[Amyth Prabhakar]

The White Tiger - KIA Seltos GTX+ 7DCT – 2020 Model with All Black interiors.

The most stylish, futuristic, compact, well-crafted, well-engineered badass with jaw dropping looks.

Likes:

• Ageless, iconic, flamboyant and matured looks.
• Long, well thought out feature list along with top notch quality, fit and finish.
• Powerful & Refined BS6 compliant Turbo Petrol Engine, mated to super-fast 7 speed Dual clutch automatic gearbox.
• Premium leatherette upholstery with red stitching lines, Ventilated front seats + 8-way power adjustable driver seat, Split and reclining rear seats.
• NVH levels, pick up and acceleration on flat roads and Highways.
• TPMS, HUD, 360 degree camera along with blind spot monitoring.
• Wireless charging, Rain sensing wipers, Front parking sensors and Automatic headlights.
• Solar UV cut glass and built in shades for rear passenger windows.
• Crystal cut, gun metal finished alloys, Signature tiger nose grille & Red sporty accents with GT line badging.
• 10.25 inch touch screen (ICE) with built in navigation, and vehicle setup software.
• 8-speaker BOSE audio system with an external amplifier and a dedicated subwoofer.
• Uniquely designed jewel LED Headlights/Tail lights embedded with Heart beat DRL.
• Fashionable 3D, layered LED indicators and stacked LED ICE cube fog lamps.
• Ease of maneuverability and drivability in cities along with high speed road manners on highways.
• Various Drive modes, Traction controls and Cruise control.
• Top safety package with 6 air bags, All wheel disc brakes with ABS, EBD, VSM and Hill Assist.
• Minimal badging [Unnecessary badges like BOSE, BHARAT 6 removed]
• Well laid out interiors along with a sporty D-cut reach and rake adjustable steering wheel.
• Clear and vivid MID fused between legible and minimalist analog dials which look better than digital consoles.
• Super effective Automatic Climate control with built in Smart Air purifier and perfume diffuser.
• Connected car features, UVO App, Voice recognition Tech and dedicated KIA call center support.
  

Dislikes:

• Overpriced for what is offered as a package.
• Very poor GNCAP crash test ratings. [With results showing up as barely a 3, K2 platform build quality with high strength steel is questionable and has been excessively compromised for Indian models]
• Ugly all black interiors even on the top of the line GTX+ DCT trims.
• Good year tires are a total disappointment.
• Manual handbrake seems completely out of place inside the cabin.
• Non-illuminated door buttons and poor door padding at this price point.
• Semi- automatic and a Small sunroof.
• Disappointing sound system. Pathetic FM reception.
• Entirely Server based connected car tech features and voice commands.
• Built in navigation does not help in remote areas. Have to rely on google maps.
• Pathetic sound and mood lights.
• Location of the senor on IRVM.
• No cooled glove box and smaller sized sun glass holder.
• No physical volume control knobs on the Infotainment system.
• Low beam headlights do not have the necessary throw.
• Harder suspension setup - Stiff and bouncy ride quality on bad roads.
• Poor fuel efficiency figures.
• Limited off-roading capabilities.
• DCT’s unfriendly behavior in city bumper to bumper driving conditions.
• Under thigh support on rear seats and lack of lumbar support in front seats.
• No request sensors on the passenger door handle.
• Manually operated front passenger seat.
• Long waiting times for Blue and Orange color schemes.
• Immovable arm rest.
• Ineffective rear AC and Poor intensity levels.
• Smaller sized spare wheel.
• No prominent road presence.
• Blind spot monitor works only when indicators are turned on and not otherwise.
• Heads-up Display is not suitable for all driving positions.

Must have but missing:

• 5 star GNCAP crash test ratings are mandatory at this day and age especially for a vehicle costing nearly 22 lakhs and this means a rigid body structure is a must. No compromises here whatsoever.
• Better stock tires should be high on the priority list. No compromises again here.

Wish to Have:

• Panoramic sunroof for sure. [Most wanted feature]
• Paddle shifters, Electronic parking brake with Auto hold functionality. [Most wanted]
• Electrically controlled tail gate.
• Of course the black and beige combo interiors on the top trims.
• Superior mood lights inside the cabin.

Lessons Learnt:

• To not buy the first edition of any car from any new brand in India unless it is a CBU. ( Tried and Tested elsewhere)
• To Wait for at least one iteration to complete before purchasing them and instead, pick up the facelift, especially when it comes to new car brands in India.
• To watch out for all double standards, used by car makers, before purchasing or investing huge money on them.

[Amyth Prabhakar]

Review Index:

• Booking and Delivery Experience + Tire Upgrade
  
• Exterior
  
• Interior
  
• Driver console + TPMS + Wireless Charger + IRVM + Sun roof + AC + HUD + Boot Space
  
• Blind Spot Monitor + Cruise Control + Head Lights
  
• ICE + Sound System
  
• Engine, Performance, Gear box, Ride and Handling, Drive Modes, Brakes, Fuel Efficiency And Safety
  
• UVO App + First Service + Conclusion
  

[Amyth Prabhakar]

Prologue:

I own the first generation Hyundai Verna Fluidic SX 1.6L diesel car. The car has served very well as my travel and commute companion over the last 9 years and has clocked 100k kilometers and still going strong. It has been a trouble free experience so far and the car seems to be hungry for more and looks ready to being it's second innings and embark on new journey and of course with a new owner, who obviously is going to be my wife. The pandemic put a full-stop on road & office trips and prevented the car from clocking more kilometers. The appearance of the 5th digit on the OOD is what made me think of a new car last year. Since, the entire automobile industry was in a state of flux,in the early part of year 2020 and with no BS6 compliant vehicles, I decided to continue to use my old car and hang on for a few more months/years as it was in great shape (100 not out and geared up for double century) and think of a new car in future with a hope to see some better cars, roll out from the automobile industry. I am not a person who changes cars often and in fact had no intentions to do so, until the son of Hercules, invaded the Indian soil,took the country by storm, hijacked my emotions and impacted me in ways that I couldn’t imagine, on many levels, and convinced me to change my mind and make a decision to buy a new compact SUV, the KIA Seltos.

I wrote an ownership review about 7 years ago and below is the link to it.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-...reet-hawk.html (Hyundai Verna Fluidic SX 1.6L Diesel: The Street Hawk)

My first love is in top-notch condition even today and have no plans to sell. It has only been transferred to my wife.



It’s now time to present another exhaustive ownership review all over again.

Requirements:

• Strictly an automatic compact SUV in the price bracket of 20-25 Lakhs.
• Fuel type: Petrol.
• Transmission: Definitely Automatic, preferably DSG/DCT.
• Usage: Highway runs and Office commutes.

Contenders: The War of Siblings – Hyundai – KIA



Hyundai Creta 2020 and nothing else. I might sound a bit crazy, but there really were no other options to consider other than the Korean siblings.

Undoubtedly the Villan, The Creta 2020, being identical to KIA Seltos in many ways was the biggest contender with more features and improvements on offer. However, the horrendous exterior design never created the impact that Seltos did. At the time when I decided to upgrade, the Creta 2020 wasn’t even launched in the Indian market. There were only speculations about how it might look and what it might get in comparison to the Chinese spec model. The internet was flooded with videos and pictures of the Chinese version. Seeing those images, everyone in my family were totally against the design and my brother and dad even drew analogies to an ambassador car seeing the front grille and bulged sides. However the interiors looked pleasing. So I had kept my options open with a hope of seeing a better looking Creta in in the Indian market. But after it's launch on the Indian soil, the exterior styling was a total disaster. Though the Chinese version of the interiors never made it to India, the interiors of the Indian spec Creta was pleasing too.

My only concern was to not feel bad, if ever, in future, a 2020 Creta laden with panoramic sunroof and better features was parked next to Seltos. But such a situation never arose and I could not convince myself and it never grew upon me to the extent that Seltos had. So I dropped the idea of owning one.

MG Hector: A Perfect Family SUV.

I did check out the Hector, and liked the road presence, the panoramic sunroof, the roomy cabin and the ride quality. However, the sluggish gear box, laggy touch screen, the disproportionate looks and the nasty badging “Internet inside” never impressed me. So I was back to square one and was left to witness the sibling rivalry and thoughtfully pick the one based on my likes and interests.



The Winner: The KIA Seltos: Better Late than Never

KIA literally means to RISE from the East and they did exactly that by creating a big hype and buzz across India through their promotional trailers and advertisements and finally made a grand entry into the Indian car market. The late entrants had the right ingredients to become a runaway success. Their debut product was bang on and did exactly what the Fluidic Verna with its fluidic design concept had done to the Hyundai back then in the car segment. I wouldn’t be wrong in saying that the trend setters shook and woke up the car manufactures in slumber and created a do or die situation for the other brands and pushed them to their limits and set new benchmarks in design and engineering standards in the compact SUV space on many fronts and instilled a ray of hope in the slumping car market and carved a niche for themselves as a leading car manufacturer in India.

The Decision Making Process: The Story Begins

Car to me is an extension of my personality and living space and should reflect the characteristics that I can be in sync with. I would not go and choose a car that does not look and feel good. So with that being the top criteria for selection and with the announcement of KIA’s entry in the auto world in India, I started following all the popular automotive platforms, blogs, product videos on YouTube and kept a close tab on Seltos, ever since its pre-launch days as the design was in line with my likings & tastes.

