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Hello Everyone!

It's good to be back in the forum after a long time. I bought a Kia Seltos HTK+ 1.5L Diesel AT this week. So thought of starting an ownership review to share my experiences with my new car.

Likes:
- Powerful engine
- Engine refinement
- Smooth auto gearbox
- No turbo lag
- Excellent NVH levels
- View from the driver seat
- Exterior styling
- Solid build quality
- Powerful headlights
- Horns that sound more European
- Apple CarPlay
- Comfortable front seats
- Keyless entry
- Cruise control
- Effective AC
- All wheels disc brakes

Dislikes:
- No automatic temperature control
- No telescopic steering wheel
- Dashboard styling
- Stiff suspension
- Bland glove box
- No auto dimming IRVM
- No adjustable headrests in the back seat
- Average quality of reverse camera
- Stock Goodyear tires
- Weak rear AC vents
- Bland sun visors
- No backlit buttons on the doors
- Funky speaker grill design
- LED sound mood lights

Why a new car during pandemic?:
This was the first question I got from everyone when I announced that I had planned to buy a new car. But it was a necessity for me. I recently moved back to India from the USA after a period of 5 years and I didn't have a car to commute. My hunt for a new car started at beginning of this year while I was still in the US. My main criterion was that it had to be an a Sedan with Automatic gearbox. As usual, I started browsing through official car reviews in this forum and began shortlisting a few cars. I heard sometime in February that Honda was going to launch the new City sometime soon. I looked at the photos of the car from a few reviews from Thailand and I instantly fell in love with it. So I decided to wait for the new City. Immediately, I got in touch with Honda dealers in Bengaluru for the information on the launch date but they had no clue. They pushed me to buy the current generation City which I disagreed to. Having read in a few other websites that the new City was slated to launch on March 16th, I decided to wait for it.

Wait for the new City:
My mornings were spent in checking for launch date updates in the 2020 Honda City scoop thread in this forum. A month passed by, the pandemic was worsening and to my dismay the new City launch date got postponed indefinitely. Since I had no car to commute, I decided to drop the City plan and started looking for alternatives in the same price range.

Search for alternatives:
The new Verna was launched but I did not see any significant change from the previous generation. I looked around for Vento/Rapid and was surprised to see that they were still trying to sell the same old cars with minor upgrades since many years. Let alone sedan, I was not interested in any other manufacturer. This was when I considered the Crossover category. I again started digging into official reviews and shortlisted Hyundai Creta and Kia Seltos. I then got to know that Hyundai was going to launch the new Creta with a new design. The new Creta was launched within a week and I was impressed by the new design. But it was the rear design which threw me off no matter how hard I tried to fall in love with it. This was when I decided to go with Kia Seltos.

Parsing the variants:
I was not that familiar with the Kia dealerships in Bengaluru. A random search in Google Maps indicated that the JSP Autocore was the nearest Kia dealership to my home. I also noticed that Advaith group had a Kia dealership near Lalbagh which was considerably far from my home. I owned a Hyundai i20 few years back and Advaith Hyundai took good care of my car. I only had good experiences with them. I called the Advaith Aerospace (I have no idea why they have Aerospace in the name) and Chaitra, a friendly sales advisor immediately contacted me and shared on-road prices for all the variants of Seltos. I glanced at the list and got all the more confused with the numerous variants. I went into Kia website to compare the variants which only complicated things. I have coded many parsers all my life but my mind just couldn't parse all the variants of Seltos. It took 2-3 days for me to just get familiar with all the variants. I still had so many questions but managed to get a fair idea on which variant has what features (Even after purchasing the car, I'm not sure what all features this HTK+ Diesel AT variant has). Since my main requirement was an AT gearbox, I decided to just give the features a pass and concentrate on the engine, gearbox and pricing.

Decision on Diesel AT variant:
I scanned through the official review of Seltos and dropped 1.5 IVT from my list. All the DCT variants were way above my budget. I finally decided to go with the 1.5 HTK+ Diesel AT variant as it ticked the right boxes for me. I called Chaitra and checked the waiting period for Silver and Gray color variants. The waiting period for Silver was 3 months but she promised me to arrange for a Gray variant within a week. I paid the booking amount on March 19th and she promised to deliver the car on March 26th. She also shared the VIN number and it was a January 2020 manufactured car.

