[84.monsoon]

Originally Posted by mh09ad5578

So went and booked the Seltos hte 1.5D the base diesel yesterday at VST palace road.

So my wait begins

I went for the same variant after much thought. I had booked on day 1 still waiting for delivery.Dealer says it will come this month.

It is possible Kia is not prioritising this variant for production since margins are likely to be low. However for the customer, with the 9.99 lakh pricing, it is incredible value in my opinion. It has all the essential safety features, a modern look and nice exteriors, a powerful BSVI diesel engine, 6 speed gearbox for highway cruising, all 4 disc brakes, and so much more for around 11.5 lakhs on-road - that is like ‘high end hatchback’ pricing! Also saves 5% road tax in TN by staying under the 10 lakh mark as well as avoids complicated procedures with paying and adjusting for TCS.

The HTE is available only in silver and white though. This is clear from the brochure.

Only drawback of HTE is that it has an ugly plasticky ancient looking 2 DIN sound system bored into the massive extended (also plasticky) centre console KIA has created. It appears to be non removable and I am not sure if it can be swapped out with a touch screen after-market. Just for this one reason, I debated getting the Petrol HTK for the same price, but that engine is likely to be anaemic and thirsty, so went back to the diesel in the end.

[fhdowntheline]

Originally Posted by Don Dasco

1.How exciting is the engine in daily driving?
Not very exciting as this is not a performance oriented engine but can expect similar excitement of driving a cedia but gets the job done when you need it to reach triple digit speed depending on the launch from 0, I managed to spin the front wheel few times when launching from signal on open road in front, I am yet to log the timings but will get that soon.

2.what is its approximate 0-100 , 20-80 in third & 40-100 in 4th time?
Will try this in private closed road to log the timings & will share soon.

3.How stable is the car out on the highways in a straightline at triple digit speeds?
4.How stable is the car on undulations of the highway?
5.Is the body roll well contained around the high speed bends of the highway?

Took this on highway only once on day 1 with family, car was very stable at triple digits & undulations, for comparison, I had to reduce to double digit speed in such undulations while driving Baleno, Swift, i20 active but not in Seltos with same passengers.

I had to downshift a gear to slow down a bit while negotiating an almost 110 degree corner with undulation as I was not aware of the dynamics & behavior of this car, body roll was contained well, For comparison, in that same corner I would've gone in 60 to 70 kmph in Volvo S80 & probably 50kmph in Seltos, no complaints from passengers who usually asks me to slow down while driving any car other than S80 in that corner.

One special mention is steering boosts confidence in high speeds, very easy to flick in the mild city traffic too.

I know these are not very specific to your questions, but will share more info after a highway run next weekend, Thanks!

Folks, this is a 1.5 NA engine. These 0-100, 20-80 and 40-100 times will never be as exciting as you'd expect. These cars are meant to be driven in a calm sedate manner, and overtakes should be carefully planned. If one wants an exciting drive, one should look at cars above the 25 lac category, which have a significant power/torque curve.

[84.monsoon]

Originally Posted by fhdowntheline

Folks, this is a 1.5 NA engine. These 0-100, 20-80 and 40-100 times will never be as exciting as you'd expect. These cars are meant to be driven in a calm sedate manner, and overtakes should be carefully planned. If one wants an exciting drive, one should look at cars above the 25 lac category, which have a significant power/torque curve.

The Seltos’ Diesel engine actually has quite good 0-100 times. The latest autocar mega SUV shoot-out reports a 0-100 time of 11.21 seconds, which is the second best among all 8 SUV diesel manuals tested (Seltos, Creta, Hector, Harrier, Kicks, Captur, Duster, XUV500). It falls behind only it’s own sibling the Creta, and that too by 0.4 seconds only. For Seltos, 20-80 comes up in 9.91 seconds which is the best among all, well surpassing the Creta that takes 11.52 seconds.