My focus was only on Seltos and nothing else as the other options I had considered, didn't look as promising as Seltos. So, I began stalking Seltos on social media platforms like watsapp and facebook and silently observed and followed everything that was happening from behind the scenes.

KIA did a lot of things, all of which kept me hooked and eventually forced me to zero-in on Seltos. KIA projected themselves as a premium brand in India and launched the Seltos at a time when the Indian car industry was in dire straits. Automobile sales was down and dull for most brands and there absolutely was no competition of any kind from any other brand in the compact SUV segment. KIA capitalized on this grave situation in India to the maximum extent and catered exactly to what the market was looking for by providing a feature rich, good looking, compact SUV and lured the Indian customers in every possible way. KIA made history by catapulting themselves to the top of the sales charts in a short period of time and literally changed the automotive scene in India. All of these events meant that there was one and only one option - "The KIA SELTOS".

I patiently waited for some realistic reviews to come out from automotive experts before finalizing on Seltos. Fortunately all the reviews were in my favor and the car also had bagged the most prestigious awards and accolades from the most respected automotive platforms in India and it was in fact the talk of the town. This is all I needed to go ahead and take further decisions.

The Test Drives: First impression is the best impression:



Having seen the big success story of KIA, reviews and what not, I decided to check out the car in flesh all by myself. I visited the showroom on outer ring road in Bangalore as it was closer to my office along with a few colleagues and booked a test drive for the GTX 7DCT. At first glance, it looked very impressive and I just fell in love with the fresh looks. The turbo petrol, Dual tone, 7 DCT automatic demo car was not the top variant. But that did not deter me from checking it out as I wanted a hands on experience and I was also aware of the fact that GTX+ 7DCT would be similar and would be fully loaded with all the bells and whistles. Owning the more powerful VERNA fluidic 1.6L SX diesel variant, I was under the impression that Seltos had an underpowered engine compared to a sedan. But after driving the vehicle in small empty stretch on ORR in Bangalore, all my presumptions and assumptions were shattered into pieces. The car sprinted like a leopard in the open space and instantaneously impressed me with its linear power output and pushed me to take further actions. Honestly, the lower capacity engine and gearbox combo faired better than the Verna's 1.6L and I was blown away by it's performance. I did check out the diesel top end automatic variant as well but did not find the torque convertor to be as peppy as petrol.



Though things looked good, I did not immediately book the car as I could not experience it totally in the short test drive and so I decided to take another test drive. The showroom executive asked me to pre-book a test drive on a weekday morning so that I could drive as long as I wished and get a complete feel of the vehicle before booking. I agreed to it and walked out.
A few days later, I walked into Advaith KIA showroom as it was closer to my home along with my wife. The old car, Hyundai verna fludic, which I own was also bought from the same dealer and I share a good relationship with them. A few of the managers and service advisors whom I knew in Advaith Hyundai were absorbed into Advaith KIA. Since I knew them from ages, it was easy for me to talk to them and get a vehicle booked for an entire day during the weekend for a test drive. The manager I knew, took special permissions from the management and allotted a test drive vehicle for a Saturday morning. I was also told to not exceed speed limits, do illegitimate tests and violate traffic rules. A showroom sales executive accompanied me as agreed at 10 AM and I took it out for the drive and tested it under various conditions and on highways and drove close to 120 kilometers with some minor off-roading as well. I was completely satisfied as it passed all the stress tests in bumper to bumper traffic, braking tests, ride and handling tests, acceleration tests and also got to know the mileage to some extent in the real world conditions. I also took this opportunity to test each and every feature that was available in Seltos like the cruise control and HAC, HUD, drive and traction modes etc. and the sales executive cooperated well by explaining everything that he knew of. I also had taken a USB drive loaded with my favorite songs and videos to experience the BOSE sound system. But unfortunately, the BOSE system was not available in the demo car and the sales executive promised to fulfill that requirement in one of the top end display car, back at the showroom to which I agreed and also tested it upon return. It sounded quite good. The rear legroom and boot space seemed very sufficient for us. Since we spent a good amount of time in the cabin, my wife and I were totally satisfied and convinced as it ticked most of the check boxes after an exhaustive test drive.

Color Selection: The shades of Extreme Confusion:

The colors as seen in the brochure.



The real colors:





Now that the car was finalized, the next step was to pick a color before the booking. Color selection was not an easy job as it created a lot of confusion and was tougher than selecting a variant, mainly because the colors looked different under different lighting conditions. They seemed to shine under the showroom chandeliers but looked dull under natural lighting conditions. I normally prefer lighter shades like silver and white but since the other cars that we own, the JEEP compass and Maruti CIAZ have shades of blue on them, everyone in my home coaxed me to go for the Intelligent Blue and be a part of the true blue team.

I decided to physically check them out and see how well the metallic shades look, on the top variants, before jumping into any conclusions. The showroom where I had booked, did not have all colors for display and so I had to visit almost all the showrooms in Bangalore to get a feel of the colors. I clicked a few pics of every shade during my walk-in visits to various showrooms. The pics I had shot under various lights really helped me a lot during the selection process. Initially I was hell bent upon trendy colors like the Punchy Orange to which there was a very strong opposition from everyone in my family. I also realized later that the orange displayed a lot of variations when seen under various lights and also looked dull and faded under some lighting conditions. The red wasn’t really red but maroon and did not look as intense as it was portrayed in the photoshoped advertisements. The Intelligent Blue too was not consistent but looked uniquely cool and pleasing. The aurora black, gravity grey and all the dual tones were straightaway eliminated from the selection process as neither I nor anyone in my family was interested in them. Upon close inspection, the Pearl white and the steel silver were the only colors that looked consistent across all lighting conditions. Out of all the available shades, we shortlisted the Intelligency-Blue, Glacier-Pearl-White and Steel-Silver. I was keener on white but the blue shade received the maximum number of votes at home and so it was finalized.

The booking Process and the Villain’s Intervention:

Seltos is a not a perfect vehicle by any means and it has its own share of troubles and there really is no vehicle on this planet that can satisfy everyone’s needs. Despite knowing all the drawbacks and shortcomings, having thoroughly understood all the positive and negative aspects of the car, having read the user stories and niggles reported by owners, I made a conscious decision to live with the block buster and compromise on a few points on my checklist. So without further hindrance, I booked the car at Advaith KIA on Lalbhag road, Bangalore in the second week of February 2020. The booking process was really smooth with a credit card swipe for 25K and a few entries and signatures on the booking form. That was all it and I got a booking confirmation message the next day from KIA. Since I booked the Intelligent blue, I was told that it would take 2 months for the delivery because the blue shade of GTX+ 7DCT variant was not readily available. A quick check on the booking statistics revealed that it was not the popular choice among the customers as opposed to other colors. The sales executive also told me that the blue Seltos would come once in a blue moon day from the plant and was the reason for some of the dealers to mislead the customers by saying that the blue and orange were discontinued as they had very less orders for the same.

I was completely OK with timelines as it gave me buffer time to check out the new Creta and switch over to it in case if I happened to like it more than Seltos. The news of Creta’s launch made a lot of noise and my mind kept fluctuating between these two and troubled and tortured me a lot. Finally the Creta was launched in March 2020 and I was slightly disappointed as it had the panoramic roof and a few better features and was backed by Shah Rukh Khan as its brand ambassador. At this point, I did not know what to do and the thoughts of the Villan, Creta 2020 began creeping into my mind, no matter how much I resisted. I was afraid that I would make a wrong decision and on the other hand, also had the time to cancel the Seltos and book Creta. So, to calm myself down, I visited the Advaith Hyundai showroom to take a sneak peak of the newly launched Creta. The interiors looked very good. However the exterior was catastrophic and I was happy and sad at the same time. Happy because the Creta was no match to Seltos from a design standpoint. Sad because, it had the most wanted features that I was looking for. I took some time to contemplate and finally my inner being settled for Seltos.

Just when everything had settled, the COVID struck and a lock down was imposed across India and this further pushed the delivery dates with a lot of uncertainty in the air. I consoled myself as I could now make more down payment.

The PDI and Delivery Process:



The delivery process was also very smooth. Since I had booked the car in pre-covid era, I was given the first preference as soon as the lock down was lifted. KIA also had announced a few minor upgrades to the 2020 models without any change in price for the top variants. I got a phone call from the showroom folks, a week after the lockdown was lifted. I guess it was probably during the second week of June 2020 and they told me that I would be getting an upgraded 2020 model. The only thing that I disliked about the upgrade was the all black interiors. I was also told that the color of my choice, which was blue, would take more time for delivery, and they checked if I was interested in white as they had received a fresh stock of the same. I agreed to that without any hesitation as that was what I wanted since day one. They asked me to furnish a letter for a color change. I did as requested through an email and the very next day they informed me that the vehicle would be ready for delivery and asked me if I had any preference for the delivery date. I said yes and also requested for a PDI at stockyard. The manager arranged for it and took me to the stockyard. The vehicles were unloaded from the truck and parked next to each other in an open field. All the vehicles looked dusty. The sales executive had brought the VIN and asked the stockyard security officer to locate the vehicle bearing the VIN number that he was carrying. I went and inspected the vehicle and checked the exteriors and interiors. Everything looked intact with no scratches or dents and the car had clocked 14 km on the ODO. I checked the tires and the manufacturing date on them showed up as FEB 2020. I deciphered the vehicle manufacturing date from the VIN and found that it was built in the last week of March 2020,which was just before the lockdown. I was finally happy & satisfied with the inspection, noted down the chassis number and confirmed the same and told them to go ahead with the allotment and also gave them my preferred delivery date.



