BHPian
Join Date: Feb 2023 Location: Bangalore
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| My Kia Seltos GTX+ Petrol DCT Review | A short story of Small Suave Urban SUV A short story of Small Suave Urban SUV! Seltos GTX+ Chapter 1: The Beginnings
One story ends, another begins. Our journey with Seltos begins in the Bear’s story of replacement https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-...urban-suv.html (Mahindra XUV500 Review | The story of this big, burly urban SUV) which never concluded, letting the Bear continue its way in the concrete jungles. In the beginnings there was this allure for raw power, reliability as if invincible, size bigger than the Bear, with the in your face branding of fortune, keeping names aside, it had me grow weak at the knees. Almost certain I will stand tall in this brute, with fiscal prudence shot in the head I was ready to spend money I have had not earned. However incomprehensible my logic was, never mind the want or my determination to tame the brute, I hit a wall. Not Mr. D from the worlds of cricket, but Mrs ArB from the realms of my marriage.
When your better half talks you better listen. I am given to understand marriage is a bliss as long as one listens, One at a time. And, it was my turn to listen, my doubts to allay, and I heard. "Let the fortunes be with you, but no Fortuner or for that matter anything that would need my kidneys, liver, or anything else to sell" NO at this point did come with a silver lining and some prudent reasoning from my dear wife. Silver lining being the carrot of a future no bar spends on Bear’s replacement and prudent because I saved all my organs. Chapter 2: Love at First Sight?
Hell No! Seltos was a car we found no issues with but never in contention of buying one as primary choice. Workday getaways, stolen Dates, cup of coffee all such instances slowly started converging as Test Drive sessions amidst the humdrum of Bangalore. After many such dates we liked Virtus and Seltos. I have no idea what clicked for me, perhaps it was Red, it was seemingly fast and it fulfilled my fantasy garage combo of SUV + Fast Sedan. For Mrs ArB perhaps it was driven by nostalgia, somewhat reminiscing of Aveo from the start of the century and that it suited well to both of our driving wants. With Virtus making the cut it was time for family and friends. What is life without a few to indulge with? Yes, I cognize my privilege!
So we go take our kids and parents along for their stamp of approvals. Young or old, I realised we often relate big is better. Look at that, kettle calling coffee black, such is life perhaps. Moving on, neither scored above our Bear but in seclusion Virtus did not throw any NCs (non-conformance in IT verbiage). With that we figured our next as a seemingly fast sedan in salivating Red.
While I and Mrs ArB had a few discussions with VW showrooms committing a Red Virtus DSG in couple of week, none had it in stock. Enter the Banker, well not my friendly, unapologetically useless banking RM but one of my dear friend who happens to be a banker and a tbhp enthusiast. With his armour of Sales, beaming arrows of networking in his quiver is my go to guide in many things cars and money. This gentleman brings in a quality to make things work, where I would have said ok to save some unsavoury discussions, he had the knack to mend ways in his polite best. It is his network of arrows which led us to a showroom in different part of the city with ready stock of our preferred car. So with him alongside me and Mrs ArB we get to visit the stockyard, in yet another corner of the city. Red, ravishing fresh out of the bath, enamoured in quick glances I turn in affirmation, Mrs ArB looks a bit deeper and turns for our dear friend to confirm. No, not so quick, up goes the car, down goes the gentleman looking in spaces I haven’t in years that I have had my Bear. Sides, inns, out, like a walking talking tbhp pdi checklist and flags a few concerns. Not convinced with the sales folks explanation, comes the stockyard repair crew, and a few calls between all folks eager to sell and my dear friend, none satisfactory, we are further entertained by few other iterations of the same model all showing similar signs of concern with rusting in various stages of growth. Oh, I seriously envy his patience and ability to get things done!
As my minutes to affirmation became hours of inspection, I realised this Red is not going to make the cut. Isn’t ignorance bliss I thought? But equally thankful to him that I did not pick something which may turn sour down the line. By the way this stockyard was teaming with cars from half a dozen companies and a car that caught our attention again is Seltos. To be fair, it was my friend who got Seltos back into the discourse, and there I find Mrs ArB scanning Seltos very intently, had it been a person he would have certainly got flared. So I ask, should we reconsider? Chapter 3: Seltos, Seltos come here
Back to home for the day, we as in myself and Mrs ArB hound few more KIA dealers for our new found love with Seltos. Perhaps in so many test drives, this was first time that we were actually meaning to buy Seltos, all the other times we liked the car but were equally sure of not buying it.