Comparing higher segments, the Creta Diesel manual is faster on the 0-100 run than Vento TSI (11.24 seconds), Innova Crysta 2.4 Manual (13.11 seconds), Innova Crysta 2.8 Auto (11.46 seconds), Fortuner (12.02 seconds), Jeep Compass (11.84 seconds), Honda City Diesel (14.75 seconds), Honda BRV Diesel (14.5 seconds), Ford Endeavour 2.2 Litre Diesel (12.68 seconds) and even the mighty Ford Endeavour 3.2 Diesel (11.22 seconds)!

I had initially assumed this is the same engine as the 1.5 CRDI Hyundai introduced in the previous generation Verna in 2007. That was a milestone at the time, because it was the first time we were getting a modern Diesel engine with Variable Geometry Turbocharger and 4 valves per cylinder in a Common rail direct injected platform under the 10 lakh mark. That Verna was a rocket - It was light and had a strong midrange able to do 0-100 in about 12 seconds. The diesel engine in the Seltos seems to have made another giant stride forward - is either a totally new engine or heavily reworked. The older engine was punchy for sure, but cannot achieve such strong performance numbers on a heavier vehicle weighing around 1300 KGs. I wish Kia would make available more technical details about this engine and what differentiates it from the last gen 1.4, 1.5 and 1.6 Litre Hyundai CRDI engines. I am sure there must have been a lot of work done to achieve the performance figures, refinement and significantly lowered emissions to qualify for BS VI.

[Sebring]

Nexon has a 1.5 liter diesel engine, which I urge you to test drive. The power to weight is excellent, and the car just surges like a rocket in Sports mode. Overtakes are a breeze. Hope you get a relatively new model to test drive and not nuts and bolts. lol

Originally Posted by fhdowntheline

These 0-100, 20-80 and 40-100 times will never be as exciting as you'd expect. These cars are meant to be driven in a calm sedate manner, and overtakes should be carefully planned. If one wants an exciting drive, one should look at cars above the 25 lac category, which have a significant power/torque curve.

[Parth46]

Originally Posted by fhdowntheline

Folks, this is a 1.5 NA engine. These 0-100, 20-80 and 40-100 times will never be as exciting as you'd expect. These cars are meant to be driven in a calm sedate manner, and overtakes should be carefully planned. If one wants an exciting drive, one should look at cars above the 25 lac category, which have a significant power/torque curve.

If you're talking about a petrol 1.5 NA engine, ever driven this thing called the Honda City?

[simeonovitch]

Originally Posted by fhdowntheline

Folks, this is a 1.5 NA engine. These 0-100, 20-80 and 40-100 times will never be as exciting as you'd expect. These cars are meant to be driven in a calm sedate manner, and overtakes should be carefully planned.

Originally Posted by 84.monsoon

The Seltos’ Diesel engine actually has quite good 0-100 times.

Originally Posted by Sebring

Nexon has a 1.5 liter diesel engine, which I urge you to test drive. The power to weight is excellent, and the car just surges like a rocket in Sports mode.

The comment was about the 1.5 NA engine. NA means Naturally Aspirated. Non turbo-charged. He was talking of the Petrol.

And you both just commented about the 1.5 Turbo diesel.
Stop comparing apples to oranges.


Anyways, both the 1.5 in the EcosPort and the Honda City put around 120 BHP, and are massively fun to drive. But then, they are both much lighter cars.

[jaaz]

Originally Posted by mh09ad5578

Also one SA said the HTE had only 2 colors (non metallic), whereas the one we booked with said 4 colors and even silver (the one we want) is considered non metallic.(I am skeptical about this though)

Congrats! on your booking.

As per the website, there are only 2 solid colors - White & Steel Silver. But, there is a video of Red color HTE model (with still pictures) circulating on YT. No idea whether it's Petrol or Diesel.

Kia is following many unethical practices even before their first offering. All surprises have turned negative. Booking and test drive process is haphazard. Hope their product is good, without any niggles.

[Sebring]

Oh thanks for the clarification. On petrol I have no comments, absolutely.

