Kia Seltos facelift vs old Seltos: Which SUV to replace a Honda City

Even willing to wait for the Hyundai Creta facelift to arrive in the market.

BHPian bijims recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hello, Fellow BHPians!

I am writing this post on behalf of my uncle who is in a dilemma about whether or not to go for the Current gen Creta or Seltos or the new Seltos facelift or wait even longer and go for the Creta facelift.

Background

My uncle is a retired ex-NRI who had mostly driven high-end to mid-range cars during his time in the Middle East, he retired in 2014, and after having driven the Accord and Civic during his final days in the country (he had driven everything ranging from Corolla to Land Cruiser to Mercedes during his time there), he decided to not splurge too much on a new car,(since retirement and no further regular income and marriages of his children coming up) so he went with a Honda City Diesel Manual bought in November 2014, which has served him well for almost 9 years, having driven hardly 50,000 km, the car is in tip-top shape with no accidents, scratches, dents or nothing whatsoever.

Current Scenario

Now with most of his family commitments taken care of and enough money left, he decided its finally time to move on and get himself an automatic SUV, so he started his search late last year, taking test drives of each and every SUV greater than 4 meters in length beginning from the VAG twins, the Hyryder/Grand Vitara, Astor, Seltos, Creta, Hector, XUV700, Alcazar, Harrier and Compass. He had more or so made up his mind, not to get a diesel so a few options were easy to write off.

Now the only options left are the current-gen Seltos, Creta, and the Seltos facelift, he had deemed the diesel on the Compass and Harrier too noisy and moreover, he felt anything greater than 4.5 meters too big and he wasn't into 7-seaters either because only 3 people would be travelling at the maximum most of the time.

So on to the Seltos and Creta it was, he has already booked all of them the Facelift Seltos, both through K-Code as well as through a dealership a couple of months back, and the Creta through a couple of dealerships recently too.

The Dilemma

After test drives of the current gen Seltos and Creta, both petrol automatic, IVT, DCT, and Diesel AT, he felt all of them were quite good and were impressed with the rather quiet nature of the diesel too, but since he doesn't have too much running and the fear of a diesel ban looming, he decided petrol was the way to go. So it was a tussle between the top-end variants of both the Creta and Seltos and the upcoming Seltos facelift. He loved the interiors and quality of the Creta and felt the SX(O) IVT would be the best value-for-money option for him, the Seltos GTX+ was only available in either a 1.4-litre Petrol DCT or 1.5 Diesel AT, moreover, he wasn't a fan of the centre console of the Seltos. Moreover, he felt because the 1.4 litre is discontinued, better not go with it and he had an aversion to diesel too.

The Seltos IVT on the other hand was available only in the mid-spec HTX trim. Now the Seltos facelift has almost launched and he had a look at that too, but the incremental upgrades are mostly limited to the GTX+ and X-Line variants.

He feels the 1.5 Petrol DCT is too powerful for his needs and he needn't spend that much for it, and he is sceptical of the Diesel as well, he feels the IVT is perfect, but both the old and new Seltos come with IVT only in the HTX Variant, he loved the new Seltos so much but the lack of IVT in the top variants is bothering, he feels the Creta with SX(O) IVT is a better buy now, but he loves the updated Seltos interiors even more. We thought, how about waiting for the new Creta in 2024, but that would be as expensive too, and there is no assurance of a top-end IVT in it either. Moreover, he feels waiting for the 10-year mark on his City would drop its prices even further.

He is getting a good deal on the City now too, now his dilemma is whether he should go for the older Seltos HTX IVT at hardly 17.75 lakhs on-road and save the money, or the older GTX+ Diesel AT at 21.80 lakhs on-road and get most of the features required apart from the centre console which he dislikes or splurge on the GTX+ Petrol DCT of the New Seltos which will surely be at least 25 lakhs and get everything he needs or go for the Creta SX(O) IVT at 20.85 lakhs and get most of what he needs at a sensible price.

Kindly help with your suggestions.

Update: With the pricing of the new Seltos out exactly as you said, I find the proposition quite attractive owing to the hardly 35-50k price difference between variants as compared to the pre-facelift, but with the multitude of feature additions, the New Seltos makes perfect sense.

The Kia showroom has informed me test drives would begin on Monday, and as I understand, their stockyards are already filled up with the new Seltos in every colour and trim, so deliveries would start soon as well.

Now, my dilemma is mainly focused on the issue of whether to go for IVT, DCT or Diesel AT (Considering prices of the Diesel AT and DCT are at par), As I see, going for the GTX+ or X-Line makes more sense if I am going for the facelift, else if you look at features of the mid-spec trims, even the pre-facelift which is available at a huge discount also has almost all the features, moreover in the case of IVT, it is available only in the HTX trim as it was in the pre-facelift, whereas the Creta offers it in the top two trims.

Now, I am eagerly awaiting the media drive reviews coming out tomorrow at 10 am, following which I would be getting an extended test drive next week.

With the sensible pricing and offers, I definitely am more inclined to the facelift than before, but still, the issue of the new gearbox and engine lingers in my mind, moreover, do I need a fast 160bhp car?

These are a few questions which linger in my mind.

Here's what BHPian 07CR had to say on the matter:

The availability of more power never hurts. The engine works under lesser stress for the same speeds, thereby increasing FE as well as engine life. I guess a 100 kph in 7th gear results in just a meagre 1800 rpm in 1.5 DCT. Minimal NVH, stupendous power available readily on just a tap of accelerator. The mileage would also be very good at such rpms.

If the running is low avoid the Diesel. Purely because of worries about dpf.

Here's what BHPian Equus had to say on the matter:

Creta or Seltos IVT - serves his needs best. The seltos also has a sport mode should he wish. DCT long-term reliability issues are on my mind. IVT should be relatively lot more peaceful

Here's what BHPian mkumar79 had to say on the matter:

Voted for Other.

I suggest the efficient and comfortable XL6 AT from Nexa. It is stylish enough and very practical.

Here's what BHPian wheelguy had to say on the matter:

I strongly recommend waiting for the launch of the Honda Elevate before making a decision. Once it's available, your uncle can take it for back-to-back test drives for comparison with other cars from the segment. This car has the potential to be a practical and reliable option, as long as Honda doesn't overprice it. Taking the time to wait and test-drive can lead to a more informed and sensible choice for your uncle. The only issue is pricing, Honda India should shed off its stupidity and price it sensibly, this is a good chance for them to revive their fortunes in India.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.