Lockdown:
Our Government announced the lockdown on March 22nd. I knew it wasn't going to get lifted any sooner and nothing would happen during this time and hence didn’t bother to follow up with them during the lockdown period. I got a call from Chaitra on May 6th and she informed that the showroom was then open and they could arrange for new car from their Ananthapur factory within a week. I gave them a green signal and they restarted the process. This time, she shared a different VIN number and it was a February 2020 manufactured car. She asked me to choose a delivery date and I picked May 13th.

Delivery:
Chaitra called me on May 12th and asked us to come to the showroom at 5 PM on May 13th. She said it takes some time to sanitize the car completely before delivery. My wife and I reached the showroom at around 4:30 PM with masks on our face. Our body temperature was checked at the entrance by a security guard and were provided with a sanitizer to sanitize our hands. It was good to see that everyone in the showroom had their masks on and were maintaining proper social distancing. We completed all the formalities and our car was handed over to us at 5 PM as promised. The overall experience dealing with Advaith Aerospace was excellent. Even during this pandemic, they ensured that the overall sales experience was as seamless as possible. I'm yet to get the registration details as they initiated the process just one day before the delivery. They have asked me to come back after a week to get the number plates attached.

Detailed reviews will follow once I start clocking more miles on the car. Special thanks to karan561, rahul_goyal, ashis89, bluevolt and BZ25 for their wonderful ownership reviews of Seltos. It was really helpful for me to decide this car.

Few pics taken during the delivery (More exterior pictures to follow after lockdown is lifted and situation is normal). I liked the fact that they didn’t decorate the car with ribbons and balloons (due to shortage of staff).

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Interior:

I’m not a fan of the grayish color interiors. The GT line interiors with Black and Beige combination looks much better than this variant. That being said, the quality of the plastics are good. Nothing feels cheap. All the buttons and stalks feel sturdy. I like the head units that are integrated with the dashboard. I’m not a fan of the ones that protrude from the dashboard. But I think it’s the latest trend these days. Most of the cars I have driven lately have this kind of arrangement.

View of the dashboard:


Closer look at the driver side dashboard:




Driver's view. Offers an excellent view of the road ahead:


Front seats are comfortable. The seat covers were provided by the showroom and they are of good quality.




Rear leg room is adequate. Missing the adjustable headrests at the rear.


Front passenger seat:


Quality of the gear knob is great. I love it.


Has a dead pedal. Will be comfortable for long journeys:


Rear passengers love the sunshades that are provided. They a re of very high quality too:

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Cruise controls on the steering wheel. I don't think this will be used much here unless driving on expressways:


Phone and multimedia controls on the steering wheel:


Wiper stalk.


Light stalk. This has auto headlamps functionality:


Engine Start/Stop button:


Headlamp level adjuster and MID brightness control buttons:


AC vents are sturdy and of good quality. I had a major issue with the flimsy AC vents in my i20 and I have lost the count of how many times I had got it replaced:


AC vents at the sides:


AC vents at the rear. They are very weak. I hardly feel air coming out of it. I'm not sure if it's an issue with my car or with all Seltos. Need to check with other Seltos owners in the forum. There is also a hole to place mobiles. There is a round sealed out cap next to it. I think the higher variants have a phone charger in that place:


I don't like the design of speaker grills. It looks like there are lots of dents on it or like a crumpled paper. I would rather prefer a conventional design:


The buttons on the door are of good quality. Only the driver window button is back lit. They should have provided the backlight for all the buttons. No idea why they skimped on it:


Door locks are simple and sturdy:


Front door pockets can hold medium sized bottles:


Rear door pockets can only hold small bottles:


Cup holders:


Height adjustable seat belts:


Manual seat height adjuster:


A space to place mobile phones. It holds my 6.7 inch phone easily:


There is another small space above the USB ports to hold the mobile phone. I believe this is the wireless charger space in GT variants.


Sunglass holder:


Two USB ports. The one at the center is just for Apple CarPlay or Android Auto.


The center USB port illuminates at night:


Driver side sun visor does not get a mirror. Also it doesn't feel premium:


Passenger side sun visor gets a mirror:


A Pillar is not too thick. I haven't experienced any visibility issues due to the blind spots:


C Pillar is quite thick and limits the visibility:

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Instrument Cluster:


At night:


Shows Distance To Empty, average FE, temperature and gear position indicator by default:


It can be configured to show the following options:
1. Trip Information


2. Drive Information:


3. Digital Speedometer:


Other options:

User settings:


Auto lock options:


Auto unlock options (I have disabled it):


One touch indicator options. It can be configured to 3, 5 and 7 seconds:


Convenience options:


Mirror fold/unfold options:


Service interval reminders can be set here. I have set it to Kia recommended 10000km/12 months.


