My 2023 Kia Seltos: Pros, cons & general ownership observations

MID is showing a fuel efficiency average of 14 km/l (A mix of 65% city & 35% highway)

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BHPians
Further to the initial (pre 1st servicing) review of my White Tiger GTX D AT https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offic...ml#post5737516, sharing my experience & observations (in addition to previous review) post completing 6000 kms.

Positives
Speed limit control – Long press the cruise button (top right side of steering) & speed gets limited to what you define (Use up / down to increase / decrease limit). A savior in scenarios where you want to avoid tickets for speeding & also when you don’t want to opt for SCC.

TPMS accuracy – Saved me from trouble once as the left rear tire had a nail pierced in it. The MID showed a notification when the pressure went below 30 PSI (29). The notification vanished once I started driving (post fixing the puncture). This feature is definitely a time, effort, money & tire saver.

Voice command accuracy – This feature is quite good & has been near flawless for operating car functions & also for the most used requirement of voice dialing mobile calls (Some commands have been added post latest OTA update).

Thickness of A pillar - Seems to be more than the earlier version. While I’ve not measured the thickness it does look reassuring from a safety perspective.

Rear middle seat head rest – Good attention to smaller but functional points like this one. Rear seat middle passenger from family was thankful of this feature as it compensates an otherwise compromised seating position

Stability at high speeds – Top notch with minimal body roll (maybe that's the reason for stiffer ride / suspension).

General observations
Post 1st service - I expected improvement in overall drive & FE as I assumed oil change, etc. but this service officially included only inspection of select recommended parts & washing.
So effectively nothing much changed post the 1st service from a driving experience perspective.
One concern which I’d raised during servicing was rust on silencer (highlighted in my OG review post) – After some debating with the service centre on poor quality metal used or absence of rust preventive coating (refer to pic), they agreed to get it coated with an anti-rust chemical (missed clicking a pic of the spray used).
Felt at ease after the coating was done as in a city like Mumbai where rust is common occurrence (due to coastal nature / moisture in the air / rains), this prevention was essential.


 
Fuel efficiency – MID is showing till date average of 14 kmpl (A mix of 65% city & 35% highway).
This will have to be docked by 1 kmpl as mileage calculated during multiple “full tank to full tank” scenarios was lesser than the one showed on MID. So the effective FE is 13 kmpl (This is less due to my style of driving - There have been isolated trips when sedate driving has resulted in achieving better FE – pics attached).
Some tips which helped me improve FE during select trips in ECO mode
• Avoid sudden acceleration
• Avoid braking (use anticipation & engine braking)
• Accelerate & deaccelerate instead of continuously having your foot on the accelerator
• Use ISG to save fuel during idle time
• Have an eye on the live FE band in the MID. This will intuitively hint you to drive efficiently

One of the better FE (23 kmpl) registered for 48 kms

Insane FE (~59 kmpl) for ~12 kms

Scope of improvement
Inbuilt navigation features – I find google maps more reliable in terms of traffic updates hence tend to use android auto most of the time.
Speed limit & speed camera warnings are unavailable in both google maps & inbuilt navigation – It’s high time that either of them offers this feature as done by 3rd party apps like Radarbot (Edit - Speed camera alert introduced in in-built nav updated through OTA yesterday. It's not as reliable as Radarbot as it missed highlighting few cameras).

Ride comfort, pick up & drive – Ride comfort is average-good (depending on drive mode) vs my 2016 creta despite reducing tire pressure to 31-33.
Seat cushion is harder & the rear length seems to be a bit shorter vs creta resulting in compromising on under thigh support.
Although the power difference is ~10 bhp (more in creta D manual), I do tend to miss it as creta had a good low range. Not sure if other’s have experienced this but the initial throttle response (idle to initial motion) has a rubber band effect especially in ECO & normal mode, something like what we experience in CVTs (Hopefully this should get better post an ECM update as posted by some users). However, in-gear acceleration / mid-range is good-excellent. (Edit - Update received yesterday has made "ECO mode" the preferred drive mode as it offers a nice balance of lighter steering, acceleration & FE). BTW update took about 5-6 days to download & it was done in two parts (Part 1 ending with 240701 & part 2 ending with 240702)

Auto wipers programming – Having auto wipers in a city like Mumbai which has heavy rains is always helpful. Not sure if the tuning (programming) or hardware (sensor) is average as sometimes it continues to run when there's very light or no rain & at times when the rain is moderate / heavy, it takes time to swipe (Note – I have used all the 5 positions of auto wiper sensitivity)
This programming was close to perfect in my i20 (a 2011 model) which is quite surprising as ideally it should have gotten better over time.

Calibration of guide lines on reverse camera – Lines are improperly calibrated / programmed. Eg. During scenarios of narrow margin reversing, when I am using image from ORVM it shows a narrow gap available while the camera guide line indicates the car will touch the adjacent object. Maybe the guide lines are more precautionary in nature by adding a buffer distance but my old i20 & creta were exactly similar (camera vs ORVM image) to almost single digit millimeters.

Non heated ORVM – As the mirror is not heated it tends to attract rain droplets & results in reduced rear view visibility during moderate to heavy rains (My 2011 i20 had this feature)

360-degree camera – The stitching of images is poor as I’ve seen the implementation in other low end cars to be much better (eg MS Baleno). I wonder if this is a hardware (improperly installed / designed cameras) or software / programming issue (bad configuration of stitching images collected from cameras). Latest OTA update hasn't fixed it.

Coffee break warning – This annoying notification gets activated if you switch lanes frequently. Quite lame as there are quite a few number of drivers who change lanes frequently to move swiftly through traffic – This results in almost 100% false alarms.

Minor mods
Wireless Android Auto
With ~5k expense on Carlinkitcarplay adaptor (bought directly from this link www.carlinkitcarplay.com - I’m not associated with them), I was able to enjoy wireless functionality which is a boon as it’s super convenient. It has butter smooth animations and transitions with options for split, focus & full-screen options.
In my ~4 months of usage, it would have got disconnected about 4-5 times which is fine considering what I’ve heard on setups without using a wireless adaptor. Mobile battery consumption is ~10-20% for every hour of connectivity which a bit on the higher side.
Folks who are deciding to opt for the newly introduced GTX variant only due to absence of wireless android in GTX+ can consider this adaptor solution as it doesn’t make sense (atleast IMO) to let go off
360 degrees camera & 10.25-inch screen (which is one of the key USP of this car) – The MID screen is an experience in itself (gives a Merc / BMW feeling). Have received very good feedback on quality of implementation by KIA on the dash / MID from almost all family, friends & colleagues.
Note the android auto in full screen (gmaps), split 2 & 3 screens in attached pics

DashCam – Installed Qubo dash cam pro X. Bought from amazon during a sale at ~3k. Installed it myself by routing the wire through roof cover, A pillar & glove box. Initial impression seems good for the amount of money spent.

3D Turbo sticker - Installed a red sticker of turbo. It adds some sportiness / character to the rear of the car – I plan to add a team bhp sticker as well.

Suggestions / Solutions needed
Auto headlights – While the auto function is close to perfect (lights switch on as expected during all low light scenarios), the light intensity could have been much better. Some simple solutions requested from BHPians which do not require mods leading to a void of warranty.

How can the following be implemented without doing any major mods
1. Puddle lamp
2. Color brake calipers to red / yellow
3. Close / Retract ORVM during >15 kmph speeds

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.