Originally Posted by simeonovitch

The comment was about the 1.5 NA engine. NA means Naturally Aspirated. Non turbo-charged. He was talking of the Petrol.

[fhdowntheline]

Originally Posted by Parth46

If you're talking about a petrol 1.5 NA engine, ever driven this thing called the Honda City?

Only for about 10000 kms. I own one, so am well aware of its capabilities, albeit in its CVT avatar.
Lets talk real world folks. None of these 1.5 NA cars are ever going to give you a safety margin on highway overtakes or indeed during 0-100 timings like say, a Octavia VRS and cars above that class. In my opinion, 0-100 timing is meaningless in the Indian context, it serves absolutely no useful purpose because the moment you aim for a performance, there will be a slow moving truck or bus or even an errant animal in your way. The only useful parameter (somewhat) is the overtake from 40-80 kph or so. After 80 kph, whether you accelerate to 120 kph without obstruction is entirely upon the traffic of the day.

[dadu]

Originally Posted by Don Dasco

Hello All,

On September 1st, I became a proud owner of 'La'Belle' KIA Seltos HTK+ petrol manual variant, since there are plethora of information in the other Seltos thread, I'll try to be as brief as possible in penning down my experience starting from the my present cars & motorcycles I own/leased, past cars, past motorcycles, thought of a new car, test drives, Booking, pre & post delivery, vehicle behavior & my thoughts, this is my 1st review post, please pardon any mistakes.

Congrats ! Please start your dedicated ownership thread, look forward to your reviews.. as you drive along..

[mh09ad5578]

Originally Posted by 84.monsoon

with the 9.99 lakh pricing, it is incredible value in my opinion. It has all the essential safety features, a modern look .

Nice insight there mate. I was planning between this and the base creta 1.4e (also had the kicks and new duster but dropped due to logical reasoning)

Feature to feature the HTE is more loaded than the Creta 1.4e . The enhanced power and torque are a bonus. Hence even though I stay 200kms away from the dealership I still booked it where as there's a Hyundai dealership in my town.

The only immediate purchase I plan is a rear camera, hopefully the dealership will fit this without voiding the warranty.

Near future upgrades I plan are seat covers and touchscreen unit if it can be fitted to the ugly plastic dash as you aptly described. And alloys in the long run. Would also like to fit some sort of parcel tray/ cover .

Awaiting your car delivery eagerly, love your detailed posts.

Nice performance figures in the next post mate, I never thought the car would be pocket rocket!

[84.monsoon]

Originally Posted by simeonovitch

The comment was about the 1.5 NA engine. NA means Naturally Aspirated. Non turbo-charged. He was talking of the Petrol.

And you both just commented about the 1.5 Turbo diesel.
Stop comparing apples to oranges.

Dear Simeonovitch, Please re-read the post from Flowdowntheline. He suggested that one would have to go to the 25 lakh territory to get exciting performance figures. My reply was seeking to counter that part of his post - one need not spend that much, a lakh extra for the Seltos Diesel would give one all the performance wanted.

[dksv]

The accessories SA at my dealer confirmed the following are now available as parts that can be ordered separately for variants that don’t have them.
Within braces are approximate costs, where it is known.
> Ice-cube LED fog lamps
> LED Interior lamps
> 16-inch alloys (8k/wheel+centre cap)
> 17-inch alloys; both hyper-metallic and crystal-cut
> OE black paint for a 2-tone roof (17k)
> Parcel shelf kit (11k)

[Divyendu Sharma]

Originally Posted by dksv

The accessories SA at my dealer confirmed the following are now available as parts that can be ordered separately for variants that don’t have them.
Within braces are approximate costs, where it is known.

Hi

Thank you very much for the information.By any chance do you think they can paint the roof if it has sunroof?

[Sebring]

I'd advise not to paint and go for film option. Plenty of choice from 6K to 20K, and it's removable.

Originally Posted by Divyendu Sharma

Thank you very much for the information.By any chance do you think they can paint the roof if it has sunroof?