[ptaneja]

My heart skipped a beat as soon as a news like this popped up -

“NGT refuses to modify order on deregistration of 10-year-old diesel vehicles”

“NGT rejects plea for using 10-year-old diesel vehicle in Delhi”

This was a huge blow to me - both financially and emotionally as well.
TeamBHP covers it here -

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...delhi-ncr.html (Supreme Court bans 15-year old petrol & 10-year old diesel vehicles in Delhi-NCR)




My trusted Ciaz Diesel ZDi+ was running flawless - absolutely no issues, had replaced all 4 tyres just 10K kms back, was scheduled for 70K kms servicing in a month or so. Add to that, I was getting an excellent mileage of 22+ kms/ltr however I drove. I had planned to keep it for at least 12 years or so.

Ownership Thread - -
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-...60-000-km.html (Maruti Ciaz ZDi+ SHVS - Ownership Review at 60,000 km!)


Selling Experience - -
Chose the second option from the above, and posted my AD in various online forums ( Spinny, Cars24, OLA Cars, OLX Auto etc).
Out of all, OLX was the most horrible - got about 30 calls and numerous messages in just one hour of AD being live. I had to literally bring down the AD in an hour !

Finally the deal stuck with a fellow team-bhp member ( who at that time was waiting for his membership to be approved), who had seen my ownership thread, and was ready to buy it - though a bit below what I was expecting, but since It was going to someone I know, it hardly mattered.
With ODO reading of 68K something, and after serving me well for 6 and a half years, I bid farewell to my Ciaz in the month of March 2022.

Getting it washed for the final time -


And then waving it good bye -

[ptaneja]

Replacement Vehicle Search !

I was on the lookout for a replacement vehicle since the start of 2022.

My main requirements were -
- Petrol Engine - wanted to keep it for 10 years and then sell it with some residual value.
- Preferred Auto - Manual was no big deal too
- Space - With 4 adults + 1 kid + dog - and 6 to 12 outstation trips in a year, it would mean a good space is needed. I was not particular about 7 seater, but atleast minimum Ciaz like boot space.
- Was not interested in drag racing within the city
- Budget of max 12L/13L on road.

With the above criteria in mind, I had the following choices -

Once again a Ciaz - but with Petrol. Everyone was bored with it - even though it would have served our purpose well, driving the same vehicle for next 10 years was a bit too much. If we have to spend something, its worth spending on a new refreshed design.
Cost - Top Model - 13.80 L Alpha Auto



Hyundai Creta - base model looked nice and within budget. With market flooded with aftermarket accessories, and coupler to coupler connections, it was not difficult to uplift the base model to one notch above. The biggest let down was HUGE waiting period. The situation was such that the dealers didn't even had a single display piece ! And attitude with regards to Creta on cloud nine - “Sir aap book kijiye youtube pe video dekh kar - display vehicle nahin hai” - well this was much before their just managed 3 star GNCAP rating. As a side note, earlier version of Creta was better looking than the current one & infact even the upcoming one.
Cost - Base Model - E 1.5 for 11.8 On Road.



Maybe this ?



Tata Stable - Visited TATA showroom in two different cities - and the attitude and willingness (or maybe un-willingness ) to sell was evident in both. Good design, good products matched with equally bad sales and service. I wanted to check out both Harrier and Safari - though out of budget, but maybe base model ?!
No explanation , kept delaying the test drive vehicle for one reason or another till I just stopped calling them. Even though both the vehicles were out of budget, but the attitude of “Sanu Ki” - meaning I don't care, if you buy or not - was a total setback.
I had expected this coming from TATA, and in the corner of my mind I was even ready to accept it - but my wife was damn opposite - no need to buy a vehicle from someone who can’t give attention “before” the sale - what would happen post sales, in the service section !
Of course, Nexon was too cramped for my liking. No offence to owners, but this looked like a beefed up Swift space wise.




Back to “Kitna Deti Hai” showroom - you must have guessed that this is a Maruti dealership. One query on their website, and I was getting calls from 5 different dealers. This was just amazing eagerness to sell. I had enquired for both Ertiga and XL6. I had an Ertiga in my family, and though I was somehow convinced to buy it, my kid was dead against it - “ I don't want to see my cousin’s car in my house” , plus the same old design was a negative factor too. Even though I searched and searched, the facelift was also not majorly different.