Door warnings. Shows which door is open. Also shows the warning for bonnet and boot:


Always performs a system check with a cool animation on start:

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Exterior:

To be honest, the most important thing that attracted me towards Seltos is the exterior design. As I mentioned in the opening post, my first choice when I decided to go with a crossover was Hyundai Creta. If it was not for that new design (especially the rear), I would have definitely chosen Creta over Seltos. I used to own an i20 and had only good experience dealing with Hyundai and I’m a great admirer of that company. It was just the new design of Creta that put me off. No offense to any new Creta owners. I still have tremendous respect towards that car and is still one of my favorites. I'm still a big fan and admirer of the design of the previous generation Creta.

But after a month of constant visitations to the Hyundai website, I think I'm in love with Creta's design. It has just grown on me. It looks very futuristic and I think the design is not going to get outdated for a very long time in future. The design is way ahead of its time. It definitely takes some time to get used to it. If Creta was launched a month before, I think I would have gone with it.

I like the front view of this car a lot. Simple and subtle. I pray that Kia doesn't follow other manufacturers and go overboard with the design in future:


The build quality is pretty good. I haven’t noticed any uneven panel gaps anywhere. All the doors feel heavy just like European cars. The bonnet and the tailgate are pretty heavy too. The overall build quality feels more European rather than Japanese/Korean:


This is my favorite angle:


Side profile of the car:


Rear view of the car:


Electrically adjustable and foldable ORVM. They auto fold/unfold on lock/unlock or when the driver arrives and is configurable. Offers a good view of the action behind:


Gets the BS6 badging. I would have preferred if they could have skipped it:


Auto badge on the side. AT gearbox is mainstream now and I think it's time for manufacturers to stop pasting such badges:


Projector headlamp with DRL:




Projector fog lamp:


Tail lamp. I don't think it has a fog lamp. Need to crosscheck:


Scrape protector below the front bumper:


Rear camera hidden above the number plate:


Camera quality is average:


Rear washer is neatly integrated with high mounted stop lamp:


Request sensor on the driver side door. Missing on the passenger side door:


4 parking sensors:


I think the dealer has affixed this sticker. Pretty useful to remind the fuel station attendants to use the correct fuel:


Engine bay:




Under bonnet gets insulation:


16 inch Goodyear tires (205/65 R16)


All 4 wheels get disc brakes:


Full size spare wheel:


Right side wiper must be lifted before the left one:

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Exterior shots at night:







Just the fog lamps:


Low beam:


High beam:


DRLs only:

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Infotainment System:

This variant gets a 8 inch touchscreen system. The screen is very responsive and easy to use.

Supports Apple CarPlay and Android Auto:


Displays trip information by default:


Also displays driving statistics:


Car manual can be accessed by scanning this QR code:


Supports Bluetooth audio streaming and phone calls:


Apple CarPlay Home screen (which can be customized):


Few of the apps that supports CarPlay:




Navigation using CarPlay (night):


Navigation (day):




A digital/analog clock can be set as screensaver:

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Accessories that were given during the delivery (including the seat covers in the previous post):

Ganesha Idol:


Kia branded keychain which is of good quality:


Car cover. I usually don't use car covers as it tends to scratch the paint surface:


Jopasu kind of duster. It's the same quality as that of Jopasu. Not sure if it's just a rebranded Jopasu duster.


I'm not a fan of these protectors, but they were already installed by the time I went to showroom:


Not a fan of this either:


I find this dustbin very convenient. It's always a pain after a long trip to search for trash in all nooks and corners of the car, collect them and dispose it. I have made a rule in the car for everyone to use this for disposing the trash. Hope everyone strictly follows the rule:


Car freshener (Lime flavor):


Dual phone charger:


Non-slip dashboard mat:


Two Kia branded pillows:


Pen:


A boot mat:


I don't like these car visors but they were already installed by the time we went to showroom:


Tissue box:


The tissue box has a Velcro at the bottom which avoids it being thrown around. Neat!


Two microfiber cloths:


Car shampoo:

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Initial driving impression

Driving in the city:
My showroom and home are connected by a mixed set of roads which includes bumper to bumper traffic (yes, during lockdown) and a couple of state highways. After driving this stretch, I felt that the engine has a lot of power. Turbo lag is almost non-existent. This car is a hoot to drive in the city. It’s easy to chug along with the bumper to bumper traffic. Just lift the brakes and it moves forward. My left leg thanks me for buying the AT gearbox. The engine feels pretty refined even at low speeds. Due to the absence of turbo-lag, I find this very convenient to drive in cities.

