking was poor.

Allotment Experience

I received a call from sales advisor on 19th Jan, that the car has been allotted and it is in transit. As per him, it takes a week for the trailer to reach Delhi from their factory in Andhra Pradesh. He asked me to initiate finance-related work and submit the required papers. Meanwhile, we finalised the sale of our City through Lohia Kia only as earlier commented, the staff of used car department was ver cooperative and promising to deal with. We made all formalities, got the NCB letter and was waiting for the car to reach the showroom for the delivery day. Upon getting the VIN, I got to know the car was manufactured on 16th Jan and it is indeed a 2020 manufactured model.

[bluevolt]

Decoding the price list



The price list handed over includes all possible charges that the showroom can fetch from the customer. It is very important to go through it in detail to weed out any spam charges. Kia Seltos comes in ‘Metallic’ and ‘Dual Tone’ color options with different charges. They do not have a ‘Non-Metallic’ variant for solid color shades like the white color so you can’t save money in that area as non-metallic shades are cheaper by few thousand.

Ex-showroom is a fixed component including registration charges and insurance. TCS is applicable if the vehicle ex-showroom is above 10L. HTK, after price revision, is above that threshold so TCS was charged along with higher % of registration charges. With Price revision, including TCS/Registration and a marginal increase in insurance, the hike difference is hefty 75K. If on a scale-out of 10 I was to rate the value for money proposition for HTK variant, it was 9.5/10 before price hike and 7/10 after the price hike. Another component is statutory charges that they include. These are the mandatory costs one has to bear for purchasing the vehicle.

There are additional two components – basic kit and extended warranty. While booking, the price list had basic kit worth 7k, after price hike, the dealer added some more accessories in the basic kit making it not so basic work 24k! Extended warranty charges are mentioned for unlimited kilometres/5 years while there is another option for an extended warranty with limited kilometers which the sales advisor will be least interested in sharing with you.

Extended Warranty

While it is recommended to buy an extended warranty (I myself bought for my Baleno even after one year of its purchase), the extended warranty plan for Kia Seltos didn’t impress me much. Kia already offers 3 years standard warranty for unlimited kilometers (please correct me if I am wrong). For 2 additional years, paying 24,000 for warranty didn’t appear worth to me. While I agree, this is like insurance coverage and may offer peace of mind but I chose to save this money as of now. Earlier I was considering taking the 5-year limited warranty plan but chose to drop before delivery. Maybe, I will buy it later if at all.

Basic Kit/Accessories

As highlighted in the above post, the dealer increased the price of basic kit from 7k to 23k by adding a few more accessories. I asked the sales advisor to share the breakdown of items in the basic kit and below are those components. I reviewed them and found most of them to be not of much value to me. I told the sales advisor that I will not be opting for these and will be selecting only a few to which he agreed (although reluctantly).

Out of the above accessories, I selected 3D floor mats, body cover & divinity. SA informed that body cover is not in stock yet, so I ordered from Amazon so I have it before taking the car home. On the delivery day, the accessory manager told me that the 3D mats are not available. I chose for the better available version 7d mats for my car. Overall management from the accessory department was poor. They don’t have most accessories in stock and even then they are quoting 24k for the basic kit. The explanation they give even after taking full payment is that they will send someone at home to install an accessory once they receive the part.

After Market Accessories

I ordered a body cover and a wheel lock from Amazon. It is very important to keep a brand-new car covered for few initial days to avoid any unwanted attention while it is parked. The quality, fit and finish of the auto-furnish brand body cover is excellent. Wheel lock adds up to peace of mind. Initially, I ordered two-wheel locks but later on decided on buying only one as I will be also installing gear lock for double protection. Kia doesn’t offer gear lock as an official accessory so got it installed from a couple of days of taking delivery from a nearby car accessory shop. The gear lock brand is Auto-Link with 5 years warranty; got it installed from the company person who came to the shop after buying the product. Also bought rear windscreen sunshade, zip-type sunshade and an MI 2-in-1 type C & Micro USB cable for Android Auto connectivity from Amazon.