Vehicle Loan:

The loan for the vehicle was processed a few days before the delivery. The same finance manager who had processed the loan for my old car at Advaith Hyundai was now at Advaith KIA. Well, I knew most of them at the showroom from Hyundai days. Though I had the pre-approved car loan for the entire on-road price from HDFC, I opted for SBI as the interest rates were low and had no pre-closure charges. I sent all the required documents to him over email. It was verified and sent over to SBI for validations and approvals. The Loan was approved in less than 24 hours and I had to visit the SBI bank the next day to finish the paper work. They also asked me to hand over 6 crossed and signed blank cheques in favour of SBI for security purposes and told me to not worry about it as that would get submitted if and only if I became a defaulter. Finally I made the down payment at Advaith KIA and they submitted the receipt to the bank and the loan amount was immediately disbursed on the same day. The Finance manager called me up and confirmed that they had received the amount from the bank and everything was set.

Vehicle Insurance:

I was given an option to take the insurance from outside and I did check out a few of them online at cover fox and Acko. With the package that I selected online, there really wasn’t a big noticeable difference between what the KIA showroom had offered and the online ones. The difference was about 5-6k and the one that was offered at showroom appeared to be better with added advantages and so I took the company given insurance from the showroom along with RTI (total coverage) and key coverage to avoid hassles.

Vehicle Registration:

I paid 5k in cash for a number of my choice to the RTO agents in the showroom. This was totally an unaccounted money transaction and I am really not sure about what percentage of it goes to their pocket and what goes to RTO. I was given about 5 numbers to choose from the running series. Each of the given numbers, when summed up was totaling to nine. I picked the one that I liked and asked them to lock it before the delivery.

Accessories:

I went to the showroom to finalize the accessories for the vehicle. Here is the list of accessories I purchased.

• 3D Floor and boot mats
• Neck and rear cushion pillows
• Leather key cover
• Microfiber cloths
• The baby tiger – soft toy.
• Alloy wheel for spare tire
• Ultra Kool sun film wraps.
• Rear reflector LED lamps.
• Frames for the number plates.
• Boot chrome.
• Car Cover.
• Door Visors.
• Dustbin

Ultra-kool Sun film:

OPN-60 was installed on my vehicle which costed around 16K after a lot of negotiation with the showroom management.

It has been installed on the front wind shield as well and does reduce the head light glare of on-coming vehicles to some extent and makes the night drives much easier. It does reduce the heat by about 1-2 degree centigrade and nothing like how it is advertised.






Extended warranty:

I did not opt for extended warranty as I have plans to get the vehicle remapped in future after the expiration of default 3 year company given warranty. I might also change my mind and buy an extended warranty by the end of this year.

Final Pre delivery Inspection:

I went to the showroom a day before the delivery date to check and make sure that all accessories were installed correctly. Everything was done as instructed and the vehicle was parked in the showroom backyard. I also clicked a few pics and returned back.



Vehicle delivery:

The showroom folks were waiting to welcome me as I was first one on their list to take the delivery on that auspicious day and there were four more deliveries that were lined up after mine. As I entered, I was greeted by the manager and was guided to a free table. The sales executive came and congratulated me and explained all the terms and conditions, and everything else that I was supposed to know and took a few signatures and handed over the car manual to me. They also shot a few videos and took pictures and finally I was called to take the delivery of the vehicle. They handed over the keys and the cakes/chocolates to me and kept it very simple so as to not breach the COVID protocols.

The AHA moment:



Purchase Details:

• Purchased as: New
• Make: KIA
• Model: Seltos
• Color: Glacier Pearl White
• Variant: GTX+ 7DCT
• Fuel Type: Petrol
• Engine: 1.4L Turbo - GDI
• Engine Capacity: 1.4L
• Transmission: Automatic.
• Drivetrain: Front Wheel Drive.
• Dealer: Advaith KIA, (Lalbhag Road) Bangalore.
• On-Road price: 21 Lakhs, 75 thousand in Bangalore at the time of buying.
• Purchase Mode: cash + Loan from SBI bank.
• Registration: RTO South, Jayanagar, Bangalore

Ceramic Coating:

I got the Ceramic coating done at Feynlab after the delivery. More details in link below.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/modif...ia-seltos.html (Feynlab - Ceramic coating done on my Kia Seltos)



Tire Tale:

Soon after the delivery I decided to swap the stock 17 inch, 215/60 Good year assurance tires, including the spare with the upsized Michelins having the following configuration 235/55 R17.



I did check out the Pirelli and Good Year Eagle Sports.



I contacted a few Tire dealers and outlets like Tyre professionals, Tyre Empire, Millivisons, Hercules and Balaji Tyres over phone and checked if they had the Michelin 235/55 R17 tires. Except Balaji Tyres nobody else had the stock. So I went to their store, located on JC road in Bangalore, to take a look at the tires. They had exactly four piled up in their stock and they looked very dirty as they were lying there for quite some time. I checked the manufacturing date on them. They were about 6 months old and the place of manufacture read as Thailand. I asked if they could get a fresh stock for me. They said that it was not always possible for them to source the latest stock, especially for the imported and upsized tires and also told me not to worry much about the manufacturing date as what they had was not too old. They told me that the Michelin's do come with a good shelf life, and are backed up by a 5 year warranty from the date of purchase. They said it was perfectly alright to use them on a new vehicle. So I agreed and decided to purchase the tires from them.

At first glance they looked very big, almost like a truck tire. I was apprehensive about their dimensions and thought that they would protrude out from the bodyline. So I asked them to bring the 17 inch Goodyears to compare the sizes and placed them next to each other. The Michelins looked slightly wider and bigger. I still had my doubts as they didn't look convincing to me. Upon seeing my worried look, they told me that they had previously worked upon another Seltos and had fit the 17 inch upsized tires on them and assured me that they would fit correctly and not extend out of the body line as long as I don't replace the stock alloys. They also told me that they would buy back the brand new tires of Kia Seltos and offer a good price if their condition was good. Having no choice, I made an exchange deal and paid an advance amount of Rs.2000 and told them that I would pick them up and settle the final bill on the day of my vehicle delivery which was just about three days away. They agreed to that and reserved and locked the tires in my name. The initial price that was quoted when I made the exchange deal was Rs.12,700 per Michelin tire and Rs.4500 per tire as buy back/exchange price for Good years if and only if their condition was good.

Unfortunately, the government issued a few restrictions on the tire import a day after the deal was made. Mr Srinivas, AKA Rajnikanth as he is a look alike, called me up the next day and said that he would not be able to give it for the same price that he had agreed upon initially during the deal. I immediately went to his store to speak to him in person. He returned the advance amount that I had paid and said that the prices for the same had increased because of non-availability and demand for Michelin tires. The new and increased prices that he quoted was Rs.13,250 per tire. I got into an altercation with him but he did not budge and the situation looked to me like he did not not miss an opportunity to make extra profit. I was helpless and at the receiving end with no other option. After much deliberation I agreed to pay the amount. He completely made use of the situation and used the dirty business tactics and extracted almost Rs.550 more per tire. Finally, he paid Rs.4500 x 4 = Rs.18,000 as exchange price for the Goodyear's and Rs. 4000 for the spare as he had promised.

The lockdown along with and import curbs and restrictions made the matter even worse and it became very difficult to source a single tire for the spare alloy.
I spoke to Tyre Professionals and they agreed and managed to get it and charged a higher price than Balaji Tyres. I had to pay Rs.13,750 for the spare tire.

Tire Upgrade:

Here are the brand new Michelins Primacy 4ST 235/55 R17.

https://tire-calc.com/



The 5 new tires, lined up, just before replacing the stock tires with Michelin's. Wheel alignment and balancing was done at Tyre professional.



The spare tire and the alloy.



The padding under the boot tray had to be removed to fit in the upsized tire.



Car Cover:

The car cover bought from the showroom is paper thin and not durable.



Since the car was ceramic coated soon after the delivery, I had to invest on better covers. I ordered a superior, customized, all weather, 4 layered breathable fabric, TPH Romanite car cover online and it got delivered within a week. It is also water proof and does not let any water soak in and the interior is made up of velvet fabric to prevent scratches on the vehicle.

[Amyth Prabhakar]

Exterior:

• The vehicle looks fresh and futuristic, proportionate and symmetrical, brilliant and eye catch from all angles and to put it in more precise terms, its beauty personified.
• The cuts, creases and the curves gives a solid well-toned muscular look and the strong character lines on the bonnet gives an aggressive appearance.
• The straight and the upright stance with sloping roof line makes it strikingly handsome and the overall design does stand out in the crowd.
• The swept back crown jewel LED head lights, the 3D blinkers, the uniquely crafted signature tiger nose grille and the vertically stacked distinctive ice cube LEDs makes the vehicle look absolutely glamorous and the front grille is bejeweled with knurled finished chrome which adds a premium touch to the front face.
• The heart beat DRLS at the front and rear spice up the elegance. The tail lights are connected by a chrome strip that runs across the boot and the faux twin exhaust design on the well sculpted rear bumper, makes it look very attractive even from behind.
• The embellishments like the GT Line badging, the red accents all around, the red brake calipers on the front wheels, and the faux skid plates looks strikingly contrasting on the white and enhances the overall sporty appeal.
• The 17 inch tires wrapped around the crystal cut gun metal alloys with KIA logo at the center fill up the wheel arches nice and clean. The exterior metallic paint job is top notch and the white pearls glisten and glitter under the sun.
• Solar UV-cut tinted glass on the vehicle, blocks the UV rays and reflects the heat and keeps the car cool to some extent.
• The vehicle does not have a big road presence but does definitely look bold and beautiful and makes its presence felt.