What changed you may ask? Well you should have seen how Mrs ArB scanned the Seltos, big giveaway she liked the car. Now when I was taking test drives, I kept finding speedhumps more like vehicle breakers which would have been pain in Virtus day in day out, but was comfortable in Seltos. The non existent astro-photographer in my alter ego kept appreciating the panoramic sunroof, as if what is a car without one big glass over your head instead of metal to have some sense of rollover safety. The plastics are good in Seltos, but ain’t a three pointing star yet somehow it felt like the three pointer in comparison to Virtus. The five in the car felt decent and suddenly the Virtus became claustrophobic. Did I say fast sedan, Seltos was equally fast and had I pushed it in corners I am sure I would have taken flight, but I am sane I know what to and what not to, in this case Seltos, Seltos come here, while Virtus lost its virtues, for us.
Dear friend, the banker makes a few quick calls, visits and as the days passed we find one in the shade of choice, variant of want ready for delivery, in yet another corner of the city. The gentleman managed to secure a visit to stockyard outside the city limits in the demo car of the variant as we preferred. It is this ride that Mrs ArB and me made full test of the features, ADAS the Seltos offered, forty-fifty kilometres of run, followed by a deep investigation and after a few hours spent well comes the affirmation from all the three. Relief!
We also spent some time evaluating the new Carnival about to be launched, not from a buyer perspective though. Huge and kind of hearse wagon in black, that’s what we felt. Yes, I know must be sour grapes.
Did I say we picked Red again, it is Red in a trim one below the Xline. Chapter 4: Observations and Escapades
We have run it for around four thousand kilometres in last two months. Had a fairly quick first service with a paid oil change. Running it through the urban jungles, mainly the mighty outer ring road which by no stretch of imagination is outer at this day and age. Also did a few quick escapades around Bangalore, one trip to Kerala and its winding roads; allowing for a fair mix of competence test. So far averaging a mileage of 7kmpl and 11kmpl in city and highways respectively without any concerns – mechanical or otherwise. These kilometres are clocked with an even spread in-between myself and Mrs ArB.
While considering this limited run, I find myself constrained with my observations, yet I will try elaborating on our Observation and Escapades inline to tbhp post guidelines, which I am repeatedly reminded of by dear moderators. Also pushing me not to get into a hibernation after a short post, thank you for that! Chapter 5: The TeamBHP detailing
Taking the exact order of recommendations, here we go – - All the alternatives that were considered, and why you zeroed in on this particular car
- Chapters 1 to 3 covers my journey from discovery to purchase of Seltos, please refer back.
- Complete booking & delivery experience with the dealership
- In addition to what I have covered, few key pointers are worth sharing –
- The test drives to booking to delivery was seamless, did not face any iota of concern from the KIA dealership or sales.
- My dear friend was the point for commercials discussions, me being the spectator or at times like one of those uncles in a marriage who is only there for the free drink and meal.
- Dot time delivery, with everything neatly done before we reaching the showroom does make my delivery experience much better than what we generally read upon in tbhp.
- Did make them strip through all plastics, ribbons post a quick key handover and photo session.
- Had no patience to go through a detailed run down of vehicle details, so had the discussion nipped in the bud. Did go through quickly over the documentations shared.
- 5L fuel coupon was handy, to be used in an IOC bunk just across the road. First full tank taking in 51.46L of regular petrol. Sticking to regular for now.
- Feedback requests were entertained with a broad 10 across the board with the condition of not being hounded for further feedbacks in coming weeks. I did get a few calls though, answering with 10 for all if you close the call, less if you want further detailing stopped further calls.
- This dealership is advertised to be largest for KIA in Asia, I did not bother fact checking.
- All in all, a well laid out large dealership premises, doing what they are supposed to in a neat, diligent manner. No complains whatsoever
- On-road price & discounts
- Twenty Three dot Forty Lacs all inclusive, excluding only Service Package.
