[robincsamuel]

Originally Posted by himalyan_ice

But that's a 88.5 (breeza) vs 118 horses (Sonet). I am assuming the torque figures don't matter in such a scenario till the turbo kicks in? (I know nothing of these things.)

What you are saying is the power (bhp/horses), which is more like how quickly the car can move. And torque (Nm) is how strong the car can push.

What matters here is the torque and the Brezza ZDI diesel engine makes 200Nm at the lowest 1750 rpm. However the Sonet, being a small turbo petrol, only makes 170Nm at the peak, 4000 rpm. So the torque generated before the turbo kicks in would be much lower.

These things may be tricky to understand when you read, only a test drive can give you better clarity. I knew most of these things and even then I realised the extent of this issue only after owning the car.

Please test drive the 1.0 TGDI DCT on similar roads, and also try reversing on inclined areas slowly and then you’ll understand the problem better. You can ask for extended test drives as well.

Guess I'll have someone stand next to the car placing stones to keep it from rolling back.

No, you won’t face that issue here as Sonet is equipped with Hill Assist. The car won’t roll back in such a situation. The only issue here is that you will have to push the pedal a bit harder and then turbo kicks in but the acceleration may not be smooth. It’s totally fine on normal curvy inclines were you have enough space to move. The problem is when the road is narrow and you want to move very slowly.

Attaching a picture of one the road I’m talking about, it’s more about the surrounding space than the steep. The road width here is just ~30cms more than the car. The car will easily go up if you push the pedals but in some situations you’d want the car to move slowly.

One other place I found it challenging is an S-like road from a basement parking with just the car width plus ~30cms.

[Himalayan_Ice]

Originally Posted by robincsamuel

What you are saying is the power (bhp/horses), which is more like how quickly the car can move. And torque (Nm) is how strong the car can push.

What matters here is the torque and the Brezza ZDI diesel engine makes 200Nm at the lowest 1750 rpm. However the Sonet, being a small turbo petrol, only makes 170Nm at the peak, 4000 rpm. So the torque generated before the turbo kicks in would be much lower...

Which is going to suck. However the one or two places like that are the kinds which I can avoid to a certain degree.

What isn't great is that I am buying the car in the NCR and those places are in Shimla. And even if I were in Shimla, there is no way the dealerships would allow me to take it to those places anyway.

I don't know what the power to weight ratio of an alto is, because I manage to take it to these places. But I got my 2008 TD Verna stuck once, and it wasn't a pretty sight. At all.

I guess only time will tell when it comes to these outlier situations as well as its performance at altitudes above 12,000 ft. Hope it doesn't let us down!

[robincsamuel]

Originally Posted by himalyan_ice

Which is going to suck. However the one or two places like that are the kinds which I can avoid to a certain degree.

You really don't have to avoid such places, it's just that it's not a smooth experience. The car can definitely manage.

What isn't great is that I am buying the car in the NCR and those places are in Shimla. And even if I were in Shimla, there is no way the dealerships would allow me to take it to those places anyway.

Maybe you can find a steep road in the NCR itself and take a test drive there. Trying to slowly move on an incline or say reversing on an incline, or even reversing over a hump will help you to understand this case.

[robincsamuel]

Update: 3 Years, 20,000 Kms!

Another fuss-free year. No rattles, squeaks, or creaks, and mostly drives and behaves just like it did on day one. We've driven a few other cars and still feel like Sonet is custom-made for us.

Observations

- No DCT heating issues or errors, touchwood!
- I'm a bit concerned about carbon buildup in the engine. I've noticed very mild jerking on steep inclines at low speeds occasionally.
- I haven't noticed any fading of cladding yet. I'm unsure if it's due to the ceramic coating or because I mostly park indoors.
- The rear armrest occasionally slips off; it was quite difficult to put it back until I figured out the locking mechanism.
- It'd have been very nice if I could reply to an SMS with voice. The app already does speech-to-text conversion decently.
- I continue to get scratches on my car during services, this time by the fender protector used by the service center.

Third Year Service

The third-year service was mostly general inspections, oil and filter changes, and additionally, brake fluid replacement. The rear suspension was making some squeaky noise at times, so I got all the suspensions lubricated. They've also replaced the headlamp moisture absorbent on my request as it was holding moisture.

Front Bumper Repainting

There were a few small scratches on the front bumper and skid plate over the last two years. Although my initial reaction after the first scratch was to fix it immediately, I've decided to clear the scratches once every two years. So, I got it done for around ₹9k at the Kia Bodyshop. I couldn't claim insurance since the scratches were on both sides.