Then came the XL6, like it space wise, driving was decent too, and we had to wait for a facelift as well. This was shortlisted, and told the SA to call me up as soon as pre-booking starts.


Out of nowhere, we visited the Kia showroom on the way back from Shimla. Even though the news of Seltos breaking into two was fresh in memory, I still visited them, and checked out the car. This was before Carens was released. We had no plans to buy Seltos, but asked for a test drive nevertheless. The car was ready in 15 mins - totally impressed. Incidentally, the test drive vehicle was an iMT, so kind of ticked both check boxes - manual and auto version. Even though I had to change gears, at least clutch engagement was missing. There was a bit of compromise space wise, but well, this was somewhat enough.


Ex Showroom + TCS + RTO + Insurance = was costing approx 13,50,000 ( plus planned an upgrade of sweeping DRL + Ice Cube Fog lamps etc for 30K - Optional ! )

First Booking : So we made our first booking by the end of Jan 2022 - Seltos iMT Grey colour in HP Dealership. Waiting period told to me was a good 18 weeks.

Second Booking : Concurrently, the second booking was the same variant, but in NCR, since the dealership was certain of providing us sooner than HP! There was a difference of about 45K between RTO charges vis a vis HP, but we can decide that later.
Price wise, it was costing close to about 14L on road. A bit over budget, but we had to choose something.
I was in Mandi(HP) in March, when I saw a Kia showroom there. Impulsively, went ahead and asked them for a test drive, an iMT in hilly terrain. The last test drive was in Gurgaon plains. The car was provided, and it comes with “no” hill hold feature - so the car did roll back a few inches every time it was picked up from incline. Coming to iMT from Manual, was a big let down in this feature - I was used to playing around with Clutch and Accelerator to hold the vehicle without the use of Emergency Brake. This was a nuisance for me, but definitely not a deal breaker.

Third Booking: When we were about to return the car, we saw Carens there. Instantly loved the space it offered. Externally in comparison to Seltos, I didnt liked it much - but thats all subjective. Took a test drive of DCT as well, and it was super smooth, spacious, silent and a no-nonsense people mover. On looking at price breakup, RTO charges were a LOT cheaper than Gurgaon - so we made our third booking - Carens 1.4 Prestige Plus DCT. It was going way above the budget, but we decided to look up finances later - not that the vehicle is ready and we have to pay.
Carens DCT was costing me 15.70L on road in HP - this was on 15th of March 2022.

And why this model only ?
Because Kia left me with no options as such.

Do you have 1.5 NA with Prestige Plus ?
Kia - “No”

Do you have an Auto Gearbox which is NOT a DCT (Petrol) ?
Kia - “No”

Do you have Carens Prestige Plus Diesel in Auto ?
Kia - "No"

Do you have Prestige Plus 1.4 Manual Petrol with 7 seater option ?
Kia - “Yes” !

So, it was Prestige Plus 1.4 Turbo Manual Petrol.

Fourth Booking : With no visible sign of getting the vehicle sooner, out of desperation booked yet another vehicle in NCR - same variant, Carens 1.4 DCT. This was our Fourth Booking with Kia ! Once again, local dealership was dead sure that we’ll give you within a month or so, have contacts etc and what not.


Carens or Seltos ?!
Confused !!
Meanwhile, I opened up another thread in TeamBHP asking for responses on Carens DCT vs Seltos too.
- https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/suvs-...ia-seltos.html (Kia Carens vs Kia Seltos)

The responses were 70:30 in favour of Carens.
But during all these responses, there were few which comments which stand mentioning - which forced me to research further, and eventually made me change my variant. The more I searched about horror stories of DCT, the more I realised my mistake. Even though I was ready to spend 1L for repairs post warranty, I dreaded being stranded in the middle of the highway with an overheated and failed gearbox with my family.

Modification of Bookings - This resulted in modification in my 2 bookings ( HR and HP dealership) - both bookings on Carens was modified from 1.4 DCT to 1.4 Manual on 25th of March 2022. Delivery timer was reset to zero again - it was to be considered a fresh booking, and I was again at the back of line.

