Had almost finalised the Creta but ended up buying the Seltos facelift

I test drove the Kia and it felt like a more premium package than the Hyundai.

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Enter Kia into the mix...

I casually mentioned to my wife, after having almost finalized the Creta, that the only brand we haven’t looked at yet has been Kia, and with it being a sister to Hyundai the mechanicals and electronics should be the same, and we landed up at the nearest Kia showroom, almost at closing time. But to the credit of the sales advisor, he spent time with us, and set up a test drive for the next morning.

Seltos Turbo Petrol 1.5 DCT GTX

A little less polished in terms of the engine and transmission response times as compared to the VW / Skoda twins (especially when shifting from D2 to D3), which wasn’t as pronounced in the Sport mode. All the ADAS bells and whistles made it so that there’s a lot to look at and do while driving. In the ~7 odd Km TD track (a mix of longish flat stretches, inclines, potholed roads, sharp turns etc. that I chalked out with my home as the start and end point,) the 360 camera / blind view monitors made their presence known. Overall, it felt that it was a lot more bang for the buck when compared to the VW / Skoda twins, as well as the Creta. But the price was a bit too high for our wallet coming in at 24+ Lakhs on road, and the SA categorically said, no year-end discounts either.

Sonet

A close friend has the pre-facelift turbo with IMT, and he vouched for the car being great. We didn’t test drive, but since the facelift had already launched, we didn’t want to wait for the deliveries to start, especially given that my car’s exchange value would depreciate further with the turn of the year. Further, with the Sonet being a cousin to the Venue, and the rear also being more suitable for 4 rather than 5 (based on what we saw in the showroom), it didn’t really spark a lot of interest for us.

The Seltos GTX did seem a well-rounded package (especially with claims of reinforced chassis points in the facelift), and I kept toggling between the variants page on the Kia website, my bank accounts and my monthly expenses spreadsheet in trying to figure out what’s really different, and whether I could afford the additional 4 lakhs, from the initial budget that I’d set. I realized that the HTX IVT was essentially the same as the pre-facelift Creta SX (O) minus the Bose speakers, and the e-parking brake. Just for the heck of it, I spoke to another dealer (JSP KIA Hosur Road Bangalore) who said they could arrange for a TD of the facelifted HTX IVT.

I test drove the car, and inside, it felt like a more premium package than the Creta. Plus, the lighter interiors as compared to the GTX really opened up the cabin. I didn’t feel that the lack of Bose speakers or the e-parking brake were deal breakers. Icing on the cake was that the other dealer had a Pewter Olive (which was the colour that my wife picked) HTX IVT in stock, which had been delivered to them a couple of days back, and were willing to provide ~60K in discounts via a mix of insurance, accessories, corporate, year-end etc. discounts, leading to almost a 1 Lakh difference in what was quoted for the Creta vs the Seltos.

With that, we paid the booking amount and scheduled the PDI for the next day itself.

Later that night, I spent a lot of time tossing and turning, comparing in my mind the differences between the 2 GTXs (S and +) and the HTX IVT, and it kept boiling down to which variant would we as a family want to live with over a long duration (8 - 10 years horizon, that’s the time it’ll take for EV tech to really mature in my opinion, and for range anxiety to be a thing of the past.)

I visited the dealer again in the morning and had a very long chat with them. What I liked about that experience was that they never tried to push me against (or towards) one variant or another, and happily bounced off ideas, and compared the pros and cons of each of the variants with me.

This is what finally swayed the decision for me:

First, ADAS as a tech is great, and it’s at a degree of maturity as well, but in my opinion, our driving conditions aren’t suited for it yet.

Second, the Turbo engine is a great performer, but I honestly don’t need that much power on tap, especially in the city, and my highway drives are also going to be mostly sedate. The 1.5 NA should serve all my needs. I'm happy to report that this has been true in all of the driving I've done so far.

Third, the elephant in the room, the DCT. While Hyundai / KIA DCT failures don’t pop as much as VW / Skoda do, the tech is still the same, and the dealer did end up mentioning, that they do deal with issues on DCTs quite often, so it’s not unheard of. This gets further compounded as the majority of my drive is in bumper-to-bumper slow-moving traffic, which is what brings out the worst in DCTs/DSGs. I simply didn’t want to live with that anxiety hanging over my head.

With that, the dust finally settled, and the head won over the heart!

We got the financials rolling. There was a hiccup in between where the bank official generated a sanction letter with the incorrect type of rate of interest, which I caught before it was too late, so we lost a day in between and then 3 more due to the long Christmas weekend.

In between all of this, we were also looking to get in a quick year-end trip, and the initial plan was to take delivery on the 26th and proceed with our trip on the 27th, but with the delays, we ended up doing the trip in the Celerio itself.

We finally took delivery on the 31st of December and bid farewell to the Celerio alongside.

Attaching some pics of the delivery below.

Almost ready for delivery

Next to its X-Line sibling

Next to a grey GT-Line

The mandatory poses with the car!

The car cost me a total 20.72 Lakhs on road (as against 21.30 Lakhs initially quoted). In terms of accessories, I went for the standard accessory package, which included a fair bit of chrome, which I didn't initially like, but after seeing the overall outcome, I don't mind it anymore.

I didn't take the My Convenience package, but I do have the option of buying it now, but I'm seriously wondering if it's actually worth it. Anyone who's got it, please share your experience, and the value associated with it. I did, however, take the Extended Warranty for the 4th and 5th year with a maximum of 120,000 kms covered.

Post delivery, I got in touch with Ojas from Esperto Car Care (thanks to reviews elsewhere on the forum), and scheduled a ceramic coating. I went for their 3-year package, and Ojas also added PPF along the ORVMs, door edges, and a few other spots for added protection. He took ~2 days to return the car back to me, and shared regular updates during the process.

As mentioned earlier, I've gotten the 1st service done as well, and it was a fairly straightforward experience. JSP Hosur road took ~2 hours to run through their checklist and also do a 3M underbody coat (which was complimentary, as negotiated during the sale.)

In terms of accessories, I don't think I need anything major at this point, other than a screen guard for the console & mid, a steering cover, and maybe side steps (after having lived with the car for about a month, I think our parents will need the added convenience when they visit.)

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