First Ceramic Coating Maintenance

I have the 5-year ceramic coating package from Esperto, and it has been almost 1.5 years since the coating was applied. The repainted bumper and the rear bumper cladding were freshly coated, along with a complete top-up coat.

Fastag Replacement

My car originally had the Paytm Fastag from the dealership, and I was quite happy with it. However, I had to switch to another one due to the Paytm bank shutdown. I bought the ICICI Fastag since I already had their mobile app. The ICICI Fastag works fine, apart from the clunky app interface and slow SMS alerts.

Insurance Renewal

I renewed both the third-party and own damage policy with Kia Safety. I couldn't find a better quote elsewhere that included all the necessary add-ons. I've opted for all the available add-ons except the tyre cover.

Kia Connect Renewal

My Kia Connect subscription is ending next week, and I'm renewing it for another three years with the basic plan for ₹7k.

Kia Inspiring Drive Program

Kia recently launched a new service to score and gamify safety and economy. However, it seems more like an early beta version. The placement of the feature in the app itself isn't great; it opens a link in a popup. It worked the first week of March but I don't see any recent trips.

I'm ending the update with a couple of reports.

[robincsamuel]

Kia Connect Renewal Update

Originally Posted by robincsamuel

My Kia Connect subscription is ending next week, and I'm renewing it for another three years with the basic plan for ₹7k.

Even though I planned to renew Kia Connect with the basic plan, I chose the premium plan because it included 200km of repatriation for the vehicle. But the renewal certificate I received says 100 kms instead of the 200 kms on the website. I raised a request for clarification, thinking they'd fix the certificate. After several follow-ups, I received a call yesterday saying the renewal certificate is correct and the website is wrong. However, the official website still says 200km repatriation.

The certificate:



Website (as on 4th May 2024):

[Mrjomi]

Originally Posted by robincsamuel

Update: 3 Years, 20,000 Kms!

Another fuss-free year. No rattles, squeaks, or creaks, and mostly drives and behaves just like it did on day one. We've driven a few other cars and still feel like Sonet is custom-made for us.

Observations

- No DCT heating issues or errors, touchwood!
- I'm a bit concerned about carbon buildup in the engine. I've noticed very mild jerking on steep inclines at low speeds occasionally.

Thanks for the review.
Still no response from the Kia service center regarding additives for carbon buildup ?Just strange how could they ignore even after you pointing out the user-manual.

I'm thinking to check with them before I book Sonet 2024 DCT .

[robincsamuel]

Originally Posted by Mrjomi

Still no response from the Kia service center regarding additives for carbon buildup ?Just strange how could they ignore even after you pointing out the user-manual.

Sadly, no. I've checked with at least five different service centers and no one has ever heard of such a thing. When I try to contact Kia directly, they connect me to the nearest authorized service center; so it's going in circles. And the case isn't much different for other manufacturers.

However, I'm not sure if this should be a deal breaker. I haven't felt any underperformance or efficiency impact yet. I guess in the worst case, we'll have to get the engine decarbonized, say after 80,000 kms or so.

I'm thinking to check with them before I book Sonet 2024 DCT

They'd probably tell you not to worry, like one of the service advisors I talked to said, "our engine doesn't have any issues like that."

[Mrjomi]

Originally Posted by robincsamuel

Update: 3 Years, 20,000 Kms!

Observations

- No DCT heating issues or errors, touchwood!

Regarding (potential) DCT heating issues in stop and go citytraffic, I was wondering if we drive in Manual mode +/- , this issue with clutch being unnecessarily busy and heatingup can be solved, right ? In manual mode clutch gets activated only when driver shifts , I suppose ?

[robincsamuel]

Originally Posted by Mrjomi

Regarding (potential) DCT heating issues in stop and go citytraffic, I was wondering if we drive in Manual mode +/- , this issue with clutch being unnecessarily busy and heatingup can be solved, right ? In manual mode clutch gets activated only when driver shifts , I suppose ?

Even in manual mode, the transmission automatically shifts based on the conditions. The manual mode is more like a nudge to override the automatic selection, and the transmission may or may not accept it. For example, it won't accept an upshift if it could lead to lugging.

However, to avoid the transmission overheating and to ease the load on the clutch, we just need to shift to neutral and apply the handbrake. I've been on ghat roads and city roads with extended periods of bumper-to-bumper traffic, and I've never faced this issue. All I do is shift to neutral instead of pressing the brakes while in D.