Exterior Walkthrough:



The Right Profile View:



The Left Profile View:



The front and Rear Profile Views:



A few shots amidst the jungle.



The red accents are present on the front and rear bumpers, and on the sides (doors). Looks very sporty indeed !!



























The GT Line Badging on the tiger nose grille + The Kia logo on the bonnet + 7 DCT badge on the right fender.



What is a tiger doing here ?? Well, the front grille design draws it's inspiration from a tiger nose!



It gets a five spoke 17 inch crystal cut alloys. Small mud flaps are present ahead of the rear tires.





ORVM:

• The ORVM’s are electrically operated and can be controlled and adjusted from the dedicated mirror adjustment buttons present on the driver’s side door panel.
• It houses the cameras at the bottom and LED turn indicator lights at the rear.
• They automatically fold open, when the driver having the smart key approaches the vehicle and unlocks it and they automatically fold back when locked.
• All of these behaviors can be turned on or off from the vehicle configuration settings. They are of right size and give adequate view of the surrounding’s.

Headlights, Tail lights, Fog lights, DRL’s and Turn indicators:

• The headlight assembly unit is an array consisting of 4 LED’s along with DRL’s.
• The two outermost LED’s function as low beam and the inner two function as high beam.
• The headlights emits cool white light and are bright and powerful. However the low beam throw is not satisfactory.
• High beams have a better throw and can momentarily blind the drivers of oncoming traffic and should cautiously be used within city limits. On the highways they brilliantly illuminate the road with excellent coverage and visibility. However the brightness intensity can still be improved like the Morimoto lights.
• Headlight levelling can also be manually adjusted.

• Automatic functionality of the headlight can be enabled or disabled by navigating to the vehicle configuration settings.
• When the auto mode is enabled, it automatically switches on and off depending on the lighting condition.
• The light sensor works as expected and turns the headlights ON within 2-3 seconds after detecting a low light condition. It can also be set to Auto mode by dialing the headlight switch.

• The signature heartbeat DRL’s extend from either sides to the center of the bonnet where the KIA logo is engraved.
• There are two parts to it. The first is the DRL within the headlight assembly and the second part is the pilot LED strip that runs all the way up to the center of the bonnet.
• The DRL’s are bright and always on and there is no way at all to turn them off or disable them. They turn off only when the vehicle is in stationary position with the handbrake on or when the indicators are turned on. The same behavior is not seen in the night and they remain on always, irrespective of blinkers status. The pilot lamps can be turned on or off independently. But they remain on when the headlights are turned on.

• The fog lamps are vertically stacked ice cubes shaped LED’s and are bright and powerful.
• There is a separate toggle switch to control it and can be turned on or off irrespective of head light status.
• When turned on, they give a better coverage and visibility of the sides and edges of the road.

The turn indicators are LED’s and have a 3D layered pattern and looks very bright and fashionable.

• The tail light assembly consists of a heart beat DRL similar to the one in the headlight unit, brake lights and blinkers.
• The same design language extends to the rear as well.
• The point to be noted here is that the brake lights, the reverse lights and turn indicators at the rear are not LED’s but just the regular lamps and is a clear case of cost cutting.

The reverse light is embedded in the chrome strip that connects the two tail lights.

[Amyth Prabhakar]

Doors:

• The doors feel heavy and sturdy. The front and the rear doors open wide and in a triple stage action and makes the ingress and egress quite easy.
• The interior padding on the doors, just above the arm rest, looks inadequate and the metal frames can be clearly felt. Looks like a design flaw.
• The front door houses the speakers, door pockets and the arm rests.
• The doors get speed sensing locks which automatically gets activated when driven above 20 kmph.
• All doors get a chrome handle and only the front driver side door gets the request sensor.

The ground clearance of 190mm is not too high and does not require a foot board to climb in, unlike other bigger SUV's.



The boot lid too goes all the way up when opened and makes it easy to stuff in the luggage.



Request sensor is present only on the driver's side door handle.



Windows:

The windows on the front and rear are wide with chrome lining at the bottom and door visors at the top and bring good amount of light into the cabin.



Bonnet:

The bonnet too feels heavy and sturdy with strong character lines which gives a very aggressive look to the front face.



There is good amount of sound and vibration dampening padding underneath as well.



360 degree camera:

• Four cameras, one that is camouflaged in the tiger nose grille, two, underneath the outside rear view mirrors and the reverse camera constitute the 360 degree system.
• It gets automatically activated when the vehicle moves in first gear and displays the surround view in the ICE unit, along with guidelines and warns if there are any obstacles and automatically turns off as the vehicle picks up speed.
• It can also be activated with a press a button and various views can be selected from the infotainment screen.
• It is crisp and clear in the daylight. However the display quality isn’t great in the night and gets grainy. If the head light beams of other vehicles fall on the camera in the night, video just smudges and quality deteriorates further. Same is the case with Blind spot monitor as it relies on the same camera setup.

Front camera:



Cameras integrated in ORVM's.



The reverse camera:



Automatic Rain sensing wipers:

• The rain senor is present at the top, on the front windshield and can be turned on or off from the vehicle configuration settings. If turned on, they do a great job and the wipe speed is automatically detected by the sensor based on the intensity of the rain.
• The front and rear wipers can also be manually operated and controlled with different speed settings by using the control stalks.
• The front wiper blades are long and sweeps over a wider surface area and does an efficient job during heavy downpours.

The rear gets a single, short wiper blade, which sweeps over a smaller surface area.



The windshield washer jets are hidden and neatly tucked under the bonnet.



Shark fin Antenna:



Glossy black, Rear Spoiler with Integrated High mount stop lamp.





The tiny sunroof:



The Square Fuel lid:





The tires, Alloys and the Metal nozzle caps with KIA logo:

• The vehicles comes fitted with 215/60 R17 Good year Assurance Triple-max tires from the factory.
• The spare isn’t a regular sized tire but a 16 inch donut wheel which is also from Good year.
• The tread pattern is quite deep and suits well for the city commutes. Though they are known for dry and wet grip they aren’t the best for high speed driving.

I love high speed driving and after having read multiple reports of good year tire failures, I decided to swap them with the wider Michelins, which included the spare too.

Here are the upgraded Michelins:







The upgraded metal caps on the nozzles:





A closer look at the beautifully designed 17inch alloys:

Front:



Rear:

[Amyth Prabhakar]

Interiors:

• The car has an equally hot, sophisticated and smashing interiors that complements its exterior design.
• The 2020 models come fitted with an all-black interior upholstery and looks sporty and contrasting in the white color scheme. However they do not look as bright as the all-time best, black and beige combination, but it really is a boon, from a maintenance standpoint.
• The vehicle is loaded to gills with tech and gadgets, along with a very well laid out interiors, inspired by a Mercedes Benz cockpit.
• The materials used are made of up good quality plastics. There are some soft touch elements too used in the design. The fit and finish feels truly upmarket.

The Driver's Cockpit:



Front Seats:

• The front seats are large and wide and offer good under thigh support and have a tubular pattern with red stitching lines and GT Line badging on them.
• The front driver gets an 8 way electrically adjustable seat which makes it easy to find a comfortable position.
• The front passenger seat is not motorized and has to be manually adjusted with a lever at the sides and bottom.
• The lumbar support is not quite adequate on the front driver seat and becomes very evident during long drives.

Rear Seats:

• The same design language flows to the rear seats as well with red stitching lines and tubular pattern.
• The rear seats also gets a foldable center arm-rest with cup holders and the seats can be reclined back by a small angle or set upright as per the occupant’s preference.
• The rear seat under thigh support is slightly inadequate but manageable.
• The rear seats do also get the 60:40 split configuration and can be folded and flattened to extend the boot space.

The front and the rear doors:

• The front doors houses the speaker, the tweeter, the arm rest and has large door pockets.
• Rear door gets speakers but no tweeters.
• The rear door windows are equipped with built in sun shades, large door pockets and an arm rest.
• The door levers look quite odd.
• The interior padding just above the arm rest feels inadequate. The skeletal structure of the metal frames behind can be felt.

The rear seat experience and the removable parcel tray:



Cabin space:

• There is decent amount of leg and head room both in the front and the back and the cabin is ideal for 4 adults which includes the driver as well.
• Only the front seats has the GT Line badging in sports RED.

• The front passenger seat gets a lever for adjustments and the rear seats can be reclined back or folded forward in a 60:40 split ratio to extend the boot space.
• The contents of the boot can be accessed from within the rear cabin space, when the seats are folded.

Cooled and Ventilated Seats:

• The front driver and passenger gets the luxurious ventilated seats.
• Air flow can be individually turned on or off for either of the seat and it can be set at 3 levels and is quite a boon during long journeys as it keeps back and the bottoms dry and cool.
• It really works. How cool is that?

Ventilated seats control buttons:



The front seat experience + leather key chain



There is adequate legroom at the front and the back. The boot is quite spacious too. However this is not the best in this segment.