[bluevolt]

Delivery Day

A couple of days before the delivery day, I went to the showroom to see my car. All in all, it was fine as such with no complaints as per my PDI. The moment is very special when you see you're to be a new car for the first time in the showroom. I got VIN earlier from sales advisor and upon decoding, found it to be manufactured on 16th Jan 2020. Validated the VIN sticker on the car.









Registration was applied for a day before the delivery and I was expecting the registration number to be allotted on the same day. But due to some delay in the transfer of registration tax to RTO from the showroom side, the number was not generated. On delivery day, there was not confirmed timing about when I will get my car. First, there were lots of coordination delays between sales and finance due to which 2-3 days were wasted for the finance approval process. Now on delivery day, due to poor coordination between RTO/Showroom, the registration process got delayed.

The number was allotted in the morning of the delivery day; in Delhi, as per my service advisor's new rules, the dealer cannot handover the car to the customer until high-security number plates are installed. After the registration number was generated, the plates were sent to be printed at a different RTO location.

I kept waiting for SA’s call to come for delivery. Finally, in the evening around 4.30 PM, I was informed that the high-security number plates have arrived and been installed and I can come to take the delivery. I reached the showroom around 5.30 PM, inspected my new car and started for other formalities. My service advisor handed over the owner’s manual, duplicate keys, got some paper signed and finally handed over our new car through key handover ceremony. Parents performed rituals and we got some pictures clicked, thanked everyone and drove off the showroom at 7.00 PM in the evening. The first thing done was to fill the tank and check the air pressure. Our new car drank around 47 liters of petrol in her first pit stop. Air pressure was 50Psi, I got it reduced to 35Psi, I will experiment later on by reducing/increasing air pressure to find the sweet spot.

It is not every day you take delivery of your brand new car. The feeling is always special. The day was memorable. The power to surprise was finally home! A brand new Kia Seltos – Our first SUV!

[bluevolt]

Let’s talk about the car ~ Initial Ownership Experience

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCQ8...ature=youtu.be

At the time of writing this text, Seltos has covered around 500KMs. If I must sum up about this car in a single statement then I would say, Kia Seltos is a premium Hyundai Creta!

We have upgraded from a sedan – a 3rd Gen Honda City to an SUV, so along with look and feel, the overall experience is totally different while driving Seltos.

Exteriors





Kia Seltos is definitely a head-turner. The car wears futuristic looks due to its fresh design philosophy. The tiger-nose grille and elongated bonnet add to the appeal of this car. In my opinion, the Kia Seltos looks the best from the front, no doubt it looks subtle and well proportioned from every angle. The projector headlamps and the position lamp housing are designed neatly. The black cladding running across the side gives this car a rugged look. The design elements in front and rear bumper also makes it stand out in the crowd. In a current lot of cars if this segment, Kia Seltos definitely is one of the most good looking cars. The best thing about such designs is that they age really well and for people like me who keeps their car for 10 year period, it is a boon. Way back in 2009, I was instantly smitten by arrow shot design of the 3rd Gen City and the same can be said for the tiger-nose inspired grill and design philosophy from Kia. One other reason for it’s looks being appreciated can be attributed to the fact that Kia itself is a new player and their designs will surely remain fresh in the market for many coming years. From the side too, the Seltos looks clean with raising roofline; roof rails add some sporty touch to the car. The rear looks of the Seltos are also decent enough with cladding integrated on the bumper, faux openings, and a decent tail lamp housing looks fantastic.


Interiors/AC/Audio











Enter a Kia Seltos and the first thing you will observe is a new design philosophy in terms of interiors as well. The piano finish dashboard console having an integrated all touch audio navigation looks excellent. The steering console along with the combination of MID LCD and analog meters adds to the sporty touch. The speakers' grille design is totally new, everything that you see inside wears a fresh look. In terms of space, Seltos offers plenty of it. In the driver’s seat, I get a commanding view of the road; coming from a sedan background, driving a car like Seltos with bonnet visible while driving is a new experience to me. The steering position is good for a 5”11 person. In terms of headroom, shoulder room I am yet to face any issue, it is adequate, to say the least. The storage console integrated as front armrest is usable too.