[Mrjomi]

Originally Posted by robincsamuel

Even in manual mode, the transmission automatically shifts based on the conditions. The manual mode is more like a nudge to override the automatic selection, and the transmission may or may not accept it. For example, it won't accept an upshift if it could lead to lugging.

However, to avoid the transmission overheating and to ease the load on the clutch, we just need to shift to neutral and apply the handbrake. I've been on ghat roads and city roads with extended periods of bumper-to-bumper traffic, and I've never faced this issue. All I do is shift to neutral instead of pressing the brakes while in D.

Thanks . Appreciated
I was thinking the overheating is primarily because of slow speed and frequent gear shift within DCT, which happens in bumper to bumper city traffic ? Not just the stop situation.

But driving in traffic in manual mode may not cause any issues for DCT ; I hope . I will try that once I get my car . LOL

[robincsamuel]

Originally Posted by Mrjomi

Thanks . Appreciated
I was thinking the overheating is primarily because of slow speed and frequent gear shift within DCT, which happens in bumper to bumper city traffic ? Not just the stop situation.

But driving in traffic in manual mode may not cause any issues for DCT ; I hope . I will try that once I get my car .

Actually, there are no issues with slow speeds; the problem is the continuous engagement and disengagement of the clutch. The clutch engages and disengages as we press/depress the brake. The main issue is holding the brake halfway to crawl in bumper-to-bumper traffic or on an incline, which causes the clutch to be partially engaged and that leads to overheating. you just have to ensure you're not riding the brake.

I too wanted to try a few things to understand the issue better, but unfortunately, there's no transmission temperature gauge. So there's no easy way to identify the impact of what we are doing.

You should ask the dealer for an extended test drive, take the car uphill, and try all these things.

Good luck!

[robincsamuel]

Update: 4 Years, 25,000 kms and Up!

Everything’s still in top shape! No rattles, squeaks, or creaks—just like before. The car drives and behaves almost like new.

Observations

- The DCT remains fuss-free, there’s no fading of the cladding or yellowing of the DRLs, and everything else remains great, just as I shared in the last update.
- The service experience was fantastic this time—no upselling, prompt updates, and everything handled well.
- I got the best fuel efficiency this year—22.8 kmpl for a 100 km drive on the Mysuru-Bengaluru Expressway, while maintaining a speed of 90 kmph.
- Still no clue about carbon buildup and the additives.
- The rear armrest still slips off at times. Turns out a small assembly component is broken, but it's not available separately—the entire unit needs replacement. I’ll live with it for now.
- The Kia Connect app has changed the map to MapMyIndia and no longer allows searching by coordinates—terrible update! I've contacted Kia, and they replied that the API is not available.
- The last update to my infotainment system was in 2023. I'm not sure if Kia has abandoned the initial models and is now only focusing on the latest ones. It’s disappointing, especially since I’m paying for KiaConnect.
- The dealership and service center (NCS Kia) near my hometown (Pathanamthitta, Kerala) have shut down, and the nearest service center is now 60 km away.

Fourth Year Service

Just general inspections, oil and filter changes, brake cleaning, and additionally, fuel and cabin air filter replacements. I’ve already replaced the windshield wipers myself and got the wheel alignment and balancing done outside.

I got the service done at Naara Kia, Kanakpura Road, Bangalore. As I mentioned above, the experience was great. I’m highlighting this because I’ve previously criticized the poor experiences.

Insurance Renewal

I renewed both the third-party and own-damage policies with Kia Safety this time as well. I wanted RTI, Nil Depreciation, and Engine Protect and couldn't find any other quotes with all of them.

Second Ceramic Coating Maintenance

It’s been 3 years since I got the coating done, and it’s holding up really well. In fact, many people have complimented me and asked about it over the past year. I got the second maintenance done last week, and it was hassle-free, as usual. They cleaned up the minor scratches and swirls and applied the top-up coat.



Windshield Wipers

I replaced the stock wipers with frameless ones and went for the Bosch Clear Advantage. It works great, and I love the cleaner look as well. I've also started using the Sonax Clear View washer concentrate, and it's fantastic.



Rear Dashcam

I have the 70mai A500s Pro Plus+ dual-channel dashcam, but I only the front unit installed initially. I recently got the rear camera (RC06) and had it installed at the rear. I routed the wire through the bottom to avoid interfering with the airbags, and the length was just enough. Initially, the wires were rattling inside the A-pillar trim, so I had to reopen it and secure them with wire ties.



That’s it! I’m ending the report with the Drivvo and MyKia charts, as usual.







Disclaimer: All the services and products mentioned are simply what I used, and I have no business interest in them.