Center and Rear Arm Rest, front Cup holders :

The front arm rest is non-movable as it houses the air purifier and the perfume dispenser units and a small LCD screen at the rear that displays the Air Quality Index.



The cabin experience:

The 2020 model has a few minor enhancements like chrome garnish underneath the AC panel and on the passenger grab handle along with all black interiors.





The Handbrake:



The scuff plates:

They come pre-installed from the factory.



The Small Glove box:

The storage area is quite less and there is no cooling functionality inside.



Cabin lights:

LED cabin lights at the front.



LED cabin lights at the rear.



Seat belts:

• There are 3 point seat belts for both front and rear passengers.
• Only the front passengers get the height adjustable seat belts.
• The vehicle beeps and warns when the seat belts are not worn and goes silent after a certain time period.
• The Rear seats also have ISOFIX mounts and a lap belt for rear middle passenger.

Flat bottom steering Wheel:

• It is a D-cut, flat bottom, reach and rake adjustable, sporty steering wheel wrapped in leather with red stitching lines.
• The horn is placed at the center with KIA logo and the bottom is embossed with GT line badge.
• The buttons on the steering wheel have a good tactile feel and are built to last.
• The buttons on the left are for controlling the infotainment system, blue tooth, voice and phone controls and the ones on the right are for toggling the display on MID and activating cruise control.
• The functionality of the MODE button can be customized.

The soft wrapping on the steering gets damp during long drives because of my sweaty palms and so I wear cotton gloves to avoid it.




Horn:

Sounds loud and German. Just the way I like it!

Window controls:

1. The windows on the front and rear are wide and bring good amount of light into the cabin.
2. The front driver side window gets the one-touch roll up and roll down, along with anti-pinch feature.
3. No other button other than the one for driver side window is backlit which kind of makes it inconvenient at night and makes the driver fumble around for other buttons.

Driver side door console panel:

• Has buttons for adjusting the ORVM's and controlling windows.
• Only the driver side window button is backlit. The other buttons do not illuminate.

The following buttons are backlit and illuminate in the night.

• Engine Start/Stop button.
• The traction control on/off button.
• The HUD on/off button.
• Console display brightness control button.
• Headlight levelling controller.

The control Stalks:

• The left one is for operating the front and rear wipers.
• The right one is for operating the headlights, indicators and fog lamps.

The steering adjustment lever. Steering can be adjusted for both reach and rake.



The Gear console + buttons for ventilated seats, 360 degree camera and Drive Modes.



The hand brake:

[Amyth Prabhakar]

The Driver's Console:

• It consists of two large dials for RPM and a speedometer and looks classy and in fact, better than the digital consoles.
• The fuel and temperature level indicators are also analog.
• It also consists of large 7 inch MID which shows everything that a driver should know of like trip info, tpms, fuel info, torque and acceleration, gear position, driving directions and compass when the maps are turned on, warning lamps and a lot more.
• The animations and the information on the MID are crisp and clear.
• The MID is integrated with Blind Spot Monitor and displays the feed from the ORVM cameras, when the indicators are turned on.
• The MID also shows a lot of useful info like the gear change/position indicator, the ODO, Current drive mode, Digital Speedometer, instantaneous mileage, door open warnings, outside temperature etc.

TPMS:

The TPMS details are displayed on the MID and show nearly accurate information about the air pressure in the tires only when the vehicle is in motion.
The TPMS used is not battery powered and uses the RF signals to communicate with the ECU and information display system.

The TPMS device:



The recommended tire pressure:



The Actual tire pressure:



Wireless charger:

It is located right below the AC control panel and comes integrated with a cooling pad.
It can be turned on or off from the settings in the infotainment screen.
I don't have a wireless charging tech phone and I don't use it at all.
I borrowed my friend's iphone and did check for a few minutes. It does do the job but I am not sure of it's effectiveness.



12V socket and fast charging USB port

There is also a normal USB port at the center for plugging in USB sticks and other media.





Storage area:



IRVM:

The IRVM provides a good view of what is happening behind the vehicle.



It houses the SOS, KIA Concierge services (UVO) and the road side assistance buttons and they are also backlit.



The sensor is located on the mirror. It appears as a black dot on the top of the mirror.
I strongly feel that the sensor should have been placed next to the buttons at the bottom.



The rear view through the IRVM:



Sun Roof:

• The overhead sunroof is electrically operated, small and semi-automatic. It can be controlled with a dedicated sun-roof button located in-between the LED cabin lamps at the front.
• The shade and sunroof opens up with a push of a button and brings in a lot of light and fresh air into the cabin. However, when closed, only the top glass slides back and locks in without pulling the shade.
• The shade has to be manually operated and closed.
• The glass also tilts open at an angle, without opening fully for just the air flow and ventilation.
• It is also not easy to pop our head out and to do so is a big circus especially for a person of my size and shape.
• It is much easier for kids to stand on the center console and stick their head out of it. However, it is dangerous and should be avoided while on the move as it may hurt and be fatal during sudden braking.
• It also is equipped with anti-pinch feature and prevents jamming the palms or fingers if accidentally placed while it is closing.

Sun Glass Holder:

It is slightly smaller than what my old car has.

• The sun visors and the foldable grab handles at the front and rear. The rear ones do get a hook.
• The passenger side sun visor gets a mirror and not the one on the driver side.

Automatic climate Control:

• The car comes equipped with a single zone Automatic climate control with fast cooling technology along with built in State of art Air purifier system and perfume dispenser.
• It is very effective in the front and cools and chills the cabin very quickly. The same is not noticed at the rear.
• The rear AC vents do not have the same intensity levels as that of the front AC vents and the front ones do the maximum job of keeping the entire cabin cool.
• Air purifier system, when turned on, displays the AQI (Air Quality Index) levels on the infotainment and also on the LCD display located behind the center arm rest and isolates the occupant’s from breathing polluted air.
• There are separate buttons to increase/decrease blower speed, to change the air flow mode and to control the front and rear defoggers.
• The entire control panel is slightly tilted up towards the driver for better visibility.

There is an USB port and storage space underneath the rear ac vents and an LCD screen at the top, which displays the AQI.



HUD:

• The Heads up Display is an 8 inch wide retractable screen and is a segment first offering.
• It slides in and out with a push of a button. The display contents can be added or removed, the colors of the display contents can be changed and the height can be adjusted through the vehicle configuration settings available on the infotainment system.
• It displays the speed in digital, and the driving directions when the destination location is set/selected on the map. It is very convenient and keeps the drivers eyes focused on the road and less distracted while driving. Have extensively used it during highway drives.
• Not so convenient for all driving positions and tall drivers will have to lean forward to see the display.
• HUD display is clearly visible even under the bright sun light without any reflections or shadows.

The digital speedometer projection can be seen a few centimeters ahead of the bonnet.
The display height can be adjusted and the one as shown below in the picture, works perfectly for my height.



Night visibility is excellent although I haven't captured it well on my phone.



Boot space:

• The car gets 433 liters of boot space and looks spacious. There is a boot lamp too on the left and a subwoofer on the right.
• Two large 82 cm hardtop suitcases can easily be fit in there along with some more smaller sized backpacks, duffel bags etc. without having to fold the rear bench.
• And yes the parcel tray will have to be removed to fit more luggage and that is more than enough for all road trips.

Note: Even after stacking up the large suitcases, it does not block the rear view mirror.

With and without parcel tray:



There are some small storage compartments on the sides to store stuff like first-aid medical kits.

The detachable parcel tray + storage compartments on either sides.

[Amyth Prabhakar]

Blind Spot Monitoring

• The MID shows the feed from the ORVM's only when the indicators are switched on and ORVM's are wide open. I feel it should alert the driver even otherwise when other vehicles get too close.
• The vehicle beeps and displays a warning message if the ORVM's are closed.
• BSM can be turned ON or OFF from the vehicle settings menu on the infotainment system.
• BSM is very helpful while switching lanes or taking turns.

While Overtaking a multi-axle Volvo Bus



and when in city limits



Cruise control:

• Cruise control can be activated in a two-step process. First with a press of a button on the steering wheel and second by setting the desired cruise speed by using the +/- button on the steering wheel.
• The cursing speed can be set, starting from 30 km and above and goes all the way up to 180 kmph.
• It gets deactivated when the brakes are pressed or when the cruise button is pressed and pressing the cruise again or +/- button reactivates it and resumes with previous settings.
• Accelerator inputs can also be given when the cruise control is set. Taking the foot off the accelerator pedal, settles the vehicle back at the previously set cruise speed.

Drive Info:

Accumulated Info, Trip Info, Torque and Turbo gauges, Instantaneous Mileage.









Navigation on MID:

MID also show the route details.





Fuse Box + OBD port:





Fuel lid and Bonnet release levers:



Sporty Accelerator and Brake pedals





Headlights in Action:

Over the years I have realized that the Sun light is the best light and have begun to confine my drives to day light conditions and strictly stop driving after dusk.
I try to avoid night drives as much as possible and do it only under inevitable circumstances.

The low beams within city limits. Looks white and bright:



The Low beams on Highway:





High Beam's on Highway:





They illuminate the road ahead very well!



Follow ME Home:

Headlights have the follow me safety feature which lights up the path in the dark and ensures that the occupants don't trip over or dash against something.
It glows for a couple of seconds and turns off automatically and works only when the headlights are set to AUTO mode.