The only grudges, if I have in terms of interiors, are the non-backlit power window and central door switches which are paint to operate in the dark. Also, the ORVM control switch doesn’t have a center position where I can turn off the control from accidentally pressing the alignment button that changes the mirror position. Other than that all switches feel premium in quality, looks, and durability. The fog lamp switch is neatly integrated into the headlamp lever. The horn pad is light and easily accessible to fingers while driving. The steering mounted controls are too many and I am yet to explore all of them. Somehow, I would prefer separate switches for volume control but here we have one switch that controls both functions. The manual A/C controls are premium and I would not be missing out auto controls. The gear lever is good to hold. Currently, in winter conditions, I am yet to use the air conditioner in full flow and so holding the comment till summer season set in the coming days. But I hope it would be effective considering the size of the vehicle.

I am not an audiophile, but not an average listener as well. Though my variant doesn’t come with Bose speakers, yet with 6 speakers setup (4 speakers and 2 tweeters), the sound quality is fantastic. The system has an adequate base as well. For a person like me, I will not be upgrading the audio as it is quite sufficient. If I compare the sound quality with my City (which was excellent as well), Seltos offers way better experience. I am yet to explore Android auto functionality and other hosts of features, though I have bought dedicated dual USB cable (type-c/micro compatible) to connect my phone for the Android auto functionality. Though this is a technology limitation AFAIK, it would have been a more seamless experience if android auto was functional without connecting a wire to the phone and work only on Bluetooth.

I have not been in rear seats as of now but as per other family members, the space is decent and they don’t have any complaints in terms of ergonomics as well. 5 people can easily travel in the Seltos. The rear A/C vent effectiveness is still to be tested. The boot space appears sufficient for our needs. The spare tyre is a full-sized steel rim type and easily accessible through the flap cover that can be removed with ease. The boot also has the illumination facility which will be really beneficial in the night.

[bluevolt]

Engine

The G1.5 petrol engine mated with 6-speed manual transmission is surprisingly refined. This particular engine variant was not available for the test drive and having experienced the butter smooth i-VTEC for the last 10 years, my main concern was the engine. Inside the cabin, there is zero engine noise or buzz. Surprisingly, there is no sound of the engine inside the car at all even when throttling. The engine bay has a single cooling fan unlike dual fan in City. Talking in terms of performance, I have currently driven the car in the city only but the engine has performance has been fantastic. While this engine produces 113 BHP while as compared to 117 BHP of City, I could not see any performance gap as well in terms of acceleration or pickup. The SmartStream G1.5 L has it's a different note that one can feel while accelerating that adds to the fun factor and sporty touch. To say the least, it is indeed rev-friendly. I was worried if I will be missing the i-VTech note above 5k RPM as all these years were quite used to the signature i-vtec roar)!

The gear shifting is smooth, the clutch is light and even in traffic, there was no issue in pulling up the car from lower gears. The torque @144 NM is sufficient. Didn’t get a chance to drive much in 6th gear in city traffic; the reverse gear is operated by pulling up the lever then slotting it back. Coming from a 5 gear system, it took me a couple of days to get used to the changed reverse gear mechanism.





Mileage

Currently, I have completed 500 KMs of driving. MID shows an average of 16-17 KMPL. I will be able to give exact figures through a tankful method. I filled the tank with 48 liters of fuel after taking delivery and currently the fuel bar is nearly at mid-level, so I expect the real-world average to be at least 14-15 that too in city traffic which is very good considering the size of the car and the engine variant. MID has various options to display fuel consumption information but I prefer the standard average display method.


