[vsrivatsa]

Originally Posted by bluevolt

Our 2010 Honda City was due for replacement as it entered it's 10th year of ownership last year. We keep our cars for long; 10 years at least.The same process was followed when I replaced WagonR with Baleno in Sept. 2017.

Congratulations on the Kia Seltos. I think it is a great choice and wish you many happy miles with it. It is always a hard one when you move from the Honda City since its such a practical all-rounder car that ticks so many boxes.

Only thing that surprised me was the fact that you replaced your Wagon R with a Baleno and was considering the Venue to replace the City. The Venue is a great looking car but I think in terms of interior space it wont match the Baleno also. Further with the Seltos you got yourself the K2/Elantra Platform and with the Venue you would have got the K1/Santro platform...so IMHO the Seltos lower variant is definetely a better bet than a higher variant Venue anyday...

[Aditya]

Congrats on the car bluevolt.

The Seltos is probably the best main car to have been launched in 2019. Little wonder it became Team-BHP's Car of the Year. I thoroughly enjoyed reviewing it. The looks, the quality, the performance and the equipment - it has it all. The only thing I felt could have been better is the ride. Also what's confusing is the sheer number of variants and engine and gearbox options. On the flip side, they have everyone covered by offering so many variants.

The Seltos is selling very well and going by the looks of things, it will continue to dominate its segment.

[Sk8r]

Congratulations on your purchase !

I admire your decision making being based completely on Function over Form and Needs over Wants

Seltos is a very capable machine and going by today's price tag, an excellent choice over City !

Wish you many Happy miles and keep sharing the regular maintenance/ spare and ownership costs

[Reinhard]

Originally Posted by bluevolt

"How it all started"

Preface

Our 2010 Honda City was due for replacement as it entered it's 10th year of ownership last year. We keep our cars for long; 10 years at least so we start looking for options as soon as the current one crosses 8 years mark and chooses the best possible option. The same process was followed when I replaced WagonR with Baleno in Sept. 2017. I was constantly looking for guidance to help me choose the best possible upgrade including my thread - https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/sedan...onda-city.html (In search of a new car with a 8-12 lakh budget - What can replace a 3rd gen Honda City?)

Very detailed review. This will be useful for prospective buyers as a nice add-on for the official review on TBHP. Your perspective as a buyer moving from an existing car into the Seltos will be handy for all. Such tremendous effort has gone into the compilation - it sure deserves the full 5 stars!!

Congratulations on the fantastic acquisition. Wish you & your family unlimited safe & happy miles for the next 10 years! Very thoughtful choice to go with a practically kitted out 1.5 HTK. Enjoy!

[knrn]

Many congratulations on your purchase. Indeed it will be a reference thread for future prospective owners of the manual petrol versions.

I would like to request you to continue updating the thread and if possible tell us about the highway performance of this wonderful vehicle. There are few petrol turbocharged engines around. Would love to know the experience.

Happy driving.

[self_driven]

Congratulations bluevolt! Read your report in one go and thoroughly enjoyed it. Appreciate your decision to opt for the Seltos. It has the same desirability factor in this price range which the 3rd gen City had a decade back.

Have you planned any paint protection/PPF/ceramic coating for the car? I have seen a lot of new car buyers going for these coatings in recent times. As you keep your cars for long, a layer of PPF on bumper edges and ORVMs shall be a worthwhile investment.

Wish you a happy and peaceful ownership ahead. Looking forward to regular ownership updates from your side. Enjoy!

[bluevolt]

Originally Posted by vishy76

Thanks for the review! Great choice of colour. Wishing you many happy miles with the Seltos just like your city. The HTK is good VFM that way. Disc brakes on all four wheels is the only thing I wish Kia offers as standard.

Thanks a lot. Kia offers disc brakes across the variants except for petrol engine for the first three variants. I am not sure why Kia excluded rear discs for the 1.5 L petrol engine. Though in no way, I am complaining about the performance of the brakes in my car.

Originally Posted by gupta_chd

Congrats for your purchase buddy and excellent color choice.:t Anyways, one more thing, you mentioned that wheel in boot is not similar sized and although I have not checked it particularly, I guess it should be 16' only but not an alloy. Please correct if I am wrong.

Thanks a lot. Yes, my bad. Spare one is a steel wheel but is of 16" only. I guess the wheel size difference is there; probably in GT line variant.

Originally Posted by vsrivatsa

Congratulations on the Kia Seltos. I think it is a great choice and wish you many happy miles with it. It is always a hard one when you move from the Honda City since its such a practical all-rounder car that ticks so many boxes.

Thanks a lot. True, it was too tough to let the City go, and I always thought that the next-gen City could only replace my City

Originally Posted by vsrivatsa

Only thing that surprised me was the fact that you replaced your Wagon R with a Baleno and was considering the Venue to replace the City.

