re: The Kia Seltos SUV (SP Concept). EDIT : Launched at Rs. 9.69 lakhs Hello All. My first post here, though have been an avid reader for a years now. Have thinking of changing my 2013-Rapid 1.6 TDi (the car still runs like a dream and it's interiors still feel new, but its nearing 70k, so that great Indian fear of the what if.. sets in before every long drive). Compass, Harrier, Hector, Octavia all have been thought about and researched, but has been most excited about the Kia Seltos launch.
Went to Epitome Kia at Bangalore today - neat showroom, courteous staff. Regarding the car and my impressions of it, well, in a nut shell the term i will use is it is a mixed bag. Provided it is priced around or a bit lower than Creta, for that price range it offers lots of bells and whistles, though as many pointed out it does not offer a commanding road presence. No test drive yet in the showroom, so could not gauge the most important thing, the drive and mechanics. Car sure looks nice. Lots of chrome though and personally I think they have overdone it a bit. The rear is a bit busy as well. As seen in most impressions in the forum, the cars on display are red GT and a gray HTX. Red looks nice and i personally think the deep blood red shade looks fabulous compared to few other red shades on offer from competitors. Gray looks much more sedate, though.Will be most interested to see the black shade as i have a feel that apart from gray, all other shades will look very busy from the sides and the back. A white GT with the black and red stripes on side, will be, well, quite colorful.
Few points i noted:
1. The AVN with 10 inch screen is rather an oddity. While giving lots of screen space, the rectangular AVN screen integrated with the driver instrument panel makes it feel like KIA engineers pasted an 18 inch LCD TV on to the dashboard. As pointed out earlier by fellow BHPians, it looks weird from outside too. So wish they had provided the more sedate integrated panels as seen in the Korean Seltos in India too, instead of this shiny avatar. Screen resolution is good and 360 degree camera gives clear images.
2. HUD is a nice touch and is neatly integrated. As seen in the picture i took, the image can be a bit lost in the screen when it is quite sunny outside. But it is a fantastic add-on and will score brownie points both aesthetically and use-wise.
3. Sun-roof is tiny. Cannot compare it to that of competition - it is there for ticking a column, but cannot compare to the panoramic sun-roof from say Hector or Compass. The electronic button based operation of both sun-roof and the front driver seat adjustments were smooth and intuitive.
4. The alloys in GT are awesome and the tyre fits in nicely under the wheel arch, unlike in Hector.
I reckon most other points one see in a quick look around are already discussed in depth in forum already so wont repeat. Going back to the start of my post, coming from a Rapid Elegance, will this be an upgrade for me? I doubt, but can be a good replacement, provided the ride and handling are superlative. After sales service is a big black box, though the SA at Epitome Whitefield mentions that their service center is coming up nearby. As of now, car holds enough positives to keep me very interested.
It will all depend now on ride, variant versus features offered and off course pricing. If Kia does a good job on all of these, will come back on this thread asking feedback on merits versus de-merits of DCT versus manual for a 80% city ride in a predominantly bumper-to-bumper trafficky place like Bangalore. Till then, it is the wait and watch time!
Last edited by suhaas307 : 5th August 2019 at 07:53.
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