[Vkap257]

Hi folks!

I recently became part of the Sonet family and I must say she’s a Beaut! I actually like the slightly stiffer suspension setup and got to experience it recently on the Yamuna expressway way where the car felt planted and confident as a rock. The imt gearbox helped return 16-17 kmpl all while the bone chilling A/c never went below 25 degrees in Delhi heat. Ownership review surely coming up!

Picture shared from the just concluded NCR Teambhp Meet.

[ani446]

Brought home mine on Augst 12 (2023 1.0 Turbo HTX IMT in Imperial Blue). Already took her to a trip of 1100 kms within the first week. Enjoyed the road manners and handling and the comfort of the IMT. Average has been around 16-17 kmpl with cruise control on (75-80kmph) if not it lingers around 14-16. City economy has been around 10-13 kmpl with the AC on 100%.

My only concern as of now:
If I depress the brake fully over the bumps, it sounds and feel like as if the brake system/part is touching the ground or the bumps, I can literally feel some parts touching the ground. Observed it mostly upon hard braking and bad/huge bumps or if you are coming down the slope of an uneven road where you hold the brake to control the speed. Request you to share details if any of the members has ever faced this issue with your Sonet or any other cars and what could be the problem and a possible solution. I am yet to take it for the first service and would like to point this out with SA.

[ArijitGupte]

Originally Posted by ani446

My only concern as of now:
If I depress the brake fully over the bumps, it sounds and feel like as if the brake system/part is touching the ground or the bumps, I can literally feel some parts touching the ground. Observed it mostly upon hard braking and bad/huge bumps or if you are coming down the slope of an uneven road where you hold the brake to control the speed.

Congratulations on the new beast.
I too have felt the same vibrations on hard braking.
Think this is the cars safety braking system (ABS EBD) actively acting.
Don't worry nothing touches the ground other than the tyres, drive safe enjoy the beast

[ani446]

Originally Posted by ArijitGupte

Congratulations on the new beast.
I too have felt the same vibrations on hard braking.
Think this is the cars safety braking system (ABS EBD) actively acting.
Don't worry nothing touches the ground other than the tyres, drive safe enjoy the beast

Thank you! confirmed with SA during the first service and also with friend who drives a verna. But it is strange, All my previous cars have ABS but never felt anything like this.

[Vkap257]

Originally Posted by ani446

Brought home mine on Augst 12 (2023 1.0 Turbo HTX IMT in Imperial Blue).

My only concern as of now:
If I depress the brake fully over the bumps, it sounds and feel like as if the brake system/part is touching the ground or the bumps, I can literally feel some parts touching the ground. Observed it mostly upon hard braking and bad/huge bumps or if you are coming down the slope of an uneven road where you hold the brake to control the speed. Request you to share details if any of the members has ever faced this issue with your Sonet or any other cars and what could be the problem and a possible solution. I am yet to take it for the first service and would like to point this out with SA.

Congratulations on your purchase. The imperial Blue is a beautiful shade. I heard some executive call it as “BMW wala color” . I also added sports pedals to mine from official accessories to enhance the luxury quotient of the car.

I can confirm this break pedal or internals grating when passing through potholes is an old Hyundai-Kia phenomenon. I have felt the same crashing feel in my 2017 elite i20, 2021 Creta and now 2023 Sonet. Though I have never approached the SC regarding this as the car seems to run fine.

[hrman]

Originally Posted by hrman

So I am close to completing 1 month of ownership and 470 kms. I still need to check out Airbag compliant seat covers, since the interiors are beige and prone to get dirty. Another investment I need to do is a dashcam. .....................
That's al for now. Will update post my 1st free service experience.

So the first 1000 km/1 month service was done at my home and was uneventful.

Now my 6 month/5k kms service was due. Booked a pick up and drop service today. They called yesterday to confirm the appointment, shared the time the driver will arrive with his photo and DL details.
He arrived on time, took the car and within 1.5 hrs got a message on their app that they have received the car.

I had a couple of observations: Rear windows had a rattling sound over rough surfaces, possibly to do with the sun shades which have plastic hooks/ handles. KIA seems to have done something and in my brief drive after getting it back from service, I didn't hear the rattle round.
Second point was the driver side door handle. At times when unlocking and opening the door handle, it gets stuck and needs to be opened with a slight tug. This started happening a few months back. This was also highlighted and they opened the door panel and did some adjustments. This also seems to have been taken care of.
I also reported slight gear shift clunkiness (I have iMT) from 2nd to 1st and this was attributed to kms running and it would get smoother over time. Its far better than when I bought it and seems to be smoothening out.

Was happy with their service. They formed a wsapp group with the service advisor, chief service in-charge and a couple of others, probably the technician and service coordinator. They kept sharing photos of the service and also of opening the driver front door panel, which confirmed to me they took my observation on driver door handle getting stuck seriously. Kudos to KIA and I am a very happy customer.

The car is running fine, completed 2250 kms in 6 months of purchase. My running is primarily from home to office and back. Yet to take it on a long highway drive, which will perhaps give me the real feel. I am now consistently getting city mileage around 9.5 kmpl.

