Checked out 2023 Kia Seltos Facelift and Honda Elevate back-to-back

I feel that the Elevate is definitely going to sell well at this price and will give competition to the Seltos and Hyundai Creta in view of good looks and sturdier feel.

BHPian motographer recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Checked out Seltos and Elevate back to back today and I'd like to add my 2 cents:

• Overall materials are more premium in Seltos. In the Elevate, the cabin looks good, clean and minimalistic but the quality of materials and plastics is visibly poor. More so when you check out the City showcased adjacent to it. The cabin of City undoubtedly appears more premium. The AC vents are such an eyesore and appear to be decades old.
• The omission of features that are available in City pinched even more as these omissions could have easily been avoided and could have made it slightly better.
• Driver seat travel is definitely less and felt cramped in its rearmost position even for someone like me who's 5'11". My knee was touching the lower extent of the dashboard.
• No dead pedal in ZX MT which was available. However, the SA said that it'll be available in AT.
• The rear seat is less wide than the Seltos and can accommodate only 2 adults and 1 child in comparison to the Seltos where 3 adults of which one is quite slim could sit comfortably.
• The comfort of the rear seats was decent cushioning-wise. However, the thigh support was not good. Middle seat was not comfortable due to the hump.
• The look of the car is definitely good and is amongst the best-looking cars in the segment in terms of road presence along with Seltos. Kushaq also looks good but lacks road presence.
• With such a high bonnet, the visibility of whatever is just ahead of the car is going to be an issue. A front parking camera would have been a helpful addition.
• The paint job was good and doors appeared heavy and closed with a satisfactory thud in comparison to Seltos where they were definitely one or two notches lower.
• Sound system was amazing and despite not being branded, music sounded astonishingly good. I am an audiophile and the sound quality was undoubtedly much superior to the Bose-branded system of Seltos GTX+.
• I personally feel that powered seats are only good when they have a memory function. Otherwise, it's just slow and another electric component that can go bad. I would always prefer powered seats with memory but with memory function like in Seltos, I would rather prefer mechanical adjustment of Elevate.
• Ventilated seats of Seltos work well. Liked the features offered in GTX+ compared to HTX + with regards to price difference. However, I prefer the interior of HTX+. That white leather insert on the door is what I feel going to be the worst nightmare as it's the most contacted touch point and is going to get dirty in a few months. Probably will require to change it to black aftermarket. The black interiors also make the car feel claustrophobic. The tan of Elevate was definitely better.
• The SA said that ventilated and massage seats are going to be offered in Elevate as an accessory for roughly 15k and will be connected to the 12V power socket at the back. The only gripe is that I assume that means that only the driver's seat can be changed as 2 seats can't be connected or maybe they provide some sort of connecter to connect both seats.
• The display car had a dashcam which the SA said would come as an accessory.
• The SA said that VX will come with 2 airbags. That's a bummer. I was hoping they would offer 6 airbags as standard. Also, I feel a ZX without ADAS and ADAS being offered only in a variant above ZX , maybe ZX(o) would've been a good option.
• SA was sure that Elevate ZX CVT will undercut City's price by 30-35k. That was pleasant information.

As gist, I feel Elevate is definitely going to sell well at this price and will give competition to 1.5 NA of Seltos/Creta in view of good looks and sturdier feel. Wifey also said that it appears to be a larger car due to the sitting position and due to the high bonnet. A good NCAP rating and Honda badge will also add to its repertoire.

I just felt bad for Honda as to why they couldn't give a few more basic features and get their beautiful hybrid engines and iVtec Turbo engine to India as with these additions, they would've blown away the competition. For me a Hybrid or Turbo, had it been offered would've become a no-brainer. And I might still end up with Seltos for the 1.5 Turbo.

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