By the end of March 2022, 2 months had passed,and there was no sign of Seltos. I was also not pushing the dealer, as by now the reports had started to come for an upgraded Seltos variant - fixing the suspension, giving 6 airbags+safety features and most importantly Hill Hold etc etc . At this point I was ready for both Carens and Seltos - whichever comes first.

Fifth Booking : Since, there was no sight of Carens, by first week of April, Maruti also started pre-booking for XL6 2022 Facelift. There goes our fifth booking for the year !

By this time I had spent 25000 (Seltos iMT - HR ) + 25000 (Seltos iMT - HP ) + 25000 (Carens 1.4 - HR) + 25000 ( Carens 1.4 - HP ) + 11000 (XL6 Maruti - HR ) on bookings alone - with no sign, confirmation or date of delivery of any one of them.

Then came a big shock on 1st of April - huge price rise by Kia on all variants. I had expected them to honour some sort of price protection which Mahindra did for XUV700 - but none whatsoever. Coming to my specific variants I had booked, the ex-showroom price of Seltos was incremented from 12,45,000 to 12,75,000 and for Carents it was from 13,49,000 to 13,89,000. Well, can't help it. First we have to be like beggars standing in front of a dealership, waiting for months and then paying an incremental cost. The market is now vendor driven rather than consumer driven.

In the first week of April - I casually called up my dealer in HP, and asked about the status. As per him my variant in Gravity Grey colour choice was next in line to be delivered. “When” no one was aware. This time I gave him an option - look for any variant, any color and can be either both - Diesel or Petrol. He promised to revert back in a day. Out of nowhere, his call came on 11th April, that they have a cancelled Prestige Plus 1.4 Carens - Silky Silver - if needed(all thanks to a cancelled booking!). I told him to keep it booked, and will do a PDI tomorrow morning.

Went to Showroom on 12th early morning, spent a good hour checking all the details. Got my VIN verified from our own TeamBHP thread, and it was confirmed to be 28th March manufactured vehicle. With that said and done, now was the time to do paperwork for loan.

Loan Formalities :
Once again, SBI Car Loan department amazed me. Even though getting things done for a normal banking operation gives headache, but loan department is way ahead.
I gave all the documents on the evening of 11th April - post their office hours. On 12th morning at the dealership their staff was there with all the forms and my documents printed out for signs.
By the time I did my PDI, they completed their formalities, and in 3 hours or so, I received a call that the loan was ready, and inform us when you want to get that disbursed directly to dealership.
ROI provided to me was 7.25% fixed + waived off documentation charges.

With the loan amount credited to the dealership, I made the transfer for the remaining amount after adjusting the booking amount of 25000. They generated the invoice, which I forwarded to my insurance agent, who in turn provided me the car insurance ( 1 year comprehensive + 3 years third party) document with the premium of 23500/- ( as per him, he could have squeezed it further down to 20,400/- , but that would mean waiting a day as he had to take official permissions ) 50% NCB certificate from Ciaz was adjusted and taken into consideration here.

Total Cost of the Car - (rounded off)
Actual Billing from Kia to Dealer = 9,60,000
CGST @14% = 1,35,000
SGST @14% = 1,35,000
Cess @17% = 1,62,000
RTO Charges = 70,000
TCS @1% = 13,890
Insurance = 24,000 ( includes GST of approx 4000 )

Total On Road Cost = 15,00,000
Out of the above, surprisingly giving a total of approx 5,20,000 to the government as taxes.


Delivery Formalities :
Nothing major out of the ordinary happened - whole experience was smooth, quick and stress free. There were a total of 5 deliveries that day - 2 Seltos, 2 Sonet and 1 Carens. By the time we returned post lunch, ours was the only car left to be delivered - wrapped in Red Velvet waiting to be unveiled.
Small pooja ceremony was done, and the car was delivered - completely clean and dust free.
Paperwork was collected - RTO/Permanent Number will come in about 15/20 days. ( I did pay 5000 for “choice number” with RTO - if we have to keep this car for next 12 years, why not a special number - not a VIP/Fancy number )

ODO reading at the time of delivery was 14 kms.














Post Delivery -
Minor 50 odd kms run in Hills, then back to NCR
Had a tankful of petrol after delivery itself, and it took in 42 litres at around 105rs/ltr.
Came back to NCR and refilled it again, and ODO readings were 437 - resulting mileage of 19.34km/ltr.
This was with no sudden acceleration, max speed of 90/100, 25% hill driving with good inclines and 6 people on board, 25% within city traffic, and remaining 50% on highway using “cruise” as much as possible.
I know the numbers will drop as and when the car is used within the city - but first impression of 19km/ltr is terrific.