Driving on the highway:
I haven’t got a chance to take this car on proper highways yet. I just took this car once on NICE road in Bengaluru and was blown away by the sheer power of this engine. Taking off after merging into the highway is effortless. The engine feels very refined at higher speeds. I usually drive with light foot and I don’t have any complaints regarding the NVH levels.

Suspension and ride quality:
The suspension is on the firmer side. It feels pretty bumpy on bad roads at lower speeds. I drove on a few bumpy roads near my home with my family and started hearing complaints from the back seat about the bumpy ride. But this stiff suspension makes up for higher speeds on highways. It’s an absolute joy to drive this car which doesn’t have a floaty behavior. It handled the undulations of NICE road without any drama. I haven’t observed much body roll too. I must take this car in some ghats and check how it handles in corners. The turning radius of this car is pretty wider.

AT gearbox:
The AT gearbox of this car is a gem. It shifts so seamlessly that you barely notice it shifting. The gearbox is well mated with the engine. I used to drive a Civic CVT as my daily driver abroad. The Seltos AT gearbox is much better than that of Civic’s. Civic’s gearbox used to be laggy and sometimes used to get into a confused state but I have never seen that happen with this. Previous to Civic, I used a drive an Altima V6 but that gearbox was in a different level altogether. I have used the manual mode in Seltos only once just for the sake of testing on a steep incline and found no issues using it. This gearbox warrants paddle shifters. It’s a huge miss from Kia. The new Creta has it and the owners are going to love it.

Fuel efficiency:
It’s too early to comment on fuel efficiency. The average FE is see on MID is around 10 kmpl. Most of the driving was done inside the city and I don’t expect more. During the initial run from showroom to my home, the average FE on the MID was around 12-13 kmpl. I expect it to return around 14-15 kmpl on highways. I have stopped worrying about FE these days. I’ll be happy even if it returns 12-13 kmpl average. For me convenience comes before FE which is why I bought AT gearbox. After driving a variety of AT cars for the last 5 years in US, I don't think I would ever want to go back to MT cars

Brakes:
This car has all wheels disc breaks and they are pretty sharp. The car just stops in a straight line from any speed with no unpredictable behavior.

Steering:
The steering weighs nice on highways and feels pretty light in cities. I have no complaints in this department. This variant gets the regular wheel. I like the flat bottomed ones found in the GT variants. This variant doesn’t get the leather wrapped string wheel. I’m planning to get it done from outside in future.

Ground clearance:
The 190 mm ground clearance is pretty adequate for the kind of roads we have. I have taken it through some monster speed bumps but didn’t observe any scraping issues even with the car fully loaded. This should just sail past through most of the monster, unscientific speed bumps usually found on Indian roads.

Overall I’m very impressed with this engine and gearbox combination. The engine has adequate power. The NVH levels are excellent. The engine refinement is so good that it feels like a Petrol car. The AT gearbox is a gem. It is smooth and seamless. I did not once feel that it was on wrong gear within the city or on open roads. It was a breeze to drive this car in heavy traffic. Just shift to Drive mode and it crawls. The brakes of the car are above par too. They are very sharp and stop the car without any drama. The stiff suspension makes driving a bit bumpy on bad roads but behaves maturely on highways. For now, I'm satisfied with the purchase.

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Before closing the initial report, I would like to touch upon few more things:

Insurance:
I chose to accept whatever insurance the showroom offered. They offered me a return to invoice, zero depreciation, bumper to bumper insurance for a fair price. Though I would have got a better deal outside for little less, this seemed like a hassle-free option.

Extended Warranty:
My running is usually pretty high and hence I went with their default plan i.e, 5 years/unlimited kms extended warranty.

Digitization:
I used to hear a lot about Digital India initiative while I was abroad but I just experienced it while buying this car. My entire car buying process was done using digital platforms like UPI payment apps, mobile banking, Whatsapp, etc. It's hard to believe but I spoke with the Sales Advisor only twice during this purchase process. It was on the first day when I called the showroom to check about the car and on the day of the delivery in showroom. She took care of the entire process without face-to-face contact and not once did I feel left out. Real-time updates kept beeping on my phone. It was not just Chaitra but the entire team (finance, insurance, registration) did a great job of coordinating things really well during this pandemic. My first visit to the showroom was on the day of delivery The way Advaith Aerospace handled the entire delivery process was flawless. The void created by not being able to go on a TD due to lockdown was invincibly filled by all the reviews on this forum which enabled me to gain enough confidence to buy Seltos.

