Delivery & initial impressions: Kia Carens Prestige Plus diesel

I got the Carens primarily for my parents and they love the comfort, easy ingress and egress provided by the car.

BHPian vivekkkp recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hello all,

Got my Carens Prestige Plus D 1.5 delivered yesterday from JSP autocore. The delivery was a very smooth and memorable affair. I had booked the car on Feb 22'nd and the SA assigned was Mr. Srinath. He was updating me on regular basis regarding my booking status and was always available to answer my queries.

On March 29th I got a call from my SA that the vehicle has been allotted against my booking. He asked me to complete the payment at the earliest as he warned me that from April 1'st there is a price hike expected. I insisted on getting the PDI done before making the payment. We fixed an appointment on March 31'st to get the PDI done at their stockyard. Used the TBHP PDI checklist for the same and didn't find any flaw in the car. I transferred the outstanding money immediately so that the vehicle can be invoiced at the existing price. I also chose the insurance (Reliance General) from the dealer as he was able to undercut the best policy I could find. I have one doubt about this insurance though. Own damage is covered for a period of 1 year and 3'rd party liability coverage is for 3 years. This is the first time I have come across such terms.

Come April 1, my SA told me that the cost of my variant has gone up by 60k and the vehicle registration cost will be done as per the hiked rate. He asked me to transfer an additional ~11k as the excess in registration cost compared to the previous vehicle cost which I did promptly (based on XUV7OO thread). While registration I had opted for a number of my own choosing (my twins birthday) and I had to pay 25k (20k DD in the name of RTO Bangalore and 5k cash to the agent dealing with my registration) towards this.

Surprise surprise on April 8th my SA calls me again and says there was some confusion at the RTO with the vehicle registration. The total cost of registration would indeed be based on the original price of the vehicle and not on the hiked value. He requested me to email him a cancelled cheque leaf so that they can process the refund to my account.

The dealers have no stock of any accessories including the mat and mudflaps. Decided to get the 3M Nomad mats for all the 3 rows for around 10k

Here are some pics taken during the delivery. Excuse for the low clarity:

I got the Carens primarily for my parents and they love the comfort, easy ingress and egress provided by the car. Have driven about 100 km post delivery and do not find the car lagging in the power department. Its more than sufficient for the city usage and occasional highway drives.

Another pic of the car in my parking lot. I absolutely love this shade of the car:

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.