The only reason I didn't go for any mini-SUV like Venue was the realization that my Baleno indeed has a lot more space than these cars. The Venue was considered as it was a new launch and looked good!

Originally Posted by Aditya

Congrats on the car bluevolt.
.

Thanks a lot!

Originally Posted by Sk8r

Congratulations on your purchase !
Wish you many Happy miles and keep sharing the regular maintenance/ spare and ownership costs

Thanks a lot!

Originally Posted by Reinhard

Very detailed review. This will be useful for prospective buyers as a nice add-on for the official review on TBHP.

Congratulations on the fantastic acquisition. Wish you & your family unlimited safe & happy miles for the next 10 years! Very thoughtful choice to go with a practically kitted out 1.5 HTK. Enjoy!

Thanks a lot. I hope this thread will be useful for anyone considering 1.5L petrol variant.

Originally Posted by self_driven

Congratulations bluevolt! Read your report in one go and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Have you planned any paint protection/PPF/ceramic coating for the car? I have seen a lot of new car buyers going for these coatings in recent times. As you keep your cars for long, a layer of PPF on bumper edges and ORVMs shall be a worthwhile investment.

Thanks a lot.

To be honest, I don't find coatings worth 60-80k meaningful. Though, I agree they might have their own advantages but spending close to 1 lakh for paint protection coating is not a value for money proposition to me.

I will follow the old school way, will wax the car once every 5-6 months with carnauba wax. My 10-year-old WagonR and City had the paint gloss intact till the day I sold them (you may refer to the pic of both of my earlier cars). I just used waxes like Collinite 845, genuine formula one and turtle wax.

For Seltos, I will wait till the first service and then probably go for turtle liquid wax or collinite 845 wax.

[bluevolt]

So few more points that I would like to highlight in continuation of my review -

• Rear camera and parking sensor - The steering assisted rear camera along with parking sensors make it convenient to reverse the car and park it. The quality of camera is really good especially in day time; the quality deteriorates in night but still hold well its purpose. The sensors performs really well, they start alerting well in advance through repeated beeps.
• DRVM - Driving Rear View Monitor - I was not aware of this feature and explored it yesterday only while navigating through the settings of touch-panel. I think this feature is excellent considering my car doesn't have rear defogger, so in rains or in heavy fog while the rear windscreen will be misted, DRVM will come handy. It works while the car is in motion and continue even when car is halted at traffic signals. However, DRVM will not start if you attempt to start it when the car is initially stopped/engine is not running. I assigned the '*' button in ICE as shortcut for DRVM feature.
• I navigated through most of the settings of ICE unit, made shortcuts of all the favorite FM radio stations, tried various widgets that can be enabled for right of the screen. Will further try other widgets and see which one is most relevant.
• Digital speed mode on ODO LCD is the best mode I experienced. Digital speed helps in quickly adjust to speeds when speed cameras are nearby. I recall digital speedo was a rage in Honda Civic! Also, observed that once you cross 80 KMPH, the system flashes alert message to reduce the speed; however, the alert is not audible.
• I was checking the feature list and found 'Follow Me Home Headlamps' feature in my car. I have not experienced it yet, also not sure how to use it.
• Also, received my RC as well within two weeks time. The body type mentioned is 'Station Wagon' instead of SUV. Should this be of any concern?

I am yet to find time to start Android Auto, The system asks me to update the apps in my phone that I will do today. Will share my further experience of setting it up. The primary purpose of using Android Auto will be to use maps for navigation. I hope this unit supports this functionality.

[evil_grin]

Kudos to you on choosing the variant that met your needs and not get carried away by your wants. These car manufacturers are clever in putting the most desirable features in the highest variant and skimping on the needed ones in the base variants.

Even though I bought an Octavia recently as a second car to my Habanero Red 2010 Honda City (same as yours), I still pause while walking past a Seltos GT and gawk at the interiors. Kia has made a C segment car look like a D segment car. They way they have upped the game will force other manufacturers to follow suit.

[AZT]

Originally Posted by bluevolt

Our 2010 Honda City was due for replacement as it entered it's 10th year of ownership last year.

You couldn't have picked a better car for the money. Totally agree on the VFM part, plus its a new car so the design wont feel outdated and you can proudly drive this for the next 10 years as well

Wish you many happy miles ahead!

[libranof1987]

Congratulations on the Seltos, bluevolt!

Your City and mine are the same vintage; I can imagine how difficult it must have been finding a replacement in the same price range for a car that packs so much value (esp the 2008 - 2012 version). I have to initiative a conversation to replace ours!

Wish you a wonderful ownership period and many pleasant miles!

[bluevolt]

Originally Posted by evil_grin

Kudos to you on choosing the variant that met your needs and not get carried away by your wants.

Thanks a lot.

Originally Posted by AZT

You couldn't have picked a better car for the money. Totally agree on the VFM part, plus its a new car so the design wont feel outdated and you can proudly drive this for the next 10 years as well

Wish you many happy miles ahead!