Conclusion:

Things that I really like in this car:
1. Engine - I have repeated several times in this review but engine refinement is excellent. I barely hear any engine noise inside the cabin. It is equally powerful too. I had no issues doing quick overtakes on my way back to home from the showroom. Just a tap on the accelerator was sufficient to make it surge forward. I’m convinced that this will be an excellent highway cruiser too. I am waiting to grab a chance to take it for long drives yet.
2. AT gearbox - I'm truly in love with this AT gearbox. The shifts are accurate and not once have I felt that it was on the wrong gear. Kia has really tuned it well with this engine. It’s a bliss to drive this car due to the excellent AT gearbox.
3. Build quality - I have thoroughly inspected the car after I got it but never came across any part that feels cheap. The doors, boot and bonnet are very heavy. It requires some effort to lift the bonnet. The dashboard is well screwed together. Even though I don't like the grayish interiors, I have no complaints regarding the quality of any interior part.

Things that I miss in this car (variant to be specific):
1. Automatic temperature control - I realized that this variant doesn't have one only when I went to pick up the car in the showroom. This just shows how confusing can be the feature comparison between ten thousand different variants.
2. Alloy spare wheel - My i20 which costed less than half of this car had one.
3. Telescopic steering - This variant has only tilt steering but not telescopic. My i20 had it.
4. Auto antiglare IRVM - I expected this to be a standard feature at this price range.
5. Absence of backlit buttons on doors - This is a major inconvenience. It's really difficult to operate the buttons after dark. This is a major miss by Kia and hope they introduce it in future.

Things that I don't miss compared to higher variants:
1. Chrome accessories - While I was in the showroom for delivery, I happened to come across another 1.5HTDCTXGT+- something variant which was laden with chrome strips all over the place. It depends on individual taste but I just can't stand so much chrome strips on the car.
2. The red strips on bumpers and wheel caps - It looked cool in the photos but I somehow didn't like when I saw them in real.

Thanks everyone for reading the review. Please let me know any questions on this car and I'll be happy to answer.

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Initial Ownership Section. Thanks for sharing!

Terrific review . Your car will go to our homepage today!

[a4anurag]

Great review. Wishing you many happy niles with the car.

Originally Posted by guyfrmblr

Tail lamp. I don't think it has a fog lamp. Need to crosscheck

No rear fog lamp is given in either the Seltos or the Creta (First gen).

Originally Posted by guyfrmblr

Right side wiper must be lifted before the left one.

+1. This issue is there in the first generation Creta too.

[ashis89]

Congratulations on your new ride!! Hope it gives you flawless company for years and miles to come.

Regarding the rear AC, Yes the throw of air from that blower is weak. On a sunny day, the air hitting from these rear blowers will not be satisfying for the rear passengers. However, the AC itself is pretty efficient and cools down the car quickly. The only sin that Kia committed, missing auto AC in the otherwise perfect variant.

[itwasntme]

Excellent review, thanks. Sent it to a cousin about to take delivery of his identical vehicle.

2 bits from me: take off the door visors and the diesel sticker. Both spoil the clean looks. Do you drive a lot with windows down? Only then is the former useful. If you don't, then the visors will only add to wind noise.

[BZ25]

Hi sir, congratulations on your new acquisition! I feel grateful that my ownership report was able to help you to finalize the Seltos as your purchase. I love the way you have been able to convey so much in a relatively small write up.

The first test drive we had of the Seltos was a diesel manual variant. You would know by now that the diesel engine clatter can barely be heard from inside the car. Some BHPians were disappointed with the power figures, but I think those figures don't tell the entire truth. Even in the official review, the Diesel AT variant is the recommended model to buy. This is where rivals failed, they were all launched half-heartedly with missing equipment, no AT variants etc. Over these past seven months, the Seltos has proven to my family that it is a brilliant all-rounder & my parents made the correct decision buying it.

On a lighter note, it's nice to know that a fellow BHPian is upgrading from an i20 to a Seltos like my family. It is a gem of a car and I'm positive that you will have some wonderful miles with this beauty.

Stay safe & take care. Do keep updating this thread.