Here are the dazzling night lights:











Low Beams + Turn Indicators + Fog Lamps ON:



High Beam + Fog Lamps ON:



The Tail Lamp:



Cabin:

The cabin too looks gorgeous in the night:



Backlit buttons the mirror look cool:

[Amyth Prabhakar]

ICE:

• It is a big, glossy, piano black, landscape oriented 10.25 inch touch screen with no physical control buttons and comes loaded with plethora of features and vehicle configurations settings along with built in telematics/satellite navigation system(uses a Vodafone SIM which is free for 3 years), Server based AI and voice recognition software (recognizes 50+ commands), connected car features, FM, Bluetooth, Compass, Android auto and Apple car play.
• It is also integrated with the car audio system and 360 degree camera. The placement and layout is spot on and integrated to the driver console and does not block the front view.
• It is slightly tilted and angled towards the driver and aligned to the driver’s line of sight which in fact prevents the driver from looking down while driving.
• The display is crisp, sharp and lag free.
• The touch sensitivity is good and accurate.
• It supports split screen and allows a variety of screen customizations according to one’s preference.
• It also displays the feed from 360 degree camera and gets automatically activated while reversing the vehicle or while moving ahead in first gear.
• It also supports HD video play back (MP4 format) from a USB and Android Auto and the video playback works only when the vehicle is stationary.

Split Screen:



Startup info:



Navigation and Maps:

Satellite Network signal strength:

• It displays 3D maps and shows accurate information and highlights the exact road to take during forks, fly overs and the exit route from the circles.
• Map themes can be set as per driver's likings and the map display size can be scaled up or down.
• When scaled up it zooms out and gives a more detailed and granular info and when scaled down it zooms back in and gives a wider view of the landscape ahead.
• Does not work correctly in very remote areas.

Maps displayed during the day and night hours.



Ambient Mood lights:

• The ambient lights can be turned on or off from the configuration settings and can be setup to either stay static or dance with the music.
• It looks a lot better in static mode.
• The brightness levels can also be increased or decreased depending on one’s preference.
• The mood lights are integrated within the speaker housing and also present underneath the dashboard and looks like a cheap after-market fitment.
• The ambient lights under the dashboard glows only in RED and the color cannot be changed. However the brightness levels can be adjusted.
• The lights in the speaker housing can be configured to glow with different colors.
• They don’t look as premium as the ones that are found in higher segments automobiles and also not visible during day time.

Car Audio System:

• BOSE has collaborated with Hyundai-Kia to provide an entertaining experience and the car gets a premium 8 Speaker Bose Audio system powered by an external BOSE amplifier placed underneath the front passenger seat.
• This sound system consists of four midrange speakers, two tweeters, a center stage speaker and a dedicated subwoofer. Front doors are mounted with a speaker and a tweeter whereas the rear door houses only the speakers.
• The performance of the sound system is not exceptional and impactful but does sound quite powerful/loud and immersive especially when high bit rate content is played.
• It is equipped with dynamic speed compensation technology which automatically adjusts the volume levels by sensing the vehicle speed and reduces the need for the driver to manually control the volume levels while driving.
• It does not live up to the hype and expectations & will surely disappoint the audiophiles as it clips off most of the low and high frequencies and also masks a lot frequencies present in human audible range or frequency band.
• Sound quality feels good when high bit rate content is played. ( 320 kbps mp3 songs and HD streaming content from Online music )
• The speaker grilles are meticulously designed and looks artistic and abstract.

The speaker - Mid range drivers:



The tweeters for high frequencies:



Sub-woofer for thumping bass and low frequencies:
BOSE logo is missing here, but the creta gets it.



The center stage speaker: No BOSE badging on this as well.



Bose External Amplifier:

Placed underneath the front passenger seat:

• BOSE also an acronym for [Buy Other Sound Equipment] in the audiophiles dictionary, is known only for making the speakers sound loud rather than making it sound loud and clear.
• Bass and Treble levels can be controlled for the entire sound system and not of individual speakers and they hardly do anything to improve the sound quality as there is very limited equalizer settings.
• Sub-woofer is quite punchy & does shake up the cabin at higher volumes but lacks deep bass. [Especially the very low frequencies]

Overall, they are not totally bad as the cabin acoustics delivers good distortion free sound even at higher volumes, provides a host of connectivity options via Bluetooth, android auto and apple car play & will serve the purpose under most cases and can definitely be lived with, without any fuss.

Being an audiophile, and having setup a 7.2 channel, Home theatre, which includes JAMO floor standing 3-way bass reflex speakers, center two way bass reflex speaker, Dolby ATMOS height speakers, Rear Surround Di-polar speakers and two Down firing sub-woofers, I know what sound is and prefer to enjoy that during my leisure time at home and on a couch than in a car so I am somewhat OK with car audio system.



Audio from USB.





Volume levels:





FM Radio:

• The FM radio reception quality is very poor and sounds horrible to say the least. There is static clatter noise. However, Few radio channels sound OK. Have not seen such a thing even in my 8 year old car.
• There is a mild hissing noise and and some distortion too. Turn the radio on and it sounds like you are out of city limits and makes you wonder if it is a 20+L car. This is the same with all new Hyundai-Kia cars.

Smart Air Purifier:

Displays the AQI ( Air Quality Index)



HUD: ( Heads Up Display)

The display height can be adjusted as per the driver's seating position.
The contents and their display color can be customized.



Blind Spot Monitoring:



Video Play back:

Media files can be sorted and viewed under different categories.



Android Auto:



Amazon Music:

[Amyth Prabhakar]

Settings and Configurations on ICE:

Everything is intuitive and self-explanatory:





Display can also be turned off and Screen saver can be customized with different contents.







































Voice Activated Controls:

• Saying “HELLO KIA”, activates the voice recognition system and it understands the commands spoken in Indian English accent and works most of the times.
• There are 50+ commands that can be used to communicate with the vehicle and get the work done without taking the hands off the steering wheel.
• The mic is placed on the roof and picks up everything when spoken in upright position.
• The only disadvantage is, they are server based commands and requires an internet connection to work and most importantly it needs the KIA server to be up and running fine all the time. If it goes down by any chance, the commands stop working.
• I strongly feel some sort of localized AI is what should have been in place and built into that ICE, at least for the most commonly used commands like controlling AC etc. Hope they do something better and sensible in facelift instead of giving useless cricket score command.

[Amyth Prabhakar]

360 Degree Views from the surround cameras:

The rear view:



The front and top view:



The front view:



Surround view:









Reverse and Rear View Camera:

With the adaptive guide lines:











Night Vision:

[Amyth Prabhakar]

Attachment 2107952The Heart of Seltos:

The Engine:

• Seltos is powered by a new BS-6 compliant, Turbo charged, 4-cylinder, Direct Fuel Injection, 1.4L (1353 cc displacement to be more precise) engine that churns out 138 horse power @ 6000 rpm and 242 Nm torque @ 1500 to 4000 rpm.
• The engine refinement levels feel top notch and the power output is linear and quite impressive from the word go.
• It is tuned so well that it never feels like there is a small engine under the hood.
• It is mated to a 7 Speed, Dual clutch, automatic transmission gear box. The engine responds accurately and almost instantaneously to the throttle inputs, loves to be revved hard and delivers raw power when in need. It feels very enthusiastic and energetic and does not show any signs of fatigue during the drives, be it within city limits or on highways.

• With a push of a start/stop button, it chuckles and fires up with a mild roar.
• The vehicle can be started/cranked and comes to life only if the brake pedal is depressed and the gear lever is in parking position.
• On a cold start, the RPM goes slightly above 1000 and settles down to 900 after a few seconds or when the gear lever is slotted to any position other than the parking mode.
• The sound dampening under the hood prevents the idling noise and vibrations from entering the cabin and makes one wonder whether the engine is on or off.
• A faint engine murmur noise can be heard at lower gears and the decibel levels further go down while on the move & becomes feeble at higher gears. However, if revved hard, a faint grunt can be clearly heard and beyond the 4000 RPM, & with accelerator inputs it starts to sound a bit noisier than usual and of course the sound levels are contained well within the tolerable limits and does not reach any annoying levels.

Unlike the diesel and electric motors, this petrol engine especially in the ECO and Normal mode takes a few micro-seconds more to develop and deliver good amount of torque and makes the peak torque available after the 1500 RPM mark, which makes it slightly sluggish during the initial launch. However, the equation changes as soon as the torque and the turbo kicks in and as the vehicle picks up momentum, the fast gearbox propels the vehicle with excellent power by slotting itself into the right power band and compensates for the initial lag and makes it look almost negligible. However in sports mode the lag is non-existent, and has excellent thrust and always ready to fly. A 1.4L engine may sound a bit underpowered from the specifications sheet, especially for a compact SUV, but in reality, the engine & gearbox duo offer loads of power output and the combination handles almost everything that is thrown at it. So do not underestimate the power of this compact engine.