Meanwhile the Portronics portable air pump I purchase in March seems to have failed within warranty. l Have raised an online warranty complaint. Lets see how that goes.

I also bought a 70mai pro plus a500S pro dashcam (phew, what a long name!) and got it installed. Nothing to report here as well, works as expected. This purchase was triggered by the road rage incident in Whitefield a month back when some roadside uneducated hooligans had followed a well educated professional home and attacked him. Till that time, I was on the fence about when to buy the dashcam. That incident sealed the decision for me and I purchased it the next day from Amazon for some 10.2k after discount.

[ashvek3141]

Sonet now gets the sunroof from HTK+ variant onwards. Aside, a standard 3 year free service and 5 years standard warranty for all the Sonet variants.

Possibly, Kia is trying to pull in some customer from the Nexon 'facelift' before they launch their own.

Link

[07CR]

Originally Posted by ashvek3141

Sonet now gets the sunroof from HTK+ variant onwards. Aside, a standard 3 year free service and 5 years standard warranty for all the Sonet variants.
Link

More than sunroof the 3 year free service and 5 year standard warranty is really cool! Shows confidence in the product. Good move.

[ashvek3141]

Originally Posted by 07CR

More than sunroof the 3 year free service and 5 year standard warranty is really cool! Shows confidence in the product. Good move.

5 years standard warranty is definitely , but I’m sure they won’t continue this for the facelifted version. This is just to entice buyers to pick up the current stock.

Kia is probably sitting on a huge inventory of the Sonet as currently it’s available within a week or two. Some variants are even available off the shelf. They probably had plans of launching the facelift in 2024 ; but seems like they have preponed the same and now want to liquidate the stock in hand.

On another note, the 3 years free service is actually a “correction“ and is nothing new / additional offer.

The earlier service intervals of Kia were;
1. 1k kms / 1 Month - Check-up
2. 5k / 6 Months - Again Check-up
3. 10k / 1 Year - Proper service.

Whereas Hyundai are offering;
1. 1k / 1 Month - Check-up
2. 10k / 1 Year - Proper service
3. 20k / 2 Years - Proper service.

The 5k service was never needed in the first place and was a total waste and only beneficial to Kia as they were able to charge for the 20k service which ideally should have been a free service.

[07CR]

Originally Posted by ashvek3141

On another note, the 3 years free service is actually a “correction“ and is nothing new / additional offer.

The earlier service intervals of Kia were;
1. 1k kms / 1 Month - Check-up
2. 5k / 6 Months - Again Check-up
3. 10k / 1 Year - Proper service.

Whereas Hyundai are offering;
1. 1k / 1 Month - Check-up
2. 10k / 1 Year - Proper service
3. 20k / 2 Years - Proper service.

The 5k service was never needed in the first place and was a total waste and only beneficial to Kia as they were able to charge for the 20k service which ideally should have been a free service.

Something amiss here. Do Hyundai too offer 3 year free service for Venue? As long as I remember when Venue was launched in 2019, they offered 3 free services, and not 3 year free services.

Kia here is offering 3 Year free service, so in effect the 5K service being an extra service does not matter. Post the 10K mark, even for Sonet, the interval is 10K kilometers or one year.

[ashvek3141]

Originally Posted by 07CR

Something amiss here. Do Hyundai too offer 3 year free service for Venue? As long as I remember when Venue was launched in 2019, they offered 3 free services, and not 3 year free services.

Kia here is offering 3 Year free service, so in effect the 5K service being an extra service does not matter. Post the 10K mark, even for Sonet, the interval is 10K kilometers or one year.

Need to actually verify this. Cannot blindly trust sites like Rushlane.

What I can however confirm is that, Kia has now officially removed the 5k kms / 6 months service which anyway was useless.

[khanmaj]

Sonet HTK+ turbo petrol imt was already being offered with sunroof. We bought it in last Nov. They might have introduced it with the diesel variant now.

[Clown Prince]

Originally Posted by ashvek3141

5 years standard warranty is definitely , but I’m sure they won’t continue this for the facelifted version. This is just to entice buyers to pick up the current stock.

On another note, the 3 years free service is actually a “correction“ and is nothing new / additional offer.

I also believe 5 year warranty won't be provided on facelift but it's still a good deal. Also I checked with Kia it's 3 year service which is another plus. Well its basically 3 services, just rephrased. The 5K service didn't counted in my cousin's case. He actually made all the terms clear at the time of delivery. All 3 major services were free for him.
Also # Khanmaj Sonet diesel and turbo came with sunroof. Its the NA variant which got the update and a price cut.

[skywalker18]

Unless one needs the car urgently, it might be prudent to wait for the facelift of Sonet.

Even if one goes for the current version then, waiting for a few months(till the facelift) will help to get a sweet deal in terms of discounts, freebies, etc.

I recently got the Kia Seltos 2023 facelift model. My SA told me that the dealership was offering free insurance, accessories worth 25K, and a cash discount of around 50K on the pre-facelift stock of the Seltos.

When I went for PDI in mid-August, I saw that they still had around half a dozen pre-facelift Kia Seltos in their stockyard.