Thanks a lot. Yes, 10 years is the norm for us. I believe you can get maximum value from a car if you keep her for long time.

Originally Posted by libranof1987

Congratulations on the Seltos, bluevolt!

Your City and mine are the same vintage; I can imagine how difficult it must have been finding a replacement in the same price range for a car that packs so much value (esp the 2008 - 2012 version). I have to initiative a conversation to replace ours!

Wish you a wonderful ownership period and many pleasant miles!

Thanks a lot. Yes, I do remember, both of us had same color - Habanero Red!

Please do share what you decide on City's replacement.

[ortho_surgeon]

Hi. Congratulations on your new vehicle.

I read your complete post. Very well written.

It has been a busy day for me but once I started reading I somehow had to finish.

Seltos is a VFM product and you have selected the perfect budget variant. Price wise the HTE diesel and HTK 1.5 petrol are on par.

I go for the functionality and basic needs rather than gizmos. Because if the electricals fail it is always a problem to fix them

Unfortunately the 1.5 petrol isn't available for test drive. I drove the 1.5 diesel and simply loved it.

The main reason I was interested in the diesel is because my driving is 70 percent on highways, out of which you can say 30 percent is on the ghats.

I was considering the diesel until yesterday but after reading your review I'm thinking of shifting to the petrol.

Now coming to the questions which I have, I hope you will be able to answer them.

1) with 5 adults and luggage how does the 1.5 petrol pull? By pulling power I mean how is it on ghats or inclines. I presume you haven't driven it on ghats as yet, but atleast at the inclines in the malls. If you haven't could you please check that for me.

Given your experience with Honda i-vtec I don't think there is any better person here to answer.

2) how is the projector halogen beam at night? Read that it is inadequate.

3) do the seats, by which I mean the underthigh cushioning, the side bolterstring and lumbar support differ from the higher models.

4) mileage of the 1.5 petrol by the tank method. Never go by what the monitor says. Can you please update on that.

Finally wishing you a happy and safe driving experience.

Thanking you in advance for your 2 cents regarding my queries.

[bluevolt]

Originally Posted by ortho_surgeon

Hi. Congratulations on your new vehicle. Finally wishing you a happy and safe driving experience.

Thanking you in advance for your 2 cents regarding my queries.

Thanks a lot. PFB my comments below your queries.

1) with 5 adults and luggage how does the 1.5 petrol pull? By pulling power I mean how is it on ghats or inclines. I presume you haven't driven it on ghats as yet, but atleast at the inclines in the malls. If you haven't could you please check that for me.

Given your experience with Honda i-vtec I don't think there is any better person here to answer.

While we have not done a very long trip in the car yet, but with 4 people onboard along with heavy suitcases, I have driven for nearly 100 kms at a stretch without any trouble. Pickup, overtaking is a breeze. Never felt if I was missing the i-Vtec of my City.

2) how is the projector halogen beam at night? Read that it is inadequate.

Pretty much happy with the throw in city driving conditions, but since I have not driven on unlit dark highways, can't comment on that aspect but coming from City and my current Baleno, the projectors are definitely a step ahead. I personally will not be going for an upgrade for sure.

3) do the seats, by which I mean the underthigh cushioning, the side bolterstring and lumbar support differ from the higher models.

I don't think there is any difference between the comfort level of seats except for the leather seats and ventilated functionality being provided in the. The seats are way better and comfortable when compared to the seats of my City

4) mileage of the 1.5 petrol by the tank method. Never go by what the monitor says. Can you please update on that.

I have filled the tank on the day of taking delivery. Currently driven for 650+ kms and I will be easily driving it for another 100-150 kms before refueling. Considering this tankful calculation, it comes out to be 15+ KMPL (For 50 liter fuel tank, 5 liter is usually the reserve fuel so I calculate using 45 kms as the denominator)

[panamera13]

Originally Posted by bluevolt

After Market Accessories

I ordered a body cover and a wheel lock from Amazon. It is very important to keep a brand-new car covered for few initial days to avoid any unwanted attention while it is parked. The quality, fit and finish of the auto-furnish brand body cover is excellent. Wheel lock adds up to peace of mind. Initially, I ordered two-wheel locks but later on decided on buying only one as I will be also installing gear lock for double protection. Kia doesn’t offer gear lock as an official accessory so got it installed from a couple of days of taking delivery from a nearby car accessory shop. The gear lock brand is Auto-Link with 5 years warranty; got it installed from the company person who came to the shop after buying the product. Also bought rear windscreen sunshade, zip-type sunshade and an MI 2-in-1 type C & Micro USB cable for Android Auto connectivity from Amazon.

Attachment 1970265

Can you please tell me which cover you got from Amazon; My dad got the kia cover and water seeps in so it's not really waterproof, it's just water resistant.

Can you give me the link of cover you bought? Also Are the wheel locks the lug nuts or the clamp that I see in the pic?