The Gear Box:

• The 1.4L T-GDI petrol motor is paired to an advanced and a sophisticated 7-speed Dual clutch, Tiptronic, Automatic transmission.
• The DCT gearbox uses two clutches to orchestrate the gear shifts.
• An ECU controls the synchronization and timing parameters of clutch actuators and uses one of the clutches to handle the even gear shifts and the other clutch to handle the odd gear shifts and thus eliminates the loss of power from engine to transmissions during the gear shifts.
• The ECU reads the input parameters like the speed, acceleration and torque on the fly and correctly anticipates and decides whether to up-shift or down-shift and is quite accurate most of the times which results in better efficiency and performance.
• The gearbox shows a lot of urgency to up-shift and reaches the top gear as quickly as possible. It tries to be at higher gears as much as possible and only down shifts if it is absolutely needed.
• The gear shifts are super smooth and super-fast and can hardly be felt during the shift operations. However, a very faint/mild jerk can be felt ( only if you are alert and attentive )while it is up-shifting from gear 1 to gear 2 and from gear 2 to gear 3 and beyond which everything goes almost un-noticed as the vehicle picks up speed.
• The down shifts cannot be felt at all and can only be seen in the MID console after the change.
• The gear box also offers an option to manually control the gears shifts. The gear lever can be pulled towards the driver and can be tapped forward for upshifts and pulled down for downshifts. However, if the RPM needle reaches the redlines, the ECU intervenes and automatically shifts it to an appropriate gear. So, it does not give the experience of a complete manual gearbox and behaves like a semi-automatic.
• The gear ratios are well spread out and they do a great job of extracting the full power from the engine.
• It also heats up a lot in the stop and go traffic and it is best to slot it to Neutral when not moving.

The Gear Lever:



The gear lever is stout and well contoured and almost identical to the one on Skoda cars. It feels very nice to hold and has a neat leather wrap with red stitching lines along with some metal garnish around it. There is a shift button on the side. The button is placed at a very convenient location and can be operated easily by the thumb and needs to be pressed while shifting from parking mode to any other modes. The gear lever cannot be moved when the engine is turned off. The Drive and the Neutral slots are located close to each other and lever can be operated without keeping the button pressed. Between the D and N mode, the gear moves freely and effortlessly with just a tap. To move it other slots [Reverse and Parking], a bit of pressure needs to be applied by keeping the side button pressed. The vehicle also beeps and warns the driver to shift to parking mode, if the engine is tuned off in any mode other than the parking mode. There is also a shift lock release button, located beside the lever at the top, which can be used during engine failures or if the engine stops while running. It is analogous to Neutral mode and releases the lock held by the gears and frees up the wheels so it can be easily towed.



Performance:

This is where the Seltos shines. With lots of power onboard, it is quite impressive under most of the real world scenarios. The engine tuning and refinement levels are excellent and does the job silently behind the scenes. The midrange is punchy and strong and delivers when needed. The power output delivery is linear and turbo lag is well contained as the peak power becomes readily available at 1500 PRM. The engine feels very energetic and revs enthusiastically up to the red line on the tacho and effortlessly hits three digit speeds. However it gets a bit noisy and louder beyond the 5000 RPM mark and the peak power beings to taper off after the 6000 RPM mark. The gear box is slick and fast and is never confused and slots itself into the right gear almost every time. The in-gear acceleration is also excellent and responds almost instantaneously to the throttle inputs. Torque surge from the engine can be felt only after the RPM crosses the 1500 mark and unlike the electric and diesel engines where the torque becomes quite noticeable and available at lower engine RPM (1000-1200).The performance matches with that of bigger 2.0L engine SUV’s because of power to weight ratio.


Ride Quality and Handling Dynamics:

The Seltos has independent MacPherson struts suspension setup at the front and coupled torsion beam suspension layout at the rear and rides on the upsized 17 inch tires. The suspension is on the stiffer side with excellent high speed stability and minimum body roll and stays quite planted even during high speed cornering. The ride quality is absolutely flat, smooth and composed on good roads with excellent grip levels and gives a lot confidence to push it more to achieve higher three digit speeds especially with safety aids like ESC (Electronic Stability Control), VSM (Vehicle Stability Management), ABS and Traction controls.

The EPS steering is light, well-tuned, provides a good and direct feedback, weighs up with speed, and it gives the feel of sedan and makes the maneuverability almost effortless in city or highway. The handling and driving ergonomics are excellent for a car of this size, shape and height and it is easy to zip through the city with just gentle taps on the acceleration pedal and is a breeze to drive on the highways.
Excessive crawling and riding on brakes is not recommended as it overheats the transmission system, so it is better to slot it to neutral when not moving, rather than riding it on brakes.

With a ground clearance of 190mm, it brilliantly soaks up all the surface level potholes and irons out most of the blemishes with ease. Under most circumstances, the stiff suspension is tolerable and can be lived with.
However it is does not exude the same level composure and road manners over bad and broken roads and the sharp undulations do filter into the cabin, sways and tosses the occupants and gets really bothersome. The ride quality deteriorates and is not as plush as on tarmac.

The ride quality gets even nastier during off-road driving.
So it is better to avoid driving off-roads altogether in this urban cross-over. Please keep in mind that, Off-roading is not its forte and it is not built for that kind of usage although it can be used to some extent or can withstand some mild off-roading.

Seltos is more of a cross-over than a full-fledged SUV. So it best to use it for what it is intended than to try unwanted and unnecessary stunts.


Drive experience on steep inclinations: [Automatic mode]

The vehicle is equipped with HAC (Hill Assist Control). It gets automatically activated when moving on inclined roads from a stand still position. It holds the vehicle on the inclined surfaces for a short duration and gives about 2-3 seconds time for the right foot to push the accelerator pedal down. If it is started or moved from a stationary position, the vehicle chugs forward without any knocking but does ask for accelerator inputs and revs a lot, showing signs of some very mild strain, initially, with RPM touching the 1800-2000 mark and the engine holds it there till it feels comfortable and then settles down by switching over to a higher gear.

Drive experience on inclined surfaces when the vehicle is motion: [Automatic mode]

It effortlessly climbs on most slopes while on the move. Absolutely no issues here.

Driving Down hill: [Automatic mode]

There is no Hill descent control built into the vehicle and it needs to be controlled by brakes and accelerator inputs in order to simulate that. The vehicle rolls down with ease and with the foot off the accelerator pedal, it automatically downshifts to the second gear and the engine braking can be used to roll down slowly.


Drive and Traction Modes:



The DCT version also gets Drive and the Traction control modes to enhance the overall driving experience. There are three different drive modes [ECO, NORMAL AND SPORT] and three different traction modes [ SAND, SNOW AND MUD] that are available. The drive and traction modes can be controlled and activated on the fly or when the vehicle is stationary and gets dedicated buttons. Drive or Traction modes can be selected with a push of a button. A backlight on the buttons glows when pressed and indicates that it is active. The knob around the button can be used to dial in to the desired option by turning it to either left or right which in turn toggles between the different modes.

Traction and Terrain Control:

The traction modes supply the necessary grip by varying or altering the power distribution to the front wheels. It does work to some extent on very mild off-road terrains, slippery gravels and wet surfaces but definitely is not a replacement for all wheel drive systems or a 4-wheel drive vehicle. Seltos has very limited off-roading capabilities. Since it is a Front wheel drive vehicle, it is very clear that it is not meant for off-roading.

SNOW:

Works quite well on wet and snow surfaces and helpful while driving in the rain.



SAND:

It works on slippery surfaces and provides better traction while climbing up on a gravel road. It offers better road grip and can also be used while driving on highways and on flat roads.



MUD:

Somewhat works on very mild slush and muddy roads and tends to reduce the slip by modulating the power that is sent to the front wheels.



Driving Modes:

The drive modes alter the engine response times, RPM and steering weight and of course the fuel efficiency.

ECO MODE:

The ECO mode is fuel efficient and is ideal for city driving conditions and delivers smooth output by keeping the engine revs well below 2000 rpm mark and occasionally goes over when in real need. It makes the steering very light and the engine less responsive but does not make it underpowered or blunt at any point and caters to most of the city driving conditions. It can also be used on highways to extract better mileage at cursing speeds of 60-80 kmph. The MID animations and colors turn Green in ECO mode.



NORMAL MODE:

The NORMAL mode can be used for both city and highways drives and is kind of middle ground or the sweet spot between the Eco and Sport mode. The MID animations and colors turn Blue. The steering does weigh up a bit more and feels like the best of both the worlds. It feels more balanced and optimized but sometimes it tends to deliver more power than what is actually needed and reduces the fuel efficiency when unnecessarily used in city limits.



SPORTS MODE = Sheer Driving Pleasure:

The SPORTS mode is best suited for highways and gets extremely jerky and notchy if used within city limits. However, this is not a hard and fast rule and it can still be used on empty stretches within city as well. Sports mode can also be activated by manual shifts too. It is extremely engaging, enthusiastic and responsive to throttle inputs and loves to be pushed hard and unleashes the full potential of the turbo petrol engine and propels the vehicle to go past the three digit mark in under 10 seconds. How cool does that sound? Under all circumstances, It holds the RPM needle a bit at higher revs, holds the gears for longer and makes all kinds of overtaking’s a breeze on highways. With the sports mode ON, the forward thrust can be clearly felt and it feels like the vehicle is about to take off with its full prowess. It is analogous to activating the NOS button. ( Remember Need for Speed Game ?). The only downside of this mode is that, it has a huge impact on the fuel efficiency figures. The steering feels heavier and tighter and makes the drive more fun and enjoyable. With automatic sports mode on, the DCT limits itself to the 6th gear but does go up to the 7th gear in manual sports mode (S), NORMAL and ECO modes. The MID animations and colors turn RED almost like the F1 race cars.






Brakes:



The vehicles comes with an all disc brakes configuration.
16-inch discs at the front and 14-inch at the rear along with electronic assists such as ABS and EBD.
The brakes are quite sharp and accurate, with a nice progressive feel and have a strong bite especially on the automatic variant and does a fantastic job. No issues till date.