Overall, early 500km mark feedback :

Likes:
- Spacious !! Multiple seating arrangements possible.
- A minor boot space available even with all seats upright.
- Comfortable seats
- Super silent engine - hard to tell in traffic if it’s really powered ON or not.
- 16" Alloys - no need for an upgrade ( compared to 15" in old XL6)
- Cruise Control - was missing in Ciaz.
- Automatic Climate Control, Auto Headlights
- Host of safety features - 6 airbags/ESP etc
- Reverse Camera with guided markings
- Front Sensors
- TPMS - was not present in Ciaz.

Not so nice:
- Reflective ICE Touch Screen
- Non sliding armrest.
- Low end torque - I’ll have to get used to it coming from Diesel.
- Spare wheel is not an alloy - a common feature for all manufacturers.
- Manual DayNight IRVM - Even 7 years old Ciaz had this electric.
- Worthless headlight throw - specially high beam, when the section just ahead of car is engulfed in darkness because of missing Fog Lights/Single Headlight Assembly for both High and Low.


It's too early to find out all the niggles and negatives in just 10 days, so the list will probably expand further with time.

I have not got a chance to click too many of photos as well, but with an upcoming summer break, i’ll get some chance !

[ptaneja]

About the Vehicle

Nothing can start before the entry of Lord Ganesha !




- Exterior Looks / Head Light Unit / Paint, Fit and Finish –

I found the paint and finish as consistent, nothing abnormal or out of way. No major panel gaps, and whatever there are , they are consistent.
Running board has no paint bubbles, I had those in both of my Maruti car’s - Ciaz and SX4.

Looks are pretty subjective, I am still not in love with the looks - and still find Seltos more good looking than Carens. I do like the design of DRL’s though !

Comparing with Ciaz, doors are heavy and closes with a thud. It's a major difference coming from Maruti - door from any of my family members are not closed the first time. They are just too used to just giving it a slight push, and its done - but these are indeed heavy doors.

Headlights have an “Auto” function - keep them in this mode and they do turn up automatically even when we are in underpass. DRL’s are turned ON when the car is powered up - no manual option to turn them off.

Fortunately it comes with Shark Fin Antenna and not a wired receiver stuck out from roof.



This is a long car - dimension wise.



DRL's - either hate it or like it.



Rear Look and overall stance of the car.



CON - As mentioned above, the light throw in high beam is good enough, but it created sections of complete darkness just ahead of car.
Probably missing Fog Lights, or just one headlight assembly doing both the work is the culprit.


- Door Pockets / Cubby Holes / Storage / Power Windows Console -

Plenty of storage spaces all around. Door pockets are deep, and can take in easily 1litre bottles.
Central armrest area space is sufficient too. It's Deep !
Rear Cup Holders present in middle seat.

















Keys -
Two keys received - 3 button, lock/unlock and boot unlock.
Slim and small. Not like Maruti which was elongated and big.

CON -
Unlock is LOUD. Locking it is LOUD too !
This will accumulate scratches.

Workaround -
Purchased a silicon key cover to keep it safe.
Here is a link for purchase, multiple color options exist -
https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B08...0?ie=UTF8&th=1




Wheels –
Stock tires are MRF, manufactured in the last week of Feb 2022 - size is 16”.
I don't think there is a need to upgrade, or change anything in this section - at least till 50K kms mark when tires will be changed.


CON - As with industry standard, the spare wheel is not an allow - and I am not even sure what's the size of it.
I have never removed a tire from the bottom of vehicle - with a flat tire, this should be my first !

[ptaneja]

- Interior Comfort / Interior Design/Seat Covers

I got the new seat covers installed on top of the available one’s.
Couple of reasons for doing this change
- I am not too fond of dark color seat covers, makes the whole cabin feel dark and depressed.
- Second reason is the fabric type - I wanted to have leather/PU or similar stuff, as they are easy to clean and maintain.

Modified the central arm rest too to match the new seat covers.

I had to pay attention to Airbag Friendly seat covers - so have kept the flat on the side of seat open for airbags to inflate and come out if need be.