- Given that the initial quotes were to the tune of approximately Twenty Five dot Fifty Lacs I infer, I have received fair discounts.
- Again, I have zero insights on the exact number working, considering no efforts and sweat in negotiations were mine or of Mrs ArB.
- Registration at KA51 was held up, however to keep delivery timelines dealership ensured registration at KA01 without any additional hassle at my end.
- Extended warranties & service packages
- Extended warranty included in the final costings, did see it reflect in system during first service.
- Service packages were not enticing enough for me to make upfront payment, so weren’t purchased.
- Be sure to list the engine type & variant you opted for
- In KIA terminology the model–variant is Seltos G1.5T 7DCT GTX Plus
- Why DCT?
- Want for more power, acceleration
- Need for it to be no slouch to our Bear
- Want for the top end, had there been a top end Torque Convertor would have definitely spared a thought for it. It is still not top end, could not live with Matte, so GTX+
- The good and bad about its features
- The good so far –
- Comparatively smaller footprint for convenient in city commute or for those Kerala sub city areas.
- No apparent lack of power, available thrust suits the car.
- Covers all Wants plus more in terms of features.
- We like sunroof, panoramic sunroof adds to the overall feel of space in otherwise smaller cabin. Also makes it brighter amidst the black interior.
- Seat cooling which is reasonably quiet and effective in comparison to Virtus.
- Electronically adjustable seats were a primary requirement, Seltos has it only for drivers seat whereas Virtus offered for both front seats. This I miss.
- Dashboard is cohesive to look, serves the function well and is equally well put for the cost. Not much of a mishmash of materials or patterns in comparison to our Bear.
 - Larger ICE is good and smooth to use, still prefer the conventional dials and needles behind my steering wheel. No complains though, digital is equally rather more informative and works well.
 - DCT is smooth, unlike most experiences of painful DCT operations in bumper to bumper traffic I find no complaints. My usual drive goes with switching to Eco, turning of auto engine stop, disengaging autohold. With that done, the car is one pedal operation in traffic, lift to move, push to stop.
- Like the E-Handbrake, does gives that slight engaging push like a manual lifting handbrake. Also, manual says can operate it as normal handbrake while driving for urgent breaking manoeuvres, have yet to try this.
 - All window auto up/down, never thought this to be an important feature until I left our Bear’s glass half down. Realized my hands intuitively prefer pressing only once now to close or open and for Bear I need to go the full way.
 - ADAS, another feature or set of features I deemed worthless in our driving conditions, but surprisingly these are tuned very well by KIA. So far no surprises in their action or intending action. For my part, I did set all reactions to least possible setting without turning them off. While no complains, I am presuming Mrs ArB is not so fond of ADAS yet due to proclivity for pre-emptive breaking by Seltos
- Buttons and dials where needed, I like tactile touch and feel, so it helps that not all control is with a screen. Knurled dials are nice to use.
- Green/Tinted windows are nice to have along with the inbuilt sunshades makes for a better heat shield in rear.
- Carplay is fantastic to use. Serves the purpose would have certainly preferred wireless.
- 360 Degree Cameras are fairly stitched and gives a good sense of surrounding space.
- Seatbelt indicator for all seats is nice touch
- Controls to disengage proximity sensor notifications and camera footage as per need are available very conveniently.
- Like the gear knob/stalk feels more premium than the one in bear.
- The bad so far –
- I am used to driving with my elbow on window line in quite a laid back low position, while position wise I have enough leeway to stretch back and low, the window line goes beyond ninety degrees. I recon if I keep driving this way in Seltos I might end up with Pushpa’s shoulder stance. Mrs ArB in her front and tight seating has no complains whatsoever.
 - Has a fair share of dashboard glare in windshield, more prominent with the placing of speaker.
- Not fond of the OEM horn, or the headlights. No concerns per se, but I prefer Bear’s punch of horn; spread and intensity in lights.
- Cornering lights are missing in the setup, and I do miss them having seen them in action in Bear.
- Relatively small fuel tank and thirsty engine makes double the fuel runs.
- Wired carplay makes for an additional wiring.
- Lack of memory for electronically adjustable seats. And missing electronic adjustability for front passenger seat.