Drivability & Ride

The experience of driving Seltos in city traffic conditions has been fantastic. Coming from a sedan background, I was skeptical of maneuvering it but it is at ease. I have got used to the large dimensions of this car as compared to City in a matter of a couple of days of driving it. The driving experience is totally effortless. On good roads, the ride is comfortable, the suspension is tuned fine as per my driving conditions; Though on rough roads, the suspension appears to be a bit on the harder side. Currently, I am maintaining air pressure of 35 Psi, will try to increase/decrease it a couple of notches to see any further difference.

Handling & Braking

Being an urban SUV, the handling is decent with a good grip over the roads. I could not sense much body roll as of now at least in city driving conditions. On open roads, the stability is excellent; I have not driven it at very higher speeds as of now but even within speed limits for city driving, stability is inspiring. Brakes are excellent and have a very strong bite as soon as you press the pedal. Comparing with my Baleno, brakes in Seltos are ten times better. If I compare braking with City, Seltos is definitely one step ahead in terms of overall stopping capability.

[bluevolt]

Build Quality

The overall build quality is quite satisfactory. The doors feel heavy and thud while closing the doors sound premium! Though, the tailgate doesn’t seem to be as solid as the doors are. The fit and finish of the vehicle are good along with the paint quality. The gloss and finish of the color are finely polished.

Horn

The trumpet based horn is a delight to operate, the sound is loud yet doesn’t irritate. One honk and you find the passage.

Headlamps & Foglamps

The projector based headlamp offers good throw and fog lamps further add the illumination. The dipper functionality in projector-based lamps is quite powerful and I like how instantly the projector switches from low beam to high beam and vice-versa.

Closing Remarks

For the first 500 kilometers, the initial feeling is that I could not have got any other better car then Kia Seltos that could replace my 3rd Gen City. I am really liking the car and hope to have an amazing long association just like we had with our earlier cars. Next update, I will be writing after the first service scheduled somewhere in the first week of March. Also, planning to get the rear parcel tray installed in the service. The price quoted is 7500-/ INR!

[bluevolt]

Attaching scanned images of Kia Seltos Leaflet

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The accessories leaflet along with prices, surprisingly most of the listed accessories are not available at the dealership.

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The main brochure scanned images.

[vb-saan]

Thread moved from Assembly Line to the Initial Ownership Section. Thank you for sharing!

[vishy76]

Thanks for the review! Great choice of colour. Wishing you many happy miles with the Seltos just like your city. Your choice of variant only reinforces my thought that having a large number of variants (even though it might be confusing to some) ensures that buyers cross shop between segments.

As things stand, I can see everyone, from a buyer who wants a compact SUV under 10 lakhs to a prospective buyer for even the 19 lakh Hector considering the Seltos. This is what a good variant spread does. There is a Seltos for everyone.

The HTK actually seems to be good VFM for what it offers and has most aspects covered. I agree with you on the fact that the 1.5 lakhs extra only gets you cosmetic features (that too while missing out on climate control and leather wrapped steering). The HTK is good VFM that way. Disc brakes on all four wheels is the only thing I wish Kia offers as standard.

[gupta_chd]

Originally Posted by bluevolt

Deciding on the Color & Variant!

While further re-evaluating, two things strike my mind that made me drop HTK+ variant. First, it had a cruise control feature that I never would be using. Second, it didn’t have auto AC despite the difference of 1.2 lakhs in ex-showroom (new prices). DRLs, alloys and auto-folding ORVMs were surely ‘nice to have’ but not worth 1.2 lakhs. Alloys are also more theft-prone these days and lack of similar-sized wheel in the boot is also a damper.

Congrats for your purchase buddy and excellent color choice. I bought HTK+ in December and got silver colour. Wanted to go for red but not everyone in family agreed and wanted to stick to safe choice Anyways, one more thing, you mentioned that wheel in boot is not similar sized and although I have not checked it particularly, I guess it should be 16' only but not an alloy. Please correct if I am wrong.