Here are the snaps with old seat covers.







Take a look at surface area with seats removed.




Getting the new covers installed - bucket fitting.




And here are the new covers -





View from Rear -



Post that, whole cabin feels airy, light and cheerful post changes.

Other than that, I am pretty much pleased with available space. No rattles so far, no squeak’s….but coming from Maruti, I am not too sure how will the car age.

Do need to mention the lovely faux plastic design - from a distance looks like leather soft touch stiching, but in reality its just a design on hard plastic.





As per family who are rear occupants, there is pretty much all the space and comfort they need. Front seed comfort, road visibility, and ergonomics are all ok.

Curtains provided for rear windows. But are they even legal ? I had once got a challan in Chandigarh for pasting that road side black window blinds. And now getting them OEM ?!



Vents in Cubby holes for keeping drinks cool is a good move. Will not keep them chilled, but will be drinkable in 40+ deg Celcius temp.

Rear view mirrors is not Electric ! Manual switch to swap between night time and day time - had this 10 years back in Swift ! This is an eye sore to an otherwise good enough cabin.
Waiting for warranty to be over, and I'll get an Electric Installed.



Following is the legroom - passenger side extreme back, driver side as per my driving style.



CON -
# For me, rear seat under thigh support is not that amazing, but since I'll be primary driver here, front seats are comfortable.
For family, they don't find much difference between rear seat of Ciaz or Carens, except that they are seated a bit higher.
# The middle seat is not that comfortable as the other passenger seats - so best for kids, or adults will complain in the longer run.
# Electric DayNight IRVM missing ! Cant imagine a cost cutting of 5k on 15L car.


- Night Time Internal Lights and Looks

Prestige Plus do not come with Ambient lighting.
I am not interested and in favor of those. The excitement of these useless perks vanish away with time.

[ptaneja]

- Boot Section / Air Con / Power Windows / Audio /Rear Camera –

Boot section is decent enough even with all seats upright.
But the real space opens up when you bring down the last row.

With our most of the highway trips, we would most likely be using front 5 seats, and rear one seat for our pet dog.

We need to test this in upcoming summer vacation. But for now, even with all seats upright, there is a decent space to fill up duffle bags.











Stereo Feedback -
With audio, kind of average feedback. Nothing is majorly audible unless volume is turned up to 30+ volume. Clarity at high volume is good, just the loudness is missing.

DRVM is a good feature - rear camera stays on even when reverse gear is not engaged. Nice to see rotary knobs to increase/decrease volume. Dont want everything on screen !

Wireless Android Auto is good enough - a very minor lag during Maps - but overall similar to what wired Android Auto worked with Ciaz.

And yet, so far no freezes/crashes or hung operation for ICE.

TPMS works perfectly fine - the only drawback is that it’s visible only when driving. So you can’t find it out before leaving from home.

Rear Camera is good enough - clear and precise. Dynamic guidelines were missing in Ciaz - Its a welcome change here.
Carens also comes equipped with front sensors - but with load of city traffic driving, you are bound to turn this OFF.

Look at the reflection ! And this is in a shaded area. Will remove the screen film and see if it makes a difference.




CON -
Not many, but -
Reflective screen of unit.
TPMS only visible when moving
Loudness of speakers

Power Windows
Gets the job done.
Thankfully the buttons are there where they deserve to be placed.
And not at the rear of emergency brake ( Celerio ! )




Air Conditioner Unit
For now I am absolutely satisfied with the speed at which it cools down the whole cabin - considering the size of it.

It’s an Auto AC, with all buttons as finger touch. No physical buttons exist.

Overall it cools the cabin within minutes. The design of air vents in front is rather excellent - integrated into dashboard lines. Excellent fan speed and throw for rear benches too.

CON -
The only minor drawback is that the buttons are feather touch - so they do get pressed here and there accidentally by kid. Should have given an option to lock them once everything is set.






Push Button Start / USB Charging Points / Sun Visors / Underbody Cladding -

Push Button start is the normal routine.



Charging points are plenty. Apart from these, couple are present for middle row, and another two are present in the last row. All are type C points.



Steering Mounted controls are a combination of Stereo Controls + MID navigation + Cruise Control.
Cruise is something new which was not there in Ciaz. It's an absolute bliss and easy to use without taking your eyes off of the road.