- Pings at 120kmph, in Bear our speeds where permissible (logically and presumably safely) did go beyond. In Seltos, the noise is annoying enough for us to not cross the limit. I say one of those scenarios where the implementation serves the intended purpose, howsoever flawed the inherent logic may be.
- Audio output in rear seats seem sub optimal.
- Reverse camera guidelines are slightly offset, Bear has a much precise implementation of dynamic guidelines.
- Air purifier is a noisy beast, or is our environment such a mess?
- Safety & related equipment
- All four disc brakes are reassuring
- Braking is decently competent, I am more comfortable with Bear’s perhaps that is more attributable to being using it for years now.
- ADAS like said earlier seems to do its job well.
- Speed pings at 120kmph do make its presence felt. It is a Noise, distracting noise.
- Three star? Or Zero? Not rated in its current avatar. I take solace in driving sanely and put my faith in some form of divinity.
- Number of kms at the time of writing your review
- Approximately four thousand kilometres, should see a progressive increase in usage if it satiates us in highway runs.
- Your usage pattern (e.g. 20 kms daily in dense traffic, highway on weekends)
- Three days of Twenty kms in dense traffic, weekend city runs, drive byes amounting to a total of around thousand kilometres a month. Another thousand if there is any interstate run.
- Comments on the exterior styling & design
- Style is subjective, to us its very cohesive and pleasing to look at.
- No caved in body styling where it seems like being given big leg shove. I am looking at you Hycross, with that big shove in your sides, no offense please. It’s just that once upon a time when I booked one, my mother said who hit the car while having the test ride, and the comment stuck with me.
- Too many lighting elements, but I can live with it.
- Interior is a fair place to be, I am happy in the front and don’t ever see myself to be in the back.
- There is chrome around, in handles, front, etc but not too gaudy, I can again live with it.
- Comes fit with JKs as default shoes, while they seem to perform better than I anticipated, they look bad.
- Overall build quality, fit & finish, paint quality and panel gaps
- I could find no plausible reason to suspect build quality, I am not expert though.
- Fit & finish is reasonable for the costs, mostly consistent and covered where it should be. Wires are tucked in, carpet well stitched, headliner neatly put, merging well at corners.
- Panel gaps are not tight like Virtus, but better than what I see in Bear.
- Paint seems fine to my eyes, but my eyes are equally ignorant of orange peels, swirls etc. I know I don’t put the effort and cannot get it to paid care every other day so I do my best to not notice and have it given a rub down everyday by the apartment cleaner.
- Wheels & tyres
- Eighteen inch wheels are nice, tires not so much.
 - I have been using Michelins in Bear and Pirellis in Jazz and they both are/were much better, more so the former. JKs are certainly no match.
- Having said that, JKs are performing better than I anticipated
- Interior design & quality (plastics, upholstery, fit & finish etc.)
- Design is cohesive, this I can reiterate.
- Plastics are decent for the cost, better than what I saw in Virtus and what I have in our Bear.
- Like the perforated leather seats, would have liked a dedicated lumbar adjustor.
- Fit and finish inside the cabin gives me no reason to complain or offers nothing extraordinary to compliment.
- It is all black, a dash of colour in contrast leather trims would have been nicer. X-Line does the same with Sage green and I am not fond of that implementation either.
- Interior space & comfort...front & back (seat support, legroom, headroom & width)
- Like said elsewhere one can easily find a position suiting their driving needs, there is a lot of room to adjust according to individual preferences. However your elbow room is short and lack resting place for a very relaxed seating.
- Legroom is enough, even with my desired relaxing driving position it is accommodating for my family elders and kids. Six footer one behind the other is reasonably feasible, but not if you choose to sit like I do.
- Front handrest is not adjustable, limits the reach. Also a tapering front and minimal width makes it usable by either driver or passenger. Bear had a much wider armrest allowing for both to comfortably rest hands if need be. I prefer the later arrangement.
- Driving position, ergonomics, controls & MID
- Driving position and ergonomics are spot on. Your toes don’t fiddle with the steering column.
- Your feet is in perfect relaxing angle, not into acute angle like in Bear.
- MID has more information available than you need, but misses a simple multi trip tracker. There are other means like Distance post fuelling, current trip, and so on. However I miss a simple Trip A, Trip B kind of setup.