Front Right, Front left, Rear Left and Rear Right: Front brake calipers are painted in red.



Fuel Efficiency:

• Seltos has a fuel tank with a specified capacity of 50L. But I guess it can hold more and up to 60L.
• The real world fuel efficiency for the GTX+ 7DCT variant isn’t great. This is a sports variant and is not meant for mileage conscious consumers.
• The below figures are based on tank to tank calculation method and not from the MID display. The MID displays shows slightly higher figures, at least 2-3 km more than actual real world figures.
• Under City limits: It manages to deliver 8-9 kmpl and occasionally 10 kmpl.
• Highway Drives: Nothing more than 13-15 kmpl no matter how sedate the driving style is.

Build Quality and Safety features:



The body shell is mainly made up of high strength steel and feels quite solid and heavy. The structure also consists of Ultra high strength steel at certain points.



The vehicle is equipped with 6 omnidirectional air bags. Two in the front, for driver and co-passenger, two at the sides along with two curtain airbags.
There are three point seat belts for all the occupants. Two height adjustable seat belts at the front and the regular ones at the rear along with ISOFIX child seat anchors.







Active Safety Features:

The vehicle is equipped with lot of active safety features like ESC (Electronic Stability control), VSM (Vehicle Stability Management), HAC (Hill Assist control) and ABS with all wheel disc brakes and TPMS.

Over-Speeding warning: A single beep warns the driver to reduce speed, when the vehicle goes past 80 kmph and the beeps become continuous after 120 kmph.

Emergency Stop Signal:

The vehicle is also equipped with emergency stop signal which gets activated during emergency or panic braking situations and numbs the accelerator pedal to prevent loss of control and continuously flashes the rear lights to alert the vehicles behind.

City Drives:

It is similar to a sedan. Absolutely no difference. It is quite smooth in the city. The only area where I saw the car struggle was in the stop and go traffic. The DCT doesn't like to be driven in heavy bumper to bumper traffic as the crawling puts a lot of stress and strain on the transmission system and other mechanicals and over heats it. It keeps chugging forward in slow moving traffic and stopping it with brakes when the gear is engaged is only going to aggravate the problem and affect the durability in the long term. So as a rule of thumb, it is mandatory to shift to neutral when the vehicle is not moving and avoid riding on brakes.
Under normal or moderate traffic, it comfortably handles the load and there is nothing to worry.

Long Drives and Off-roading:

Have driven about 1000+ km on highways. Absolutely a fun to drive vehicle and this is what the DCT loves to do. However, if slowed down from higher speeds, it takes a bit of time to recover and climb back to the same speed it was moving with, especially in eco and normal modes. With sports mode, it feels like you are driving a car of a different segment and makes all kinds of overtaking a breeze and even keeps up with cars having more powerful engine because of power to weight ratio. The suspension setup is on the harder side and prevents the vehicle from bobbing up and down during high speeds and also keeps it stable during high speed cornering but it definitely is not as stable as a low slung sedan. Although much has been done to contain the body roll, it can be felt to some extent.



Drove the car in one of the the coffee estate in Chickmagalur. It effortlessly managed to climb the muddy terrains. The path was wet, due to rains. It did slip on some slopes and slush with some amount of wheel spin, but that is expected as it is not a 4 wheel drive vehicle. Overall it did well.

Driving it off-roads is altogether a different experience and gives a bone-jarring ride and makes the driver feel exhausted after the drive. It almost feels like there is a spacer installed in the suspension setup to prevent the spring compression.

Beside that is our Jeep Compass!

[Amyth Prabhakar]

The UVO App:

Very convenient app and gives a lot of information on phone.

The remote app can be used to send commands to vehicle to start/stop engine, turn on lights, honk, to lock/unlock, turn on AC and pre-cool the vehicle as well before driving.

It also shows the fuel level and tire pressure. ( from the time it was last turned off and parked) and not the current status. To get the current status, it needs to be synched up with the vehicle again.



Shows vehicle status info:



Shows all the trip info that gets recorded during each drive.

At the end of each month, it shows a summary of drive details which includes the total time driven, total distance covered and finally the lowest average and the top speed.



Digital Owner's manual which is very handy:



UVO Lite is basically for Music and Media. I don't use it much as I don't stream music over Bluetooth from my phone.



First Service:

Vehicle was just inspected and the nuts and bolts underneath were tightened.





A look at the underbody. Looks clean, neat and well organized.



MOBIS, Does it ring a bell ? Hyundai-KIA uses the same parts:



The exhaust outlet:



Very good underbody cladding and protection for the engine:







All set. Ready to go:





The new and bigger Advaith-KIA Service facility closer to my home.
Their showroom service center is always over-crowed so I prefer this calm and peaceful one at Banashankri, Bangalore.



Second Service:

As I write this, the vehicle is due for second service. The notification popped up in the MID.
The second service is normally done at 5000 km on the ODO or 6 months from the date of purchase, which ever is earlier.
In my case, it is the latter and I haven't clocked much due to pandemic.



Any Issues or Niggles to Report:

So far, so good. Have not faced any issue with the vehicle till date.

Final Verdict and Conclusion:

• Seltos is undoubtedly a great car to have. It feels more powerful, heavier, smoother, stronger and thicker than my old Verna Fluidic. The transition from sedan to SUV was seamless. '
• The only thing that is bugging me, is the GNCAP rating. I had assumed it to be 4 at least for India, but KIA has let me down in the safety department and lost my trust.
• Being new entrants, I strongly feel they shouldn't have done this. Instead they could have priced it a little more and made it a 5 star rated vehicle like it's foreign counterparts.
• How much more, would it have costed them to add ultra high strength steel is a big question I have for KIA. Hope the Indian Government wakes up and mandates the safety aspects.
• Other than the GNCAP ratings, I don't have any regrets.

Would I recommend it to others?

This is a very tricky question as it deals with brain vs heart conflict and the answer to this lies, with which or what wins or takes more precedence over the other.

Well, would I have purchased it, if the results of the GNCAP tests were published earlier?

Logically looking at it, A BIG NO, because it is not a value for money product.
It really does not justify the big price tag that comes attached to it and it is totally not acceptable to compromise on the safety aspects at this day and age and of course at this price point.

I would have probably made the purchase if and only if the top end variant was available in the price bracket of 16-17 lakhs OTR and still be OK with a 3 rating from GNCAP because there really was no other option available at the time I bought, like the Nissan Magnite. A premium price tag of 22L is not cheap and does not match up with the offering.

On the other hand, looking at it emotionally and from the heart, A BIG YES, because it is feature rich and still the best looking vehicle in this price segment from inside out. There is no doubt about it. There is no other vehicle from any brand other than (Hyundai-Kia duo) in the compact SUV segment that can give you the same levels of satisfaction and feel good factor of owning a premium car, no matter what safety standards other brands pack in.

A word for people who already own the Seltos or bought it before the GNACP Test.

I know the GNCAP results have disappointed all of us to a great extent. Now that the truth is out, there is nothing we can do about it.
So, forget all these stuff and enjoy the ride. Wish you all many happy miles ahead and happy safe driving.

Vehicle cleaning and maintenance at Home:

I love to keep my cars clean. So, I bought a complete pressure washer from Karcher to wash it myself, 3M car care kit, wavex foam blaster car wash shampoo , tire polish and jopasu car duster from amazon, a few microfiber cloths, car vacuum cleaner, 3M glass cleaner and rinse-less wash liquid from Feynlab. I don't use any polish as it has already been ceramic coated and I also get it detailed at Feynlab once in 3 months.



A Few pics with the Vehicle:

An Advertisement pose followed by a few normal poses and I also managed to squeeze out of that tiny sunroof.



My cute little friend, who accompanies me everywhere I go.



Thankyou for your Attention!!

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[vsrivatsa]

Finally good to see your ownership report on Team-BHP, have been waiting on this one for long! Very well written, engaging to read and full of pictures

Originally Posted by Amyth Prabhakar

I did not opt for extended warranty as I have plans to get the vehicle remapped in future after the expiration of default 3 year company given warranty.

Irrespective of the plan to remap, it is highly recommended to go for the Extended Warranty. Kia would still have to honor warranty on multiple aspects of the vehicle despite remap.

Originally Posted by Amyth Prabhakar

The initial price that was quoted when I made the exchange deal was Rs.12,700 per Michelin tire. The new and increased prices that he quoted was Rs.13,250 per tire. spare tire.

I had posted about your experience here way back in June 2020: > (Govt. imposes severe restrictions on tyre imports). But given that you still got the tires at a price point lower than Tyre Professionals at ₹500 per tire lesser makes it a great deal. Overall my experience with Sree Balaji Tyres has been excellent and even recently when most of the outlets are struggling to source Michelin tires, they were one of those dealers who confidently told me they have sufficient stock with them and that too fresh stock. For the benefit of others trying to source Michelins: > (Tyres, rims, alignment & balancing - Sree Balaji Tyres (J C Road, Bangalore))

Originally Posted by Amyth Prabhakar

Logically looking at it, A BIG NO, because it is not a value for money product.
It really does not justify the big price tag that comes attached to it and it is totally not acceptable to compromise on the safety aspects at this day and age and of course at this price point.

It is always easy to be wiser in hindsight but it is what it is and as a country we are realizing the importance of Safety features only recently.
Wishing you many miles of Happy Driving!