Sun Shades are without any vanity light and are a tad smaller than window size horizontally - will not cover the whole window.






Misc Points

Nice to see underbody covering !
Additionally all the cables in engine section are protected with a plastic sheath/covering to protect from rat bites.



Placement of ABC Pedals.
Dead pedal is present. No issues faced with their distance from each other.



One more cost cutting in 15L vehicle - request sensor is available only on driver side and not on both front doors. Ciaz had that !




Visibility and Size of Mirror/Rear View -
Visibility in rear view mirrors is good.
Welcome feature present in car - reach the front gate with key in your pocket, and both mirrors automatically open up. Good move !


Engine Bay / Performance - City / Highway / Fuel Efficiency -
Nothing much to write about this, but the fact that it should have come with insulation. Though the engine is super silent and noise doesn't creep inside, but the black insulation looks good to hide metal sections.







Battery which came pre-installed is Amaron.



Definitely a lag which you’ll feel below 1500rpm - or when picking up the car from stationary position. This will be more pronounced for someone who is coming from Diesel to Petrol.
But overall, in highway driving, this is an excellent engine. Cruise works flawless, easy navigation for turning it on, you don't have to look at screens etc. Just one tap and done.

Fuel Efficiency -
With close to 500kms driven so far, I have received 19.xx mileage for just on refill done till date.
This is for 25% hilly drives with good incline and 6 seats occupied, 25% in city traffic driving, and rest 50% in highway cruising - 90 to 100 max with cruise control as much as possible.
AC was turned ON for about 50% of this whole duration.

CON -
No insulation on lid.
Compared to my Ciaz Diesel - drop in mileage from 24.xx to 17.xx :(


- Suspension/Ride Quality –
Appears more soft than even Ciaz ! In my old vehicle, rear passengers used to avid looking at phone screens as it caused nausea because of ever moving or bouncing car on highway.
This was not present in Carens last highway run. Planted and comfortable ride.

In city traffic, potholes, it managed to soak them up with ease.
Had to yet take it across potholes in some speed, but I guess it would fly over them without much nuisance to passengers.

- Steering –
SUPER LIGHT ! On parking, or stationary, the steering is very very light. You will have 0 efforts in parking this huge car.
With speed, it weighs up, but not too much. Overall satisfied !
Recentering of steering after U-Turn is pretty consistent.

- Braking -
All 4 tires come with disk brakes , overall satisfied with breaking and bite force of pedal - no panic breaking till now too, for normal city/highway driving its perfect.


Should Have’s in the car –
- 360 Deg Camera view - even XL6 has it now !
- Maybe a sunroof in this model ?
- Diesel Auto in mid-variants.
- Electric DayNight Rear View Mirror
- Cooled Glove Box
- Coin Holder should be a bit big
- Insulation in Engine section
- a bit thicker window panes - these appear a little too thin, causing traffic and road noise to creep in as whole cabin is full of big glass area.

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Reviews section. Thanks for sharing!

Going to our homepage tomorrow

[BoneCollector]

A very nice and crisp review of a car that's really changed the way one looks at MPV. I guess this is the first ownership review of Carens on the forum.

My only concern is the seat cover. I hope you've done enough of study regarding the side airbags. And I sincerely hope that you never come across a situation where it is required.

Enjoy your car and keep munching miles.

[KPR]

First of all congratulations on your Carens.

Originally Posted by ptaneja

First we have to be like beggars standing in front of a dealership, waiting for months and then paying an incremental cost. The market is now vendor driven rather than consumer driven.

Above post sums up current Indian car purchase scene in dealerships barring a very few. I've faced what you've written and ended up keeping my Punto until my last nut bolt comes out. Whatever car we liked was not in stock and need to wait for at least 3 to 4 months or indefinitely. The happiness of new car purchase is totally lost with waiting time. Even the slow moving cars like Yaris, Kicks were not in stock. Dealerships aren't keeping stock in their yard. All they want is liquid cash from us to run their daily business of ordering new car from manufacturer. I'm that customer who won't pay full amount unless I see the car with my eyes and check the VIN allocated to me.

[derick]

congratulations on your new car!

A little concerned about putting seat covers on seats with airbags, I had asked Hyundai several times if I can put seat covers. They sternly refused every time.