- There are different views and widgets available for customising your virtual display. I keep it as two virtual dials mimicking regular dials. Like them changing intensity based on the driving modes.
- Visibility & size of mirrors
- Has a decent sized mirror, IRVM has auto day night feature. Another one feature I deem no value to but ends up being very useful.
- The place behind IRVM is cluttered with various ADAS related setup in addition to my dashcam.
- Not much of a blind spot around A pillars.
- Air conditioner cooling & effectiveness
- Dual zone climate control is good to have.
- Even better is the fact dedicated controls are available for both making it very convenient to use.
- Set it at 23 degrees and Auto, the cabin cools fairly quick without much of ruckus from the blower. Like the blowers propensity to keep in lower fan levels.
- Air purifier on the other hand makes a noise, the first day I and my dear friend spent quite a few minutes to figure where the noise comes after coming to a complete halt.
- Audio system & sound quality
- Decent for me while driving
- Like the fact it takes smoothly multiple inputs whether Bluetooth or carplay or even multiple paired devices. Let’s you set priority of order of engagement in your driving profiles and the audio is played according to the same.
- Sound output is a notch low in the rear seats.
- Interior storage, practicality & boot space
- Bottle holders are for some reason designed to hold bottles in slanting positions, I prefer the straight ones in Bear.
- While there is space to keep more items in the door pockets usually due to the slanting shape it is not convenient to store more items.
- I usually keep a mouthwash, sanitiser, hand wash, pack of tissues, one litre water bottle, and trash corner in my driver side door pocket in the Bear. No way can I do this in Seltos.
- Boot is good, but being used to filling the Bear to the brim, in our first return trip from Kerala we fell short of space. Calls for us to be better at luggage management if we are taking Seltos.
- Any other unique or noteworthy points about the interiors
- Dancing lights, no idea what it serves for most part they are too feeble to be noticeable. But nonetheless looks nice with the beats of music at times.
 - Single button sunroof operation is tricky. There are multiple operations tied to the button, you press, it opens a gap in the sunroof, you pull it draws the sunshade, you pull hard it opens the sunroof and the sunshade. Likewise a combination of actions are resultant of your push / pull / press and intensity of the step. Too complex for Mrs ArB

- Engine performance & driveability in the city
- There is ample power on tap, be it any of the drive mode Eco, Normal or Sport. Sport does make it fancier, however I have seen no less in Eco either. For me, my default mode is Eco.
- Like said before, my usual drive goes with switching to Eco, turning of auto engine stop, disengaging autohold. With that done, the car is one pedal operation in traffic, lift to move, push to stop.
- Driveability by means of presence is much better in Bear, I can cut corners, step on some random construction material with much ease in Bear, in Seltos we are more mindful of where we step.
- Also while in Seltos, in my driving position I feel like seating as low as in Xcent for reference. Somehow there is not much of a feeling of Compact SUV while seated inside, I do come to value Seltos when I don’t scrape anything or I don’t have to make much effort in comparison to a sedan.
- Engine performance & driveability on the highway
- ADAS comes to full play in highways and so far they have been an excellent support.
- I have always enjoyed cruise control in Bear, here it takes a step ahead with dynamic cruise control. While this makes the drive effortless, it also sucks the life out of driving. Mrs ArB hates to let the vehicle cruise on its own, she owns the control if she is driving. I am happy to delegate on the other hand.
- Enough grunt to keep up with the other vehicles sharing highway space.
- I do resent the limited range though, at this point I end up refuelling at end of 400kms in highways.
- Additional comments on the engine (outright power, refinement, revv-happiness, turbo-lag etc.)
- There is outright power, one hundred and sixty horses I recall, good enough to chug around in our highways.
- There is a growl, the DCT paired engine is not that silent. We like it.
- Post the initial thousand kilometre we have been fairly rev happy and the engine has been responding in kind, not in fuel consumption parameters though.
- Overall opinion on the engine
- Gearshift & clutch (smoothness, effort required, short or long throw etc.)
- Not Applicable, no clutch is fun at times.