[Vivian.A34]

I have been holding myself back to post a review on my new KIA Sonet D 1.5 IMT HTX plus BS6 phase 2 engine experience. I don't think there is lot of customer reviews yet for this specific model online aswell as I did a lot of research before booking the vehicle but couldn't find much.

So here is the review coming up with buying experience and the first long trip experience and also the 1st service experience for my KIA Sonet.

Buying Experience:

I was browsing for a while to get myself upgraded since the beginning of this year and that is when I started test driving and visiting showrooms. I was clear in my mind that I need a sub 4 meter with a powerful powertrain. Started with KIA as I liked the looks of the Sonet from the beginning but also wanted to explore other options before I came to a conclusion. Initial experience when I drove the diesel manual with 99bhp engine (this was the phase 1 engine which had manual option in diesel) it seemed to lack power, again other users on the forum would have a different opinion no offence. But I immediately felt there was something missing because I was upgrading from my 1.6 Duratec Ford Fiesta Petrol engine which was a fun to drive machine with just 82bhp engine I still feel I will highly underrate my experience with Ford if I say it was under powered infact I would say Ford was ahead of its time when designing the Ford Fiesta Classic because everything was accurate in this car the power the comfort and the drive experience.

I went for a test drive of the Nexon and there I found that missing power I was looking for in the 108bhp engine. However the cabin is neat and clean for the Nexon but the touch screen set me off. An 8 inch screen is clearly a turn off also the quality lacks far behind then kia's and the hyundai's also the rear camera clarity is not that good. I know this for a fact because the Altroz has the same setup for which I already posted a review.

In between one of my office colleague suggested me to check out the Kiger and Magnite said they are budget friendly but powerful. Anyways I was browsing I went to the Renault showroom in Nashik and the test drive car I believe was not serviced or something but it had a lot of vibration. I even asked the sales rep if it was not serviced and hence the vibration he said that is not the reason. Instead he said something which is fixed in my mind still Quote " All 1L petrol engines are noisy and have vibration " overall the car looked good but lacked power as it was only 1L engine and also did not feel good as the gear nob was all wobbly when at stand still or while driving. Magnite since no Nissan showroom in Nashik hence could not test drive I visited few of their service centers if they can arrange a test drive vechile the said they will try and never did. After this I was done with petrol engine for sub 4 meters.

Brezza was out of my list because it only had petrol options. Ford had left the market or eco sport would be topping my charts. I did a test drive for Hyundai venue but man that car is ugly or else everything in the Hyundai venue looks good the interior the power everything is good but the looks of the car from the front is a turnoff. By this time Nexon was winning the race until the new IMT model with enhanced engine in KIA Sonet came in. It had the same 114bhp engine and a 250nm torque as the seltos and the creta with minor price spike. And when I did a test drive of this machine in Mar'23 I knew this is the one. Refined diesel engine power pact, post 1500 rpm the car launches itself and does not hesitate. Looks amazing interiors perfect ever check box was ticked. I didn't go for GTX line as I didn't like the red lines on it.

Booked the vehicle back in Mar'23 and was given a waiting of 12 weeks. Come June'23 and I started getting calls from the showroom for documentation this was a hassle I even got angry because of lack of empathy and bad customer service. 1st Sales rep was trying to get rid of me because I was asking too many questions is what I felt and even told me that the price in BS6 phase 2 will rise by 2-3 lakhs from the current model ( this was before when I tested the 99bhp Sonet ) which eventually turned out to be not true. So for fellow members please validate and authenticate what these sales rep tell you during initial phase. 2nd sales rep was courteous as I didnt want to communicate with the first guy as he seemed pushy and with 0 customer servic skills. However during documentation I even told the 2nd rep I will cancel the booking and I don't want the car because of bad customer service from all of them in the showroom. I want information and want to be updated as to what they are doing when someone calls you and asks for aadhar OTP you don't just give that to them because they are from KIA they need to tell me what is the purpose is what I expected which lacked during the entire documentation.

Long Trip Experience:

Took delivery on 11th Jun '23 and made a long trip from Nashik to Indore. The car just cruises on highways and with the ease of IMT gearbox even in cities in traffic it is easy to drive. It gave me an average of 21kmpl on highways and between 17kmpl to 19kmpl in cities. I was okay as this being an IMT gearbox. Overtaking is easy I felt that the car is not aero dynamic on higher speeds because I could feel the drag in the cabin which is one draw back. Touch screen is an 10.25cm smartscreen with no physical buttons and is very responsive also the clarity of the camera and the screen is awesome. Build quality is good I wonder how it only scored 3 in GNCAP because I can feel the doors are heavy metal and the Bonet too with strong built quality. Bose speakers are something else definitely a cherry on top.

1st Service Experience:

1st service I felt the service center is highly understaffed as KIA has gained market but did not increase their infrastructure. A strict learning for them customer satisfaction at the service centers should be their priority which is not possible if you lack infrastructure. Overall I will rate Sonet an 8 out of 10 only because of service delivery or else the car is gem. Till now I have clocked 3500km+ on my ODO and I will keep posting my experience in my journey.