[amitayu]

This is wonderful review!
So well structured, detailed photos and well written!

Thank you so much for such a thread.

I had one question:

Given you keep referring to lack of torque at low RPMs, did you face issues with a need to downshift for overtaking or inclines in course of your drive?

How hassle-free is the car in that aspect?

[akannath]

Hearty Congrats on the new car...wish you many happy miles

What a fantastic and comprehensive ownership review. All the tiny details will help prospective customers

The new seat covers do give the cabin a very airy feel, but please check on side airbags deployment.

[Kruz Nhux]

Congratulations on your new steed.]
About the loud lock/unlock sound, you can disable it by pressing the door lock & unlock button simultaneously for approximately 4-5 seconds. The car will acknowledge with 4 hazard light blinks.

[AGupta]

Congratulation on your new car! Wish you a minimum of 2 lacs km of comfortable touring.
Caren has everything which a middle-class family wants. Apart from the odd styling at the front, it looks good from all angles, especially in dark shades.

It's hard to believe the fuel efficiency figures which you posted. Koreans are generally not known for their efficient petrol engines. Please do share the magic behind getting these figures.
Cheers,
AGupta

[subie_socal]

This was a good review. Covered all the basic aspects in the initial impressions. Although I still loathe the front view, it seems to be fitting well with this silver colour. I had spotted a grey colour Carens couple of days back and it was horrible to look at.

How was thee 500 KM home sprint? Did it feel underpowered?

All the best with your newest steed.

[ptaneja]

Originally Posted by BoneCollector

My only concern is the seat cover. I hope you've done enough of study regarding the side airbags.

Originally Posted by akannath

The new seat covers do give the cabin a very airy feel, but please check on side airbags deployment.

I was very sceptical too with regards to Airbags.
So, in my case it's just a flap of leather covering the side of the seat.
Worst case, I can get the side flap removed too. But thats an overkill.

Originally Posted by KPR

Above post sums up current Indian car purchase scene in dealerships barring a very few. I've faced what you've written and ended up keeping my Punto until my last nut bolt comes out.

So true. Had I been outside of NCR, there was no way I would have put my money on a depreciating asset.

Originally Posted by derick

A little concerned about putting seat covers on seats with airbags, I had asked Hyundai several times if I can put seat covers. They sternly refused every time.

Vendors will never agree on this. Better is, get in touch with someone who gets these type of seat covers done, and have them keep the side of seat open or like I did, just a flap of leather to keep the underlying color camouflaged.

Originally Posted by amitayu

Given you keep referring to lack of torque at low RPMs, did you face issues with a need to downshift for overtaking or inclines in course of your drive?

Low torque is very much evident. More so when you are coming from a diesel vehicle. Overtaking on highway was not an issue and downshifting isnt needed.
But starting on an incline, stop-go traffic in hilly areas, it do require a tap on accelerator when clutch is released. I never had to use accelerator input with a diesel engine.
But I guess we'll get used to it.

Originally Posted by Kruz Nhux

Congratulations on your new steed.]
About the loud lock/unlock sound, you can disable it by pressing the door lock & unlock button simultaneously for approximately 4-5 seconds. The car will acknowledge with 4 hazard light blinks.

Thanks for the tip - will give it a try.
Will this disable the alarm feature as well ? Or just will impact locking/unlocking only ?

Originally Posted by AGupta

Wish you a minimum of 2 lacs km of comfortable touring.
It's hard to believe the fuel efficiency figures which you posted.

Within city, and in traffic, with AC on, the mileage ranges from 11 to 13.
But on an highway, with max cruise control enabled, speed in the range of 90 to 100, it would be in excess of 17+.
No sudden acceleration
As much as cruise control as possible.
Turning it off on Red Lights.
And most important - "anticipation of road ahead - and be in sync with the traffic flow"

Originally Posted by subie_socal

Although I still loathe the front view, it seems to be fitting well with this silver colour.
How was thee 500 KM home sprint? Did it feel underpowered?

Dont remind me of front view
I am not too fond of it, but just gets the job done. Contrary, family, wife and kids love the design. So be it.
For highway crusing, it works flawless. I had no issues whatsoever. Speed was in the range of 90-100 - effortless driving.
Its starting from hilly inclines, probably mall basement parking etc - this will cause some issues.