- The second day after getting Seltos home, in one of the lanes of South Bangalore in not so late hours, my left arm moved the stick to N, with the left leg depressing the brake slamming shut and all of us shaken to a stop. I slyly blamed what the F ADAS, while passing vehicles gave me look I so deserved. A couple of meters later Mrs ArB quipped ADAS is it? And I had to own up the blarney I did. Thankfully on comparatively free stretch with our seatbelts on, so far never again.
- If automatic: smoothness, quick or slow shifting, kickdown reaction time, lag, manual mode etc.
- The DCT is very responsive and contrary to general opinion I find it equally engaging in dense traffic conditions
- In regular conditions it’s like no effort driving and in highway conditions if you do prefer it can be a hoot to drive. Steering gear shifts are fun, they seem more of novelty than use to me. I am still using Stick in D-Manual mode for my share of hoot driving.
- Overall NVH levels (including engine, wind & road noise)
- Ambient noise control is fair, in between the Bear and Seltos the later may have just a bit more advantage. But neither are cocooned.
- Engine noise is comparatively lesser in Seltos, but like said before the DCT engine does have a grunt, matched with two piped exhausts spitting bit of smoke does make a sight in parking.
- Fuel efficiency: City and Highway
- Need to break it further,
- City in ORR – 6 kmpl
- Rest of the City – 8 kmpl
- Highway spirited – 11 kmpl
- Highway in Cruise – 13 kmpl
- Suspension & ride quality (at low as well as high speeds)
- Suspension and ride quality to us has been good. But that is limited due to experience with limited set of vehicles, and for most part all are around the same curve.
- In our regular routes, we prefer the Bear over Seltos as far as the suspension comfort goes for the members seated in rear seats. In front its all the same to me, neither tosses us around or makes a thud when we are in the front.
- For rear, I take my parents word for it and that is, no complains in Seltos but we prefer the Bear.
- Handling, on-road behaviour, grip levels, stability, body roll & turning radius
- Handling is good for Seltos, holds a decent line, feels surefooted.
- We haven’t pushed it beyond what feels sane to us and its been stable. For context an exit from NICE Road loops at decent speed Seltos holds its line without swaying or giving much of a body roll effect. You push harder, you are sure to fly.
- For some reasons it is much easier to make a u-turn in the Bear in contrast to Seltos. However keeping the comparison aside, in isolation it’s a very nifty handler suiting perfectly to city usage.
- Steering (size, feedback, weight, EPS / Hydraulic etc.)
- Small, with a flat bottom the steering feels great to hold and has a decent weight to it.
- Has both rake and reach adjustment, more reach would have been lovely.
- The calibration while driving without aids is decent, however when driving with visual aids of reverse camera it seems off. The same when looking through 360 feed, is much precise.
- Braking (effectiveness, pedal feel...)
- In city, dense traffic condition one pedal drive is fantastic. No complains whatsoever.
- In highways it is quite predictable in coming to a halt, however there feels lack of bite. You sure need to put more effort if the intent is to brake hard.
- Ground clearance
- One of the factors swaying us away from Virtus, and it holds its weight in bad roads, which is pretty much all the roads around me. Please see roads are not that bad as we make it, it is just that they are not designed for the volume they cater to.
- Any particular likes (damped ashtrays, powerful headlights etc.)
- Comparatively silent seat cooling.
- Effortless driving in dense traffic conditions.
- Any particular dislikes (weak wipers, poor foglamps etc.)
- Wipers with bold ‘Syndicate’ written in the hands. Every time I drive, that syndicate catches my eye and say whats up?
- Any niggles, problems or part replacements
- So far none, should I say touch wood.
- Quality of after-sales service
- One free service, being accustomed to Mahindra killing my mood, taking my day for even the slightest of issues, I went to a nearby Kia service to take an appointment for next day or later slot to get the first service done. Pleasantly surprised to being offered getting the service right away without appointment and also that they did keep the time committed for completion.
- Again perhaps too soon to call, and also this being more of an inspection with a paid oil change so not much add efforts. Will get to see actual working in next service perhaps.
- Nevertheless first impression is very good.
- Cost of upkeep & maintenance
- Nothing so far, apart from paid oil change and regular fuel bills
Thank you for reading!
~ArB
Last edited by Aditya : 16th February 2025 at 18:48.
Reason: Removed all indent tags
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