2025 Kia Syros Review : Observations after a day of driving

The Syros gets a well-tuned EPS. It is light & smooth in the city.

Driving the Kia Syros 1.5L Diesel AT

1.5L, 4-cylinder CRDi diesel fills the engine bay well:

The Syros diesel draws power from a 1.5L, 4-cylinder CRDi engine with a variable turbocharger. The motor produces 114 BHP (@ 4,000 rpm) & 250 Nm (@ 1,500-2,750 rpm). The engine is mated to a 6-speed torque converter AT. The outright performance of the Syros diesel is enough to keep most drivers happy.

On startup, there is a hint of body shake. The engine idles smoothly, but there is a slight buzz felt on the steering, pedals and centre console.

The Syros' diesel engine has excellent driveability! A light steering, soft controls & smooth shifting AT make the Syros a breeze to drive. The properly positioned dead pedal in the spacious footwell keeps your left leg comfortable. The car moves off seamlessly from a standstill & there is no lag to speak of. Light accelerator input is all you'll need to commute in the city. The gearbox moves up early, while the shift quality is very smooth. For bumper-to-bumper traffic conditions, there is a 'crawl' function available. Just lift your foot off the brake pedal in 'D' and the car will crawl forward at 6 km/h (without any throttle input), allowing you to drive in stop-and-go traffic with just one pedal (the brake).

The kickdown reaction time is good. Not just that, even if you give it part throttle, the gearbox willingly drops a gear or two to give you that extra push. The transmission responds well to throttle inputs. On the open road, the Syros AT offers brisk acceleration and never feels underpowered. With the foot hard down, the engine will rev till ~4,200 rpm. The Syros AT is a competent long-distance cruiser. The rev counter reads ~1,900 rpm @ 100 km/h.

You can shift gears manually by using the paddles behind the steering. It is useful when you want to prepare the car for overtaking on a 2-lane highway, or when you desire engine braking.

The Syros gets 3 drive modes - Eco, Normal and Sport.

Eco Mode - Engage the Eco mode when you want to extract maximum fuel efficiency. The throttle response is dulled, but given the power on tap, the mode is quite comfortable to use in the city. In fact, we prefer driving in this mode in the city as the car becomes a lot smoother to drive. Also, while driving in the city in Eco mode, we noticed that the gearbox wasn't downshifting easily when the accelerator was pressed. It wanted to stay in the higher gears to extract more fuel efficiency.

Normal Mode - This is the default mode and just as the name suggests, it's normal to drive. There is a slight difference between Normal and Eco mode. This mode can be used for day-to-day driving which has a mix of city and open roads.

Sport Mode - Engage this mode when you want the car to be more responsive to your inputs. The throttle response is sharper, and the transmission also holds on to gears a bit longer in this mode. The steering is also noticeably heavier. Sport mode isn't something you'd want to engage in the city as it can get a bit jerky to drive.

Additionally, the car gets 3 terrain modes - Snow, Mud and Sand.

Noise, Vibration & Harshness (NVH)

The Syros diesel does fairly well here. As mentioned earlier, there is a slight body shake on start-up and shutdown and there is a buzz felt on the steering, pedals and centre console at idle. At slow speeds and around town, the engine performs quietly. The engine gets loud above 3,000 rpm and screams above 4,000 rpm which can get tiring.  

There is a hint of wind noise creeping into the cabin at 105 km/h. Road and tyre noise are well controlled.

No insulation under the bonnet:

Firewall insulation is sufficient:

Mileage & Fuel economy

The Syros diesel AT has an ARAI-certified fuel economy figure of 17.65 km/l, while the MT's rating is 20.75 km/l. On my test drive, the best figure I saw was 11.5 km/l, but then the drive included a lot of hard acceleration and braking along with long idling periods. We’ll wait for some ownership reviews to get a better picture of real-world fuel efficiency. The fuel tank capacity of the Syros is 45 litres.

Suspension

McPherson strut suspension at the front:

Coupled torsion beam axle at the rear:

Ride Comfort

The top variants (HTX+ & HTX+ (O)) get 17-inch crystal cut alloy wheels shod with 215/55 section tyres. The low-speed ride is on the stiffer side. You will know the surface on which you are travelling. The bumps on the road can be felt. Still, the ride is never harsh. At high speeds, the suspension remains compliant. Large bumps do come in sharply though.

The mid and lower variants come with 16-inch and 15-inch wheels with taller rubber. The ride in those should be cushier than the top variants. 

Handling & Dynamics

The Syros’ straight-line stability is impressive. The car does not lose composure over bumps or road joints at higher speeds. Even undulations on the road are dealt with very well. We did not drive the car beyond permissible limits though.  

Body roll is very well controlled for a taller car and the Syros changes direction without any unnerving incidents. The JK Tyre UX Royale tyres that our test car was shod with are fine at regular cornering speeds or even a little beyond. However, we did not do any hard cornering and hence, cannot comment on how they will perform on the limit.

Steering

The Syros gets a well-tuned EPS. It is light & smooth in the city. As the speedometer climbs, the steering feels reasonably direct and fast too. The fair all-around visibility, smooth automatic gearbox and light controls make this crossover easy to drive in urban conditions. On the highway, the steering feels stable and has no nervousness. If you want some more weight, switch to Sport mode although not as much as enthusiasts would like. Again, as is in the case of most EPS units, there is no feedback from the steering.

Braking

The AT variants of the petrol and diesel Syros come with disc brakes on all four wheels. The braking performance is strong and the car stops in a straight line sans drama when braking from high speeds. Emergency braking manoeuvres are also handled well. However, the brake pedal feels extremely sharp to the inputs. You need to be very gentle if you want to shed speed gradually.

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